What’s New in Ornithology?
Left: A Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis) stretches its wings in the surf at Año Nuevo State Park. Right: A volunteer with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory checks the primaries of a Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) mistnetted at the Coyote Creek Field Station (CCFS).
Photo credit: Maya Xu.
Last updated: 01/26/2026
A volunteer at CCFS holds up an Anna’s Hummingbird (Calypte anna).
Photo credit: Maya Xu.
Birds are some of the best-studied organisms in the world, but this means that every day, there’s a flood of papers that come out all over the world!
We’ve started this page as a way to filter through this literature for you, and to feature the publications of:
Researchers from the SOAR network
Research featuring new findings on California birds
Avian research that’s just incredible, regardless of geographic location!
Photo documentation of California’s first Slate-throated Redstart (Myioborus miniatus) in San Francisco.
Photo credit: Henry Chiu
Featured paper of the month:
First Record of the Slate-throated Redstart for California
Dominik Mosur and SOAR member Marty Freeland detail the occurrence of a Slate-throated Redstart (Myioborus miniatus) in an urban park in San Francisco from 29 July to 16 September 2024, establishing the first record for California and the northernmost for the species. The bird showed characters of the northern subspecies, M. m. miniatus. It may have reached this site as a late spring overshoot or possibly via a molt migration. This represents the 47th species of wood-warbler (Parulidae) recorded in California, and—remarkably—the 46th for San Francisco County.
Research from the SOAR Network
Here, we have recent papers published by researchers affiliated with the SOAR Network. Click on the citation under each corresponding image if you’d like to read more!
New Research on California Birds
SOAR and our partners are just one of many initiatives in California that are finding out incredible new details about our state’s bird life. Click on each citation for the full text!
New Bird Research from Across the Globe!
Amazing ornithological research is published every day across the world. Click on the citation for each paper if you’d like to read the original paper!
