The American Birding Podcast

For June, the The Month in Birding Panel consists of Mo Stych of Bird Sh*t Podcast, Brodie Cass Talbott of Portland Audubon, and newcomer Joanna Wu of Audubon. The panel chats about Black Birders Week, bird habitat as climate sinks, and the many amazing uses of googly eyes. Links to items discussed: The second year of Black Birders Week (05:03) Floating Googly Eyes Scare Birds Away from Nets (10:35) Bird Habitats are Climate Sinks (16:35) Birds Respond More Aggressively in Multi-species Groups (28:25) Herpers Move Away from Cute Names, Birders Lean in (39:46) Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's time for the American Birding Podcast Birding Book Club and host Nate Swick welcomes bird media reviewers Frank Izaguirre from the ABA's Birding magazine and Donna Schulman from the website 10,000 Birds to finally tackle birding's great contribution to world literature, the field guide. We start with guides to Mexico and Central America, popular destinations for US and Canada birders and a great place to begin the discussion about what makes a good field guide and who and what field guides are for. Help support the ABA and the American Birding Podcast by contributing to our Nesting Season Appeal. For the list of books we discuss, check out the ABA Podcast home page!

Early summer means that it's time to talk taxonomy, and that means Nick Block, professor of Biology at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. For the last several years, Nick is person we like to talk to when it comes to reading the tea-leaves of the American Ornithological Society's North America Classification Committee. We chat storm-petrels, bunting lumps, and the curious case of the Swainson's Thrushes. Also, there's no better time to sign up to run your own Breeding Bird Survey route! Help support the ABA and the American Birding Podcast by contributing to our Nesting Season Appeal. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

One of the dreams of the "internet of nature" was a device that birders could put in their yard that picks up GPS fitted and tracked wildlife, and maybe even identifies them when they pass over your home. That device is here and it is called Terra. Mike Lanzone of Cellular Tracking Technologies and birder and writer Scott Whittle, are the creators of this magic device. They both join me to talk about what it can do, and how it will change migration monitoring forever. If you want to contribute to their kickstarter, here's the link. Also, do you have birding enemies? Billy Baker of the Boston Globe thinks he does and Nate has thoughts. Help support the ABA and the American Birding Podcast by contributing to our Nesting Season Appeal. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Sean Milnes, Jordan Rutter, and Purbita Saha join the May 2021 This Month in Birding panel to talk about some of the most important bird and birding related news items of the month. Links to items discussed: Female Bird Day (6:56) Colombia boycotts the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Global Big Day (8:52) AOS moves forward on changing English bird names (17:25) The period cicada's Brood X is here and impacting birds (24:15) Chicago releases feral cats into the city (33:40) Estimates of bird populations mean there are 6 wild birds per human (42:35) And don't forget that Black Birders Week is next week! Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

In the United States, we're over 100 days into a new administration and five months into a new Congress, and our elected officials have been busy with some interesting environmental policies and legislation in that time. Interestingly, many of them impact birds. To chat about it, we bring back to the podcast, Tykee James, host of the On Word for Wildlife podcast from the Wildlife Observer Network. Tykee lays out what birders should be paying attention to, and talks about his new project, Freedom Birders. Plus, another Pileated Woodpecker story from Christy Esmahan in Austin, Texas, and a wild Wall Street Journal article about threatening Bald Eagles. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Birding editor Ted Floyd is back to play a new birder game we're calling "Random Birds". Host Nate Swick has a list of birds and a random number generator and is ready to chat about whatever bird pops up. Nate and Ted chat about Snow Geese, Red Knots, Bobolinks, Blue Grosbeaks and more. Also, some birds in the news! California Condors and Vaux's Swifts invading homes in California. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Hummingbirds, perhaps more than any other bird family in the world, seem to elicit a strange sort of mania, and this seems to have been true for as long as human beings have been aware of them. Writer Jon Dunn is one of the obsessed, and his new book The Glitter in the Green - In Search of Hummingbirds is part history, part travelogue, and part quest to see as many of the world's hummingbirds as possible, including some of the most iconic species on Earth. Also, another Pileated Woodpecker story from Lerena in Toronto, Ontario and Nate sings the praise of fantasy birding in spring. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The last Thursday of the month and that means it's time for the This Month in Birding panel. April 2021 is a special month because it marks one year from the 1st This Month in Birding, and one year since the podcast we went to a weekly format. We're joined by a panel of Birds Canada's Jody Allair, Orietta Estrada of the Birder's Fund, and The Birdist, Nick Lund, who come to talk about the AOS Bird Names Congress, Bald Eagles, big news for the Black & Latinx Scholarship Fund, and thoughts on the accuracy of nature documentaries. Links to topics discussed: The AOS Bird Names Congress Bald Eagle Mystery Solved Bald Eagle Population Estimate Black & Latinx Birder Scholarship Fund News The Problem with Nature Documentaries Audubon CEO Resigning Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

