Scott Weidensaul is the author of nearly 30 books about birds, birding, and natural history. His latest is The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet, a globe-trotting look at look at bird conservation successes from re-wilding efforts in England to vultures in Romania, to the puffins and plovers of North America. It is a soothing balm in this time of great anxiety about bird populations and a critical look at what still nees to be done. He joins host Nate Swick to talk about it all. 

Also, we're coming up on The Biggest Week in American Birding! Nate will be there. Will you?

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The wide open spaces of the North American west are frequently spotted with signs of human industrial energy production. Oil and gas wells, massive wind turbines, and the like are impossible to miss and impact, occasionally significantly, the birds that live in these vast prairie ecosystems. Dr Janet Ng studies the effects of this industrial incursion into these wild places in the southern Canadian plains, and works with various partners to keep landscapes “hawky”.

Also, Peter Pyle has some interesting thoughts on "electronic pishing" in the most recent issue of Birding

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Host Nate Swick leans once again on Birding magazine editor Ted Floyd for another Random Birds discussion. The Random Number Generator has a certain late winter/early spring bias with warblers and gulls and warblers and gulls on the agenda. 

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They say March comes in like a lion and out like an American Birding Podcast This Month in Birding episode, and this month panel is an exceptional one to end a month with. Host Nate Swick is joined by Stephanie Beilke, Andres Jimenez, and Ryan Mandelbaum for a fun and birdy conversation covering Airtags on birds, the most bouba and kiki species, and Tom Johnson's last piece of amazing bird science. 

Links to topics covered in this episode:

Using Apple AirTags to Document Dispersal and Exploratory Movements of Harris's Hawks

Indigenous Peoples and local communities report a consistent decline in the body mass of birds across three continents

Seeing in the dark: Using thermal imaging to directly observe nocturnal migration

The bouba-kiki effect: Baby chicks match sounds to shapes just like humans

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This episode is brought to you by All4Birding. 

The early years of bird conservation in North America, is a fascinating period, featuring colorful characters and countless battles fought in the pages of newspapers and magazines regarding the need for conserving the continent's wildlife. It is a history thoroughly recounted in the book The Feather Wars and Great Crusade to Save America’s Birds by James H. McCommons. The author joins the American Birding Podcast to talk about the creation of the bird conservation movement that not only saved a number of species from extinction, but provides the basis of our the conservation landscape we enjoy today. 

Registration is open for the ABA's Community Weekend in Philadelphia! It's free!

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This episode is brought to you by Naturalist Journeys.

The state of Louisiana hosts one of the world’s largest repositories of ornithological knowledge, the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural History. With nearly 200,000 bird specimens, including important collections from the tropical Americas, this institution informs a lot of what we know about bird taxonomy in this hemisphere. Dr Nick Mason is the curator of that collection, and he joins us to talk about the fascinating work done at this place and what museums are doing to make sure bird science stays on a sound footing into the future. 

Also, the ABA's live What's This Bird program is breaking ground in online phenology... sort of. 

The specter of a World Without Birds is certainly a sobering one, but one that could, though, inspire new birders and environmentalists to support the efforts needed to make sure that world is never a reality. In Nick Lund's latest book aimed at younger readers, he tells the stories of birds made extinct by human hands and also those of birds that have been rescued from that fate. Nick and Nate also tell stories of birds seen in unlikely places, and the birding goals of a marathoner in a wide-ranging discussion. 

Also, a new study about birds and brain health has made it to The Today Show!

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February is the shortest month, but thankfully our end of the month roundtable discussion is long on fun and insight. This month's This Month in Birding brings together Jason Hall, Mikko Jimenez, and Sarah Swanson to discuss birds and plants, whether birds can be illegal immigrants, and our favorite avian romantic gestures. Plus, in a TMIB first, Mikko brings his own science to the discussion. 

Links to articles discussed in this episode:

Ancient bird routes mapped via plant diversity

Can a bird be an illegal immigrant? How the White Australia era influenced attitudes to the bulbul

Noise pollution is affecting birds' reproduction, stress levels and more: The good news is we can fix it

Migratory bird stopover patterns linked to urbanization and social landscapes

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.

This interview previously ran in August 2022. 

Also, Nate is keynoting at the Black Belt Birding Festival this summer!

