Bird Banter

On this episode I talk with Jacob Miller, a young Washington birding friend who has just completed his freshman year at Washington State University. Jacob shares his experiences as a first year university student, talks about birding in a new county and part of the state, big days and developing new birding friends, as well as starting a birding club at WSU.  Enjoy. We talk about Liam Hutcheson's...

On this episode I talk with the authors of the new identification field guide to Empidonax flycatchers and Pewees as well as the book on Myarchus flycatchers and Kingbirds, Cin-Ty Lee and Andrew Birch. We talk about their longtime birding friendship, their birding stories, and the new books.   Check out the books at your favorite book resource.  Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax...

Mollee Brown is my guest on this episode and we talk about her Nighthawk Agency, which provides business solutions for the birding industry.  We also talk about her work as a bird guide, her birding story, and the trip she is leading for Hillstar Nature to the the Chocó region of Colombia that I'll be taking next winter.   Check out Nighthawk Agency here . The trip to Chocó here , and The Birding...

On this episode I talk with Josh Covill, a Montana birder who leads birding tours in Montana as well as in Central and South America.  Josh was the guide on my recent trip to the Santa Marta area of Colombia, and is a fabulous birder and really nice guy. Enjoy.  Find Josh for a Montana Tour at Glacier Birding. Joshua's page at Hillstar Nature Tours .  See the blog post on BirdBanter.com for lots m...

On this episode I talk with a relative newcomer to birding, Courtney Ellis. Courtney began birding during the pandemic, and has become a birding enthusiast and ambassador.  Check out her podcast The Thing with Feathers , as well as her soon to be released book Looking Up: A Birders Guide to Hope Through Grief . We talked about my episode #148 with Holly Merker where you can hear about Ornitherapy...

On this episode I talk with Holly Garrod, an accomplished birder, bird bander and conservationist about her work on bird banding networks with Birds Caribbean, and about the MOTUS network progress in the Caribbean.  Her energy is fabulous, and her knowledge and expertise wonderful. I think you'll enjoy hearing her story.  Check out Birds Caribbean here .  See the Caribbean Birding Trail informatio...

Well, after a long break for a fabulous winter trip, the podcast is back with Ed talking about his trip to Florida, Colombia and Costa Rica.  The Colombia trip was run by Hillstar Nature Tours and led by Joshus Covill. The Proaves Organization is worth checking out, and here is their article about the possible new species of antpita .  To see photos, more detailed narrative, and other cool stuff a...

On this episode I talk with Liam Hutcheson, sho just finished his record breaking Washington State big year.  We talk about his big year, highlights, misses and people.  Also about his birding story.  While talking with Liam I marveled at how interconnected our birding community is, and how helpful birders are to each other.  Pervious guests on the show who helped in one way or another with Liam's...

Birding is not the first thing many think about when considering a trip to Italy, but as birders, it is always a consideration.  On this episode I talk with Marco Valtriani, a guide with the Birding In Italy group of bird guides.  As you can inagine a lot of their business is taking visitors from the U.S. and other far away countries out for a birding break from their other tourist activities in I...

On this episode I talk with Steve Hampton about his experience on the AOU Ad Hoc Committee on English names for birds, about climate change and the research on how it is affecting birds, about gulls in the Port Townsend area, his trip to Antarctica and more.  You can find more about Steve and contact him on his professional website Stephen-Carr-Hampton.com His blogs are The Cottonwood Post about b...

My guest on this episode is Rachel Hudson, a Lewis County, Washington birder who is also a photographer, artist and recent college graduate.  We talk about her interest in birding as a very young child, reading and nurturing her interest in birds from age 3, through her childhood birding in Texas and to her move to Washington for college.  She has a genuine love for birds and birding that comes th...

Dorian Anderson is my guest on this episode of the podcast. Dorian was a guest on one of my earliest episodes #5 in Feb. 2019, and I have been waiting it seems forever to talk with him again once his book was written and published.  After you hear from Dorian today I'm sure you'll want to read Birding Under the Influence: Cycling Across America in Search of Birds and Recovery. On the episode we ta...

