08-15: Martin Migration Madness with Kevin Fraser April 11, 2024 Spring is finally on its way and with it, the promise of returning migratory birds to the United States and Canada. Among the first to arrive every year, and beloved among birders and non-birders alike, is North America’s largest swallow, the Purple Martin. With their chatty and gregarious nature martins have inspired so many people, one of whom is Dr. Kevin Fraser of the Avian Behavior and Conservation Lab at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. A migration ecologist with a particularly interest in neotropical m ..read more

April 5, 2024 Continuing rarities in the ABA Area include Berylline Hummingbird (ABA Code 4) in Arizona, the ABA 1st Gray Gull (5), now in Alabama, a Gray Heron (4) in Nova Scotia, and the continuing Red-flanked Bluetail (4) in New Jersey. In Texas, the Cattle Tyrant (5) continues on the upper coast, and Mottled Owl (5),  Bare-throated Tiger Heron (5), Brown Jay (4), Fan-tailed Warbler (4) and Crimson-collared Grosbeak (4) in Texas. Sustained easterly winds blowing across the North Atlantic over the last few days have brought an impressive variety of European vagrants to Newfoundland, i ..read more

08-14: Random Birds, Special Edition, with John Lowry & Ted Floyd April 4, 2024 John Lowry steps from the production booth into the host’s seat this time around to join Birding magazine editor Ted Floyd in a special Random Birds featuring John’s home state of Michigan and Ted’s old home of Nevada. They discuss a smorgasbord of avian trivia from the big middle of the ABA Area. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it! And don’t forget to join t ..read more

March 29, 2024 In continuing rarities, the Gray Gull (ABA Code 5), first seen in Florida this past summer, turned up again on the Alabama side of the border. Berylline Hummingbird (4) continues in Arizona, as does Red-flanked Bluetail (4) in New Jersey. And in Texas, the Cattle Tyrant (5), Roadside Hawk (4), Mottled Owl (5), Gray-collared Becard (5), Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (5), Brown Jay (4), and Crimson-collared Grosbeak (4) were all seen this week. The first potential ABA Area 1st record of 2024 comes, perhaps predictably, from Florida who comes into the new year as hot as they left the ..read more

08-13: This Month in Birding – March 2024 March 28, 2024 Beware the IDs of March! Shakespeare was no doubt concerned with molting grebes, singing juncos and the various other birding difficulties brought to us in this month when he wrote those words.  Jody Allair, Mikko Jimenez, and Purbita Saha join host Nate Swick this month to talk climate change and birds, skinny bird legs, and more! Links to topics discussed in this episode: The great eBird outage of 2024 To mitigate bird collisions, enforce the Migratory Bird Treaty Act As Spring Shifts Earlier, Many Migrating Birds Are Struggli ..read more

How to Know the Birds: No. 81, A Kinglet Assist from Merlin by Ted Floyd What: Golden-crowned Kinglet, Regulus satrapa When: Saturday, January 20, 2024 Where: Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park, Jefferson County, Washington We had walked nearly a mile without seeing a bird. We could hear them, though: the spooky utterances of a Canada jay; the mirthful cackling of a bald eagle somewhere; and the shrill flight calls of type 3 red crossbills. It was foggy. But the real “problem” was the vegetation. The glorious, luxuriant, landscape-shrouding vegetation: Photo by © Ted Floyd. We ..read more

The Fight to Protect the Birds March 24, 2024 A review by Donna L. Schulman A Wing and a Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal Simon & Schuster, 2023 320 pages, hardcover ABA Sales–Buteo Books 15331 We’re in trouble, and we know it. Bird numbers are decreasing at a scarily precipitous rate. Conservation, once as simple as convincing women not to wear feathers in their hats, has become a labyrinth of strategies for habitat restoration, predator reduction, and policymaking. A Wing and A Prayer: The Race to Save Our Vanishing Birds is a personal ..read more

March 22, 2024 Continuing rarities in the ABA Area include Berylline Hummingbird (ABA Code 4) in Arizona, Red-flanked Bluetail (3) in New Jersey, and Fieldfare (4) in Wisconsin. The ongoing rarity event in Texas Continues to include Bare-throated Tiger Heron (4), Roadside Hawk (4), Crane Hawk (5), Mottled Owl (5), Gray-collared Becard (5),  Brown Jay (4), Cattle Tyrant (5), Fan-tailed Warbler (4), Golden-crowned Warbler (4), Crimson-collared Grosbeak (4), and Blue Bunting (4). What we lack in quantity this month, we are making up with quality. One of the more spectacular finds of the ye ..read more

March 2024 Photo Quiz Tony Leukering Dodge City, KS greatgrayowl@aol.com Ugh! I know. Shorebirds. Ugh. Right? Nah! Shorebirds are fun! They’re challenging. Did I say “fun?” Yup. Challenging is fun! Challenging can cause learning and…. Oh, you guessed that learning is fun? Bingo! Spring is an easier time of year to deal with shorebirds because most shorebirds are in alternate plumage (aka breeding plumage) and are more distinctive then. Of course, many or most one-year-olds never quite get to high plumage, but these birds seem to be in fine fettle, what, with one sporting spanky new scap ..read more

08-12: More than a Lawn Thrush with Emily Williams March 21, 2024 What can we learn from one of the most familiar birds in North America? A bird so well-known that it’s migration is remarked upon by friends and colleagues who might otherwise have no knowledge about birds at all. The American Robin, of course, is ubiquitous but there is a lot left to learn. That is, in part, the work of Emily Williams, an avian ecologist at Georgetown University, currently studying the migration ecology of American Robins. She joins us to talk about what we don’t know about a bird everyone knows. Also ..read more