AFO meetings | AFO-SCO-WOS 2024 joint meeting recap

Welcome! Between July 29 and August 1, 2024, AFO held its annual meeting jointly with its sister societies, the Wilson Ornithological Society and the Society of Canadian Ornithologists in Peoria, Illinois. Nothing like three full days of fabulous research, learning, and camaraderie to unite and strengthen our ornithological community! Plenaries and talks Each date began with […] Read More

The Birds that Audobon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness

"This is the most challenging book I've ever tried to write," Kenn Kaufman candidly admits in The Birds That Audubon Missed (371). As a reviewer, I empathize; it's also challenging to review. Wide-ranging in scope, it defies easy categorization, existing as history, biography, natural history, literary criticism, memoir, meditation, and travelogue, with frequent discourses on topics such as systematics and taxonomy,... Read More

AFO grants & awards | 2024 Bergstrom Grants recipients!

We are proud to present the winners of the Bergstrom Grants 2024! Did you know? The Association of Field Ornithologists has a fellowship program aimed at supporting field researchers at all stages of their careers, including non-professional ornithologists. Recently, AFO undertook a reorganization of its fellowship program. A mid-year round of the Bergstrom Grants was […] Read More

Guest feature | Birdsong and environmental stress: how a drought in a community science hotspot enabled a natural experiment

I awoke in my tent before dawn and heard the first songs of the day beginning to permeate the forest. My dog lifted her head and gave me a look of bewilderment that seemed to say, "these jabbering birds are clearly doing just fine since last year’s drought, let’s go back to sleep." As tempting as that might’ve seemed, I put on my boots and picked up my recorder instead. Less than a year prior, in the fall of 2016,... Read More

AFO news | AFO Member feedback on the decision from AOS to replace all eponymous bird names

Last month AFO leadership sent out an anonymous poll to our members to survey their opinions on the recent decision by the American Ornithological Society (AOS) English Bird Names Committee (EBNC) that all eponymous English bird names in the Western Hemisphere be replaced. Our brief poll was created to provide a formal opportunity for AFO members to provide input on this controversial topic, a step... Read More

Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build

This book examines avian architecture and specifically, seeks to explore how birds design and build. Whilst such architecture primarily takes the form of nests constructed to house their offspring, it also includes the bowers constructed by bowerbirds as part of their courtship displays, and the structures in which some species store food. I am sure that most people reading this review will be familiar with bird’s nests, ... Read More

Guest feature | Life history of the Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus; family Picidae) in Colombia

The Red-crowned Woodpecker, Melanerpes rubricapillus (Family Picidae) is one of the 24 species of Melanerpes, a genus found across the Americas and the Caribbean. This woodpecker species is commonly found in both semi-natural and urban environments, where it nests in dry branches, standing dead trees, soft wood, and large cacti. Both male and female woodpeckers are involved in excavating nests [...] Read More

OC bimonthly news brief Mar-Apr 2024

The Ornithological Council is pleased to provide this bimonthly report covering activities in March and April 2024. Over the last two months, Ornithological Council staff: 1. Released a revised strategic plan, which builds off of the 2006 strategic plan, updating and streamlining it. The revised plan was developed with input from the entire OC board of directors, which includes representatives of all the OC member societies. The work was led by a subcommittee of the board of directors. Read the OC's revised strategic plan here. Read More