ABA Blog

ABA Convention! Corpus Christi, Texas from April 22-26, 2014

I’ve been managing ABA Events for just over a year now and the one question I am asked perhaps more than any other is: “When are we going to have another convention?” 

Now I can happily say NEXT YEAR, in 2014! The convention will be held April 22-26, in Corpus Christi, Texas! It’ll be the peak of spring migration and we have a fantastic array of speakers and leaders lined up.

 

The birds in Texas, like this Great Kiskadee, are always phenomenal

 

Our last ABA Convention was held 5 years and for those who attended ABA Conventions regularly (a few diehard members hardly missed a single one), this seems an eternity. ABA Conventions were pioneering events, and one of the key influences on today's myriad birding festivals and events. This was a model we developed quite successfully and now there are many great birding festivals all over the U.S. and Canada, and the ABA takes an active part in many of them. Now we are excited to announce this Convention in Corpus Christi; the first of what we hope represents a new generation of ABA Conventions. As we continue to evolve as an organization this event represents another landmark for the organization, as we both honor our past and look to the future of the ABA; the new ABA, if you will, now in our 46^th year. In addition to celebrating our traditions while creating new ones, we will raise money for hawk research in cooperation with HMANA (Hawk Migration Association of North America) who are celebrating their 40th anniversary. Congratulations to HMANA!

Convention Speakers:

Gerrit Vyn is a multimedia producer and staff photographer at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Recent work has found him documenting the last remaining Spoon-billed Sandpipers in the Russian Far-east, as well as wildlife poaching in China, and the breeding behavior of birds on Alaska’s Yukon Delta. Gerrit’s images appear regularly in books, magazines, websites and multimedia productions.  He was the primary image provider for the 2009 and 2011 State of the Birds reports that were delivered to the Obama administration and congress by a coalition of leading environmental organizations. He has produced two CD compilations, Voices of North American Owls and Bird Songs of the Pacific Northwest, and is an affiliate of the International League of Conservation Photographers. Gerrit will present a talk on his expedition to capture the first ever high quality media of the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Chukotka, Russia.

Brian Sullivan is project leader for eBird, and photographic editor for the Birds of North America Online at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. An expert lecturer on hawks, he is a co-author of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors, and the forthcoming Princeton Guide to North American Birds. Brian is also co-authoring a book with George Armistead to be published by Princeton titled Essential Birding. He served as photographic editor for the ABA’s journal North American Birds from 2005-2013.

Jeffrey Kimball has made a career in film as a music supervisor/executive on films including A Bronx Tale and Good Will Hunting. But in 2012 he debuted his documentary Birder’s: The Central Park Effect. Jeff will air this film and discuss how and why he made this insightful movie about birders.

ABA Convention Staff: Jeff Gordon (ABA president), Tom Johnson (Birding photo quiz editor), Jen Brumfield (Tropical Birding Tours and Leica Birding), Jennie Duberstein (Editor of The Eyrie), and George Armistead (Events ABA Coordinator), among others.

Join your ABA event staff and fellow ABA members for a fun and educational birding extravaganza on the Gulf Coast of Texas. See what the new ABA is all about. It’ll be the peak of migration with Mississippi Kites and warblers pouring through, and of course the many South Texas specialties will be in place. If you are interested in hearing more about this convention contact Nancy Hawley at nhawley AT aba.org to register your interest. Let’s go bird Corpus, together. Registration opens July 10^th!

The ABA Wants You! Save $10 on all new ABA memberships between now and May 31!

Your personal invitation to join the ABA as a new member by May 31, 2013!

Who taught you about birds, and then about birding? Perhaps it was a family member or close friend who so enjoyed birds and birding that they simply had to share the fun and excitement with someone like you. And chances are, they are also an enthusiastic member of the American Birding Association!

That’s why we invite you to join the American Birding Association today!

As a valued ABA member, you'll be immediately welcomed into a network of helpful, fun, passionate birders, as well as supporting our education and conservation programs and initiatives. You’ll have access to a network of friendly, bird enthusiasts all around the continent. You can count on us to help you solve identification puzzles, or give you directions to species you've long hoped to see. And you'll discover cool new ways to share your own birding experience and perspectives. We are here because of you and for you!

IT ONLY TAKES TWO MINUTES TO JOIN!

DO IT RIGHT NOW AND SAVE $10!

Membership in the ABA will take you further along your own personal birding journey. Our publications, web resources, and events have much to offer anyone with an active interest in birding, whether you like to stay close to home, or to wander the globe, or a bit of both.

Our Members Only online content options offer an exciting additional members bonus now available such as web exclusives for Birding, the ABA Members Directory, and ABA Listing Central. Join now to make sure you receive the premier issue of our new, quarterly Birder’s Guide magazine that debuts in late spring.

