From the Editor

Welcome to our all-new BirdScope! We've changed our look, switching to 100 percent recycled newsprint and web-press technology. This makes producing BirdScope both cost-effective and better for our planet and the birds that share it with us. The opportunity to show off birds in full color is icing on the cake.

We’ve made a few other changes. Former BirdScope editor Miyoko Chu has become the Lab’s director of Communications, and I’m going to try to fill her shoes as the editor of BirdScope. I’ve participated in a great many Lab programs as a member over the years, including several citizen-science projects, the Home Study Course, and the Sound Recording Workshop. Having the opportunity to work with the committed, knowledgeable people who make these splendid opportunities possible is an enormous pleasure.

John Fitzpatrick’s wonderful column, “The View from Sapsucker Woods,” has migrated to Living Bird, our award-winning quarterly magazine for Lab members. If you’re not a member, you can continue to read “The View from Sapsucker Woods” online at www.livingbird.org. The newly expanded Living Bird now includes more news of the Lab, while BirdScope focuses on news you can use to study, enjoy, and help the birds we all love.

Most issues of BirdScope will now emphasize a particular theme. In this issue, we’re highlighting nests. I started thinking about nesting as I walked to the Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity on my first day here in early January. A pair of Red-tailed Hawks sat side by side on a branch near the entrance. In the background, a Downy Woodpecker drummed and a Black-capped Chickadee sang his “Hey, sweetie!” song. It was too early in the season for them to be nesting, but with day length already growing longer, they were physiologically and behaviorally starting to prepare for the all-important nesting season.

Reproduction is arguably the most important activity of a bird’s life, and nests are as varied and fascinating as they are essential. The Lab has many resources to help you learn more about nests and contribute to the scientific database about them, including NestWatch, CamClickr, “Celebrate Urban Birds!,” The Birds of North America Online, All About Birds, and our Home Study Course. We hope this first full-color issue of BirdScope inspires you to delve deeper into this fascinating subject.

—Laura Erickson

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu