Iowa Birds & Birding

Welcome to the Iowa Ornithologists' Union website. We hope you will find useful information in our site and will join in the fun of adding your important records to our data as we learn together more about our state's avian life.

News

Registration is now open for the next IOU meeting. Go to Next Meeting to learn the details and register. 112 persons have registered.

Did You Know -- that the Iowa Ornithologists' Union helps to fund a variety of projects related to birds in Iowa? These may include providing match money for habitat acquisition, projects to improve important bird habitats, publishing related to birding in Iowa, research projects, or anything else that meets the mission of the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. The Projects Committee has just completed another year of reviewing applications and making awards. View the list of what we've funded to date. These awards are made possible by your membership in the IOU, your generous donations, and memorials. If you haven't joined our organization yet, please do so and become a part of a great group of people interested in many aspects of Iowa's bird life. Also once again available, shopping through the IOU Nature Store to help us finance our many projects.

Our Other Important Sites

Ann Barker Library

A searchable library of past issues of Iowa Bird Life from 1931 - 2009.   This great resource was made possible by a bequest from former president Ann Barker and was created as a memorial to her.

Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas

The second atlas project is capturing data on breeding birds from 2008 through 2012.  Iowa birders enter their data in this application and everyone can follow the progress in real time. Be sure to check out the distribution changes since the first project in 1985 - 1990 with the overlay map.

Iowa's Important Bird Areas

In partnership with Iowa Audubon, IOU members have nominated and then provided data to support designations of IBAs in Iowa.  Continued monitoring of these areas are supported by data entered into the IOU seasonal field reports.

Hot Birds

Click on the "where" link to get directions from the gazetteer. Also check out our photos of current Iowa rare birds.

SpeciesWhereLast Date Observed
Whimbrel Jester Park 5/14/2012
Neotropic Cormorant Jester Park 5/12/2012


Latest IOU Poll

334 species have been recorded in Johnson County, the site of the spring IOU meeting. How many have you seen?
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  • 51-100
  • 101-175
  • 176-250
  • More than 250
  • Not sure
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