The Thing with Feathers: birds and hope with Courtney Ellis

Today on the podcast, Daryl Ellis—beloved and patient birding spouse—joins the show to celebrate our 100th episode. Together we talk about the origin story of The Thing with Feathers , what it’s like to be married to a birder (and discover that you’re slowly becoming one yourself), and the importance of purusing joys and hobbies in midlife. Plus: which local bird we can set our watch by, the delig...

Shemaiah Gonzalez is back! This time she joins us to unpack her beautiful new book, Undaunted Joy: The Revolutionary Act of Cultivating Delight . My friends, if you need the perfect book to be your nightstand right-be-for-bed companion, this is it. In this collection of short essays, Shemaiah unpacks the small ways uncovering, accepting, and welcoming joy can change our lives. The opposite of toxi...

Have you ever had a crisis of faith? I can point to several points in my life—my mid-teens, my early 20s, and my late 30s—when serious doubts crept in. It can be a fearful and unsettling time, and even more so if we feel alone. Authors Catherine McNiel and Jason Hague are no strangers to this type of crisis. Catherine faced her first at the tender age of twelve when the church her father pastored...

I’m a big fan of the ABA. No, not the American Bar Association. Not Applied Behavioral Analysis either. (Though I’m sure they’re both great.) I’m a fan of the American Birding Association ! The ABA does truly fantastic work on behalf of birds, wild spaces, and birders everywhere. From its young birder initiatives (start ‘em young!) to its bird of the year to its magazine to its podcast … I could g...

Deb Rienstra is a professor of English at Calvin University. Her beautiful book, Refugia Faith, takes us deep into both an aching planet and the goodness of God. Friends, I couldn’t put this one down. From despair to preparation, alienation to kinship, and indifference to attention, Deb’s masterful weaving of theology, literature, ecology, and a love for creation makes this book sing. Join us for...

One of our greatest tools in understanding ourselves and the world is the concept of both/and. When we can hold two ideas or feelings in tension, we discover whole worlds of understanding and goodness. Author, speaker, and Episcopal-priest-in-training Cara Meredith has been fascinated with this concept for years. After dabbling in some essays about it, she landed on a both/and topic that really sp...

Jo Swinney is the Director of Communication for A Rocha International, a global Christian nature conservation charity. She’s also the author of several books, including The Whole Easter Story: Why the Cross is Good News for All Creation . On this Easter Monday she joined me to talk about the power of hope in helping us steward our planet well. “Love is what generates the desire to care,” she told...

Dan Van Voorhis is a professional podcaster with a PhD in Church History. His podcast, The Christian History Almanac offers daily 5-minute episodes all about the work of God in the world over the centuries. It’s one of my favorites. Dan is also a friend, congregant, and the best interviewer I know. He graciously agreed to come on The Thing with Feathers and interview me about the launch of the aud...

Lee Pfannmuller and Jerry Niemi know a thing or two about birds. With over one hundred years(!) of birding experience between them, they have spent their lives doing fieldwork related to conservation and ecology throughout the state of Minnesota and beyond. Today we celebrate the publication of their new, beautiful book The Breeding Birds of Minnesota. We talk about everything from bird surveys to...

Peter Harris co-founded A Rocha , a Christian nonprofit dedicated to conservation back in 1983. Together he and his wife Miranda built an organization that helped churches and Christians across the world work together to care for creation. Their vision was to build a global family of conservation organizations working together to live out God’s calling to care for creation ​and equip others to do...

Liz Charlotte Grant ’s new book, Knock at the Sky: Seeking God in Genesis after Losing Faith in the Bible is a wild and wondrous read. And rightly so—anyone who’s spent any time in Genesis knows that it’s a delightfully odd and messy book. Join us on this episode about hope, backyard chickens, and the surprising ways God sometimes shows up even when we feel we’ve lost our faith. You may want to ch...

Duane Bidwell is the author, most recently, of the new book After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know About Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness, with Beacon Press. He’s a professor, a chaplain, and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He also loves a raven, but we’ll get to that. Today’s episode is all about hope. Where we might find it, what we can learn from kids who have it...

