Since 1982, New Hampshire Bird Records has documented rare sightings, seasonal highlights, and the joy of birding across the Granite State. What began as a volunteer-driven print journal has now evolved into the Joy of Birding online format, featuring full-color images, searchable content, and the same trusted reports and stories birders have relied on for decades.

Enjoy this excerpt from an article originally published in 2024 by Becky Suomala, former long-time Managing Editor of New Hampshire Bird Records: 

“Since the Summer 1991 issue, I have been the General Editor of New Hampshire Bird Records. There have been huge changes during that time and I was reminded of them as I looked back at the early issues. There was no eBird when I started. If you wanted to know what birds had been seen, New Hampshire Bird Records was the only place to find out. We published each season’s summary along with all the bird reports that were sent in to NH Audubon (on 3”x5” slips) after entering them in a DOS-based database (computers did not have a mouse in those days). 

We printed out the issue and glued on bird cut-outs where we wanted graphics. There were no photos in the publication and no articles. The interior pages were color coded by season: green for spring, blue for summer, orange for fall, and white for winter. Drawings by Iain MacLeod and others graced our covers. The first photo cover was Spring 1997 of a Peregrine Falcon taken on the 18th floor of the City Hall Plaza in Manchester before they started nesting in the city. The first color cover appeared, thanks to sponsorships, in Spring 2005. We were able to add more color photos thanks to continuing sponsorships. 

Articles began to appear regularly with the Winter 1995-96 issue. They were popular and have increased over the years. As birding grew, the number of reports mushroomed and we couldn’t publish them all. When we switched to eBird in September of 2009, the number of spring reports jumped from 4,760 to over 43,000 in Spring 2010, and eventually to over 200,000! It was time to change the format again and convert the list of sightings to the narrative that you see today (which is the same format used for the season summaries when New Hampshire Bird Records first became an independent publication in Spring 1982). With the advent of digital photography, the number of excellent photos skyrocketed making for some wonderful images in each issue. We’re grateful to all the photographers who share their pictures. 

Long-time readers will remember that timeliness was a challenge from before I started. There were even six seasons that had never been published (Spring 1986 through Summer 1987). It seemed we were always running late and I was continually saying “We’re catching up” in my From the Editor piece. Finally, we settled on the goal of getting the publication out before that season started again the following year. It wasn’t until the Spring 2021 issue, after yet more delays from COVID, that we met that goal and have maintained that schedule since. Yay! Bob Quinn wrote up the missing seasons after volunteers entered the data, and we published them in 2006, maintaining NH Audubon’s unbroken record of publishing New Hampshire’s bird sightings since 1921.  

When I started with New Hampshire Bird Records, it was a free member benefit and funding was not always available to print the issue. I was surprised to rediscover that my parents, Nan and Ted Waldron, sponsored at least four issues so we could get them printed. We changed to a subscription publication (Spring 1992), but funding remained a challenge, prompting the establishment of the New Hampshire Bird Records Endowment Fund to provide long-term support for “bird sighting data collection, organization, utilization and publication, and the preservation of New Hampshire bird information.”

It has been wonderful to see the growth of the birding community in New Hampshire. There are so many more birders finding more birds and sharing them with each other. I have had a unique opportunity to share my passion for birds as I worked with New Hampshire Bird Records and the special community of New Hampshire birders. I look forward to seeing what exciting changes the future will bring. “

Today, New Hampshire Bird Records continues in its new online home, the Joy of Birding. It’s free and accessible to all—but we rely on your support to keep this resource thriving for future generations.

If you would like to read previous issues of New Hampshire Bird Records, check out our Archive.