Before we forge ahead into 2009, let's take a look back at 12 of our most memorable posts of last year:
• David Sibley found the first-ever Slaty-backed Gull in Massachusetts, but just barely.
• Scientists discovered the source of the chirp made when an Anna's Hummingbird dives: its tail.
• Who knew? California was once home to a flightless seaduck that is now extinct.
• Meet Matt Adrian, a bird artist with a sense of humor.
• Ernie chatted up Marie Read, Arthur Morris, and other photographers whose work we frequently publish.
• In April, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wisconsin named James Morgan its 30th Master Wildlife Artist.
• Chuck wrote about a new paper in Science that found that much of bird classification is wrong.
• In July, we said goodbye to our good friend and longtime contributor Tom Vezo.
• On the 100th anniversary of Roger Tory Peterson's birth, we interviewed his son Lee.
• Ivory-bill searcher Dan Mennill told us about his work studying wrens in Costa Rica.
• After publishing David Sibley's important article about birds hitting windows in our December issue, we presented information sources about preventing window strikes.
• California Condor recovery has reached a milestone now that free-flying birds outnumber captive birds. — M.M.