Birding News and Features

The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State – published!

by Kimberley Corwin

What a time for celebration for New York’s birders! The long-awaited volume, The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State, edited by Kevin J. McGowan and Kimberley Corwin, is published. As copies of the book make their way into the hands of birders across the state, such exuberant words such as these from Angus Wilson have been heard: “This morning the [book] landed on my doorstep with a resounding thump! At 696 pages, it is much heftier and more solidly produced than I was expecting. Clearly, the book is a treasure-trove of information and of considerable interest to all NYS birders.”

Report on the Twelfth Annual Muckrace

74 birders participated in the twelfth annual Montezuma Muckrace, held Friday and Saturday, September 12-13, at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex in Cayuga, Wayne, and Seneca counties.  The 20 teams tallied 186 species during the 24-hour event, only two fewer than the record 188 species recorded in 2006, up from 177 in 2007.

In contrast to last year’s drought and low water levels, this year’s challenge was the generally high water throughout the Complex.  Friday’s more-or-less continuous rain did not bode well for participants, but shortly before the start time of 8PM, the rain stopped, and dry but extremely humid conditions prevailed for the 24-hours of the event.

Explore eBird data on maps: new feature!

eBird is excited to announce a new mapping tool that gives specific information about each record straight from the eBird database. Suppose you are interested in learning where to find a White-winged Crossbill on an upcoming trip to Wisconsin. Now you can just pull up the eBird map for White-winged Crossbill in Wisconsin and explore it via a Google Maps interface. Refine the date and location to display exactly what interests you most (e.g., February or Milwaukee County

only) and look for most recent reports which are indicated by yellow markers. Read on for more on how to use this new mapping interface and for a review on how to get the most of eBird's grid maps and its new point maps.

eBird Annual Report 2008

Winter has set in here at the Lab as we bring to an end yet another great birding year. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for making eBird part of your everyday birding this year, and to extend our thanks to our coworkers who have worked hard behind the scenes all year to make eBird the ever-growing, forward-moving birding tool it has become. 2008 has been a very successful year for eBird. Thanks to your hard work we now gather over a million observations per month--and it's still just a drop in the bucket compared with what's possible! We've seen participation grow across the continent, users have become better-informed citizen-scientists, and a host of new developments have been launched that make it easier for birders to enjoy eBird to the fullest! In this report we highlight some of these important updates and set our sights on an even better 2009!

Introduction to Differences in Crossbill Vocalizations

by Matt Young*

It can be quite challenging to differentiate and identify the calls of the White-winged Crossbill and the various “vocal types” of Red Crossbills. In order to find and identify crossbills, it’s essential to develop a familiarity with their flight call vocalizations. As one would expect, knowing when and where to look for crossbills is also quite important. For example, birds flying over are often the most vocal, and believe it or not, birds feeding atop a spruce or pine just 20 yards away can be fairly easily missed. When intently feeding, the sound most often heard is the very subtle crackling of the birds’ extracting the seed from the seedcoat. Also look for seedcoats dropping to the ground for hints to where they’re feeding.