This time of year is a tough one for many birds, as they make their long dangerous journey from wintering grounds to breeding territories. The path taken by many sees them passing over or stopping to nest in increasingly urban landscapes. These landscape changes affect birds in many ways, some obvious, some more subtle. That is the work of researcher Lauren Pharr, a PhD student at North Carolina State studying urban noise and light pollution and their affect on birds. She's with me now to chat about her work, wildlife research in urban settings, and community science. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

There are a few lucky places in the ABA Area where parrots still fly free, even if most have captive origins these day. But these big loud flashy birds have a history and future than is perhaps more interesting than many birders might imagine and these feral populations can even give us some insights into the frequently threatened wild birds in Mexico and Central America. John McCormack, director of the Moore Lab of Zoology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, is one of the authors of a paper about how two closely related Amazon parrots in southern California more or less fit into the landscape together and he joins us to talk about it. Also, as promised, the link to sign up for the Bird Names meeting on Friday, April 16. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Migratory birds undertake some of the most extraordinary and exhausting undertaking of any living things on the planet, an endurance test made all the more difficult by climate change, habitat loss, and illegal hunting. Few know this better than Scott Weidensaul, a bird researcher, prolific nature writer, and the author of more than 30 books, mostly about birds. He first tackled bird migration with 2000's Living on the Wind. He comes back to the topic with a new book A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds, out this month. He joins Nate Swick to talk about the new book and the the limits of bird migration. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's the time of year when Arctic birds are moving south into the populated parts of the continent, and citizen scientists are there to meet them, trap them, and use cutting edge technology to track their movements. It's a testament to our interest in nomadic tundra birds that that could apply to a couple different projects, but this time around we are talking about Snow Buntings and the Canadian Snow Bunting Network. Dr. Emily McKinnon is a researcher at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and the administrator of this project that has found out a number of fascinating things about these consummate winter birds. Also, the ABA added three species to its checklist last month, each with a different story. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's the last Thursday in March and that means This Month in Birding. It's the first of 2021 that can officially, meteorologically, and birdingly, be said to be in spring, even if that spring is tumbling in like an awkward albatross landing. And to this first spring panel of 2021 we welcome three excellent birders Nicole Jackson of Black in National Parks week, Mikko Jimenez of Audubon's Migratory Bird Initiative, and Ryan Mandelbaum of the Finch Research Network and Birdmodo. Also, want to join the ABA team? Here's the info you need! Links to articles talked about in this episode: What does the Anthropause mean for birds? Winter Finches are coming back north The world's oldest gull discovered in Cleveland Philadelphia joins Lights Out Initiative Black-browed Babbler Rediscovered After 180 Years ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Spring is here and birders across North America, including new pandemic birders for whom this might be their very first spring migration as a birder, are looking forward to birds return. And to help them along, we're starting a new regular feature on the American Birding Podcast, an identification roundtable. This time we welcome Field Guides early spring ID challenges with a couple crack birders Tom Johnson from Field Guides and artist and ornithology graduate student Marky Mutchler. Join us as we chat waterthrushes, blackbirds, and strategies for tackling big groups of migrating birds. Also, it's March Madness and kudos to Creighton for having the best bird mascot in the field. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Birding editor Ted Floyd and host Nate Swick try something a little different this time around. They went birding, each in their respective neighborhoods, and come back together to talk about it. Join them as they wend their way through sparrows, crows, and Bushtits of their homes, with a detour into gannets and gulls (which neither saw). It's birding, annotated. And in case you wanted to follow along, here's Ted's checklist from Lafayette, Colorado, and here's Nate's from Greensboro, North Carolina. Plus, congratulations to our 2021 ABA Young Birders of the Year, Katie Warner of Vancouver, Washington, and Joaquin Galindo of McAllen, Texas! ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

