Welcome to Birding Online! Here is where all ABA members can access the extended online content from the April 2016 issue of Birding magazine. The complete issue, containing both print and online content, can be found online:
This month heralds a number of migrations and changes present in both the bird community and the birding community. Inside, you will find migration patterns, our movement to the next generation of birding apps, a piece on the changing face of the multiple “Scrub Jay” species from young birder Dessi Sieburth, and more.
News and Notes Online. The print issue contains Paul Hess’s summaries of articles on Purple Gallinule vagrancy and the struggles of the vulnerable Bicknell’s Thrush. The online version shares one more discovery—that migratory birds tend to travel in one of three broad migration paths. Enjoy the authoritative but easily digestible articles, as well as a beautiful photo gallery online.
Book Reviews Online. In this issue, Caitlin Kight discusses whether The Living Bird: 100 Years of Listening to Nature succeeds in celebrating the long history of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Keith Betton comments on the new Helm Identification Guide to waterfowl and ask if it will replace Helm’s previous waterfowl title from 1988; and Julia Zarankin finishes off the reviews with her take on Sarah Wood’s exploration into the jungles of Panama and the Amazon.
Milestones. Beginning with this issue, Birding Associate Editor Ioana Seritan steps in to head Milestones. Do you have a birding milestone you would like to share? Email Ioana at iseritan “at” aba.org.
Featured Photo. Dessi Sieburth, one of the 2015 Young Birders of the Year, makes his debut in Birding with a piece on the possible split of the Western Scrub-Jay. This piece brings to light both the next generation of birders, and the next generation of scrub-jay identification. You can read Sieburth’s perspective in the April issue, and Birding Editor Ted Floyd’s perspective at the ABA Blog.
Tools of the Trade. Diana Doyle, in her article in the April issue, discusses the “second generation” of bird ID apps. Then, in a commentary at The ABA Blog, Ted Floyd wonders more generally about the future of birding apps; join the conversation online, still ongoing.
Growth at the ABA. Birding, like everything at the ABA, is all about the changing world of birds and birding. If you can’t currently access the information in our online content, you can become part of the ABA by joining us online. You can help us even further by participating in our 2016 membership contest. It’s easy!—Encourage others to join, and have them tell us you sent them. Just like that, you can win milestone, monthly, and annual prizes. Learn more and register for the contest online.