Look forward to receiving these exciting and informative issues throughout the year: A Birder’s Guide to Travel, A Birder’s Guide to Listing and Taxonomy, and A Birder’s Guide to Gear. The ABA is THE birding community that shares new discoveries and finds new ways to advance the cause of birding and of birds. But all of that means little without our members support.

Birder Supported, the ABA WANTS YOU! Join today by clicking this link or call 800-850-2473 to start your new membership. It’s that easy!

Thank you, and good birding

Nancy Hawley

Membership Experience Coordinator

Join the ABA Today! 

 If you are already an ABA member, Thank You for your support!  Please pass along the legacy of fun and learning about birds by sending or forwarding this email to someone you know who might also enjoy birds, birding and the ABA.

NOTE:  ABA membership dues paid beyond the first $25/year are fully tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Check with your personal accountant for details.

 

Introducing Birders' Marketplace!

Birders’ Marketplace is here!

With Winging It ceasing its run this year, we at the ABA were tasked with the question of what to do with all of those classified ads that used to fill the back pages of the newsletter. We’re happy to announce that we’ve created a brand new site where birders and providers of birding services can have their needs met. This is Birder's Marketplace. 

Though it replaces those Winging It classified ads it really has the opportunity to be much more than that. Think of it as birding’s answer to Craigslist.

Of course you can look for a deal on a used scope, or find a tour provider to help you plan that dream trip to Brazil; these are the bread and butter of any classified section. But we hope you'll use Birders' Marketplace for more than that. Maybe you just need a ride to that local rarity that showed up a few hours away, or you’re traveling on business and looking for a local expert to make the most of your time in a new place. These ads are fully searchable and categorized in a manner that was impossible in print. This is the place to advertise and find those birding items and services that will make every birding experience all the more fulfilling.  

We already have a full suite of vendors on the site, so please check it out! For more information on advertising on Birders’ Marketplace, please contact Ken Barron at kbarron AT ktc.com or 830-895-1144

 

"The New ABA." Are YOU Ready to Say It?

I framed my "Birding Together" column in the March/April issue of Birding with a joking allusion to the difficulty people often have in uttering those three little words: "I love you."

But the three word phrase that I was finally ready to utter, though not without some lingering trepidation, was, "the new ABA." As I noted in the piece, that's a phrase that I've often heard bandied about, but avoided using myself. Until now. 

You can read the whole column here. As usual, it's well under 1000 words, and so just about average ABA blog post length. 

 

My question for you is this: are you ready to say that we have a new ABA? Or do you think we've still got more ground to make up before we justifiably make that claim? Maybe you think the whole idea is superfluous or flawed, that there's no need for a new ABA, just an ABA for today? Perhaps you think that, as some do, that our goal should be an "old ABA," a return to some earlier era? If that's your belief, what are the key hallmarks of that era?

Let us know in the comments.

Also, the audit for 2012, mentioned in the column, is now available as a PDF on our website.

Whatever your thoughts about the ABA old or new, thank you for your support and for your contributions to the birding community.

Good birding,

Jeff 

 

ABA Out of the Office

This week, the ABA is holding our annual Staff and Board retreat at the headquarters in Colorado Springs. There is a lot of productive planning for the organization going forward and we're really excited to share it in the coming months.

Staff and Board together discussing the ABA's future

However, because of these meetings ABA staff members are not in the office much this week. Please bear with us! We apologize for the inconvenience but we'll be back to a normal schedule, with everyone back in their places, on Friday.

Thanks!

More “Sightings” Than Ever Before

 

Exactly nine years ago, I was in Spain for a press tour. It was great to talk shop with other bird magazine editors—most of them Europeans—about our shared passion for giving voice to the birding communities in our home continents and beyond. We all had questions: Would this internet thing make a difference? Could anybody foresee a future for online magazines? What to do about our aging readerships?

“They” were especially impressed with Birding magazine’s relative gender balance. For my part, I was impressed by “their” ability to report, every single month, stop-press rarities from all over the continent. Birding World was especially notable in this regard, but they weren’t the only European magazine doing it. Could Birding ever pull off a similar feat in North America?

Nine years later, the answer is gloriously in the affirmative. Effective immediately, Birding is providing monthly summaries of North American rarities. It’s been a work in progress, and various folks have contributed to this outcome, but one person stands out for her role in this important new chapter in the 45-year history of Birding magazine: “Sightings” department editor and rare bird guru Amy Davis.

