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The American Birding Podcast

Latest episodes

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Dec 13, 2018 • 39min

02-25: Birds at Large with Nick Lund

Birds are everywhere. They are in your movies and TV shows, on your sports team logos, even in your Google Street View. There is no shortage of ways that your interest in birds can manifest itself beyond time in the field. Maybe no one knows that better than Nick Lund. Nick is The Birdist on his own blog of that name and on social media, a frequent contributor to National Audubon and Ray Brown’s Talking Birds and works in outreach with Maine Audubon. He joins me to talk about birds in non-bird places, what he calls “Birds at Large”.  Also, I have enough correspondence to do a mailbag! And I talk a little about the new AOS Taxonomy proposals, which you can learn more about here.  Thanks to Land Sea and Sky for sponsoring this episode! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Nov 29, 2018 • 31min

02-24: Best Bird Books of 2018 with Donna Schulman

We're getting to the end of the year and it's time for a look back at the best bird books published in 2018. Once again, 10,000 Birds book reviewer Donna Schulman joins me to talk about our favorites. Donna and I each share our Top 5, including field guides, family specific guides, and narratives from well-known authors and publishers. Thanks to Space Coast Birding & Nature Festival for sponsoring this episode. Join the ABA in Titusville this January for great birding and fellowship! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!   Donna’s Top 5 1) Birds of Central America - Andrew Vallely & Dale Dyer 2) Birds of Prey of the East/West - Brian K. Wheeler 3) Peterson Guide to Bird Identification in 12 Steps - Steve NG Howell & Brian Sullivan 4) The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson 5) Belonging on an Island - Daniel Lewis   Nate’s Top 5 1) Birds of Central America - Andrew Vallely & Dale Dyer 2) Gulls Simplified - Pete Dunne & Kevin Karlson 3) Birds of Nicaragua - Liliana Chavarria-Duriaux, Robert Dean, & Robert T. Moore 4) Birds of Prey of the East/West - Brian K. Wheeler 5) ABA Field Guide to Birds of Oregon - Dave Irons & Brian Small
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Nov 15, 2018 • 32min

02-23: The Internet of Wildlife with Mike Lanzone

One of the more exciting aspects of birding and birding science in the 21st Century has been the reveal of a great many secrets of bird movements and migration, much of it the result of technology. Increasingly small trackers that are fitted to various bird species enable scientists, and those of us on the sidelines, to follow along, sometimes in real time, with where these birds are going. Mike Lanzone s the 2017 recipient of the ABA's Chandler Robbins Award for Conservation and Education, and he's the co-founder and CEO of Cellular Tracking Technologies, the people who develop the devices and figure out the best way to use them. He joins host Nate Swick to talk about how it all works and what amazing things he has planned.  Also, the 2018 ABA Awards recipients are out, and they are an amazing group of birders, conservationists, and scientists. And Nate share some thoughts about that Central Park Mandarin Duck.  Join the ABA in Thailand early next year for Birding and Photography. Get more information at the ABA Travel! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Nov 1, 2018 • 29min

02-22: Birding By Bus with Marc Kramer & Eliana Ardila Ardila

It’s the dream of many birders, to travel the US and Canada by car for one entire year, taking in as much of the continent’s birds as you can along the way. It is the reality of Marc Kramer and Eliana Ardila Ardila, the Birding by Bus duo. They’ve spend the whole of 2018 crossing the country in their Volkswagen Westfalia and documenting the whole thing on social media to the delight of those of us who get to follow along. They’re join host Nate Swick from a stop at ABA headquarters in Delaware City to talk about their amazing year and where they'll go from here.  Also, Major League Soccer is pretty great for birds in a couple different ways.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Oct 18, 2018 • 31min

02-21: The Feminist Bird Club Story with Molly Adams

For many of us, birding is about community, and for retaining people in the hobby finding a group of people you like to bird with is as important as that first pair of binoculars or a field guide. Molly Adams of Brooklyn, New York, knows this more than most. In 2016 she founded the Feminist Bird Club, an inclusive bird watching club dedicated to providing a safe opportunity to connect with the natural world in urban environments. Molly and the FBC were featured in a New York Times article earlier this year about young urban birders. The group has only grown in numbers and ambition since then and she joins host Nate Swick to talk about it.  Also, Birds Aren't Real and other avian conspiracies, and ABA President Jeff Gordon shares a story of wonder and melancholy while birding on his bike.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Oct 4, 2018 • 35min

02-20: Fall at Cape May with David La Puma

Few birders would dispute that Cape May, New Jersey, is among the continent’s most storied birding locations, both in terms of birding spectacle and influence on North American birding culture. It feels like Cape May Bird Observatory, New Jersey Audubon’s center for bird research and education, has always been at the center of it all. CMBO has been doing research and outreach about birds and especially bird migration since 1975, and Dr. David La Puma is the current director. He and the New Jersey Audubon crew are hosting the Cape May Fall Festival later this month and he joins host Nate Swick to talk about that, as well as fallouts, next-generation bird research, and what it's like to be the steward of all that history.  Also, Nate shares some thoughts on his recent trip to Cuba, thinks about the USFWS's recently released Outdoor Recreation Survey, and catches up on all the rare bird news for the last 4 weeks.  Come join us at the Lower Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival this November! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Sep 20, 2018 • 31min

02-19: What is Birding Like?

