The American Birding Podcast

Regular listeners to this podcast certainly know science writer Ryan Mandelbaum from their regular appearances on This Month in Birding. Those listeners who enjoy Ryan's wit and passion for wildlife will no doubt be exited to learn that Ryan has a new book, Wild NYC, a guidebook to nature observation in the United State’s largest city. While birds are this podcast's focus, the city's nature bona fides cannot be denied, and Ryan chats about the incredible geology, botany, and subway ferns that can be found in The Big Apple.  Also, the ABA is heading to the Biggest Week! We hope to see you there.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

A warmer and drier world means, unfortunately, a world in which wildfire becomes a greater risk. We know, all too well, the risk these fires pose to wild places, but there is surprisingly little we know about the risk to wildlife. That is the work of Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot, a researcher at UCLA looking at the impacts of wildfire smoke on wild birds and trying to answer a few of those increasingly relevant questions. Also, Nate is out of town and hoping to see Mississippi Kites.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

A deeply felt love of birds is something that can wind its way into all aspects of our lives. It is a journey that writer and pastor Courtney Ellis weaves into her most recent book, Looking Up: A Birder’s Guide to Hope Through Grief, published last year and now available in audiobook. She is also the host of The Thing with Feathers podcast, available in a lot of the same places you can find this one. Also, the recent news about the "de-extinction" of an extinct wolf poses lots of questions for conservation.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!  

Migrating warblers are heading back to our backyards and patches, and included among that wonderful diversity come the weirdo “winged” warblers, Golden and Blue, whose intermixed genetics have long been fascinating and confusing. We welcome Nick Block, professor of biology at Stonehill College in Massachusetts, as well as Matt Hale, professor of biology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, the authors of an article covering the current state of winged warblers, published in the most recent issue of North American Birds to talk about them.  Also, a Cuban dove is now the poster-bird for ancient biogeography.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!      

March 2025 brings another This Month in Birding featuring a panel of birding friends here to talk about the month's new bird news and get ready for spring. This time around we welcome Jennie Duberstein, Bird Joy Pod's Jason Hall, and Nicole Jackson to talk plastics in seabirds, new eyes on old maps, and the best bird to party with. Links to articles discussed in this episode: Fifty years of songbird maps take flight in new hands Plastic pollution leaves seabirds with brain damage similar to Alzheimer’s, study shows How a hummingbird chick acts like a caterpillar to survive Coming off dry January, these birds are getting a little drunk Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The State of the Birds is a report put out by a veritable who's who of bird-related non-profit organizations, with the goal of sharing the current state, both positive and negative, of bird populations and bird conservation intiatives in the United States. The 2025 report builds on on the last incationation of the SOTB, but unfortunately finds many of the same issues vexing birds and bird conservation. In a podcast crossover episode with Mike Braesher of Ducks Unlimited and the Ducks Unlimited Podcast, the ABA welcomes Mike, Amanda Rodewald of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Bradley Wilkinson of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to talk about the report, and what birders can continue to do to support bird science and bird conservation.  Also, the recent loss of birding lunimary Victor Emmanuel stung many in the bird world. We celebrate him here. For more, see Pete Dunne's essay on Victor's legacy on the ABA website.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Birding editor Ted Floyd is back for another edition of Random Birds. Ted and Nate talk about avocets, sparrows, and more with the help of a random number generator and a big list of birds. Plus, some talk about the brand-new National Geographic guides written by Ted Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Birders know about Big Data. We’re all familiar with eBird and the Avian Knowledge Network, but the Christmas Bird Count or the Breeding Bird Survey are giant pools of data that inform everything from conservation decisions to where to spend time tomorrow morning. But how can we use that data to encourage new birders or convince policy-makers to care about birds. It's something data artist Jer Thorp likes to think about. He is among other things, the New York Time’s first Data Artist in residence, and the creator of Bincoulars and Binomials and the author of the upcoming We Were Out Counting Birds. Also, a new discovery about bird brains could have huge impacts about what we can learn about bird intelligence. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

February brings an all-star lineup to This Month in Birding, with long-time friends Jody Allair, Nick Lund, and Jordan Rutter joining us to talk about all manner of birdy topics. The panel discuss the latest birding news including bird communication, low-impact journals, snakeskin in bird nests, and our favorite signs of spring, even if the season itself seems far off.  Also, our 2025 slate of ABA Community Weekends is up. Come join us this year! LInks to items discussed this month: Evaluating biotic and abiotic drivers of avian community mobbing responses along urban gradients in Southern California Snakeskin Isn’t Just a Fashion Statement for Birds Want to get a species protected? Publish in a small, niche journal Songbirds socialize on the wing during migration, study suggests Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The broader birding community was first introduced to Christian Cooper though the documentary The Central Park Effect, where he featured as one of eclectic crew of Central Park birders. Since then, his memoir, Better Living Through Birding and his Emmy-winning NatGeo program Extraordinary Birder, have seen his star only rise. His most recent project is a children’s book, once again focusing on Central Park called The Urban Owls: How Flaco and Friends Made the City Their Home, written by Cooper and illustrated by Kristen Adam. He joins me today to talk books, television, and what Central Park means to him.  Also, recent federal funding freezes and firings will likely have large impacts on birds and birders.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!