GPS devices have been a boon for migratory bird research, and it seems that every year a new species gets a turn in the spotlight. This year, it's the amazing Common Nighthawk's turn. Our guest this week is Elly Knight, a researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and the leader an initiative to describe the migration of Common Nighthawks, the subject of a paper recently published in the journal Ecography. Check out a picture of "Maurice" the fake nighthawk at our website. Also, the Meidum Geese fraud and why it feels like stringing, and a Pileated Woodpecker story from Charley Hesse of the Naturally Adventurous podcast. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's the last Thursday in February and that means it's time for This Month in Birding! We're pleased to welcome some birding friends to talk about the birding news of the month, and in this month maybe more than most, we need each other. February's winning panel consists of Jennie Duberstein of Sonoran Joint Venture, Jordan Rutter of the American Bird Conservancy, and Brodie Cass Talbott of Portland Audubon, who come ready to talk about owl ethics, the debunking of the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, bird extinctions, and more. Articles to topics discussed: Owl Drama in New York City's Central Park Is the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect a real thing? (plus the cool PPTE charts Jennie mentions) Extinct Birds were Not Declining Prior to Colonization of North America Leave your Comments in Support of Rolling Back Proposed Changes to the MBTA A Two-headed Grouse in Nova Scotia? ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

One of the most underrated bird stories of the last few years, has been the rapid decline of the resident Florida subspecies of Grasshopper Sparrow. In 2017, that population reached a record low of 75 wild birds, and many thought it would fade into extinction much like Dusky Seaside Sparrow before it. But a working group of biologists and conservationists led by the Fish & wildlife Foundation of Florida have stopped that decline. The foundation's president Andrew Walker joins Nate Swick to talk about how they did it. Also, congrats to the hummingbird heroes of the polar vortex, and some thoughts on "seen anything good?". Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The year 2020 was an especially difficult one for many of us, but for writer and birder Rebecca Heisman, perhaps more than most. In addition to the responsibilities of being the parent of a young child in a year of pandemic, she dealt with a cancer diagnosis that upturned what was already something of a turbulent year. Through it all, birds became, what she calls in an essay recently published at Audubon, a thread of sanity She joins Nate Swick to talk about her trying year and what comes next. Also, Pileated Woodpecker stories from Cecelia Dumois and Redmond Brubaker, and a congratulations to Wisdom the Laysan Albatross, a mother again at 69. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Pity the poor cowbird. Under-appreciated at best and outright hated at worst, the cowbird and its nest parasitic ways certain lend themselves to strong opinions. But it is a remarkable bird in its own right, capable of amazing developmental feats that allow it to fit into its very odd niche. Ornithologist Sarah Winnicki of the University of Illinois's "cowbird lab" makes the case for cowbirds, arguing that you don't have to love the, but you should respect them. Also, a Snowy Owl in Central Park? Uh oh. And another Pileated Woodpecker story from listener Jordan Leahy. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's This Month in Birding for January 2021, and we start the new year off with a panel as impressive as Lady Gaga's gigantic bird pin. Guests including #cemeterybirder Danielle Belleny, host of Always Be Birdin' Sam DeJarnett, and host of Fowl Mouths podcast Sean Milnes talk Audubon internal issues, condor recovery in the northwest, weird birdy presidential pardons and much more! Articles to topics discussed: Audubon in hot water Condors and the Yurok An MBTA presidential pardon Great Snobbery Birding with Gucci and North Face ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Long-time bird blog fans might remember Clare Kines and his blog The House and other Arctic Musings. It was was a familiar voice on the birding internet, with stories about the nature of Arctic Bay, Nunavut, on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. Clare is still out there as a birder and photographer sharing stories and images of a part of the world we don't get to see very often, and he joins Nate Swick to talk about his home north of the Arctic Circle. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The wide open spaces of the North American west are frequently spotted with signs of human industrial energy production. Oil and gas wells, massive wind turbines, and the like are impossible to miss and impact, occasionally significantly, the birds that live in these vast prairie ecosystems. Dr Janet Ng studies the effects of this industrial incursion into these wild places in the southern Canadian plains, and works with various partners to keep landscapes "hawky". Also the first batch of North American Classification Committee proposals are out with no mention of #birdnamesforbirds. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

John Kricher is well known by anyone with an interest in tropical ecology. He's professer emeritus of biology at Wheaton College in Massachusetts and the author of many books, notably Tropical Ecology and A Neotropical Companion, re-released as A New Neotropical Companion in 2017. His most recent book, however, is about birds and their behavior, appropriately titled the Peterson Reference Guide to Bird Behavior, and podcast regulars might remember that it was one of our favorite books of 2020. John joins Nate Swick to talk about his book and the nuances of science communication. Also, Nate fixes his finch anxiety and waxes poetic about the 2021 ABA Bird of the Year, Pileated Woodpecker. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

