The American Birding Podcast

Latest Episodes:

06-24: 2022 Splits and Lumps with Nick Block Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

In early summer eager birders turn to bird taxonomy, and we at the podcast turn once again to our friend Nick Block, professor of Biology at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts to read the tea leaves for American Ornithological Society's North America Classification Committee and explain the latest in bird taxonomy. He joins Nate Swick to talk about new meadowlarks, Mew Gulls, and the House Wren MEGASPLIT.

Also, some thoughts from Nate about using Merlin on Breeding Bird Surveys.

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!

06-23: Black Birders - Embracing the Beauty Within Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

As part of its celebration of the third Black Birders Week, please enjoy highlights from the ABA's two-part panel "Black Birders: Embracing the Beauty Within." The panel session co-hosts are Sheridan Alford and Chelsea Connor. They are joined in the first session by Alex Troutman, Sharon Scott, and Scott Edwards, and in the second session by Alex Troutman and Danielle Belleny. Panelists explores such topics as childhood experiences with birds, how to pass on generational knowledge of birds, and whether things have changed since the first Black Birders Week.

For the panels in their entirety as well as links and bios for all of the participants, please visit the ABA website. Thanks to the panelists and to Black AF in STEM for putting on yet another great edition of Black Birders Week.

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!

06-22: Unraveling the Mysteries of Bird Vagrancy with Alex Lees Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

Finding birds in places where you shouldn't expect to find them if certainly one of the more exciting aspects of birding. In fact, it might well be the reason for the American Birding Association's very existence. The unpredictability, the excitement, the community that builds around these sorts of birds are certainly appealing even the mechanisms that bring them to these places are not always known. Alex Lees is a senior researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University and, along with James Gilroy, the author of Vagrancy in Birds, which attempts to answer some of those questions of how and why vagrancy is so prevalent in birds. He joins me to talk about this ever-fascinating topic

Also, a sad end to Monty and Rose, and a happy beginning for their offspring.

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!

06-21: This Month in Birding - May 2022 May 26, 2022

Show notes

It is the end of the month, and with it, comes the This Month in Birding panel. Because May is arguably the best month of the year for birding in the US and Canada we have a panel this month that attempts to meet those expectations. Mollee Brown of the Life List Podcast, Gabriel Foley of the Maryland/DC Bird Atlas, and Purbita Saha of Popular Science.

Also, wanna travel to Panama with Nate? Topics discussed in this episode include:

Language Barriers in Local Bird Conservation

Broken Wing Tactic More Widespread Than Thought

Songbirds More Colorful the Closer They Live to the Equator

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!

06-20: Gardening for Birds in Ohio with Julie Zickefoose May 19, 2022

Show notes

Julie Zickefoose scarcely needs an introduction. A prolific artist and an award-winning writer, much of her work is inspired by her home in southeast Ohio. It's the topic of a piece she has written for the May special issue of Birding magazine, Wildlife Gardening in Appalachian Ohio. She joins us talk about the satisfactions and frustrations that come from building a wildlife sanctuary and a little bit about the return of BWD.

Also, we've got a new Executive Director! And some thoughts on the Biggest Week American Birding has seen in 3 years.

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!

06-19: A Reference for All the Birds of the World with Brian Sullivan May 12, 2022

Show notes

Maybe more than anyone in North America in the last 20 years, Brian Sullivan has been deeply involved in things that birders do. He was one of the original developers of eBird, which hardly needs an introduction to listeners, and is now project lead of Cornell's Birds of the World. In the last couple years Birds of the World has absolutely become an essential collection of bird knowledge which is all the more amazing considering the scope of the project.

Also, Merlin's Sound ID is better than you think.

06-18: The Joys of Birding Maine with Nick Lund May 05, 2022

Show notes

Friend of the ABA Nick Lund has had a busy spring! He not only published his first book, but his first two books. The ABA Guide to Birds of Maine is the newest installment in the well-regarded ABA guide series from Scott & Nix, and The Ultimate Biography of Earth seeks to reach science fans of all ages with its fun text and colorful illustrations. Nick joins Nate Swick to talk about them both and whatever else they get to.

Also, turns out Nate had Covid, and he does not recommend getting it during spring migration.

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!

06-17: This Month in Birding - April 2022 Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

It's the last Thursday of the month and that means it is time for the American Birding Podcast This Month in Birding panel where we talk some bird news, share some sightings, and generally have a good time. We welcome to the panel this month Portland Audubon's Brodie Cass Talbott, the American Bird Conservancy's Jordan Rutter, and Birds Canada, Jody Allair.

Also, wanna travel to Panama with Nate?

Topic's discussed on this month's episode:

Can birds keep up with earlier springs?

Shakespearian Tall Tale Shaped how we see Starlings

Discovering New Species by Listening for Them

Multiple Lines of Evidence Indicate Survival of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Louisiana.

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!

06-16: The Secrets of Female Bird Song with Lauryn Benedict Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

The incredible variety of bird song in a morning chorus on a spring or summer day is a phenomenon that a lot of birders are familiar with. But even after centuries of study there is still a lot we don't know about bird vocalizations, especially the world of female birdsong. The vocalizations of female birds are frequently as complex and important to the lives of birds as the songs we associate with male birds, and it's only relatively recently that we've begin to really look into that. Dr. Lauryn Benedict, from the University of Northern Colorado, has been on the cutting edge of this science and she joins host Nate Swick to talk about bird vocalizations and other aspects of female bird biology.

Also, American Ornithological Society taxonomy proposals are out, and Nate hits some of the highlights.

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!

06-15: Building a Community of Birdstreamers Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

As interest in birding has grown in the last couple years, birders have turned up in some really interesting places, including the streaming platform Twitch. Dr WD40, Liz Clayton Fuller, and Ian Davies are birders who have figured out this live streaming thing and are using it to build a community of bird and nature fans in a seemingly unconventional place, and they join host Nate Swick to talk all about it.

Plus, if you want prairie-chickens, you've got to get to Kansas.

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!

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