Amy’s most recent report, available online to ABA members right now, covers North American rarities reported through mid-March. That’s a lag of just one month, and we expect to shorten the lag ever further. Amy’s report covering rarities through the end of March will be available to ABA members within the week—fully a month before the print version of the May/June 2013 Birding is mailed out.

The current report is amazingly detailed. A Pink-footed Goose lingering at St. John’s was Newfoundland & Labrador’s 8th record of the species; a Harlequin Duck in Harlequin County, Tennessee, was that state’s 5th record; two Yellow-throated Warblers in Baja California Sur were 550 meters apart; and so forth. And, yes, Amy—only Amy!—has counted up every single Northern Lapwing reported this past winter in eastern North America.

Or do you just want to read about the rarest of the rare, the megas? They’re in there too: Gray Heron, Black-tailed Godwit, Nutting’s Flycatcher, Red-flanked Bluetail, Citrine Wagtail, Siberian Accentor, Eurasian Bullfinch, and many others.

A final thought. Amy Davis is “just” the compiler of “Sightings.” She’s able to glean a fair bit of content from Birding News and eBird, but the most significant contributions come from a network of local and regional experts—real human beings like you. If you’d like to contribute to “Sightings,” please contact Amy <argdavis AT gmail.com> and she’ll let you know about guidelines, deadlines, and the like.

     

Left to right: Gray Heron, Newfoundland and Labrador (photo by Jared Clarke); Black-tailed Godwit, Virginia (photo by Dick Rowe); McCown’s Longspur, Georgia (photo by Larry Gridley); Razorbill, Louisiana (photo by Dave Patton). Read about these rarities—and many, many more—in Amy Davis’s “Sightings” column, available right now to ABA members.

 

The Eyrie is looking for a Few Good Student Editors

Cross posted from the Eyrie. Originally written by Jennie Duberstein

Are you interested in the challenge of bringing together the skills and talents of young birders across the world and working to create a truly unique and outstanding young birder blog? If so, now is your chance! We're looking to add a few exceptional young birders to our volunteer Student Blog Editor Team.

What being a student editor entails is pretty straightforward:

• You write a minimum of one post per month for the blog.
• You try to recruit one post per month from other young birders, give these posts a first round of edits, and pass them on to the Blog Manager for final editing and publication.
• You take a turn compiling the monthly "Young Birder Blog Birding" post.
• You help promote the blog to other young birders and those with an interest--on Facebook, your own blog, by word of mouth, etc.
• You help guide the future direction of the blog, including content, design, etc.

Being a student blog editor for The Eyrie gives you the unique opportunity to gain experience, improve your writing and editing skills, work with experts in the fields or ornithology, birding, and conservation, and help shape the future of the youth birding world. As blog editor, you will seek out contributors, ensure the timely submission of blog posts, artwork, and photographs to yourself and the Blog Manager, follow American Birding Association guidelines for editing of submissions, stay in close contact with the Blog Manager, and keep abreast of the goings on in the world of youth birding. You will also regularly contribute your own posts, photos, and/or artwork to The Eyrie.

Qualifications: Editors must...

• be pre-college, age 18 or under.
• have a good connection with other young birders.
• be willing to make a one-year commitment to the blog.

To apply, send a letter of interest with information about your experience and qualifications, a writing sample, and two letters of recommendation to: Jennie Duberstein, ABA Young Birder Liaison/The Eyrie Blog Manager, at jduberstein at aba dot org or PO Box 40253, Tucson AZ 85717. Emailed applications are strongly are preferred.

Your letter of interest and letters of support should include information about your skills and experience as a birder, writer, artist, photographer, trip leader, etc., your involvement with and connections to the world of young birders, and anything else that explains what you would bring to the editorial team of The Eyrie.

APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY MAY 24, 2013. Direct all questions to jduberstein at aba.org.

ABA Set to Enforce List Totals

 

    Let's face it—the birding community has always had a great big elephant, or perhaps an elephant bird, in the room: birders who cheat. Sure, most of us walk the line, recording only the birds we are certain we've seen or heard, letting those occasional "big ones" get away, and always endeavoring to count only the species we are certain we have seen or heard and correctly identified.

    And yet, every year, as surely as the loons precede the geese on the checklist, there are those among us who always seem to be just a little too far ahead. You know what I mean...you're an active birder, you're in the loop, you read the e-mail lists and get the text messages. You're ready at the drop of a hat to tell the boss you've had a family emergency and head out on an impromptu cross-country odyssey as soon as the news of that next new bird hits your smartphone. Whenever anything avian that's even the slightest bit unusual shows up, you're there.

    Sure, every so often you have just the teensiest little tyrannulet-sized bit of trouble remembering birthdays, anniversaries, trash pick-up day, credit card billing dates, and the names of your children, but rare birds...you never forget those.

