Birding Online: March 2022

IOANA SERITAN
Associate Editor, Birding magazine

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Welcome to Birding Online! Here, all ABA members can access the extended online content from the March 2022 issue of Birding magazine. The complete issue, containing both print and online content, can be found here.

Kristen Peterson, Thomas Santucci, Kendall Harvey, and Raj Govindarajan (left to right) enjoy birding in Chicago’s Lincoln Park in November 2021. Photo by (c) Ryan Bennett.

This issue covers a range of topics and perspectives, all of which are about the intersection of people, birds, and the environment. What better of a cover could we have? On the cover, Kristen Peterson, Thomas Santucci, Kendall Harvey, and Raj Govindarajan (left to right) enjoy birding in Chicago’s Lincoln Park in November 2021.

The Donor Wall highlights our donors and supporters from 2021. Thank you to all of you for supporting the American Birding Association. Your donations help us publish this magazine and all other ABA publications, run the Listing Central, create young birder programs, and provide you with all the content you love like the ABA podcast and What’s This Bird? We appreciate you joining us on the ride.

As the first of March’s Feature Articles, Danielle Belleny brings us “Lawn of the Dead: Finding Solace, Ecological Integrity, and Good Birding in America’s Cemeteries.” It’s a great read, and I really enjoyed that Danielle highlighted cemeteries in many beautiful lights: as sanctuaries for birds, as sanctuaries for people, and as islands of green in even the most developed of cities. Do you have a story about birding in cemeteries? Join the online discussion at aba.org/cemetery-birding/ to share your own experiences.

In her Feature Article, Freya McGregor highlights Birdability’s work to make birding and the outdoors accessible to people with all different levels of ability. As Freya says, “There are so many ways to go birding, and none of them is wrong. Because birding is for everybody and every body.” There is also an online discussion for this topic at the ABA website, join here!

The other features come from Charles Foley, sharing his group’s Mammal Big Day at the Singita Grumeti area of Serengeti National Park; Sarah Hobart and Sal Ingraham tell and illustrate a few birding moments in “Flights of Fancy”; and Christine Andrews muses on how she fell back in love with birding and undertook a Michigan Big Year in “Becoming a Birder Again.”

This month’s Birding Interview is with Joseph M. Wunderle, Jr., is a fascinating view into the life and work of a biologist in the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

In Frontiers in Ornithology, Nick Minor discusses body size decreases in Amazonian birds, color loss in adult male Red Crossbills, and – online only! – the impact of overabundant deer on forest bird abundance and diversity.

As always, the Book & Media Reviews take their full, extended forms online. You can click here to open to the first review in the online issue.

  • Rachel Clark reviews Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevada by Keith Hansen, Edward C. Beedy, and Adam Donkin. Click here to read this on the ABA website.
  • Frank Izaguirre reviews Bird is the Word: An Historical Perspective on the Names of North American Birds by Gary H. Meiter. Click here to read this on the ABA website.

Of course, there is more to explore in the rest of the issue. We hope you enjoy! Until next time, happy birding.