In this issue, we celebrate the ABA Bird of the Year: the Belted Kingfisher. Liz Clayton Fuller talks about how she painted the Queenkiller, Katie Boord delves into the genus Megaceryle, you can give the Word Search a try, and more. Outside of the Bird of the Year, stories of Montezuma Quails, the Hen of Peru, and other birds abound.
This issue features the ABA Checklist Committee's annual report, the annual Check-list Redux, details on the US's first Bat Falcon, and an article on whether Western Flycatcher should be re-lumped.
Podcast ➚
When it was first released in 1983, Peter Harrison’s Seabirds: An Identification Guide was immediately hailed as a classic of the birding literature, an accolade it not relinquished in 40 years. And so it was with much excitement that Peter released the New Identification Guide in 2021, practically a different and far more comprehensive read more >>
Not a lot has changed in continuing rarities in the ABA Area this week, with Common Shelduck (ABA Code 5) persisting in Pennsylvania, along with La Sagra's Flycatcher (4) and Bahama Mockingbird (4) in Florida. The Red-flanked Bluetail (4) and Little Stint (4) are also still being seen in California. It's read more >>
ABA Travel
When you travel with the ABA, you help build a better future for birds and birding. The ABA offers a carefully designed program of birding travel experiences that not only let experience and thrill of seeing great birds and traveling with friendly, interesting people, they give you the satisfaction of knowing that you are supporting local on-the-ground conservation efforts as well as the ABA’s ongoing work to inspire all people to enjoy and protect wild birds.
Below is a sample of what we’ve got going. Click here to view all of our tours >>
Current ➚
Closer to Owls, but in the Right Ways.
Snowy Owls are one of the most recognized and beloved birds in the world. To protect them, it’s essential that birders enjoy these birds ethically.
Even when everything goes smoothly, airport layovers are an “exercise” in sedentariness. Which isn’t to say birdlessness. On the contrary, airport layovers sometimes result in life birds; that’s happened to me more than once. For those of us on eBird consecutive days streaks, airport layovers . . .
There are at least two features that often distinguish between skilled, experienced birders and others when it comes to large flocks of birds. The first is the understanding that just because many or most of the individuals of a large flock of birds appear to be referable to the same species does not necessarily mean that such an assumption is true for the entire flock.
Some folks lament the transition into cold weather seasons, as days grow shorter and nights dip toward frigid temperatures, but for many birders, fall and winter provide an opportunity to observe a fascinating and sometimes unpredictable phenomenon: dispersal and migration following the breeding season.
Birders love learning about the life histories of birds: fascinating migration routes, unique ecological adaptations, bizarre exceptions to standard bird biology—we can never get enough. In a similar way, ABA Area birders enjoy learning about the life histories of birders from outside the ABA Area, how the ways other birders...
When I first hefted Bird: Exploring the Winged World, all 11 square inches and six pounds of it, I deemed it a coffee table book and braced myself for the kind of tome that is gorgeously illustrated but whose covers are rarely cracked. I was wrong. Bird is many things...
It’s all over. Migration. It came and went. Why does it always happen so fast? Why didn’t I go birding more during that precious window? How long until shorebirds start passing through again? No, no, no. Not only is it true that migration may not even be over in your...
The 2022 mid-year update of the ABA Checklist has been posted. It adds 5 new species:
Bat Falcon, Red-Masked Parakeet, Lilac-crowned Parrot, Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush, Chihuahuan Meadowlark.
Birders love learning about the life histories of birds: fascinating migration routes, unique ecological adaptations, bizarre exceptions to standard bird biology—we can never get enough. In a similar way, ABA Area birders enjoy learning about the life histories of birders from outside the ABA Area, how the ways other birders...
The 2022 mid-year update of the ABA Checklist has been posted. It adds 5 new species:
Bat Falcon, Red-Masked Parakeet, Lilac-crowned Parrot, Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush, Chihuahuan Meadowlark.
Current ➚
Closer to Owls, but in the Right Ways.
Snowy Owls are one of the most recognized and beloved birds in the world. To protect them, it’s essential that birders enjoy these birds ethically.