🚌 What’s the future of a north-south BRT line?

🚌 City To Talk North-South BRT Amid Funding Uncertainty

• The city has scheduled several public meetings over the next few weeks to talk about the proposed north-south Bus Rapid Transit line. The biggest question may be how the project would be paid for as the Trump administration slashes funding for mass transit projects nationwide.
• The new route would expand on the east-west BRT line that launched last year. While $118 million for the project was included in President Joe Biden’s proposed 2025 budget, Madison transportation director Thomas Lynch said that the city was at “high risk” of losing that federal funding under President Donald Trump. [City of Madison, 🎧City Cast Madison, Isthmus]

🖼️ A Lost Van Gogh? UW Prof Is All Ears.

• A UW-Madison professor is helping determine whether a painting bought at a garage sale in Minnesota is actually a lost work by the legendary artist Vincent Van Gogh.
• Susan Brantly, a professor in the German, Nordic and Slavic department, was asked by an art research firm to help authenticate the painting of a fisherman, which would be worth $15 million if verified. Brantly used her experience in 19th-century Scandinavian literature to research the painting, which bears the inscription “Elimar,” and its possible literary origins. [WPR]

🏗️ Century-Old Building On East Wash Could Be Torn Down

• A brick building on East Washington Avenue that was once the longtime home of the Capital Times could be demolished to make way for an 11-story mixed-use development.
• The building at 302 and 308 E. Washington Ave., which is currently home to Capital Fitness, was built in 1927 and home to the newspaper for decades until it moved in 1975 to Fish Hatchery Road.
• The city’s Plan Commission will determine whether the building qualifies for historic landmark protections or not. Middleton-based Knothe & Bruce Architects has filed an application for demolition. [Cap Times]

As the chirping you hear in the trees tells you, spring is here and so are the birds! Once our feathered friends migrate back to Wisconsin from Central and South America, over 400 species of birds can be seen in the state, with 250 of them considered regulars.

On the City Cast Madison podcast today, host Bianca Martin chatted with Dexter Patterson, a UW-Madison educator who founded the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin, about the enjoyment he gets out of birding.

Patterson is hosting a “Learn to Bird” event April 26 at Aldo Leopold Nature Center. If you’re a newbie, here’s a few tips to help you get started.

Where To Go

Wisconsin is home to over 300 birding hotspots, and devoted birders travel to such major locations as Horicon Marsh, where some 300 species have been seen, or to Wyalusing State Park where the Mississippi River and the Wisconsin River meet.

But you don’t have to go that far to enjoy birding. Walk Lake Mendota along the Lakeshore Nature Preserve Trail to Picnic Point and check out birds on both land and water. Or stroll through the 17 miles of trails in the UW-Madison Arboretum. Head out to Pheasant Branch Conservatory on the northwest shore of Lake Mendota to enjoy the birds that call that pristine wetland home.

How To Prepare

The BirdCast is an incredible online tool that tracks the migratory patterns of birds, so you can see in real time when the ruby-crowned kinglet or the blue-gray gnatcatcher will be arriving in Wisconsin. For example, did you know that 32,600 birds crossed into Wisconsin on Monday night alone? The BirdCast says so!

Get yourself a decent (but not necessarily pricey) pair of binoculars and a field guide. Sibley’s and Peterson’s guides are the best for new birders – just make sure to get an “Eastern” guide because that will cover the Wisconsin region.

As if our libraries weren’t cool enough, you can check out a “Birding Backpack” for free from any Madison Public Library location, which includes binocs for both adults and kids, bird guides for adults and kids, and a birding location guide tailored to each library. The things you can do with your library card!

⬆️ Last Week’s Photo

This (non-working) gas pump is located outside Monty’s Blue Plate Diner!

🎉 Congratulations to Dana L., Nancy R., and Nancy S. for being the first three people (of over 100 guesses) to get it right!

⬇️ This Week’s Photo

Can you guess where this is? A few clues:

• It’s on Park Street.
• It’s a family business that has been in existence since 1962.
• If you guess right, you rock!