The American Birding Podcast

The sporting world is full of bird mascots. While there are countless eagles, hawks, and cardinals there are no, so far as we know, Belted Kingfishers. But that might change thanks to the efforts of students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This flagship university has a mascot vacancy that, according to guest Spencer Wilken, should be filled by our 2023 Bird of the Year. Spencer's story is featured in the April 2023 issue of Birding and she joins us to talk about the peculiar politics of bird mascots. Also, the bird flu pandemic hits California Condors. 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's no place on Earth like Colombia. One of the world's only "megadiverse" nations, Colombia boasts friendly people, stunning landscapes, and absolutely mind-blowing birds. In this encore episode, host Nate Swick and Colombian birders Diego Calderón (The Birders Show) and Eliana Ardila (Birding by Bus) travel through the Colombian Central Andes and explore what makes this place so amazing for birders, and how nature tourism is making a positive impact on the lives of so many people there. Also, a throw back to the very first episode and Nate's very first trip to Colombia. 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 have long considered the tyrant flycatchers, in particular the Empidonax species and Pewees to be one of the most difficult identification concerns in North America. Author Cin-Ty Lee and illustrator Andrew Birch seek to calm the fears of frustrated birders across the ABA Area with their new Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax and Pewees, out just in time for spring migration. They join host Nate Swick to talk about what birders need to know about this group of birds. Also, join us for an ABA Community Weekend! Our first one is in Toronto, Ontario later this month! 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!

Spring is in the air in March, at least theoretically across much of the ABA Area. And the last Thursday of the montg means This Month in Birding, our monthy panel discussion the covers all the important and not-so-important bits of birding news from the month that was. This month's panel features Brodie Cass Talbott and Sarah Swanson from Portland Audubon and aeroecologist Mikko Jimenez talking Audubon's name, Bell Bowl Prairie, and what to do about the famous Flaco the Eagle-Owl. Links to stories discussion in this episode: National Audubon Society Announces Decision to Retain Current Name U.S. birds' Eastern, Western behavior patterns are polar opposites Priceless Bell Bowl Prairie Demolished in Rockford Latin American and Caribbean researchers detail colonialism in ornithology Flaco, Central Park Zoo Owl, Tastes Freedom and Isn't Rushing to Return 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 is booming in Colombia helped, in part, by bird fairs and festivals held throughout the country for Colombian birders in addition to the increased interest shown by visiting birders from around the world. Last month, host Nate Swick got to visit the Colombia Birdfair in Calí, where he met Jose Manuel Martinez, a Colombian birder, and one of a team of birders putting on the event. He's had a front row seat to Colombia's fascinating rise as not only a birding destination, but a birding culture. Interested in traveling to some of the places we talk about? Check out the ABA's trip to Colombia later in 2023! Also, the California Spotted Owl finally gets endangered species protection. 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!

We are in a golden age of bird migration science, and birders can only wonder at the ways in which we learn about bird migration in the 21st Century. Rebecca Heisman's new book, "Flight Paths: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration" tells the story of bird migration research to the present, with all the amazing techniques and entertaining characters involved in figuring so much of it out. Also, the Kowa Scopers are our champions for Champions of the Flyway. 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 returns to join host Nate Swick for "Birding, Annotated". In the doldrums of early March, both Ted and Nate each took a birding outing to a local spot and return chat about it. Hear their thoughts on the coming spring, junco diversity, counting birds in eBird, the importance of the regular checklist. Check out Ted's checklist from Lafayette, Colorado, and Nate's from Greensboro, North Carolina. Also, the Dusky Tetraka is back! Or perhaps more accurately, no one was really looking for it. 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!

2022 was an exceptional year for rare bird sightings in the ABA Area, with no fewer than three first ABA records and an absolute avian smorgasbord of interesting and unexpected records from all corners of the US and Canada. As difficult as it is to choose the best, North American Birds editor Amy Davis and writer and teacher Tim Healy join host Nate Swick to attempt to do so, or at the very least, have some fun remembering the highlights of last year. Also, Nate is back from a fantastic trip to the Colombia Birdfair. 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!

February might be the shortest month, but that doesn't mean it gets the short shrift when it comes to This Month in Birding. We've got a great panel this month that absolutely adores as is appropriate for the season. Jody Allair from Birds Canada, Sarah Bloemers of the Bird Sh*t Podcast, and our friend Nick Lund, the Birdist, join us to talk about Steller's Jay splits, Hawaiian Island Restoration, the possible return of the Dodo, and much more! Links to stories discussed in this episode: eBird Exotic Species Update Steller's Jay Might be Multiple Species Lahua Island Restoration Efforts A "De-Extinction" Company Wants to Bring Back the Dodo 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!

You don't have to be a birder for a long time to appreciate that birds are capable of producing an astonishing array of colors and patterns, even those beyond what our weak human eyes can discern. Hidden in that avian rainbow are clues to bird taxonomy and evolution, which is the work of our guest Whitney Tsai Nakashima, a researcher at Occidental College's Moore Lab of Zoology. Also, can hummingbirds inspire robot drones? 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!