Contributing to Iowa Bird Life

Iowa Bird Life, the quarterly scientific journal of the Iowa Ornithologists' Union, is the publication that archives information about Iowa's birds and its birders for generations to come. It features seasonal comprehensive reports of Iowa bird sightings, notes and articles on rare and unusual birds, Christmas Bird Count summaries, profiles of many Iowa birders, bird-finding guides, articles of general birding interest, original research, and IOU business.

Logged in members may click on the most recent cover to access the latest issue. Previous years, since the first issue printed in 1931, have been digitized and are in the Ann Barker Memorial Library. Logged in members will have access to the previous two years.

Articles and photos related to birds and birding in Iowa are welcomed by the editor. These include short notes on rare birds seen and more comprehensive research articles of interest. Original manuscripts, notes, letters (indicate if for publication), editorials, and other material relating to birds in Iowa should be sent as an attachment in Microsoft Word to editor using the link below. Research manuscripts should include abstract, introduction, study area, methods, results, discussion, and literature cited sections and will be sent for peer review. Accepted manuscripts will be published promptly depending on space available.

Photos and graphics: Members may submit original, unsized, and unenhanced photos in your camera’s JPEG (*.jpg) format through this upload page. Photos must be 300 dpi at the size they will be printed (6.5” wide by 6.5” high for the cover and various smaller sizes inside), so setting your camera to its highest possible resolution is recommended. The photo editor will do any resizing and enhancing required because any previous adjustments to the photos may make them unusable. Submit your photos through the members page. Submit graphs or maps as e-mail attachment to your manuscript to the editor.

Deadlines for submission are February 1 for March issue [Vol. xxx (1)], May 1 for June issue (2), August 1 for September issue (3), November 1 for December issue (4).