We didn't intend to make an episode this week, but friend of the podcast Jordan Rutter came to me and suggested that instead of the regular podcast we should do a special one where she interviews *me* for a change. So that's what we did. Enjoy and Happy New Year! ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The winter of 2020-21 is one the likes of which we have not seen before. It's a finch superflight year, with boreal grosbeaks, finches, siskins, crossbills, and more pouring out of the north and into places where birders can more easily experience them. This means that it's an incredible opportunity for us to learn more about why this phenomenon happens, and Matt Young has always been one to have that conversation. He is a leading authority on Red Crossbill call types and now the founder of the Finch Research Network. He joins host Nate Swick to talk about this incredibly finch phenomenon. ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's finally December of 2020, the month of annual superlatives. It was a pretty interesting year for bird books and we convene the Birding Book Club crew to talk about them. 10,000 Birds book review columnist Donna Schulman and Birding media review editor Frank Izaguirre join host Nate Swick to run down our favorites for 2020, including new field guides, books on bird behavior, and lots of fantastic narrative prose in both memoire and essay form. Find all of their lists here! Thanks to our friends at Buteo Books for sponsoring this episode! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Nate Swick is out of the studio this week so we're sending you a mini-cast to enjoy while he's gone. This one features a pair of ABA friends telling stories of great birding days, one high intensity and one low. First, ABA webmaster Greg Neise shares the tale of his epic Illinois Big Day run. Spills, thrills, and warbling trills take stage as Greg and his teammates race the clock and the previous record. And then, high schooler Hannah Floyd, daughter of ABP regular Ted Floyd, shares the joys of winter birding during a pandemic. You might expect either of those concerns to be hindrances, but that's not the case. While I've got you here, please check out the ABA's Year-End Appeal going on now. It's been a strange year but if the ABA or this podcast has provided you with any joy in 2020, please consider making a donation. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The last Thursday of November means it's time for This Month in Birding coming to you for the holiday. As Thanksgiving is the most bird-centric holiday on the US calendar, why not talk birds instead of eating them? Our panel includes Jody Allair of Birds Canada, Tom Johnson of Field Guides and Out Birding, and Jordan Rutter of the American Bird Conservancy. Topics discussed include: The continuing winter finch explosion adds redpolls. Looking for Red Crossbills Voter Fraud in New Zealand Saw-whet Owl trapped in a tree in New York City. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

We now see ourselves on the cusp of a change in leadership in the United States. A brand new administration will replace the current one in January, and we're already seeing people looking forward to what this means for birds, public lands, and conservation. Into that conversation comes Tykee James, who is, among other things, the host of the wildlife and politics podcast On Word for Wildlife of the Wildlife Observer Network. He joins host Nate Swick from Washington, DC, to talk about what we can expect in coming months. Also, a wild story about the on and off sale of Salineño Preserve in South Texas. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Despite being one of the most ubiquitous birds in the Americas, the poor Turkey Vulture is saddled with a mixed reputation. Sure, they look weird and eat dead things, but vultures are more than just nature's garbagemen. Katie Fallon, author of the recently rereleased Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird makes the case that vultures are not only important, but worthy of adoration. She joins host Nate Swick to talk about her hands-ons experience with these amazing birds. Also, the distant Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival is this week! Join birding celebrities for a game of "Harlingen Squares"! Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Birders and non-birders alike love urban nesting birds. The drama of life and death in a place where you wouldn't necessarily expect wildlife is certainly appealing, and when a pair of American Kestrels took up at Cleveland, Ohio's busy West Side Market filmmaker and media producer Najada Davis documented their story, a project that became the documentary Kestrels in the Hood. He joins Nate Swick to talk about that work. Also, the pandemic has been good for bird songs. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's the last Thursday in October and that means This Month in Birding, wherein we convene a august panel of birders to discuss the news that we missed this month, or more likely saved till the end of the month because they're more fun to talk about with other people. The panel this week is, for the first time, all returnees, including #cemeterybirder Danielle Belleny, Birdmodo creator Ryan Mandelbaum, and Popular Science writer Purbita Saha. Topics discussed include: New Duck Stamp Rules put in place Cassia Crossbills at risk from wildfires Massive finch movement this winter Cemetery Birding is the new hot thing Gynandromorph grosbeak found Eastern Black Rails put on Endangered Species List Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

