IOANA SERITAN
Associate Editor, Birding magazine

Welcome to Birding Online! Here, all ABA members can access the extended online content from the October 2018 issue of Birding magazine. The complete issue, containing both print and online content, can be found at:

aba.org/birding-magazine-october-2018

Eric Baker’s photography graces our cover this time around. This issue has an entirely accidental undercurrent of articles, interviews, and photography surrounding the Pacific Ocean. On page 34, Wieteke Holthuijzen and Eric Baker share their experiences learning about, protecting, and living among albatrosses on Midway Atoll.

Nick Minor, co-editor of News and Notes, takes us onshore with his coverage of the 27th International Ornithological Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia. Nick’s stories of the events, presentations, and birding make me feel like I was there. Feel the magic yourself by reading his tale on page 30.

Continuing the theme, Eric VanderWerf brings us his new analysis on Brown Booby subspecies in the Pacific. Nick Minor told us that scientists everywhere are making use of our observations through citizen science. Eric VanderWerf’s analysis may help us identify Brown Boobies more specifically, report their subspecies and sex more accurately, and contribute to citizen science even further. Check out his photos and descriptions on page 50. And in every issue this year, we have featured a different Hawaiian species. This time, Lance Tanino brings us a sneak-peek into the charm of Red-crested Cardinals.

We’ve been a little slow uploading the online content for the August and October issues. On the one hand, we apologize. On the other hand, that means we get two separate photo quizzes on the ABA Blog at once! Check out the October photo quiz on the ABA Blog here and share your thoughts in the comment section. You can find the belated August photo quiz right here on the Blog. October itself contains two photo quizzes. The first one is below. You may be able to identify the species pretty easily – but can you identify the sex? To see the second mystery quiz for yourself, you can click here and read about it in the online issue.

Tallahassee, Florida; June 23, 2018. Photo by © Tara Tanaka.

As always, Book Reviews take their full forms online. Click here to flip straight to the first review. First, you can read Corey Husic’s full review of Urban Raptors: Ecology and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Cities by Clint Boal and Cheryl Dykstra. You can also enjoy his review here on the ABA Blog. On the following page (and here on the Blog), you can enjoy Marcia Obara’s complete review of the Birding Southeast Arizona App. This is not a book – rather, an app from the Tucson Audubon Society and the Southeastern Arizona Bird Observatory.

Finally, in this issue, we celebrate this year’s recipients of the 2018 ABA Awards. Congratulations, and thank you, to Debra Love Shearwater, Daphne Gemmill, Alan R. Smith, and Denver Holt. Help us celebrate these birders and their achievements by reading “Birding Together”.

Thank you for your patience with the August issue. Come back to aba.org/magazine soon to read the digest for the August issue. Until then, enjoy October’s magazine, and let us know what you think! Happy birding.