Janet Hill first appeared on The Thing With Feathers back in 2023. I’d followed her wonderful photography for years and grown to appreciate her invitational style, and our conversation cheered and heartened me. I couldn’t think of a better person to come on the show to talk all things winter birding than Janet. From Saskatoon to Newfoundland, from California gulls to Black-billed Magpies, join us...

Simon Stuart is the senior advisor to conservation at A Rocha. Until April of 2023, he served as Executive Director of A Rocha International. Simon has been instrumental in the species conservation movement around the world, including winning a Blue Planet Prize for his work with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. Really, I could go on. Simon is a...

Roger Hutchison is an author, illustrator, and Christian educator in the Episcopal Church. He’s a two-time guest on our podcast, and we couldn’t think of a better fit for our end-of-year episode. Together we talk resolutions, words of the year, and what resolutions birds would make, if they made them. Plus, we take a look at his just-about-to-be-released book, The Gift of Baptism . This beautiful...

Susanne Swing Thompson is the author of A Closer Look: The Neighborhood and the creative mind behind Wren Photos . Susanne is a big believer in the power and whimsy that can happen when we look more closely at our own backyards, streets, and local parks. While birding can take us far afield - and this is fun! - when we tune into the birds, wildlife, and flora right on our own front steps, we can b...

Nashville-based author and illustrator Jessica Roux takes her inspiration from the natural world, folklore, and world religions. In her beautiful book, Ornithography: An Illustrated Guide to Bird Lore, Jessica takes us on a journey into the mythology of different species of birds. Each avian description is partnered with a beautiful hand-drawn illustration, making this book great for anyone in nee...

Mark Winter is a birding guide at Even Sparrows . He’s also a lay theologian from the U.K. who comes to us with stories of St. Cuthbert, discovering awe, and his take on why Jesus never mentions eagles in the Bible. Join us for a visit to this pastoral and wind-swept land as we talk about Mark’s book, Look at the Birds of the Air, encounters with birds in Scripture, and why “just getting out there...

Though birding seems like a whimsical hobby, birders can be surprisingly competitive. Bridget Butler seeks to bring mindfulness, peace, and gentle attention into the world of birds and birding. Her slow birding guiding practice, Bird Diva , brings people out into nature for focused time communing with the birds and one another. “I just wanted to stop and slow down and watch what the birds were doi...

Ben Lowe is the executive director for A Roche, a Christian organization dedicated to the practice of creation care. Part of its mission is to help people rejoice in the beauty, diversity, and complexity of the natural world, and (get this!) commit to delighting in and treasuring God’s good creation. Delighting in creation. What a wonderful, important, energizing idea. So often we encounter news h...

Author of Falling for the Birds of Rwanda and the soon to be released Following the Birds of Rwanda , Will Wilson didn’t start out as a birder. From age 18 until his early 40s, he served in the British military. How did he make the change from military life to a contemplative birding practice in the cities and wilds of Rwanda? Therein lies the tale. Will Wilson is a generous photographer based in...

New York Times bestselling author Leigh Ann Henion believes we can learn a lot when the lights go out. From lightning bugs to salamanders, owls to bats, a whole world opens up after dark. Join us as we talk about our shared human need for darkness and why certain things flourish in less-seen times and places. Plus, check out Leigh Ann’s beautiful book, Night Magic: Adventures Among Glowworms, Moon...

Mark Robertson teaches high school English in San Juan Capistrano, California, a city also known as the spiritual home of the famous cliff swallows. It is from this perch (ha! see what we did there?) that he delves into the world of birds, birding photography, and all things literature. Friends, I enjoyed my conversation with Mark so very much. His answers to my questions wove together theology, p...

Author, speaker, and professor of communication Quentin Schultze grew up in rough circumstances. The child of an alcoholic father who died young and a schizophrenic mother, one of the few things he found solace and connection in was studying robins with his mother. Decades later, he birds with his wife Barbara in the woods of Western Michigan and beyond. From Sandhill Cranes to Black-capped Chicka...

Trauma therapist , birder, and author of My Summer with Ospreys, Pamela Lowell believes that hope is a great motivator. From her decades of work with people dealing with immense suffering, she’s found that nature can be an incredible balm. But when her enjoyment of birds in the marsh behind her home was drowned out by the sound of chainsaws, it turned out that her sanctuary was being clear cut. 10...