The American Birding Podcast

Welcome to the end of the July, the turn of the year as we heard into the second half of 2023. It’s also time, once again, for This Month in Birding, our monthly panel discussion about bird news and birds in the news. We're excited to welcome a panel of Stephanie Bielke, Tim Healy and Purbita Saha to talk rare birds at private residences, hummingbirds and alcohol, the most metal bird nests, and more! Links to articles discussed in this episode: Badgers and birds may be teaming up to steal honey Do hummingbirds drink alcohol? More often than you think Human-made materials in nests can bring both risks and benefit for birds Extinct warbler's genome sequenced from museum specimens Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Humans have loved birds for as long as there have been humans. And while many of us in the birding world stay a birder for similar reasons, every birder, bird-watcher or bird enthusiasts has their own path to this world, to this interest, and it is one that frequently leads to a greater appreciation of love of the natural world more generally. Alyssa Bardy has a unique take on that journey. Her’s is a story of indigenous reconnection and revitalization though birds, nature-study, and photography.  Also, what do Canadian wildfires mean for the birds that breed there? Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The connections between weather and birds seem both obvious and arcane to many birders. This is especially true in this time of global warming, when weather seems particularly wonky. This summer the globe is experiencing El Niño, a warm phase in the Pacific that causes all sorts of strange things. But what does that mean for birds? To help answer that complicated question, we welcome our friend Alvaro Jaramillo, one of the hosts of the Life List podcast, a pelagic operator with Alvaro’s Adventures, and the author of many bird books. Plus, the AOS changes are out and we welcome back Western Flycatcher.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It is an inevitability that as a birder ages, they lose the ability to hear some birds, particularly those with high pitched songs and calls. It is a struggle that nature recordist Lang Elliot has dealt with for decades, but he offers, with the help of modern technology, a solution of sorts called Hear Birds Again. Lang has also written an article introducing this new product in the July 2023 issue of Birding magazine.  Also, does Merlin really help in a Breeding Bird Survey? FInally we have data! Sort of.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It’s the end of June and that means it’s time for This Month in Birding, where we round up a panel of interesting and thoughtful birding friends to round up the latest birding news from around the ABA Area and beyond. Here in the northern hemisphere, June has the longest days of the year, and we might just have the longest episode of the podcast with the sort of items we have to discuss today. We welcome Gabriel Foley, Sean Milnes, and Mo Stych of the newly resurrected Bird Sh*t podcast to talk about bird names, bird songs, and bird theft.  Links to topics discussed in this episode: Bird names as critical communication infrastructure in the contexts of history, language, and culture. When birds sing the same pitch they avoid singing at the same time Atmospheric pressure predicts probability of departure for migratory songbirds Hiding Seeds? It Depends on Who’s Watching Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!      

Birding magazine editor and all-around bird-knower Ted Floyd is back for another bout of Random Birds. He joins host Nate Swick, a big bird list, and a random number generator to create podcast magic. This session includes a smorgasbord of birds, with gulls, warblers, and finches all making an appearance. Also, Nate reports on the latest ABA Community Weekend in California’s Bay Area. 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!

Birders and bird enthusiasts are so fortunate that science writer Jennifer Ackerman so frequently turns her mind to birds. This year, she follows the critically acclaimed The Genius of Birds and The Bird Way with the new What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds. Owls have amazed and mystified humans for as long as there have been humans, and new research undertaken by passionate individuals has revealed new insights into these alluring, nocturnal birds.   Also, the story of a tagged Ferruginous Hawk in Ontario, Michigan, and beyond has capitvated birders.  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 split and lump season again, and that means that we turn to our friend Nick Block, professor of Biology at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. He's the person we talk to when it comes to predicting the decisions of the American Ornithological Society’s North America Classification Committee. It's another busy slate for this summer including a possible Western Flycatcher lump, splits to Northern Goshawk and Hepatic Tanager and more.  Also Black Birders Week wraps up another great year. And don't forget to sign up for our ABA Community Weekend in San Francisco, California, next weekend! 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!

On May 19, 2023, the ABA and the Academy of Natural Sciences at Drexel University hosted the For the Love of Birds panel as part of the Academy’s Cheryl Beth Silverman lecture series. If you weren’t able to join us in Philadelphia, we’re excited to share it with you as a podcast. Panelists Holly Merker, Anwar Abdul-Qawi, and American Birding Podcast host Nate Swick talk about birding and the bird community with moderator Maurice Baynard. Also, join Nate in San Francisco the weekend of June 17 for the next ABA Community Weekend. And don’t forget to donate to the ABA’s 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!

It’s the last Thursday of the month of May and that means it is time to bring on a panel of birding friends to talk about bird news and goings on on the American Birding Podcast. And it’s another excellent panel this month featuring Mollee Brown, Nicole Jackson, and Ryan Mandelbaum talking Lesser Prairie-Chicken delisting, fire loving birds, and bird safe windows among other things.  LInks to topics discussed in this episode: House committee votes to delist the Lesser Prairie-Chicken Incorporating pyrodiversity into wildlife habitat assessments for rapid post-fire management: A woodpecker case study 230K birds die annually by smashing into NYC windows. A new bill aims to save them. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!