On newsstands in time for fun winter birding: Our December 2011 issue

Posted Tue, Nov 1 2011 2:25 PM by Chuck Hagner

A warm sun is shining and the last leaves are still clinging to trees here in southeastern Wisconsin, but I don't doubt for a second that winter is around the corner. Last week's big snowstorm in the East demonstrated that -- and that's OK, because we love winter and the great birds that the season brings.

Gyrfalcon, the world's largest falcon, is one.

In "Ultimate Falcon," a feature article in our December issue, you'll read about the big bird's winter movements and hunting styles. You'll see the Christmas Bird Count circles in Canada and the United States that report Gyrfalcons most frequently. And you'll learn why Gyrfalcons from Greenland spend so much time each winter in a truly surprising place -- at sea.

Downy Woodpecker is another.

Writing in our December issue, naturalist Warren Uxley describes why, every December, Downy Woodpeckers depart the woods, their traditional habitat, and search for goldenrods along roads and in meadows and pastures. The reason is fascinating, but what's really great is that this is a phenomenon you can see for yourself. Warren explains how.

And then there's Snowy Owl.

If you like Snowies (and who doesn't?), you'll like photographer Johann Schumacher's article. What a story he tells! It's about a young female Snowy Owl that he and a friend were observing on a Long Island beach when a hostile Peregrine Falcon made a dramatic and sudden arrival.

Kenn Kaufman and David Sibley, our bird-ID experts, chose winter themes, too. Kenn shows how to tell Pine Siskin from House Finch and other birds, while David uses paintings of Greater Scaup to show how the contour of a duck's head (an essential field mark) can vary dramatically from the images shown in your field guide. This is information I can't wait to put to use in the field in the weeks ahead.

Also in our December issue…

Readers share their photos of Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Common Tern, Tricolored Heron, Northern Cardinal, Sandhill Crane, Great Horned Owl, Atlantic Puffin, Spotted Sandpiper, Bald Eagle, American Woodcock, and Northern Shoveler.

Local birders provide directions, maps, birds lists, and tips for great places to find birds in Merced, California; Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania; Pacific City, Oregon; and Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

We present news about a new place Barn Swallows are nesting, where Veeries migrate, and how people in Arizona banded together to assist wildfire-stressed hummingbirds, as well as the surprising conclusions of a study of displaying hummingbirds and a proposed reorganization of the AOU.

Perhaps most appropriately of all, considering that the coming winter weather may keep us indoors a bit longer, we also describe 14 notable books about birds and birdwatching (including three for younger readers), and interview two of the authors: Jonathan Alderfer, lead illustrator of the just-released sixth edition of National Geographic's Field Guide to the Birds of North America, and photographer Sharon Beals, creator of the beautiful Nests: Fifty Nests and the Birds That Built Them.

Thanks for reading. You can view the complete table of contents here. Please let me know how you like the issue. --Chuck Hagner, Editor

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