The American Birding Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

It's the end of the month and time for This Month in Birding, our monthly panel with birding friends discussing the month's birding and ornithology news. For August 2024, we have a panel of Jody Allair, Tim Healy, and Sarah Swanson talking vultures, bustards, and the winners of the birding Olympic games.

Links to articles discussed in this episode:

How do birds communicate? Network science models are opening up new possibilities for experts

The COVID19 confinement revealed negative anthropogenic effects of unsustainable tourism on endangered birds

Loss of India’s vultures may have led to deaths of half a million people

Who Wins gold in the Bird Olympics?

Thanks to our friends at FeatherSnap for sponsoring this episode. Feathersnap is a smart bird feeder with AI bird identification capabilities that send photos of the birds visiting your yard. Capture every moment with FeatherSnap.

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! And don’t forget to join the ABA to support this podcast and the many things we do for birds and birders!

The flamingo phenomenon last summer was one of the more exciting birding events in recent memory, but American Flamingo has long been an intriguing species in the ABA Area. Amy Davis and José Ramirez-Garafalo are the authors of an article in the most recent issue of the ABA's North American Birds that looks at the past, present, and future of these incredible pink birds in the ABA Area. 

Also, some new insights into Dodos from old sources. 

Thanks to our friends at FeatherSnap for sponsoring this episode. Feathersnap is a smart bird feeder with AI bird identification capabilities that send photos of the birds visiting your yard. Capture every moment with FeatherSnap.

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! And don’t forget to join the ABA to support this podcast and the many things we do for birds and birders!

When birders talk about the importance of a bird-friendly yard, they often mean insects even if they don't mention them explicitely. And so people that want to attract birds need to get comfortable with bugs. Colorado birder David Leatherman is a fan of bug-bird interactions and in his piece The Importance of Native Plants and Insects Amid the Reality of Modern Bird Habitats, in the April 2024 issue of Birding magazine, he encourages birders to familiarize themselves with living bird food. He joins host Nate Swick to discuss it. 

Also, it's 2024 Young Birder of the Year Season! Meet our new awardees and learn more about this exceptional program. 

Don’t forget to donate to the ABA’s Nesting Season Appeal, which raises money for our excellent young birder programs.

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! And don’t forget to join the ABA to support this podcast and the many things we do for birds and birders!

Thanks to our friends at Zeiss for sponsoring this episode. For a limited time you can get $200 of all ZEISS Conquest HD binoculars. Visit your local optics dealer or visit ZEISS.com/nature to find a dealer near you.

Several years ago, birding dads Ted Floyd and Nate Swick recorded their first Birding Without Tears episode, but they told only half the story. What about birding moms?? To help tell the rest of the story, I’m joined by Seattle-based writer Bryony Angell, who draws on her experience as a birding mom and her past as a birding kid to offer insight into a topic that many birders deal with at some point–“how do I get my kids to go birding and all of us have a good experience?”

Also, Nate talks Panama. Wanna travel with the ABA? Check out our 2023 lineup.

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!

ABA Birders overlook Mexican birding at their own peril. The nation just to the south of the ABA Area hosts amazing culture, friendly people, and fantastic birds. Guest host Frank Izaguirre welcomes Mexican birder, artist, and photographer Jesús Antonio "Chucho" Moo Yam, who brings tales of birding adventure and community involvement, and reports on the the growth of ecotourism in Mexico.  

Also, check out the new Codebreakers feature in Birding magazine!

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!

The first week of September is the official start of fall, meteorologically at least, though ornithologically it’s been on for weeks. It’s a wonderful season for birding and general naturing, but it does require a certain mindset and certain strategies. Who better, then, to talk about it than two legends of the fall, Greg Neise and Amy Davis. They join host Nate Swick to talk about what to expect as birds start moving south. 

Also, we're hosting our 2023 Bird of the Year party in Nashville, Tennessee! More information to come. 

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!

At the end of every month, we host a roundup of recent bird news on the American Birding Podcast. For August we’re thrilled to welcome Stephanie Beilke, Jordan Rutter, and Brodie Cass Talbott to the panel to talk about homogenization of bird species, bird habitats in urban landscapes, wild Rock Pigeons, and how birding has changed in our lifetimes. 

Link to articles discussed in this episode:

As more bird species go extinct, those left may be more alike

The strange reason migrating birds are flocking to cities

Rare wild ancestors of domestic pigeon found on Scottish islands

Here’s How Drastically Birding Has Changed Over the Past 50 Years

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!

One of the most iconic and beloved birds of the North American west is the Clark’s Nutcracker, the highlight of anyone’s trip to the high country. It will come as no surprise to anyone that the bird’s relationship to the ecosystem goes beyond begging for trail mix from hikers, a fascinating symbiosis that was recently the topic of Glacier National Park’s Headwaters podcast, whose host, Peri Sasnett, joins us to talk nutcrackers and conservation.

Also, changes to the ABA Checklist are here, with more potentially on the way. 

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!

Earlier this year the ABA was delighted to award our Lifetime Achievement Award to a pair of birders who have made a very big impact not only on the places where they live, but on the birding community across the continent. J. Drew Lanham is a birder, poet, academic, award-winning memoirist, and JB Brunfield is an environmental educator, artist, and the undefeated Big Year champion of Cuyahoga County, Ohio. We welcome them both to talk about the state of birding, mentorship, and whether Ohio or South Carolina are better for birds. 

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!

Close observers of the ABA might remember when we launched a new publication completely produced by a team of teen birders from all over the ABA Area. It's called The Fledgling, and after two issues it is well on its way to being something special. Hannes Leonard and Adrianna Nelson and members of The Fledgling team and they join Nate Swick to talk about this publication and the needs of young birder more generally.

Also, why do field guides to the US and Canada call themselves field guides to "North America"?

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!