I'll be at the American Ornithological Society meeting in Amherst, MA from August 4-7, 2026! Come see my poster (date to be posted) titled Sex-based segregation of nonbreeding habitat in Neotropical migrants.

The Galbatross Project celebrated Female Bird Day during Memorial Day Weekend! Every year, female bird day is when we encourage the general public to go out and look specifically for female birds. Identifying female birds is the first step to understanding the biology of females. It is also a good chance to sharpen those bird ID skills as we rely on more subtle cues like body size, shape of the bill,  eye stripe, and the speculum patch of this female Mallard!

I participated in the Biggest Week in American Birding in Ohio as one of the keynote speakers on May 10, 2026. It was great to see Lake Erie, Magee Marsh, and a number of cool eastern birds! Of course of course, we had to get lifer pie at Blackberry Corners. There were so many Northern Yellow Warblers and Bald Eagles! Some of my favorites were the Gray Catbird and Northern Parula. A young birder told me his favorite female bird is the American Redstart, because her colors are gray and yellow – a totally different look from the male's black and orange – but no less recognizable. I loved seeing American Redstarts even more after that.

Members of the Galbatross Project and I looked through 1,000 photos submitted to the Audubon Photography Award's Female Bird Prize and met in April to decide the winner! The official winner will be announced in early September. In the meantime, please enjoy 2025's winner, a serene female Chipping Sparrow, and past years' awardees and runner-ups. The Chipping Sparrow was one of the first species where we used behavioral cues for a sex identification. If you see a Chipping Sparrow holding nesting material, it’s almost certainly a female.