Record-Breaking Efforts Make 2013 a Year to Remember for Birdwatchers

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Madavor Media

Jan 03, 2014, 18:30 ET


(PRWEB) January 03, 2014 -- A pair of record-breaking efforts by birdwatchers top BirdWatching magazine’s list of the year’s most important stories about birds and birdwatchers.

The bimonthly magazine has listed the 42 most important stories of 2013 on its website: http://www.BirdWatchingDaily.com.

The first record was broken by a team of birders from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. They found 294 bird species on a single day in Texas, smashing the team’s own record of 264, set in 2011.

The second record wasn’t broken until December 28. That’s when birder Neil Hayward spotted his 749th species of the year, one more than the record, set in 1998. Sandy Komito, the previous record holder, was a model for a character in the 2011 movie The Big Year.

Other important news stories, as identified by the editors of BirdWatching magazine:

  • California became the first state to ban the use of lead ammunition in hunting.
  • Wisdom, Midway Atoll’s famous 62-year-old Laysan Albatross, hatched a chick for the sixth consecutive year.
  • Biologists in the Pacific Northwest started hunting Barred Owls to save the endangered Northern Spotted Owl.
  • Blue-footed Booby, a seabird rarely seen north of Mexico, appeared in big numbers in California and the Southwest.
  • Russell Greenberg, a tireless advocate of bird-friendly coffee and the director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, died on October 24.
  • And all-white Snowy Owls, birds rarely seen outside of the frigid Arctic, invaded the Great Lakes, the Northeast, and Atlantic coast, beginning November 20.

For details about the year’s most important stories, contact Editor Chuck Hagner at (617) 315-9160 or chagner (at) birdwatchingdaily (dot) com.

For information about BirdWatching, including editorial, subscription, and advertising contacts, visit http://www.BirdWatchingDaily.com.

BirdWatching is published by Massachusetts-based Madavor Media, which owns enthusiast magazines and web channels across several interest areas, from sports to music to surf fashion and culture. Additional titles include Jazz Times, Volleyball, Foam, International Figure Skating, Gluten-Free Living, The Writer, and GolfGetaways.

For more information, visit http://www.madavor.com or call (800) 437-5828.

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Twitter: @BirdWatchDaily

Chuck Hagner, Madavor Media, +1 (617) 315-9160, [email protected]