Birding Online: December 2024

IOANA SERITAN
Associate Editor, Birding magazine

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The cover of the December issue of Birding magazine has two Clark's Grebes crossing their bills in a courtship display. The grebes have long white necks, black crowns, bright red eyes, and long, pointed orange bills. They are floating in blue water.

On the Cover: Two Clark’s Grebes cross their bills in a courtship display. Photo by © Mia McPherson.

Courting Clark’s Grebes grace the cover of the December Birding. The photographer, Mia McPherson, joins us to talk about what this photo means to her, how birding enriches her life, and how she hopes to enrich the lives of others, including young birders in the Young Birder of the Year Mentoring Program.

Speaking of, this issue includes one of my personal favorite features: a showcase of young birder submissions from this year’s Young Birder of the Year Mentoring Program. Every year, young birders between 10-18 participate in five modules: Field Notebook, Conservation & Community Leadership, Writing, Photography, and Illustration. They bird, make art, connect with their communities, write poetry, share stories, take dynamic photographs, and generally wow the mentors with their work. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough room in the pages of Birding to include every entry, but we do our best to select entries that show you the breadth and variety of these young birders’ creativity, passion, and achievements. Please join us in celebrating the hard work of the 2024 participants.

If you feel moved to support our young birder programs, please donate to the ABA’s End of Year Appeal. Your contributions allow us to run bigger, better programs for young birders all over the ABA Area (and the world). Thank you.

Outside of young birder content: earlier this year, we celebrated Noah Strycker’s 100th Birding Interview. But did you know that Birding ran interviews with influential birders prior to Noah’s column? Former Birding Editor Ron Naveen joined us to reminisce about earlier interviews in the magazine’s history.

On the topic of the Birding Interview, this month’s interview is with birding tour company founder, bird count pioneer, and lifelong birder T. Ben Feltner. He rocketed to fame in 1959 when he spotted an Eskimo Curlew on Galveston Island, a bird that had not been seen there since 1945 and is now likely extinct. He shares that story – among many others.

There’s a lot to learn in this issue, from Rajan Rao’s description of geographic variation in the Orange-crowned Warbler and Floyd E. Hayes’ report on the impact of pesticides on grebes in Clear Lake, to Lara Tseng’s discussion of the Tule Goose, a poorly understood subspecies of the Greater White-fronted Goose.

As always, the Book & Media Reviews take their full form online. In this issue:

  • Jennifer Rycenga reviews “The Birds that Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness” by Kenn Kaufman
  • Rebecca Heisman reviews “Feather Trails: A Journey of Discovery Among Endangered Birds” by Sophie A. H. Osborn
  • Diego Blanco reviews “Birds of the Mesozoic: An Illustrated Field Guide” by Juan Benito and Roc Olivé
  • Sheridan Alford reviews “Dare to Bird: Exploring the Joy and Healing Power of Birds” by Melissa Hafting

We hope you enjoy the last issue of 2024. Happy holidays and happy birding!