Welcome to Birding Online, where ABA members go for complete access to all the content in the current issue and all recent issues of Birding magazine. Click here to access the August 2015 issue online. 

We start off the August 2015 issue with a farewell of sorts to the Budgerigar. If you were birding in the mid- to late 20th century, then you probably remember that the “Budgie” was one of the most numerous and most readily gotten of all exotic bird species in the ABA Area. No more. The species is gone as an established breeder. In a feature article in the August 2015 issue, Florida bird expert and ABA Checklist Committee Chairman Bill Pranty chronicles the decline of the Budgerigar and speculates about the cause of the species’ disappearance from our area.

One of the great joys of birding is achieving some “milestone”–100 species in your local patch, 300 species in your state, 500 species in the ABA Area, etc. And one of the benefits of and ABA membership is a platform for sharing with ABA members your recent birding milestones. If you have a milestone to share, please contact Birding Editor Ted Floyd (tfloyd “at” aba “dot” org), and he’ll work with you on getting your milestone into print. Please include with your submission the date and location, the species, and, last but not least, your name. We love photos! If you have a photo of your milestone bird, please send that along. For best results (in other words, to ensure speedy publication of your milestone), please carefully follow the style of recent installments of the “Milestones” column. Just go to p. 12 in the August issue or browse the milestones in the online edition.

Three of the most popular offerings in Birding are interviews, book reviews, and Paul Hess’s “News and Notes.” But space is finite, and a chronic problem–going back forever–has been the need to abridge some of the great content in these and other offerings. With the expanded online edition, however, this problem is no more. Go online and read the full content of “A Birding Interview with Macklin Smith,” extra coverage in “News and Notes,” and in-depth analyses by David Liebmann (review of Noah Strycker’s The Thing with Feathers) and Donna L. Schulman (review of Andrew Mack’s Searching for Pekpek).

What do you think about content in Birding magazine? ABA members have never been shy about expressing their opinions on Birding. And with the advent on online social media, there is more opportunity than ever before to discuss the magazine. The best way, we think, is to join the conversations that play out at The ABA Blog. Conversations about content in the August 2015 Birding revolve around Tony Leukering’s analysis of the Featured Photo, Diana Doyle’s review of non-birding apps that happen to important for birding, and Pete Dunne’s and Don Freiday’s commentaries on birding in the digital era.

Having trouble with any of the links above? If you’re an ABA member, please call our office toll-free (800-850-2473), and we’ll make sure you understand how to get quick and easy access to all the password-protected members-only content. If you’re not an ABA member, don’t just stand there. Do something! Join the ABA today! You’ll get access to all the online content, plus annual subscriptions to Birding and to Birder’s Guide, and all the other benefits of an ABA membership.