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In 2023, ABA Area birders welcomed Chihuahuan Meadowlark to the official ABA Checklist, and subsequently to many life lists. Previously considered a distinct subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark, the split was the result of work done by Dr. Johanna Beam while she was an undergraduate researcher. Informed by her background as a birder, Johanna used museum specimens, audio recordings, and genetic tools to inform the eventual split. She joins host Nate Swick to talk about how it's done, and what other potential new species might be out there. 

Also, the ABA announced our 2026 Community Weekend schedule. We hope to see you out there!

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Birding editor Ted Floyd returns for another episode of random birds. This time around, the random number generator wants passerines, and Ted and host Nate Swick must oblige. We cover the ABA's Bird of the Year for 2026, and a number of other grassland species. 

Also, the ABA Checklist Committee's recent update suggests a new direction for the ABA Checklist, at least partially. 

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This episode brought to you by All4Birding

It's the first This Month in Birding panel of the new year, and Nate welcomes a crew of birders featuring Mollee Brown, Frank Izaguirre, and Jordan Rutter to discuss predation of penguins, evolving junco bills, and weird bird stuff in our houses. Plus, is pishing an ethical birding practice?

Links to items discussed in this episode:

Penguins Become Prey for the Pumas of Patagonia 

Without campus leftovers to pick through, the beaks of this bird changed shape during the pandemic

Bias in density estimates from avian point-count surveys: Prospects for post-hoc corrections using calibration data

Woman's viral "bird theory" about white people has everyone checking their homes

2025 was an exciting year for rare bird sightings in the ABA Area, with two first ABA records and a fascinating array of interesting and unexpected records from all corners of the US and Canada. North American Birds editor Alex Lamoreaux and writer and teacher Tim Healy join host Nate Swick to have some fun remembering the highlights of last year.

Check out the 2026 Bird of the Year merch available NOW at aba.org/store

Science writer Ed Yong was an invaluable resource for many of us navigating the strange pandemic landscape. His writing about Covid-19 at The Atlantic earned him a Pulitzer Prize, but left him looking for an outlet to recalibrate after that anxiety-ridden period. Inspired by his own writing in his book, An Immense World, he turned to bird-watching despite not expecting to be any good at it. It has turned into a passion, a way to explore both his home and the wider world, and an inspiration for his writing. 

Also, Nate shares his experience wrangling endemics in Puerto Rico. 

2026 is officially the year of the Horned Lark!

This dapper little songbird can be found just about everywhere in the ABA Area, and we're excited to put a spotlight on it this year as our Bird of the Year for 2026. As is tradition, the species is featured on the January issue of the ABA's Birding magazine, depicted by Indiana artist Kristina Knowski, who bird art afficianados might know from her work as artist in residence for the Indiana Dunes Birding Festival. 

And it's not just the magazine, we will have a whole range of fun Horned Lark merch, including the return of our Bird of the Year t-shirts, at the ABA shop!

Jody Allair, Martha Harbison, and Rebecca Heisman join host Nate Swick for the last American Birding Podcast episode of the year, with a wide-ranging discussion of some of the latest bird and birding news. The panel talks warbler hybrids, vacant lots, and how to best yell at gulls among other things! Thanks for a great year!

Also, don't forget to join the ABA for our 2026 Bird of the Year reveal on January 5, 2026, at 4 PM ET. 

Links to articles discussed in this episode:

Look at those nasty and lovely birds! Assessing preferences and emotional responses of visitors to a National Park

The role of vacant lots in promoting avian species diversity and occupancy in a post-industrial city

Genetic confirmation of an “uncommon mourningthroat” (Geothlypis philadelphia  ×  G. trichas): A rare but persistent hybrid warbler

Want gulls to back off? Here's how to talk to them

We get one more go-round with the list and the random number generator for 2025 as Ted Floyd joins host Nate Swick to talk about, well, whatever birds we randomly turn up. This Random Birds covers an impressivley random suite of birds with kites, warblers, waders, and flycatchers all on the agenda. 

Also, ABA membership makes a great holiday gift!

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Central America is home to five great tropical forests, whose presence and protection are critical to the conservation of just about every one of our neotropical migrant birds. It is the subject of a recent study from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Wildlife Conservation Society published last month in the journal Biological Conservation. Anna Lello-Smith, bird conservation scientist from the WCS is the lead author and she joins is to talk about what this means for bird conservation. 