We are now in the 7th month of this COVID pandemic purgatory, and way way back in April of this year Birding magazine editor Ted Floyd and host Nate Swick had a conversation about what birding will look like during the pandemic. Well, here we are in October, looking at a long winter wherein COVID is still a concern, but at least we have a slightly greater perspective on what we know and what we don't about everything. Also, join Nate for Auk the Vote this weekend! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The Greater Sage-Grouse is one of the more bizarre birds in North America and frequently a flashpoint for conservation and land management concerns in the American west. Ashley Ahearn is a public radio and podcast journalist who put herself in the middle of that conflict to create Grouse, an audio series produced by BirdNote and available at all the usual podcast places. She joins host Nate Swick to talk about sage-grouse politics and what it says about the environmental issues we face in the 21st Century. Also, check out Jason Ward on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Rails are a mysterious and enigmatic family, often requiring and rewarding effort. Researcher Auriel Fournier knows that more than most, and her work with rails in Missouri has shed some light on how these birds migrate, and how they use the landscape when they do. Auriel joins host Nate Swick to talk rallidae and STEM outreach for women. This interview was originally released on August 24, 2017. Here's the link to Paul Riss's documentary Rare Bird Alert. Also, Nate has some thoughts about wildlife illiteracy and rare bird reporting. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Recording and identifying nocturnal flight calls has been a popular way for birders in the ABA Area to document migration, and has inspired an entire community to keep track of those tseep and chips passing overhead this time of year. The COVID-19 pandemic and stay at home orders all over the world have motivated a similar passion in the famously intense UK birding community, and birders recording and documenting Noc-Mig, as it's called, have made some fascinating discoveries about migration in Europe. Naturalist Mark James Pearson of Yorkshire, UK, is a relatively recent convert and he joins host Nate Swick to talk about it. Also, the Endangered Species Act is under threat in the Senate, and birders should keep their eyes open for proposed changes. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides.

It's the last Thursday of the month and that means it; time for This Month in Birding, a discussion about all the extra birding news that has been happening for the month of September. This month we've have convened a panel of old and new friends to help me make sense of this crazy crazy world we're living in, where at least we have birds. Environmental educator Nicole Jackson, The Birdist Nick Lund, and co-host of the Bird Sh't Podcast Mo Stych join host Nate Swick to talk mysterious bird deaths, waffle eating Wood Storks, a bird mascot for the University of Illinois and more. Links to topics discussed: Mysterious bird deaths in New Mexico. And the likely explanation. Christian Cooper's new comic. #BlackinNationalParks and Best National Parks for birding. Wood Storks eating garbage. University of Illinois has a new Belted Kingfisher mascot.

Most people perceive ornithology as a college course, one of those science electives that can get people into birding long-term. But what if we brought it down to high school and appealed to more students from more backgrounds? That's the goal of high school teacher Steve Maguire, who has been teaching ornithology in a Massachusetts high school for several years. He joins host Nate Swick to talk about his experiences. Also, a Migratory Bird Treaty update and Nate teaches you how to be a wicked pisher. Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides.

It's time for the American Birding Podcast Birding Book Club and host Nate Swick welcomes bird media reviewers Frank Izaguirre from the ABA's Birding magazine and Donna Schulman from the website 10,000 Birds to talk family specific guides. What are those, you might ask. We'll chat about identification guides or reference books that focus specifically on one group of birds, frequently, though not always strictly speaking, a family as defined taxonomically. Shorebirds, warblers, raptors, and birds-of-paradise are on the agenda. Thanks to Buteo Books for sponsoring this episode. You can find every one of these titles at their online store and ABA members receive at 10% discount on every purchase. For a list of all the books we discuss in this episode, please see the American Birding Podcast website.

The path to becoming a birder is as much as about coming to grips with what is happening to you as it is about finding increasing joy in birding. We all may end up in a similar place but our paths to that place are as individual as we are. Toronto writer and lecturer Julia Zarankin didn't mean to become a birder, but 10 years on here she is. She recounts this odd journey in a new memoir, Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder, out in September in Canada and in October in the United States. She joins host Nate Swick to about how she came to call herself a birder. Also, Nate wants you to normalize misidentifying birds.

