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The Case for Adding the U.S. Territories in the Caribbean to the ABA Area

10,000 Birds

The Hawaii vote made it clear that that the ABA Area is about political borders, not geographical or ecological ones, and the two Caribbean territories have long been part of the United States. The absence of the Caribbean means that ABA Area—and the ABA—excludes important aspects of the avian diversity of the United States.

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Best Bird of the Weekend (Second Weekend of 2011)

10,000 Birds

No doubt the weather has something to do with it; Rochester, NY may historically be one of the United States’ snowiest metropolitan areas, but we’ve been basking in almost vernal weather. Note that I only condone this treatment for the highly localized Atlanta Falcon. Don’t you agree?

Debeaking 164
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Why Are Red-breasted Nuthatches Irrupting?

10,000 Birds

Sitta canadensis isn’t just irrupting out of its far northern home but exploding southward, with reports in every southern state except for Florida, including birds on the outer banks of North Carolina, on Grand Isle, Louisiana, in a suburb of Atlanta, and on the Gulf Coast of Texas. Bird bloggers from Wisconsin to Massachusetts.