Author: Agustina Torretta
The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird
As someone who works in the realm of Bald Eagle conservation, I found Jack Davis's book, "The Bald Eagle," to be an inspiring reminder of the tremendous efforts made to save this iconic symbol of America from the brink of extinction. The author engages readers with a wealth of information on the Bald Eagle's biology, behavior, and ecology. From their nesting habits to their hunting prowess, Davis paints a vivid picture of these incredible birds, fostering a deep appreciation for their place in the natural world. Read More
Guest feature | A canopy net for Cameroon’s rainforest hornbills
Fruit-eating birds of tropical canopies are often large, garish, and loud, but just out of reach for ornithologists. In 1993, my advisor, Dr. Tom Smith, trekked through the rainforests of southern Cameroon with Baka and Badwe’e forest guides hoping to learn more about the movement patterns and diet of hornbills—large, fruit-eating birds thought to be keystone seed dispersers of Central African rainforests. Read More
Guest feature | Bird Banding in central Argentina: the first effort to establish aging criteria using molt patterns and plumages
Scientific bird banding has been paramount for the development of ornithological research. In North America and Europe, the implementation of this standardized methodology in longstanding monitoring efforts (constant-effort bird banding stations) has provided deep insights into basic life-history aspects of bird species. In contrast, the southern region of the Neotropics historically lacked such efforts. This has delayed... Read More
Ornithological Council bimonthly news brief: Jul-Aug 2024
The Ornithological Council is pleased to provide this bimonthly report covering activities in July and August 2024. Over the last two months, Ornithological Council staff: 1. Met with the Chief of the USGS Bird Banding Lab, in a quarterly meeting to discuss issues of mutual interest. 2. Met with USFWS Migratory Birds Program Headquarters Liaison to Regional Migratory Bird Permit Offices, to discuss current permitting issues. 3. Continued work on a template field study policy for IACUCs to adopt. In response to many inquiries ... Read More
Terns of North America: A Photographic Guide
At 19 x 24 cm (7.5 x 9.5 inches), 202 pages, and covering just 19 species, Terns of North America: A Photographic Guide, by Cameron Cox, is not a field guide. Neither is it a handbook, as it generally lacks detailed quantitative data and literature citations within the text (but see below). In some ways, it resembles a coffee table book, and its abundant and uniformly superb photos reward even casual browsing. But it is much more than that. Closer examination of this attractive volume reveals that... Read More
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