About the conference

The 2026 conference is a joint meeting of two professional societies, the Association of Field Ornithologists, and the Wilson Ornithological Society. The conference will offer a series of workshops, plenary talks by world experts in ornithology and avian conservation, oral and poster sessions by researchers, students and practitioners, as well as several symposia on ornithology and avian conservation. We will also offer training and career advancement events for students and early professionals.

Your sponsorship is especially important to a scientific conference such as ours. Academics, students, and professional ornithologists often have limited travel support for conference attendance. Your contribution will help keep registration costs affordable for many people who might not otherwise be able to participate in our conference.

Our attendees

About half of our attendees hold advanced degrees and the vast majority are involved in bird-related research at universities, natural history museums, bird-banding stations, non-profit organizations and state and federal agencies, with interests in conservation and the biology of wild birds. Our meetings also strongly support the attendance of students and amateur ornithologists, who account for approximately the other half of the attendees. We expect 150 people to register at this meeting; most of them from the US and Canada, although we frequently have attendees from Mexico, Central and South America

Location

Our 2026 meeting will be held at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. Located in historic Newport, along the gilded age Bellevue Avenue, and perched along the 3.5-mile national scenic Cliff Walk, the campus and city is an exciting and beautiful venue to talk about recent advances in ornithology. Local field trips are being arranged with our partners at the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.