Bird Banter

The Bird Banter Podcast #168 with Liam Hutcheson

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 and his big year include:

Bill Tweit episode #8

Shep Thorpe episode #9

Ryan Rodriguez episode #47

Ken Brown #2, Bruce LaBar #3 and I were with Liam on a trip in early 2023 with Jacob Miller to the southeast corner of WA to see winter specialties. 

For more details check out the BirdBanter.com blog post about this episode. 

Until next time, good birding!

The Bird Banter Podcast #167 with Marco Valtriani

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 Italy.  

We talk about where and when to find birds in Italy, how to best use the services of his birding tour group, the hopeful fact that the killing of birds for food has markedly diminished, the natural park system of the country, and lots more.  

I also talk a bit about Christmas Bird Counts, how you can find one, and my experiences with CBCs.  

Thanks for listening. As always, check out the blog associated with this episode on the Bird Banter website.  

Good birding. 

The Bird Banter Podcast #166 with Steve Hampton

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 birding and Memories of the People about issues related to indigenous peoples of the U.S. 

Here is a link to the official recommendations of the AOU ad hoc committee on English Bird names. 

We talked about so many things you may want to see more links and discussion on the Bird Banter Blog post. 

Thanks for listening.   Until next time good birding and good day. 

The Bird Banter Podcast #165 with Rachel Hudson

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 through clearly, and was really fun to talk with and get to know better.  

She talks about the Vaux Happening project, as well as her work with her local Audubon Chapter.  You can reach out to Rachel by email   lighteningdash09 - at - yahoo - dot- com  

Read more about the Vaux Happening project and other related topics at the Bird Banter blog post associated with this episode. 

Until next time, good birding!

The Bird Banter Podcast #164 with Dorian Anderson

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 talk about Pop Tech, a pretty cool concept and event that I had not heard about before. Check it out. 

Here is a link to the Tammy and David McQuade episode we discuss. Here is the Biking for the Birds blog link. Here is a short You Tube done on his biking year. 

Thanks for listening.  Good Birding. 

 

The Bird Banter Podcast #163 with Michael Hobbs

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 his other birding interests. 

County birding is also fun, and Michael is one of a handful of WA birders who have listed >150 species in all 39 of the WA counties.  He travels internationally at times for birding, and is an overall interesting guest.  Enjoy.

To see more information about the episode and topics, see the blog post on the Bird Banter website. 

Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding. 

The Bird Banter Podcast #162 withWill McLean Greeley

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 about.  

You can find the book on Amazon here or at the publisher's website here. 

Read more about the book, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 and more on my blog post. 

Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy the book. 

Until next time, good birding!

 

The Bird Banter Podcast #161 with Frank Izaguirre

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!

The Bird Banter Podcast #160 with John Oshlick

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. 

The Bird Banter Podcast #159 wtih Ken Ostermiller and Adam Jackson Creators of BirdingHotspots.org

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 Jackson have created an open source, crowdsourced site for birders to help each other know how to find birds at any eBird hotspot.  

You can help by using the "suggest edit" feature to help flesh out the information on any hotspot. 

Please get feedback to me, or contact Ken to volunteer to help as an editor for your state.  

Thanks for listening. Please leave a rating and reveiw. See more on the Bird Banter Blog.

Until next time, good birding and good day.