The irony of writing a story about 45-kilogram cassowaries—with forelimbs as small as those of chickens—for a blog called Wing Beat is not lost upon me. My coauthors and I are particularly excited to publish a paper for Ornithology about these flightless birds, as it seems most of the researched avian species in this journal are no larger than a mango.
The American Ornithological Society (AOS) welcomes and congratulates the 2025 classes of AOS Fellows and Elective Members. Individuals are elected to these special membership classes in recognition of their exceptional and sustained contributions to ornithology and to the AOS. Congratulations to our newest members of these esteemed groups! 2025 AOS Elective Members Marcella D.Baiz Mary …
Nominations are now open for the American Ornithological Society’s (AOS) 2026 Council, Classes of Fellows and Elective Members, and various Society awards. You can help make the AOS stronger by participating in these important annual elections for leadership roles within our Society and by recognizing the achievements of our members.
The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is excited to announce a Call for Papers for the current cycle of the Wesley Lanyon Award, a publication award for the best review paper authored by an early-career researcher. The 2027 Wesley Lanyon Award will be selected from eligible review papers published in 2025 or 2026. It will provide …
The American Ornithological Society (AOS) journals, Ornithology and Ornithological Applications, are excited to announce a new Peer Editing Program that provides English-language editing assistance for AOS members whose primary language is not English.
We’re thrilled to announce the winners of the 2025 American Ornithological Society (AOS) Council election. The AOS Council is the Society’s governing body, made up of member volunteers.
“Over the past few years, the AOS has become my primary scientific society and it has played a big role in my professional growth by providing me with a lot of skills as well as a forum to make meaningful contributions.”
Biologists with the former Falcon Research Group had been studying these charismatic birds since the mid-1980s in the state of Washington, but it wasn’t until the winter of 1996–1997 that they first captured an unusual B. jamaicensis with a strange, elongated beak.
Being a fledgling is difficult—and dangerous. The vast majority (~80 percent) of young birds do not survive this stage, succumbing to predation or starvation. What might give a vulnerable fledgling a head start when leaving the nest? Once they leave, how far do they move between their hatch sites and first breeding sites, and why?
The AOS bestows Student Presentation Awards on students at all levels (undergraduate, masters, and doctoral) who present outstanding posters or oral presentations at our annual meeting. This year, the Society presented nine awards and 10 honorable mentions to deserving students at the AOS 2025 meeting in St. Louis, Missouri.
