IOANA SERITAN
Associate Editor, Birding magazine

Welcome to Birding Online! Here, all ABA members can access the extended online content from the August 2017 issue of Birding magazine. The complete issue, containing both print and online content, can be found at:

aba.org/birding-magazine-august-2017

August’s cover gives us a sneak peak at one of the beautiful articles within: Frank Keim’s homage to Yup’ik names for and cultural connections to birds. You can read it for yourself on page 40 after perusing the constellation of names for Tom Johnson’s photo of a Willow Ptarmigan… Or should I say Aqezgiq?

Cover image of Willow Ptarmigan by © Tom Johnson.

As always, ABA members get to read extended online content for Nick Minor’s News and Notes. In the print issue, we already got to read his explanations of song dialects and genetics in White-crowned Sparrows, and what we can learn about Carolina Parakeets even after their extinction. In the online edition, we also get to read his expedition on page 27 into the factors that contribute to incubation time.

Not only do we get more News and Notes, we also get extended Book Reviews. You can read Sandra Paci’s review of The Paper Zoo: 500 Years of Animals in Art by Charlotte Sleigh both on page 56 in the online issue, and on the ABA Blog. After that, you can find David Bishop’s review of the 2nd edition of Birds of New Guinea by Thane K. Pratt and Bruce M. Beehler on page 57 in the issue, and on the ABA Blog as well.

August’s Featured Photo challenges us with a bird that looks pretty unusual to North American birders – what do you think? Share your thoughts with us on the ABA Blog, and then read Sam Wilson’s take on it on page 44.

Near Great White Heron National Wildlife Refuge, Monroe County, Florida; April 13, 2017. Photo by © Sam Wilson.

And of course, there are always more treasures to enjoy. Feel free to explore the Table of Contents yourself and click around to see what logs you can turn over, and what salamanders and pillbugs you may find.

Finally, great news on the online front: many of us have been experiencing a bug where we have trouble logging into www2.aba.org to actually view the online issue. That issue is now fixed, so you should have no trouble seeing all of this extended content. Please let us know if you continue to have problems! Happy reading – and even happier birding.