Have you ever had to describe birding to a friend or family member who just doesn't get it? What analogies do you use? Is birding like a religion? A sport? An obsession? Guest host Greg Neise brings Birding editor Ted Floyd and young birder liaison Jennie Duberstein to bear on the issue in a rollicking discussion that tries to figure it out. Regular host Nate Swick in Cuba this week so no Rare Bird Focus, but stay turned for it the next time around. Thanks to our episode sponsor Rockjumper Birding Tours, proudly offering quality birding adventures, expertly guided by passionate and experienced professional tour leaders. Their 300 scheduled tours annually explore the world’s prime birding areas, including Colombia with the ABA next summer. You can help us out by participating on our listener demographic survey here. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Sep 6, 2018 • 33min

02-18: Photography as Birding with Keith Barnes

Birders in North America are increasingly keen to combine the somewhat separate skills of birding and photography, but around the rest of the world birding is pretty much synonymous with photography to the point where sometimes you don’t even carry binoculars. It seems strange to us, but it’s the way things are to birder and photographer Keith Barnes, who joins host Nate Swick to talk about how birders use cameras, tips for would-be photographers, and the way birding culture differs in east Asia. Keith is one of the founders of the bird tour company Tropical Birding, a South African expat now living in Taiwan, and he is the architect of the ABA’s Birding with a Camera Tour of Thailand early next year. Also, is a great list schism on the horizon? And listeners write in with tips for new birders that they wish they knew when they were getting started. Thanks to our episode sponsor, Land, Sea, and Sky. Since 1940, the optics experts at Land Sea & Sky to purchase just the right pair of binoculars for their birding adventures. This shop has hundreds of binoculars and spotting scopes in stock, an industry-leading 90 day return policy, and experienced staff to lend you a helping hand. You can help us out by participating on our listener demographic survey here. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Aug 23, 2018 • 34min

02-17: Out There With the American Birding Expo with Bill Thompson III & Ben Lizdas

The American Birding Expo is returning to the Philadelphia area once more next month. Running from 21-23 September, it is billed as “the world of birding in one place” and with exhibitors from 6 continents that is a pretty fair description. Expo-runners, Bill Thompson III and Ben Lizdas join me to talk about the Expo and what birders can expect in the way of exhibitors, workshops and keynoters. In addition to running the Expo, Bill is the editor of BirdWatcher’s Digest, and Ben runs the new optics retailer Redstart Birding. They are also the co-hosts of the podcast “Out There With the Birds", and we cover it all from the Global Big Year Challenge (tm) to the joys of matching people with the perfect pair of binoculars.  Plus, the feral cat problem and a bright spot thanks to our friends at the American Bird Conservancy.  Thanks to episode sponsor, the Partnership for International Birding, combining 200 scheduled tours to destinations around the world with unmatched support for local bird conservation. You can help us out by participating on our listener demographic survey here. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
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Aug 9, 2018 • 36min

02-16: Birding while Black with Drew Lanham

One of the issues that the birding community has been reckoning with for the last several years is our relative lack of diversity, at least in terms of black and brown faces in the field, and how we can encourage a broader coalition of nature enthusiasts to join us and to share the joy of birding. It's an issue that Dr. Drew Lanham has given a great deal of thought. Lanham is a distinguished professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, he sits on the boards of both National Audubon and the American Birding Association, and his memoir, The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair With Nature was published in 2017. Drew was recently profiled in the August/September issue of Garden & Gun magazine and he joins host Nate Swick to talk about his experiences as a black man who loves what he calls one of "the whitest things you can do".   Also, news from the border as birders are given another opportunity to make their voices heard on the proposed border wall that will cut off several great birding locations.  Thanks to our episode sponsor, Land, Sea, and Sky. Since 1940, the optics experts at Land Sea & Sky to purchase just the right pair of binoculars for their birding adventures. This shop has hundreds of binoculars and spotting scopes in stock, an industry-leading 90 day return policy, and experienced staff to lend you a helping hand.

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