We have special treats for you in our June 2016 issue, which went on sale at Barnes & Noble and on other newsstands today — a pair of articles written by Bernd Heinrich and Noah Strycker. Here’s a preview:

Bernd Heinrich

Heinrich, the acclaimed scientist, hardly needs an introduction. He’s a professor emeritus of biology at the University of Vermont and the author of many of our favorite books, including Winter World, Mind of the Raven, Why We Run, and The Homing Instinct. He lives on a wooded property in Weld, Maine. In our June issue, he describes how he deciphered the puzzling behavior of Great Crested Flycatchers he observed nesting near his cabin. The article is an excerpt from his latest book: One Wild Bird at a Time: Portraits of Individual Lives (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, April 2016).

See a gallery of photos of Great Crested Flycatcher.

Noah Strycker

And I’m sure you know who Noah Strycker is, too. He’s the author of two well-received books — Among Penguins (2011) and The Thing with Feathers (2014) — and in 2015, he recorded 6,042 bird species in more than 40 countries, setting a new global Big Year record. In our June issue, he lists his 10 most memorable birds and birding experiences from his Big Year. His descriptions and pictures will make you wish that you could have tagged along with him.

Read our review of ‘The Thing with Feathers.‘

Also in the June issue:

• University of Rhode Island professor Peter Paton writes about a place we would dearly love to visit but haven’t made it to yet — Great Gull Island. The tiny sanctuary off the eastern tip of Long Island is home to both the largest tern colony in the Western Hemisphere and the Great Gull Island Project, the successful 40-year-old research project directed by Helen Hays, of New York’s American Museum of Natural History.

• In “Hotspots Near You,” we present four great places to go birding. Experienced local birders give driving directions, tell the best times to visit, and list the birds you’ll see at hotspots in Washington, Colorado, Ohio, and New York. See every hotspot we’ve written about in Hotspots Near You.

• In “Birding Briefs,” we share important news about Barred and Northern Spotted Owls, the eastern population of Whooping Cranes, preventing bird-window collisions, and International Migratory Bird Day.

From our contributors:

• Pete Dunne, the creator of the World Series of Birding, writes about the brand of birding madness known as the Big Day.

• Julie Craves explains how to distinguish male and female Cedar Waxwings, how to keep wasps from building nests inside bluebird boxes, and why some birds might bury their eggs.

• Kenn Kaufman describes how to identify a migrant you may be seeing already — Warbling Vireo — and tells why it may soon be split in two, creating an eastern and a western species.

• Founding Editor Eldon Greij solves an owl mystery: He tells what enables Barn Owls to hunt with ghostly accuracy even in total darkness. See our archive of articles by Eldon Greij.

• Laura Erickson gives tips to consider before setting out nest boxes in your yard.

• And in “ID Toolkit,” David Sibley explains how details of songs reveal details of birds’ social lives. He illustrates his column with paintings of two noteworthy spring singers: Blue-winged Warbler and American Redstart.

See past ‘ID Toolkit’ columns by David Sibley.

The June 2016 issue of BirdWatching Magazine, containing articles by Bernd Heinrich and Noah Strycker, is on sale now at Barnes & Noble and other newsstands. The issue is also available on your favorite digital device.

Take a look, then please contact me if you have questions or comments. Or write a letter to the editor. I look forward to hearing from you. — Chuck Hagner, Editor

See the contents of the June 2016 issue.

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Originally Published May 3, 2016