    You're the Rain Man of rarities, the encyclopedia of extralimitals, you erupt over irruptives, and you're deadly serious about casuals.

    But each time you surf to Listing Central, there's Stanley Stringer or Sally Shaky-Call, always two or three or fifteen hundred birds ahead of you in the list totals for the area, state, country, region, parish, patch, province, or prefecture that you aspire to own.

    Three words: It ain't right. No, four words: It just ain't right. No, five words: It just ain't ... okay, four words. You were there at the possible Great Black-headed Gull that turned out to be a Ring-billed with a bean dip can stuck on its head. You showed up at the reported Siberian Accentor site, knowing from the get-go that it was highly unlikely that there was a pair of them and that they were building a nest in the awning of a local strip mall. And that's not even getting to the real accidentals. You saw all of those. Every. Last. One.

    But you never, never, not once ever, saw Stan or Sally. Not at the Christmas Count, not at the bird club meeting, not on a boat, not on a train nor with a goat. You were there. They weren't. How on earth is it that they nudge you out, year after year?

    You know how. Go ahead, say it. They cheat. Cheat! Cheat-cheat-cheat-cheery-up-che-deedle-CHEAT!

    In most sports, they have referees. Heck, even dog or cat shows have judges. Until now, birders have had no one to make sure that we're all on the up and up. Enter the ABA Listing Police.

    A brave team of men, women, and incredibly lifelike cyborgs. Highly trained. And all dedicated to making sure that not only are our ducks in a row, but our flycatchers are in a column. And all our check marks are exactly where they ought to be.

    This spring, when you bird your local wildlife refuge, state park, sewage ponds, or rendering plant, expect to see them there, fearlessly confronting those who would count the less than certain or claim the not-quite-fully documented.

    Those found to be in violation will be penalized. Minor misidentifications will have their lists docked 10%. More serious frauds may result in fines, censure, shunning, and, in extreme cases, hat brim removal. That's right...your Tilly will be turned into a fez. Everyone will know.

    We at the ABA are pleased to provide this service. Gone are the days of simply knowing each other, having a sense of shared responsibility, and, in the final analysis, believing that each birder's list was his or her own and that it was ultimately all about fun and enjoying the beauty and excitement of birds.

    The ABA Listing Police. We're watching you watching birds.

Announcing the 2013 ABA Young Birders of the Year!

After six months of judging, five modules, and an inspiring number of truly impressive young birders, our judges have made their decisions. The recipients of the 2013 ABA Young Birder of the Year contest have been contacted and we're ready to make those announcements. So without further ado...

Your 2013 ABA Young Birder of the Year for the 14-18 category is 16 year old Ioana Seritan of Davis, California!  Congrats!

 

In the in the Age 10-13 category the winner was 13 year old Eric Hughes of Pottstown, Pennsylvania!  Way to go, Eric!

 

 

Winning contestants receive prizes donated from numerous birding-related businesses and organizations with Ioana and Eric, as the top finishers in each age group, winning a pair of Leica Trinovid 8x42 binoculars. Congratulations to everyone who participated in this prestigious competition.

You can see a list of all of the module winners at the Eyrie, the ABA's young birder blog.  In fact, please go over there as there is some great stuff from our two winners already published.

In the coming week stay tuned to the Eyrie to see additional excerpts from the winning entries, interviews with the winners, and more.

For more information about this year's contest or the 2014 YBY Contest, contact the American Birding Association headquarters at (800) 850-2473 or (719) 578-9703, e-mail bstewart AT aba.org, or look for contest details online at http://www.aba.org/yby.

 

Enjoy Online Content for Birding!

As you read this today, we are wrapping up production of the March/April 2013 issue of Birding. It’ll be off to the printers soon, and then in your mailboxes. So please stand by!

In the meantime, we want to make sure that you’re enjoying the full, multi-media experience that Birding has become in the past year. More than half the magazine’s content is now online, and that includes password-protected content only for members.

So while you’re waiting for your March/April 2013 issue, we hope you’ll take the time to review all the permanently archived online content in the January/February 2013 issue. Please bookmark the site:

http://aba.org/birding

In addition to all the content for the January/February issue, you’ll see links at the top of the page to Birding Online content in the four previous issues: November 2012, September 2012, July 2012, and May 2012.

If you wish, you can go straight to a directory of password-protected members-only content for the January/February 2013, November 2012, and September 2012 issues of Birding.

Finally, selected archived content for older issues dating back to 2001 is available through the online Birding archives.

We want your feedback! If you have questions, suggestions, or corrections, please contact Birding Editor Ted Floyd: tfloyd AT aba.org