The American Birding Podcast

As is our tradition, the end of the year means it's time for a look back at the best bird books published this year. 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 Zeiss Sports Optics 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! Donna's Top 5 1) Oceanic Birds of the World - Steve Howell & Kirk Zufelt 2) Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America - Rick Wright 3) Mastering Bird Photography: The Art, Craft, & Technique of Photographing Birds and Their Behavior - Marie Read 4) Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City - P.A. Buckley, et al 5) Ruby's Birds - Mya Thompson (author) & Claudia Dávila (illustrator) Nate's Top 5 1) Oceanic Birds of the World - Steve Howell & Kirk Zufelt 2) Peterson Reference Guide to Sparrows of North America - Rick Wright 3) A Season on the Wind: Inside the World of Spring Migration - Kenn Kaufman 4) Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America - Nathan Pieplow 5) ABA Field Guide to Birds of Wisconsin - Chuck Hagner

The ABA's 50th Anniversary roadshow rolls on, this time to the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival for another LIVE show. Our special bird-themed game show features guest appearances from Birds of North America's Jason Ward and Birding magazine editor and podcast stalwart Ted Floyd. Listen in for fun birdy games, Rio Grande Valley anagrams, real or fake bird mnemonics and an Eagles themed parody song quiz. We had a ton of fun and you will too! Thanks to Turismo de Lisboa for sponsoring this episode.

Many birders throughout the ABA Area have been paying attention to the ongoing situation in South Texas with regard to the construction of the border wall. So many of our favorite birding sites have been under threat, and the situation has been alternately sad and triumphant and frustrating. Filmmaker Otilia Portillo Padua offers her insight into the often fraught affair with Birders, a short documentary recently released on the streaming platform Netflix. She joins me from Mexico City to talk about the film and her journey from Texas to Veracruz through the eyes of birds and the people who love them. Also, exciting news about a hummingbird oasis in Arizona and thoughts about the recent Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival.

How many of you out there have dressed as a bird for Halloween? Many, we're sure! But there is obviously so much more that can be done in the realm of bird costuming, and Dr. Lisa Buckley has taken bird inspired cosplay to its logical extreme. In her day job she is a vertebrate paleontologist in British Columbia but on the side she has created Bird Glamour, eye makeup inspired by a whole host of birds. She's a singularly appropriate person to chat with on Halloween and she joins host Nate Swick to talk about how birds inspire a very unique form of art. Also, the ear-splitting White Bellbird and your bird costumes at the blog! Thanks to Turismo de Lisboa for sponsoring this episode.

The incredible variety of bird song in a morning chorus on a spring or summer day is a phenomenon that a lot of birders are familiar with. But even after centuries of study there is still a lot we don't know about bird vocalizations, especially the world of female birdsong. The vocalizations of female birds are frequently as complex and important to the lives of birds as the songs we associate with male birds, and it's only relatively recently that we've begin to really look into that. Dr. Lauryn Benedict, from the University of Northern Colorado, has been on the cutting edge of this science and she joins me to talk about bird vocalizations and other aspects of female bird biology. Also, Kirtland's Warbler is off the Endangered Species List and what is birding like after LASIK surgery. Thanks to Turismo de Lisboa for sponsoring this episode.

3 Billion breeding birds have been lost in the last 40 years in the US and Canada. These are certainly sobering numbers. This was the conclusion of a paper published recently in the journal Science, and the core of the 2019 State of the Birds report. This report, spearheaded by American Bird Conservancy, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Canadian Wildlife Service, and others certainly made waves among the general public as much as in the birding community, and it seems to have really resonated. Jordan Rutter, director of public relations at the American Bird Conservancy, and Birding magazine editor Ted Floyd join me to talk about this study, what it means, and what you can do about it. Also, the 2020 Duck Stamp has been chosen, and it's a really sharp one. Thanks to Turismo de Lisboa for sponsoring this episode.

All birders intuitively understand the value of birding, even if we're not so great as a community as expressing that value. Birding as a means for personal growth, and coming to grips with the changing world around us is an important part of why we enjoy this hobby. It's certainly a fascinating topic with a lot of rich veins to mine. It's something that Dr. Trish O'Kane of the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources has thought a lot about. Her piece Of Fledglings and Freshmen was published recently in The New York Times, and she joins host Nate Swick to talk about her program "Birding to Change the World" and how birding can be a salve in this age of environmental anxiety. Also, the most metal birds, and a few outstanding questions from a recent What's This Bird Live Q&A session.

The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season is underway with a handful of storms already named. In the last couple decades human meteorologists have gotten pretty good at predicting the strength and track of tropical storms in the Atlantic basin, but still less good at predicting the severity of any individual season. But as it turns out, that's something Veerys, the ruddy Catharus thrush with the swirly song, are quite good at it. Dr. Christopher Heckscher of Delaware State University made the connection, and using the behavior of Veerys as a guide, beat most, all, meteorologists last year in accurately predicting the hurricane season in 2018. He joins host Nate Swick to talk about this amazing work, and the predictive powers of birds. Also, some news on our upcoming live show at the Rio Grande Valley Bird Festival and some thoughts on what bird clubs can be in the 21st Century. Thanks to Zeiss Sports Optics for sponsoring this episode of the American Birding Podcast!

Located in the northeast corner of the ABA Area, the island of Newfoundland is known for its incredible rarity pedigree. But there's far more to this beautiful place than European vagrants. The city of St. John's is a gateway to unbelievable nature experiences, from seabird colonies containing thousands upon thousands of charismatic Atlantic Puffins and Northern Gannets, to the sight of dozens of whales feeding near shore, to caribou and ptarmigan on the southernmost tundra on the continent. Last month, host Nate Swick had the good fortune to explore part of it with Birding editor Ted Floyd, Birds of North America host Jason Ward, and The Birdist Nick Lund. Led by the inimitable Jared Clarke of Bird the Rock tours, they covered the birding hotspots of the Avalon Peninsula, including Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, Cape St. Mary's, and Cape Race among others, finding amazing birds and generally having an amazing time. Come along with them on this week's episode. Also, updates on the proposed south Texas border wall and a way for you to make your voice heard.

Fantasy Sports is big business these day, especially now that participants no longer have to do the work by hand. It's so popular that managing virtual worlds based on real world data has spread beyond sports. Fantasy Birding has become a obsession among a growing cadre of real birders, it has been featured in a number of general interest articles, it was lightly mocked on the NPR show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, and it's taken hold of a handful of my colleagues at the ABA. Matt Smith is a computer programmer and birder and is the creator of Fantasy Birding. He joins host Nate Swick to talk about the wild ride. Also, some potential changes to the Duck Stamp that seem to cause more harm than good, and Nate reminisces about an amazing trip to Costa Rica with an amazing group of young naturalists. Thanks to Zeiss Sports Optics for sponsoring this episode of the American Birding Podcast.