Also, it's the first weekend of the Christmas Bird Count. Hope you're ready!

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The Birding Book Club is back again to do our annual Best Bird Books of the Year episode for 2025. 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? Nate Swick is 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 very unique year of birds in books.

Links to all of our choices at the ABA website. 

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Happy Thanksgiving! At the ABA, we're thankful for birders - their passion, their deep knowledge base, and the willingness of some to come on the American Birding Podcast to discuss recent bird science and news. This month we welcome Stephanie Beilke, Tim Healy, and Ryan Mandelbaum to talk corvid mimicry, gator loving grebes, and the best birds to assign to all those other holidays. 

Links to articles discussed in this episode:

Humans outperform Merlin Sound ID in field-based point-count surveys

Vocal mimicry in Corvids

Coordinated movements of multiple pied-billed grebes in association with an American alligator 

Wintering closer to breeding grounds comes at a cost in an Arctic-specialized songbird,

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What do birding and board games have in common? More than you’d expect! Birder and game designer Elizabeth Hargrave has made it a mission to bring these two things together and her bird-themed game Wingspan does just that. Wingspan has been covered by the New York Times, Smithsonian, and Science magazine among other places and has managed to elicit interest at a time when enthusiasm among the general public for both birding and board games are at an all-time high. She joined host Nate Swick in 2019 me to talk about both.

Also, the Philadelphia Eagles are getting in the bird conservation business, which opens up opportunities for all sorts of bird and professional sports crossovers. 

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Smithsonian researcher Roxie Laybourne may be the most influential ornithologist you’ve never heard of. Over the more than half a century she was a pioneering figure in the fields of forensics and aviation, all through her work with birds, and, more specifically, their feathers. Her incredible life is documented by journalist Chris Sweeney in the book, The Feather Detective: Mystery, Mayhem, and the Magnificent Life of Roxie Laybourne,  released earlier this year. Chris joins us to talk about Laybourne's legacy in fields that go far beyond birds. 

Also, the big eBird update is here and our lists are looking a lot different this week. What does this mean for our muddled taxonomic authorities in North America?

Can the various mating rituals, displays, and behaviors of birds apply to the lives of humans in the 21^st Century, with our own uniue rituals, displays and behaviors? It’s a question that birder and writer Bryony Angell asks as she approached her own renewed dating life in an article The Migratory Suiter, published in the most recent issue of BWD. In doing so, she enlists the help of Dr Wenfei Tong. author of Bird Love: The Family Life of Birds, to compare the respective courtship drama of birds and humans.

Also, Nate is back from the ABA's latest Community Weekend! Learn more about these fun free ABA events!

The last Thursday of the month means it's time for This Month in Birding, our round table discussion with birding friends about news in birding and ornithology. This week we welcome Jennie Duberstein, Nick Lund, and Brodie Cass Talbott to discuss casual eBirding, hybrid Jays, and what bird to patronize on Halloween night. 

Links to articles discussed in this episode:

The relaxed birder

The Unexpected Profundity of a Movie About Bird-Watching

An Intergeneric Hybrid Between Historically Isolated Temperate and Tropical Jays Following Recent Range Expansion

The hunt for the last great auks: ancient DNA resolves a 180-year-old mystery

Space use during the breeding season of three different forest-dwelling owl species in an area of sympatry: a case study of male hunting home-range sizes and overlaps

It’s hard to overstate in influence of Cornell’s Merlin on the growth of birding over the last few years.  What began as a simple tool for helping people to identify bird photos has become so much more, reaching millions of nature enthusiasts and even some celebrities. Miyoko Chu. Senior Director of Science Communitcations at the Lab, and Alli Smith, Project Coordinator for Merlin, join us to talk about what it's like to be in the middle of one this massive movement for nature lovers. 

If you're interested in taking advantage of the sound recording workshop offered by Cornell and mentioned earlier in the conversation, American Birding Podcast listeners can save 40% using the discount code RecordMerlin40 at checkout through December 31, 2025. 

Also, the ABA mourns Tony Fitzpatrick, and welcome birders to Fort Myers this weekend.