It's Leap Day! It’s not often that we have an extra week in February, but this month’s This Month in Birding marks the first time we’ve ever had an episode on the 29th of February. We are joined by Jennie Duberstein, Nicole Jackson, and Gabriel Foley for a panel that is as unique as this day to talk eBird streaks, landfill condors, brilliant falcons, and more.  Links to articles discussed in this episode:  One's trash is another's treasure: How landfills support Andean condors  Innovative problem solving by wild falcons  Yellow-crested Helmetshrike rediscovered       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!               

08-09: This Month in Birding - February 2024

Way back in 2019, we first spoke with Trish O’Kane about the Birding to Change the World program she had instituted at the University of Vermont, where she is a lecturer and environmental educator, because of an essay she had written for The New York Times. She's back 5 years later to talk about her new memoir, appropriately titled  Birding to Change the World, which recounts her journey from nascent bird obsessive to activist to environmental educator through the effort to protect a much-loved urban park in Madison, Wisconsin. Also, Emperor Penguin colonies are all accounted for in Antarctica, thanks to poop-tracking satellites.     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!          

08-08: Still Birding to Change the World with Trish O'Kane

2023 was an exceptional year for ABA Rarities, and few can remember a more extraordinary one in terms of both quality and quantity of shocking and spectacular rare birds in the US and Canada. As we do every year, we welcome North American Birds editor Amy Davis and educator and writer at The Nemesis Bird, Tim Healy, to share our favorites and draft the Top 10 (and a few more) ABA Area Rare Birds for 2023. Also, congrats to Peter Kaestner for becoming the first birder to see 10,000 species. 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!

08-07: 2023 Rare Bird Draft with Amy Davis & Tim Healy

The voyages of migratory shorebirds are cinematic in their scope; certainly an attractive subject for a nature documentarian. Randall Wood is the award-winning writer, director, and producer of Flyways: The Untold Story of Migratory Shorebirds, which aired in the United States on the PBS program Nature on February 7, 2024. He joins us to talk about the film, which focuses on the incredible journeys of three long-distance migrants and the researchers racing against time to preserve these birds and this incredible phenomenon. You can find the film at pbs.org/nature, YouTube and the PBS App.  Also, the  AOS NACC released their first batch of potential splits and lumps, with a lot of potential changes coming to the ABA 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!

08-06: The Drama of Shorebird Migration with Randall Wood

Birders use eBird to log their own personal lists, and to help find birds they would like to see, but the heart of eBird, the dream even of eBird, was to create a massive public database of bird sightings that can turn into opportunities to monitor bird populations. That is, in fact, what Harry Stevens, the Climate Lab columnist for the Washington Post,  has done in a new interactive feature at the Washington Post which takes a look at why bird populations are declining.  Also, Artificial Intelligence helps researchers get a bird's eye view.    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!   

08-05: eBird Analytics with Harry Stevens

This Month in Birding is back in the new year, with a panel of old friends to talk bird and birding news of the month. This time around, Stephanie Beilke, Jordan Rutter, and Brodie Cass Talbott come by to talk Mallard quasi-domestication, smart binoculars and more! Links to articles discussed in this episode:  Silent domestication of wildlife in the Anthropocene: The mallard as a case study  Swarovski Optik Launches the World's First Smart Binocular Missed Connections  Why do middle-aged people love birds so much?    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!          

08-04: This Month in Birding - January 2024

A disillusioned adman and casual birder, a mysterious ransom plot, and a conservation program for restoring Peregrine Falcons all combine in Mike Lubow’s irreverent new novel, The Idea People. Mike is a prolific writer and story-teller whose interests intersect with birding in his online journal Two-Fisted Bird Watcher. He joins us to talk about why birders make great detectives, even fictional ones.  Also, nature illiteracy strikes again in the form of  a bonkers proposed law in Kentucky.  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!

08-03: Two-Fisted Birdwatching with Mike Lubow

The 2024 Bird of the Year is Golden-winged Warbler--the first of the charismatic and colorful wood-warbler family to be so honored. This gorgeous Parulid has it all, stunning colors, an important conservation story, and a unique taxonomic conundrum with its sister species, Blue-winged Warbler. A lovely illustration of a pair of Golden-winged Warblers on their nonbreeding tarritory in Costa Rica graces the cover of the January 2024 issue of Birding magazine. The creator of this year's cover is artist and field researcher Natasza Fontaine! She joins us to talk about her Golden-winged Warbler memories and the ins and outs of this year's BotY art.  Do you have a Golden-winged Warbler story? Share it with us! Record it in the voice recorded app on your phone and send it to podcast@aba.org.     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!          

08-02: 2024 Bird of the Year Artist Natasza Fontaine

The decision by the American Ornithological Society last year to begin the process of renaming birds currently named after humans has been one of the more animating debates in the birding and ornithological communities in recent memory.  The recommendations for these changes were made by an ad hoc English Bird Name committee created by the AOS specifically to explore this issue. Irene Liu, Steve Hampton, and Alvaro Jaramillo served on that committee, and join the podcast to talk about their time on the committee, the discussion they had, and to dispell some of the misinformation that has sprung up in the wake of this big news.  Also, welcome to the the 2024 ABA Bird of the Year, Golden-winged Warbler!     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!                  

