The American Birding Podcast

Young birders who have participated in the ABA's Camp Avocet or Maine's well known Hog Island Audubon Camp, are no doubt familiar with Holly Merker. But that only scratches the surface of her contributions to the birding world. A former member of the ABA's Recording Standards and Ethics Committee, and one of the authors of the well-received and timely Ornitherapy , she is the recipient of the ABA'...

When it was first released in 1983, Peter Harrison's Seabirds: An Identification Guide  was immediately hailed as a classic of the birding literature, an accolade it not relinquished in 40 years. And so it was with much excitement that Peter released the New Identification Guide in 2021, practically a different and far more comprehensive book. Peter Harrison is an artist, an author and a conservat...

We have reached the end of the first month of 2023 and it is once again time for This Month in Birding on The American Birding Podcast. For this panel we welcome a fascinating group of birders to geek out a little about birds. Martha Harbison , Dexter Patterson , and Jordan Rutter join us to talk about molt terminology, shushers, bright white woodcock tails and more.  Links to topics discussed in...

Birding magazine editor and all-around bird-knower Ted Floyd is back for another bout of Random Birds. He joins host Nate Swick, a big bird list, and a random number generator to create podcast magic. This session includes a number of holarctic species, a pair of warblers and one of Ted's 10 favorite bird species. Well, maybe…  Plus, some thoughts and the most gull rich metro in the ABA Area.  Sub...

Much of North America is gripped in the depths of winter. It's cold. It's snowy. It's frequently unpleasant. But for those that push through, the birding can be oh so rewarding. This is especially true in places where the winter hits hardest. Diehard Minnesota birder Erik Bruhnke is guide for Victor Emanuel Nature Tours and a stalwart at birding festivals. He joins Nate to talk about winter birdin...

Happy New Year List! It's finally time to celebrate our 2023 Bird of the Year, the Belted Kingfisher ! And to help jumpstart a year of kingfisher content, we're excited to welcome this year's artist, Liz Clayton Fuller . Host Nate Swick chatted with Liz about kingfishers, her 2023 cover art "Queenfisher", and her work streaming art on Twitch. I think you'll agree that she is a delight.  Also, Nate...

Thanks to all our listeners and supporters for another exceptional year. To wrap up 2022, we welcome back some insightful and entertaining birder friends to the last This Month in Birding for the year. We're joined by Popular Science's Purbita Saha , science writer Ryan Mandelbaum , and The Birdist, Nick Lund to talk about the biggest birding trends of 2022 and our best birding experiences of the...

ABA staffers Katinka Domen and Ted Floyd recently accompanied an ABA excursion to the land of penguins and albatrosses. They join host Nate Swick to talk about what it's like to visit the southernmost continent on Earth, and what ecotourism looks like in this unique place.  Also, the ABA Bird of the Year 2023 is Belted Kingfisher! Subscribe to the podcast at  Apple Podcasts ,  Stitcher , and  Goog...

It is time once more for the most anticipated Birding Book Club of the year, our annual Best Bird Books of the Year episode for 2022. 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. Or yourself, we don't judge. We are joined by 10,000 Birds book reviewer Donna Schulman and Birding magazine editor Frank...

One of the issues that the birding community has been reckoning with for the last several years is 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, a recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, an...

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating! How about a fun bird discussion to go along with our one and only bird-related holiday? Nate Swick is joined by Bird Sh*t's Mo Stych , aeroecologist Mikko Jimenez , and the ABA's own Greg Neise to talk about eBird status and trends, hybrid chickadees, bird rediscoveries, and our avian zodiac signs.  Links to topics discussed in this episode: Smartphone-base...

The ABA is gearing up to announce its 2023 Bird of the Year but we're not ready to say good-bye to the year of the Burrowing Owl just yet. With that in mind, we welcome Colleen Wisinski and Susanne Marczak of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance's Burrowing Owl Recovery Program to talk about their efforts to protect the local population of Burrowing Owls and what they've learned about the species i...

A warmer and drier world means, unfortunately, a world in which wildfire becomes a greater risk. We know, all too well, the risk these fires pose to wild places, but there is surprisingly little we know about the risk to wildlife. That is the work of Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot , a researcher at UCLA looking at the impacts of wildfire smoke on wild birds and trying to answer a few of those increasingly...

If the English language is an amalgamation of words from thousands of other languages and cultures, then English common bird names are that writ small. They're a hodgepodge of from every possible source and an endless supply of amazing bird history and trivia. WINGS guide Susan Myers's new work, called The Bird Name Book , is a fascinating combination of etymology and ornithology, and she joins us...

It's the end of October and time for our monthly This Month in Birding panel. This week features a fun crew with MD/DC Bird Atlas coordinator Gabriel Foley ,  Birding  magazine editor Frank Izaguirre , and Sarah Swanson , author of the new  Best Little Book of Birds: Oregon Coast .  The panel geeks out over woodpecker brains, commiserates over the sobering State of the Birds, and suggests exciting...

Every spring, thousands of Red Knots congregate on the Delaware Bay to take advantage of the horseshoe crab spawn. Fueled by crab eggs they finish a migration that spans from the southern tip of South America to the northern reaches of North America. That essential link in this migratory chain is, once again, under threat , which concerns the environmental law group Earthjustice and partners. Tim...

Baby birds are arguably one of the great identification frontiers of birding. Try to identify a gangly, fluffy mess of a bird and you immediately recognize the need for a real resource to help you out. Artist and bird rehabilitator Linda Tuttle-Adams is the author of a new book, Baby Bird Iidentification: A North American Guide , to set us right. She joins the American Birding Podcast to talk abou...

We're certainly in the golden age of bird science, with more birders, more researchers, and more tools available to both of them to solve many of the great ornithological mysteries and to marvel at the capabilities of birds. National Audubon and a few bird science partners have put a lot of this modern science in a sleek simple package called the Bird Migration Explorer , a guide to the annual jou...

It's time for This Month in Birding with Jody Allair , Jennie Duberstein , and Sean Milnes . The panel joins host Nate Swick to talk about the biggest bird news of the month with a wide-ranging discussion that covers a last gasp for the 'Akikiki, how vultures reduce carbon emissions, the state of the exotic bird trade and the answer to the question birders know all too well, "What's your favorite...

There is nothing like birding the American tropics, among iconic families like toucans, motmots, antbirds, tanagers, and more! Both Birding editor Ted Floyd and podcast host Nate Swick were fortunate enough to take part in this birding splendor in recent weeks, Ted in Colombia and Nate in Panama, and they share their experiences through their eBird checklists in another edition of the "eBird Annot...

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 p...

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,...

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...

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...

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 Sasne...