December 2008

Beautiful, bi-monthly BirdWatching magazine (formerly Birder's World) appeals to every bird enthusiast — from backyard birdwatcher to serious birder. Subscribers receive helpful hints for attracting and feeding birds, handy identification tips, photography pointers, info about where to find birds, superb color photography, and much more!
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Features
Cardinals in winter
By Matt Mendenhall
Why the most popular bird in America is thriving even where it's cold.
High and dry
By Brian Guzzetti
Amazing photos of kittiwakes, oyster­catchers, and other birds with an unusual home - a shipwreck on Alaska's remote Middleton Island.
Exotic Miami
By Mark Hedden
Parrots, peacocks, and other flashy fowl make Miami the best place to look for birds you can't count.
Window pain
By David Allen Sibley
The author of The Sibley Guide to Birds tells how he keeps birds from hitting windows at his home.
Hotspots Near You
By Jim Burns, Harry Fuller, Jim McCormac, Phil Jeffrey
Four excellent, easy-to-get-to places to find birds, with maps, bird lists, tips, driving directions, and more: Boyce-Thompson Arboretum State Park, Superior, Arizona; Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Willows, California; The Wilds, Cumberland, Ohio; Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
Boyce-Thompson Arboretum State Park, Superior, Arizona
Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Willows, California
By Harry Fuller
The Wilds, Cumberland, Ohio
By Jim McCormac
Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
By Phil Jeffrey
Columns
From the Editor
Extinction doesn't have to happen. What's needed is a few George Baileys.
Birding Briefs
Yellow-billed Magpies and West Nile virus, kestrel counts, and new research on McKay's Bunting. Plus, a photo gallery of rare bird sightings.
Birder at Large
The director of the Cape May Bird Observatory describes the Purple Martin spectacle in his backyard, and explains that you can see wonders from your own yard.
ID Tips
Kenn Kaufman, author of the Field Guide to Birds of North America, explains how to identify Canyon, California, and Abert's Towhees.
ID Toolkit
David Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds, describes how to use movement and proportion to judge the size of birds.
By David Allen Sibley
Amazing Birds
Founding Editor Eldon Greij writes about birds finding food in beeswax, clay, bones, and other surprising ways.
By Eldon Greij
On the Move
Migration expert Paul Kerlinger explains why the Hermit Thrush winters in the United States while its relatives fly as far as Brazil.
By Paul Kerlinger
Bookshelf
Twelve titles that belong on every birdwatcher's holiday wish list, plus two gifts you can listen to and watch.
New Products
Five holiday gifts: Polly Bobbing Head Wind Chime, Homestead Nectar Gem hummingbird feeder, Silver Pod camera and scope rest, Cavallini wrapping paper, and the Rufous Whistler shoulder bag.
Fieldcraft
This new section features a great photo posted in our online bird photography forum. In the first installment, forum member Rob Lavoie describes his photo of a flying Great Blue Heron.
From Our Readers
Your Letters
Ornithologist John Kricher answers a reader's question about how birds around the world are named.
Since You Asked
Ornithologist Julie Craves explains why bird banders don't need to band a reader's Barn Swallows and why kestrels don't hunt at night near stadium lights.
Your View
Four pages of stories and photos submitted by readers, including a mockingbird harassing a Harris's Hawk, and a pair of young Great Gray Owls in Yellowstone.
Resources
Ad Index
Links to every advertiser in the December issue.
Classifieds
Birding tours, events, bird seed, lodging, and more.
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