The Fledgling

The Fledgling is a magazine produced by and designed for young birders. Topics in The Fledgling vary from exciting travel stories to identification tips to ways to get involved in your community and everything in between. In addition to fascinating articles, prepare to be amazed by The Fledgling’s stunning photos and artwork from young birders. This magazine is both enlightening and fun, and it showcases the amazing talent of the next generation of birders and scientists.

If you want to get more involved in the young birder community, why not start now? If you are a young birder, please consider writing an article or contributing photos or artwork to The Fledgling. We are always looking for more content, and we would love to include some of your work. If you’re interested in contributing, please send us an email at thefledgling@aba.org.

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Meet Team Fledgling

Hannes Leonard, Editor
Tony Belejack, Assistant Editor
Weston Barker, Field Editor
Hannah Floyd, Copy Editor
Chelsea Mosteller, Content and Layout
Katie Warner, Content and Layout
Ronan Nicholson, News and Notes
Gracie McMahon, Tailfeathers Column
Silas Powell, Book Reviews
William Young, Founder

Issue Three Highlight

American Birding Association 2023 Bird of the Year Reveal!

The ABA Bird of the Year tradition started over a decade ago, in 2011, and the program has been popular and successful ever since. The 2023 Bird of the Year and the cover art is something many of us look forward to, and it is fun to guess “What species will it be?” This year, we asked young birders to submit their artwork to The Fledgling depicting their guess of the 2023 Bird of the Year!

Issue two

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Issue Two Highlight

Special Guest Writer
Mary Gustafson, “The Mentor’s Corner”

Mary Gustafson reviews records for eBird, supports WhatsApp chats for birders in south Texas, organizes leaders and field trips for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival and the Spring Chirp Birding Festival, and participates in pelagics as often as possible. Work is usually limited to mentoring biologists and monitoring wildlife, though she gets sucked into so much more. Bat Falcon was her ABA classic number 800. Her great regret is not getting out and birding more.

Issue one

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Issue One Highlight

Special Guest Writer
Scott Weidensaul, “The Mentor’s Corner”

Scott Weidensaul is an author and researcher who has written more than 30 books, including his newest, A World on the Wing, about global bird migration. He is a co-founder of Project SNOWstorm, tracking Snowy Owls, and the Northeast Motus Collaboration, expanding wildlife telemetry in the East, among other projects. He and his wife live in New Hampshire.