On this episode my guest is Michael Hobbs, a King County, WA based birder who has been doing weekly bird surveys at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA for almost 30 years.  You can contact Michael at this link to the park. We talk about the experience of such regular intentional bird surveys of a single location, the benefits, both in friendships made and birding experiences of his efforts, and about hi...

I'm guessing you know about The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, but do you know about the man who willed it to existance, the man known as "The Birdman of the Senate?"  I didn't until Will McLean Greeley, the Great-great nephew of Senator McLean, and author of a biography on Senator McLean reached out to me and we talked for the podcast.  It's a great story, and one I'm enjoying learning more a...

ON this episode Frank and I talk about his PhD work on field guides and how they have influenced conservation.  To hear a video with Frank on this topic watch this You Tube.  We also talk about the recent ABA social media network called ABA Community.  Check it out. For more info about Frank and this episode visit the blog post on BirdBanter.com Until next time, good birding and good day!

On this episode we talk about John's birding story, birding in Connecticut, and his chase to see American Flamingos that were blown north by Hurricane Idalia.  We talk about why the Long Island Sound is not great for pelagic birding, but is excellent for other birds.   Read more at the BirdBanter.com blog .   Learn more about John on his eBird Profile. 

eBird is a great tool for many purposes, but there are times when a birder wants to know how to best bird a hotspot, where to park at the hotspot, are there restrooms there, and generally about birding the hotspot.  It is great to ask a local birder, but often that is not possible, and so what to do?  Now the answer is easy. Go to BirdingHotspots.org where my guests Ken Ostermiller and Adam Jackso...

On this episode I talk with two of the leaders of The Feminist Bird Club, Molly Adams who is the originator of the NYC chapter, and Sydney Golden Anderson who has been active in the Chicago chapter and now lives in Colorado.  I was excited to hear about the clubs work to increase diversity and be inviting to all people with an interest in birds. Their work toward this goal is inspiring to me and I...

On this episode I talk with Greg Harrington, a Seattle, WA birder I've met several times in the field, and who had become a proficient and prolific birder in the area over a very few years.  He is always fun to meet, and was really fun to talk with on this episode.  He is a high school history teacher, and spent some of the Covid time when teaching was online teaching from the road while travellin...

On this episode Scott and I talk about his discovery of birding as a passion later in life, and about how this led to his quest to see all of the Lower-48 raptors, initially in a year, but eventually in 17 months.  Scott is also a prolific author, and we talk about his writing and his future birding plans.  His newest book:  RaptorQuest:  Chasing America's Raptors See more about the places and peo...

On Episode #155 I talk with Arkansas birder Dan Scheiman about birding in Arkansas, his birding story and creating backyard habitat by Planting for Birds .  You can see Dan's eBird profile here , and read more on The Bird Banter blog here .  I'd love to hear about birders you'd like to hear from as guests.  Reach me on the contact page or in part of an episode review.  Thanks for listening.  Good...

Pelagic birding is different in many ways from birding on land.  It's fun, exhausting, and difficult, but can be really great too.  Ken Brown, my long-time birding buddy, and I have dreamed of  getting out of Hatteras N.C. with Brian Patteson for years, and finally made it happen this year. Despite difficult weather we had a great trip, and talk about that and more on this episode.  Patteson Seabi...

On this episode I talk with Rebecca Heisman, author of the new book Flight Paths , and hear about the story of writing the book, more stories about the people behind the research on bird migration, and her personal and birding story.   In the introduction I talk about the migration watch scene at Dune Peninsula. Check out the eBird hotspot page here .  You can learn more about Rebecca at her websi...

On this episode I talk with Seattle area bird----more----er Bryony Angell, who is a professional writer with many published articles related to birding. Much of her recent work is related to women in birding and the birding experience from a woman's perspective.   You can reach Bryony on her website here . Read more about Bryony, and topics discussed on the episode on the Bird Banter blog post rel...

Jim and I talk about his birding in Johnson County, Iowa as well as his birding story, which began as a youth, had a long dormant stage, and has been revived in recent years with county big years, birding around the ABA area and a reinvigorated interest in backyard nature habitat.  I think you'll enjoy hearing Dr. Kettelkamp's story. You can reach Jim on Facebook @jim.kettelkamp where you can chec...