The American Birding Podcast

Latest Episodes:

06-14: Random Birds, Vol. 4, with Ted Floyd Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

Birding editor Ted Floyd is back and ready to remember some birds! He joins host Nate Swick to put their fates in the hands of chance and a random number generator to find some birds to talk about woodpeckers, wrens, and warblers.

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06-13: This Month in Birding - March 2022 Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

It's time again for This Month in Birding! While March is arguably the slowest month of the year for birding in the ABA Area, we haven't given the short shrift with this excellent panel of returnees. From Sonoran Join Venture, Jennie Duberstein, from Birds Canada and The Warblers podcast, it's Andrés Jimenez, and from Birdmodo and a thousand other fun sciency things, it's Ryan Mandelbaum. They join host Nate Swick to talk indigenous science, hardcore eBirders, crafty magpies and Daylight Savings Time.

Links to topics discussed:

US Senate Passes Bill to make Daylight Savings Time Permanent

Indigenous Conservationists track Vanishing Birdsong

Highly Specialized Recreationists Contribute the Most to eBird

Australian Magpies Remove Tracking Devices

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06-12: Winning for Farmers and Birders with Forrest Rowland Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

Forrest Rowland advocates for ecotourism around the world as a tour leader for Rockjumper and for ecotourism close to home with Landtrust, an effort to connect landowners in the west and outdoor recreationists in some pretty interesting ways. Birders get access to private ranches full of amazing birds and wildlife and landowners get to put their properties to work in an environmentally sustainable way. It's a win-win-win for birders, landowners, and the birds they are working to protect. He joins Nate Swick to talk about how it works and why people need more places to enjoy outdoor recreation in an increasingly crowded west.

Plus, it's March Madness and bird teams are succeeding on the court, if not in their logos.

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06-11: Secrets of Cemetery Birding with Danielle Belleny Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

In many many parts of the country, and the world, the most accessible greenspaces are cemeteries. And while they have a morbid reputation, they can offer lots of great nature opportunities for those willing to explore. Danielle Belleny is a wildlife biologist in San Antonio, Texas, a co-founder of Black Birders Week, and the author of the essay Lawn of the Dead: Finding Solace, Ecological Integrity, and Good Birding in America's Cemeteries, which will run in the next issue of Birding magazine. Her new book This is a Book for People who Love Birds is also due out next month. Also, some good new for a lovely birding site in South Texas.

Also, you can find lots of ABA folks at festivals this spring, including Nate at the Kansas Lek Treks prairie-chicken festival in April!

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06-10: BWD is Back with Jessica Vaughan & Mike Sacopolus Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

The birding world was shocked and more than a little saddened late last year when the venerable magazine Bird Watcher's Digest announced that it was ceasing operations. Famously founded by Elsa Thompson and Bill Thompson Jr in 1978 it was a real tent pole of the birding community in North America. But the exciting news is that the magazine will be back in 2022, rechristened as BWD and with many of the same people involved. Jessica Vaughn will be the editor and Mike Sacopulos the publisher. They join us to talk about the magazine relaunch and continuing the legacy of Bill Thompson III.

Plus, what being at 99 birds does to you.

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06-09: Eavesdropping on Birds with Tessa Rhinehart Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

If a bird calls in a forest, or a swamp, or a grassland, and no birder is there to hear it, did that vocalization really happen? The birds sounds we miss contain so much information about bird behavior and populations, wouldn't it be useful if we could hear those sounds surreptitiously. That's the work of Tessa Rhinehart, a researcher, birder, and mathematician at the University of Pittsburgh who trains computers to identify birds for science and conservation. Also, birders in Nova Scotia get a car company to overhaul their commercial.

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!

06-08: This Month in Birding - February 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Show notes

It's the last week of the month and that means it's time for This Month in Birding. And while February is the shortest month, we do not give you the short shrift with our panel this month. We're joined by Sam D'Jarnett from Always Be Birdin', Orietta Estrada from Amplify the Future, and podcast regular Frank Izaguirre of Birding magazine to talk about murmuration dangers, Rare Bird Alerts pros and cons, and a Black Birders Week temperature check among other things.

Links to topics discussed:

Birds Fall From the Sky in Mexico

Lead Bullets Stunt Bald Eagle Recovery

Where Have the Rare Bird Alerts Gone?

Conspiracy Theorists Cause Texas Butterfly and Birding Site to Close

Amplify the Future Birders Scholarship Fund

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06-07: Climate Science and the CBC with Sarah Saunders & Geoff LeBaron Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

There is no question that climate change is having an impact on bird populations, but dig a little deeper and you find a tangled web of changing weather patterns, land use, habitat loss, and the different needs of individual species and groups of species that make coming up with management practices a real challenge. But birds, more than most other taxa, have the benefit of decades of data from both professional and community scientists perhaps best exemplified by the Christmas Bird Count. Dr. Sarah Saunders and Geoff LeBaron are authors of a paper published last month in the journal Global Change Biology, on the effects of climate change on bird populations using nearly a century of Christmas Bird Count data collected by birders like you.

Also, birding makes the Super Bowl. Sort of.

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!

06-06: Birdability for Everybody with Virginia Rose & Freya McGregor Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

We have seen, in recent years, an increased awareness of the need to make birding welcoming, inclusive, and accessible. There are many many avenues to making a reality. Birdability is an organization that seeks to do so for people with a wide range of disabilities, from mobility challenges to chronic illness to neurodivergence. My guests are Virginia Rose, the president and founder of Birdability and Freya McGregor, Birdability's coordinator.

Also, if not Burrowing Owl, perhaps Manuring Owl?

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06-05: Wildest Vagrants of 2021 with Amy Davis & Tom Johnson Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

We might be well into 2022, but it's not too late to look back at the previous year in bird and birding phenomena. While the year started slowly, it built into an exceptional one for rare birds, with amazing individuals and stories that captivated birders across the ABA Area. To talk about it we're joined by Amy Davis, associate editor of the ABA's North American Birds journal and Tom Johnson of the ABA Checklist Committee.

Also, have you been playing Brdl?

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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