Round Robin

The cover story in Living Bird Summer 2009—now free online—offers up a tempting prospect for listers: Your trip in search of Mexico’s endemic Tufted Jay just might hold the key to the species’ survival. Or read Stephen J. Bodio’s article about how pigeons influenced Darwin’s thinking on evolution, and never look at pigeons the same way again. Next time you find yourself with some unexpected time on your hands, take inspiration from Chuck Graham. He spent an extra six days stranded on California’s Channel Islands with little more than a kayak and a bunch of Xantus’s Murrelets.

Those are just the features. David Wilcove turns his conservation spotlight on the world’s albatrosses, hit hard by collateral damage from industrial fishing and the world’s appetite for tuna. Pete Dunne takes a whimsical look at cats that might be birders, and John Schmitt sketches a pond boiling over with Violet-green Swallows.

Lab members should be receiving their Autumn 2009 copies of Living Bird any day now. I’ve said it before, but I’ll just mention again for new readers how important—and easy—it is to join the Lab (watch the video). We’re a nonprofit organization that gets less than 1% of our funding from Cornell University. Memberships are a major part of the funding that we depend upon to keep going. Thanks to everyone who supports us – and enjoy the new issue.