September/October 2020

BirdWatching

Feel the thrill of finding, attracting, and identifying birds

BirdWatching1 min read
Black Birders Matter
The mostly white birding community, myself included, has received quite an education in the last few months about the experiences birders of color have in nature. After birder Christian Cooper’s video in May of a racist action by a white woman in Cen
BirdWatching1 min read
BirdWatching
Editor Matt Mendenhall Founding Editor Eldon D. Greij Contributing Editors Pete Dunne, Laura Erickson, Kenn Kaufman, Alan Murphy, David Allen Sibley Editorial Consultant Lee Mergner Graphic Designer Jaron Cote Vice President, Circulation Strategy Jas
BirdWatching2 min readDiscrimination & Race Relations
Birders Call For Name Changes
This summer’s movement for racial justice and atonement finally spurred Mississippi to remove the Confederate symbol from its state flag, Washington’s NFL team to change its racist team name, and statues of Confederates and other racist historical fi
BirdWatching2 min read
Working To Save Chile’s Smallest Bird
Karolina Araya Sandoval grew up in the northern Chilean town of Arica. Nicknamed the “City of Eternal Spring” for its Mediterranean climate and famed for its rich alluvial soil, Arica sits at the edge of the world’s driest desert, the Atacama. Not fa
BirdWatching1 min readNature
Read More Online
This year’s most notable changes to the official Checklist of North American Birds include the splitting of Mexican Duck from Mallard and the lumping of Northwestern Crow with American Crow. The changes were announced in late June and published in Th
BirdWatching2 min read
Investigating Warbler Colors
A new study has narrowed down the region of the genome that drives the black color in the throat and face of warblers by studying the hybrid offspring of Golden-winged and Blue-winged Warblers. The hybrids have a mix of coloration from the parent spe
BirdWatching2 min readNature
Checklist Confusion
How many raptor species exist on planet Earth? If you look at the four most widely used lists of recognized bird species, you’ll get four different answers. The Howard and Moore Checklist of the Birds of the World lists 528 raptors (hawks, eagles, ki
BirdWatching4 min readNature
At Home With Canadas
As readers of this column probably realize, wife Linda and I spent last winter and early spring in California with her parents. Our return drive the first week in May was uneventful and spiked with birds not seen during our trip out in December — mul
BirdWatching1 min read
‘Birds In Art’ Moves Ahead
Artwork from 114 artists from throughout the world will be included in the 45th annual “Birds in Art” exhibition, on view September 12 through November 29, at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. Art by BirdWatching Contributing
BirdWatching4 min readScience & Mathematics
Your Backyard Bird Photo Studio
The instant image feedback from digital cameras and the lighter weight of many of today’s telephoto lenses have spurred many birdwatchers these days to carry photo equipment into the field. And many of them practice their bird photography in their ba
BirdWatching8 min readNature
Birding In Place
Are you looking for ideas to enrich your birding world while staying closer to home? Are you also, like many of us, missing the birdwatching community as well as our feathered friends? I have had the good fortune to tour the world as a storyteller an
BirdWatching7 min readNature
Saving Florida’s rarest bird
IT is early morning in one of the largest tracts of Florida dry prairie. A chorus of insects fills the dark chilled air, and heavy dew soaks through my pants as I carefully navigate thick underbrush. I make slow and calculated movements. After nearly
BirdWatching1 min read
Florida’s Other Rare Sparrow
Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is not the only endangered sparrow subspecies found in the Sunshine State. The other is Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow, a permanent resident of southern Florida — specifically Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National
BirdWatching8 min readNature
River OF dreams
Texans are sometimes known for their big brag and a penchant for superlatives. But in this case, the reputation is earned: One of the largest, most ambitious urban river restoration efforts in the country has transformed a section of the San Antonio
BirdWatching2 min read
An Urban Refuge
A favorite hotspot in the San Antonio area is Mitchell Lake Audubon Center, 11 miles south of downtown. It was once known as the Laguna de los Patos (Lake of the Ducks), later as ranch lands, and then as an extension of the sewage treatment system. T
BirdWatching7 min read
Catching More than Fish
And a good south wind sprung up behind;The Albatross did follow,And every day, for food or play,Came to the mariner’s hollo!-- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798 Albatrosses inspire more than poets and ancient mariners. Th
BirdWatching1 min read
How Albatrosses are Doing
Status: Vulnerable Population: 20,100 Trend: Decreasing Status: Endangered Population: 50,000 Trend: Decreasing Status: Endangered Population: 92 Trend: Increasing Status: Critically Endangered Population: 3,400-4,800 Trend: Decreasing Status: Endang
BirdWatching4 min read
Doing our part
Since its inception, the international photo competition Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) has had the twin aims of celebrating bird photography and inspiring people to care about the natural world through stunning imagery. More recently, in earl
BirdWatching3 min read
Gadwall
One of the most widespread duck species in the northern hemisphere, found all across North America, Europe, and Asia, the Gadwall is also one of the least ornate. Even males in full breeding plumage have only subtle patterns. As a result, this duck m
BirdWatching1 min read
The forgotten Gadwall
Migrating or wandering ducks, winding up on remote oceanic islands, have been known to establish distinctive resident populations. In Hawaii, for example, the Hawaiian Duck is clearly descended from Mallard ancestors. But a thousand miles south of Ha
BirdWatching2 min read
Flying High
We asked and you responded — in a big way. This spring, more than 725 bird photographers entered over 1,230 photos in our 2020 BirdWatching Photography Awards contest. On our website in early July, we announced the finalists and honorable mention pho
BirdWatching2 min readTechnology & Engineering
New Sound Treasures
I started making sound recordings of nature in January 2001. When I record birds at home, I always focus on individuals, using a parabolic or shotgun microphone. When I travel to an exotic place, I’ve sometimes left out a recorder with a built-in mic
BirdWatching6 min read
Those Clever Crows
In last issue’s column, I described how mistakes made by neurobiologists in the late 1890s were perpetuated for about a hundred years, leading to a great misunderstanding of the bird brain. The structural arrangement of the bird brain is very differe
BirdWatching1 min readTechnology & Engineering
Good Birds
Submit photos as full-resolution, high-quality JPG files via email (no TIFFs, please). Include a short description of the photo; include the bird name, the equipment used, and the location. Please include your name, address, phone number, and email a
BirdWatching2 min readNature
Finest Fall Colors
If I asked you to name the season when birds are looking their best, I suspect you would answer “spring.” That’s when most species are in their most showy and colorful breeding plumage. But I would like to make a case for fall as the season when bird

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