08-01: Inside the Bird Name Committee

This Month in Birding is The American Birding Podcast’s monthly round table discussion on all things birds and birding. This month features Nick Lund, Sarah Swanson, and Mo Stych talking AI and birding, light pollution, a tragic macaw love story and more. Links to article’s discussed in this episode: Artificial light at night is a top predictor of bird migration stopover density Researchers developing new technology to understand bird migrations A lovers’ tale of romance, fidelity and the aviary netting keeping them apart 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!

07-51: This Month in Birding - December 2023

It’s a holiday miracle! The podcast feature that was supposed to last one episode, lasted significantly more than that! Birding editor Ted Floyd is back to talk Random Birds. He and Nate cover lots of passerines and two different hummingbirds and ponder the mysteries of the random number generator that knows all.   The ABA wishes all of you participating in the 124th CBC a Merry Christmas Bird Count!  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!      

07-50: Random Birds X with Ted Floyd

The Birding Book Club is back again to do our annual Best Bird Books of the Year episode for 2023. With the holiday gift-giving season is right around the corner there’s no better time to give the gift of bird books to the birder in your life. And why not something for yourself while you're at it? We are joined by 10,000 Birds book reviewer Donna Schulman and Birding magazine media and book review editor Rebecca Minardi to talk about what we loved this year in bird books. Find links to all our choices at the ABA Podcast 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!

07-49: Birding Book Club - Best of 2023

If there’s one thing that 2020 taught birders, its how to appreciate your immediate surroundings. The cancellation of festivals, international trips, and even many local bird walks and meetings encouraged us to be more present and local. It’s something that Vermont naturalist Bridget Butler has been pushing for a long time as part of her “Slow Birding” initiative. She joins host Nate Swick to talk about how birding can create a connection to yourself and the place where you live. Also,  cicadas have unseen impacts on eastern forests and birds are to blame.     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!          

07-48: Secrets of Slow Birding with Bridget Butler

This Month in Birding is The American Birding Podcast’s monthly round table discussion on all things birds and birding. This month features Jennie Duberstein, Tim Healy, and Ryan Mandelbaum covering bird name changes, universal alarm calls, what makes a bird attractive to humans, and more.   Links to article’s discussed in this episode: North American Birds Will No Longer Be Named After People Improving the language of migratory bird science in North America What's the rumpus? Resident temperate forest birds approach an unfamiliar neotropical alarm call across three continents What drives our aesthetic attraction to birds?       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!             

07-47: This Month in Birding - November 2023

Host Nate Swick is on the road, but that doesn't mean you won't get new content! Birding editor Ted Floyd is back again for another edition of Random Birds, the most fun you can have with a bird list and a random numbr generator. This time around Nate and Ted take discuss ducks, tanagers, sparrows and much more!  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!   

07-46: Random Birds, Vol 9, with Ted Floyd

One of the biggest taxonomic changes of this year was the long-anticipated lump of the species formerly known as Pacific-slope and Cordilleran Flycatcher back into Western Flycatcher. It’s a story with all the taxonomic highs and lows packed into a slightly confusing and cryptic package. Alec Hopping is a birder and researcher whose article in North American Birds called  Unraveling Western Flycatchers; A Case Against the Split played a large role in making the case to the relavant authorities. He joins us to talk about how to get a species lumped.  Also, the AOS makes a huge announcement  regarding birds named specifically for people.  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!          

07-45: Talking Lumps - Western Flycatchers with Alec Hopping

This past summer, the ABA brought on our new Executive Director. Wayne Klockner comes to us after a long career with The Nature Conservancy in Maryland and beyond, with efforts that have led to the conservation of thousands of acres of natural areas, the restoration of commercial and shell fisheries and the establishment of TNC’s climate strategy. He lives and birds in Ocean City, Maryland, and it is our pleasure to welcome him to the podcast.  Also, amazing new science  suggests that albatrosses use infrasonic ocean noise to orient themselves.  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!

07-44: Meet Wayne Klockner, the ABA's New Executive Director

This Month in Birding is The American Birding Podcast's monthly round table discussion on all things birds and birding. This month features Martha Harbison, Mikko Jimenez, and Dexter Patterson covering the USFWS's recent extinction news, Takahe reintroductions, birding at night, and the panel's spookiest birds.  Links to article's discussed in this episode:  21 Species Delisted from the Endangered Species Act due to Extinction  As city heat rises, bird diversity declines  How L.A.’s bird population is shaped by historic redlining and racist loan practices  Prehistoric bird once thought extinct returns to New Zealand wild  Here's How You Go Birding in the Middle of the Night\ A Southern Giant Petrel to haunt your nightmares    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!                 

07-43: This Month in Birding - October 2023

Manakins are among the most unique and fascinating neotropical bird families with displays that run the gamut from group line-dancing to bizarre percussive feather snaps. One species, in particularly, has long fascinated UCLA researcher Barney Schlinger, the Golden-collared Manakin of Panama and western Colombia. It is the subject of his book  The Wingsnappers: Lessons from an Exuberant Tropical Bird and he joins host Nate Swick to talk about it.  Also, the eBird taxonomy update is coming! What does it mean for our ABA lists? 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!

07-42: The Wingsnappers with Barney Schlinger

In 2014, Dorian Anderson pushed pause on his life, which at the time included a career in neuroscience research, a burgeoning relationship, and the ongoing struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, for an ABA Area Big Year. But not just any Big Year, one that was entirely self-propelled. His Big Year plus cross-country trek by bike is recounted in a new memoire out this fall  Birding Under the Influence: Cycling across America in search of Birds and Recovery. Also, a huge migration day in Chicago leads to an inevitable and  frustrating bird window strike incident.  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!

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