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Hawk “Kettle” Finally makes the Dictionary

Birders have a unique vocabulary, cribbed together from science, literature, and a thesaurus thrown at a Crayola Crayon box. But for many of our favorite words, there’s been little in the way of official recognition.

Take “kettle” for instance. A birder knows that using the term doesn’t refer to vessel for making tea (unless you [read more…]

How to Listen to the American Birding Podcast

Since we launched the American Birding Podcast late last year, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback about it, for which those of us who have been deep into it really appreciate.

We’ve also gotten a few questions about how to listen to it, and it occurred to me later that subscribing and listening [read more…]

Participate in Cornell’s Global Big Day! Coming May 13!

May is just around the corner, and it’s time for the Global Big Day, from our friends from Cornell and eBird. Participation is really easy. All you have to do is go birding for at least a few minutes, and submit your sightings to eBird. You probably didn’t need an excuse to go enjoy birds [read more…]

The ABA Blog’s Most Popular Posts of 2016

At the intersection of the old year and the new year, I want to publicly thank all of those tho contributed to the blog this year, from regular contributors to guest writers to those who work behind the scenes keeping the whole thing functioning.

The following are the 10 most popular posts published on this [read more…]

An Alaska Opportunity for Young Birders

This time of year Alaska is cold and dark, and hospitable only to the hardiest birds and the most intense birders willing to go chase them. But in the spring, Alaska welcomes returning birds with an incredible abundance of natural riches. The state welcomes birders too, particularly to the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, held the [read more…]

Winter Finch Report 2016: Here Come the Siskins

There’s no surer, and more anticipated, sign of the changing seasons that Ron Pittaway’s annual Winter Finch Forecast.

The focus of the annual “What to expect when you’re expecting irruptive finches” is always on Ontario, but Pittaway’s insights can be extrapolated to the rest of the north east and, indeed, much of the rest of [read more…]

The Pros and Cons of Wildlife Friendly Yards

I’d wager a significant percentage of birders and readers of this blog enjoy attracting birds to your yards, be it through a feeder or two or wildlife specific landscaping. It’s one of the great joys of having a spot of your own, and an opportunity to bring the birds to you rather than expend the [read more…]

Local Big Year Birder Helps Discover New Whale Species

This story isn’t about birding so much, but it is about a birder. If you are a birder or a naturalist active on social media you’ve might have seen the news that a new species of beaked whale, potentially dubbed Beradius beringiae, on a secluded shore of St. George Island in the Pribilofs. New species [read more…]

Happy 85th Birthday, Phoebe Snetsinger! Love, Google.

In 1981, following a cancer diagnosis, Phoebe Snetsinger started a journey that would see her travel the globe in search of birds, tallying a life list of more than 8,300 species (depending on which taxonomy one follows) before tragically dying in 1999 in a car accident in Madagascar. Her last life bird, Red-shouldered Vanga, had [read more…]

ABA Area Big Years In Progress: May 2016 Update

We’re about 6 weeks shy of the halfway point of 2016, and three birders are making significant efforts towards putting together an ABA Area Big Year that could topple Neil Hayward’s record of 749, set in 2013. All three birders have no doubt been buoyed by an impressive year in which a great number of [read more…]