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The American Birding Podcast

The American Birding Podcast brings together staff and friends of the American Birding Association as we talk about birds, birding, travel and conservation in North America and beyond. Join host Nate Swick every Thursday for news and happenings, recent rarities, guests from around the birding world, and features of interest to every birder.
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Archives
Now displaying: April, 2021
Apr 29, 2021

The last Thursday of the month and that means it's time for the This Month in Birding panel. April 2021 is a special month because it marks one year from the 1st This Month in Birding, and one year since the podcast we went to a weekly format. We're joined by a panel of Birds Canada's Jody Allair, Orietta Estrada of the Birder's Fund, and The Birdist, Nick Lund, who come to talk about the AOS Bird Names Congress, Bald Eagles, big news for the Black & Latinx Scholarship Fund, and thoughts on the accuracy of nature documentaries.  

Links to topics discussed:

The AOS Bird Names Congress

Bald Eagle Mystery Solved

Bald Eagle Population Estimate

Black & Latinx Birder Scholarship Fund News

The Problem with Nature Documentaries

Audubon CEO Resigning

Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides.

Subscribe to the podcast at Apple PodcastsStitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Apr 22, 2021

This time of year is a tough one for many birds, as they make their long dangerous journey from wintering grounds to breeding territories. The path taken by many sees them passing over or stopping to nest in increasingly urban landscapes. These landscape changes affect birds in many ways, some obvious, some more subtle. That is the work of researcher Lauren Pharr, a PhD student at North Carolina State studying urban noise and light pollution and their affect on birds. She’s with me now to chat about her work, wildlife research in urban settings, and community science. 

Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides.

Subscribe to the podcast at Apple PodcastsStitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Apr 15, 2021

There are a few lucky places in the ABA Area where parrots still fly free, even if most have captive origins these day. But these big loud flashy birds have a history and future than is perhaps more interesting than many birders might imagine and these feral populations can even give us some insights into the frequently threatened wild birds in Mexico and Central America. John McCormack, director of the Moore Lab of Zoology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, is one of the authors of a paper about how two closely related Amazon parrots in southern California more or less fit into the landscape together and he joins us to talk about it.

Also, as promised, the link to sign up for the Bird Names meeting on Friday, April 16

Thanks to Field Guides for sponsoring this episode. Check out their new video series, Out Birding with Field Guides.

Subscribe to the podcast at Apple PodcastsStitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Apr 8, 2021

Migratory birds undertake some of the most extraordinary and exhausting undertaking of any living things on the planet, an endurance test made all the more difficult by climate change, habitat loss, and illegal hunting. Few know this better than Scott Weidensaul, a bird researcher, prolific nature writer, and the author of more than 30 books, mostly about birds. He first tackled bird migration with 2000’s Living on the Wind. He comes back to the topic with a new book A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds, out this month. He joins Nate Swick to talk about the new book and the the limits of bird migration. 

ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code.

Subscribe to the podcast at Apple PodcastsStitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Apr 1, 2021

It’s the time of year when Arctic birds are moving south into the populated parts of the continent, and citizen scientists are there to meet them, trap them, and use cutting edge technology to track their movements. It’s a testament to our interest in nomadic tundra birds that that could apply to a couple different projects, but this time around we are talking about Snow Buntings and the Canadian Snow Bunting Network. Dr. Emily McKinnon is a researcher at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and the administrator of this project that has found out a number of fascinating things about these consummate winter birds.

Also, the ABA added three species to its checklist last month, each with a different story. 

ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code.

Subscribe to the podcast at Apple PodcastsStitcher, and Google Play, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

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