It's the last Thursday of the month and that means it's time once again for This Month in Birding. This month's esteemed panel this month has more of a western bent, significantly pulling the mean location of panelists a little bit closer to the Mississippi River at least. We welcome Canada-based bird educator and researcher Jody Allair, ABA Young-birder liaison and Sonoran Joint Venture coordinator Jennie Duberstein, and host of the Fowl Mouths podcast, Sean Milnes. We talk Thick-billed Longspur, Audubon's reckoning with their namesake, the retirement of Ron Pittaway and his Winter Bird Forecast, and the word bird pronunciation mistakes. Links to topics discussed: Welcome Thick-billed Longspur A new beginning for the winter Finch report NAOC's online conference Audubon deals with John James's legacy

Birders on the mainland of the US and Canada have no shortage of options when it comes to field guides. Our friends in Hawaii, however, have not had such luxuries despite being home to some of the world's most spectacular birds. Now that Hawaii is included in the ABA Area, interest in the islands among birders is high, and the need for a good field guide was dire. Helen and André Raine have created just that guide along with photographer Jack Jeffrey, published as part of the American Birding Association series of field guide earlier this year. They join host Nate Swick to talk about it, and you can even win a copy with our trivia giveaway. Also, a virtual NAOC was pretty great and a Cedar Waxwing story from Chris Ortega of California.

If there's one thing that this year has taught birders, its how to appreciate your immediate surroundings. The cancellation of festivals, international trips, and even many local bird walks and meetings has encouraged us to be more present and local. It's something that Vermont naturalist Bridget Butler has been pushing for a long time as part of her "Slow Birding" initiative. She joins host Nate Swick to talk about how birding can create a connection to yourself and the place where you live. Also, welcome Thick-billed Longspur!

In 2020 birders have taken to the internet in droves, but the adoption of perhaps the history's most profound technological advancement by birders hasn't been entirely smooth. In all those fits and starts, one person who has been here since the beginning has been Mike Bergin. Mike's blog, 10,000 Birds, which he now shares with Corey Finger, has been a nearly constant presence in the birdosphere for almost 15 years. He joins host Nate Swick to chat about where we've been, where we're going, and what it's like to be a birder online. Also, Travis Audubon is hosting a Spanish for Birders virtual class to those who are interested.

Every bird organization on the planet encourages bird-friendly coffee, but what does that mean, why are there so many bird-friendly standards, and why is it so important for migratory birds? Dr. Ruth Bennett of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has the answers. She's an avian ecologist with the Smithsonian Bird Friendly habitat initiative which works to optimize bird diversity in commercial coffee and cocoa agro-forests. Hopefully her interview will have you rushing to purchase some ABA Songbird Coffee from Thanksgiving Coffee Company or any coffee from SMBC's list of shade-grown producers. Also, statue news we can all appreciate! And Birding editor Ted Floyd celebrates birding by camera, a modern phenomenon whose time has truly come.

John James Audubon is frequently referred to with reverence as the father of the North American ornithology, and has a public reputation that is nearly impeccable. He has birds named after him, the country's best known bird organization has his name, and is widely acknowledged as both a skilled painter and the best of the gentleman naturalists of the 19th century. But not so fast, says ornithologist and historian Matthew Halley, in a recently published article in Bulletin of the British Ornithologist's Club called "Audubon's Bird of Washington: unravelling the fraud that launched The birds of America". The product of 10 years of work, Halley's article blows the lid off of the origins of perhaps North America's best known bird book and he joins host Nate Swick to talk about Audubon's spectacular grift and his troubled legacy. Also, it's our 100th episode! The first 27 listeners to respond to [email protected] will get some American Birding Podcast stickers!

Birders are undoubtedly familiar with the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, at least by name, and recent proposed changes to that venerable piece of conservation legislation by the Trump Administration have environmental groups concerned about the long-term impacts on birds. Tykee James, host of On Word for Wildlife, a wildlife and politics podcast on the Wildlife Observer Network, and a government affairs professional joins host Nate Swick to talk about what the MBTA does and what birders can do to address these changes including commenting here before July 20! Also, thoughts on the AOS's McCown's Longspur announcement and Nate issues corrections. Donate the ABA's Nesting Season Appeal!

When it comes to bird conservation in North America, there are so many groups that need to be engaged. You've got government agencies from many nations alongside multiple non-profits all invested in protecting birds. But how do they know to coordinate efforts, to spread their influence, or at least, how not to get in each other's way? Into this space comes the North American Bird Conservation Initiative - NABCI for short - whose US coordinator Judith Scarl joins Nate Swick to talk about how they get it all done. Plus, another Cedar Waxwing Story from Tyler Wilson of Bend, Oregon. Donate the ABA's Nesting Season Appeal!