On The Bird Banter Podcast #148 I talk with Holly Merker, an accomplished birder, educator, and therapist who has been a leading advocate of using birding, and being in nature as a means of therapy through mindful birding and an intentional process.
Check out her neew book on her website. Note the coupon for free shipping.
Holly has long been a well respected and recognized birder. She leads field trips for George Armistead’s new birding company, Hillstar Nature Tours, she is a leader at both the Hog Island ABA Birding camp for both adults and youth, as well as at acting as the director of the ABA’s Camp Delaware Bay. She has served as a member and as the chair of the Pennsylvania Bird Records Committee, is an eBird reviewer, has served on the board of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, and most recently was awarded the 2022 Conservation and Education Award by the ABA.
If you get the feeling that Holly is an accomplished and highly respected birder you’d be correct. In addition Holly has been a leading advocate of intentional birding, and for the use of birding and nature as a means of therapy. Holly mentions that the term Ornitherapy was first coined by a British physician, Dr. A.F. Cox who wrote an article in the British Journal of Medicine in 1979. I have not been able to find that article, and if anyone can send me a copy or a link, I’d love it.
You can see the Ornitherapy.com website at this link.
Holly also started The Mindful Birding Network, and on the website you can find lots more on that topic., as well as join and participate in online workshops and meetings.
To see more about Forest Therapy and Forest Bathing check out this website.
The Ornitherapy Facebook page is here.
Here is a link to the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy
Here is some information about phytoncides that Holly discusses on the episode.
Here is an article about Attention Restoration Theory.
You can get Holly’s book at her website, with a free shipping coupon here. Https://ornitherapy.com/
I feel like I was so blessed and lucky to have the chance to spend an hour talking with Holly about Ornitherapy, her experiences and insights. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Good birding and good day!
Author: birdbanter
Getting Settled in Big Pine Key, Florida
Marian and I had the fortune to be offered the chance to stay in a home on Big Pine Key, FL for a couple of weeks before continuing on to Costa Rica to visit Jean and Alan at their home there where they practice regenerative agriculture. I really did not know what to expect here in terms of birding. It is arguably the key in the southern keys area with the most remaining somewhat undisturbed land, in a major effort to save the endangered Key Deer. They are certainly populous in this one key. They walk by the pool every hour or so at the home where we are staying, and you need to drive slowly here to avoid running over these tiny deer, which are a small subspecies of White-tailed Deer.
Overall the birding here is pretty slow right now. I’ve reviewed eBird bar charts and it looks like the passerine migration really doesn’t get going until about the first week of April, and a relatively small number of land-bird species winter here. So far the best places I’ve visited were the “Blue Hole” platorm overlook, a short trail through some small trees to a freshwater pond, where I saw a pair of American Wigeon (the only birds here to make eBird review lists, along with three species of warblers, Palm, Prairne and Black-and-white.
Overall a much more interessting spot was Hahia-Honda State Park, a park that straddles the Overseas Highway, has part of the abandoned old railroad bridge and overlying auto highway that has been declared an historic landmark and is decaying in place, and has three beaches where good numbers of Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone, a few Least Sandpipers, Laughing Gulls, Brown Pelicans, Osprey, DC Cormorants, Ring-billed Gulls, and Royal Terns were fun to watch. This Lesser Black-backed Gull stood out immediately with its very dark back, (Marian spotted it first and commented on the vary dark color) and bright yellow legs.
Overall we have primarily relaxxed, I’ve been getting out for a couple of hours early each day hoping for more passerine action, so far without much luck. It is beautiful here though. At the top you can see the view from the chair as I write this post mid-afternoon. I’m really trying to stay relaxed, not race around looking for birds, and just enjoy the beauty and warm weather. It is pretty much 75-78 here every day and night with enough of a breeze near the water to stay cool.
So far two new Florida species, the LBBG and AMWI.
Ed
The Bird Banter Podcast #147 with David Swain
On episode #147 I talk with David Swain, a BC based birder, trekker, supporter of high elevation village schools in Nepal, and an executive for a large tree growing company. Overall a really interesting person whom I met on my recent cruise to Antarctica.
David started and champions the Altitude Project, a Canadian charity that provides support for several schools and villages in the super-high elevation villages in Nepal that David visited on treks in Nepal. We talk about his trekking, his birding in Nepal, his work for a large Canadian tree growing company, and more.
You can find David on Facebook to follow him and his project.
Thanks for listening.
Good birding and good day!
King County 200th Life Species today
Actually 199th and 200th. I went to 212th St. Ponds in Kent looking for the Black Phoebe that has been seen there, and hoped to also see a Hermit Thrush that had been reported there too. It was a really cold morning, so I waited until after traffic and the sun to warm up and got there around 9:30. The HETH was easy, as it was perching on the low bushes and dropping down to the lawn between the path and the cattail marsh to feed. There may have been 2 but #199 was on the books quickly.
I spent an hour or so looking for the phoebe with no luck, but got lucky when a couple of birders showed up and told me where to look, not at all where I was looking. The bird was flycatching far across the large pond near the road, not in the marsh area I had somehow thought it would be from prior descriptions. It was a very distant but definative look and I wrapped up almost 2 hours at the location after seeing the bird. #200! No photo even attempted.
I stopped at Saltwater State Park for a brief baywatch, with nothing special except nice sunshine and calm waters. Overall a pleasant morning of birding.
Wrapping Up January in Pierce County with a Push for 100
January has been a very good month for me, though not so much for birding in Pierce County (my home county). A group of friends and I made a foray to southeastern WA birding for 4 days, and my daughter Jean left just 2 days ago after a really nice 8 day visit, so my county birding has been less than energetic. I’ve spent 2 days birding in Kitsap County with Ken, the Vashon CBC on Jan 2, and a few hours last Friday, and have 78 species in Kitsap. For comparison starting today I had only 90 species in the rest of the month in Pierce. I felt like getting out birding alone today, and challenged myself to get 10 FOY birds in Pierce today to get over 100 species for January.
I didn’t set an alarm, but woke early, and got up at 5:30 and decided to try again for the usually reliable Barred Owl at Puget gulch. I tried both at the top and the bottom, submitting two eBird lists with zero species despite pretty good effort and use of recordings. I tried quickly at Garfield Gulch also well before dawn, but similar results there. From there I drove to Place of Circling Waters expecting a FOY Northern Pintail, and hoping for maybe a overwintering Spotted Sandpiper or Band-tailed Pigeon. Yes on the pintail, no on the others. It was getting lighter slowly and a slight snow fell while the temp hovered around freezing.
I made very quick stops hoping for some gulls at Gog-li-hi-ti and the 11th Street Bridge, but really very few gulls to scan over. I headed back on Portland Ave. towards I-5 and noted a big flock of gulls behind a fence on the R side so I made a U-turn and checked it out. It is a garbage transfer station, and I drove in for a look. There were hundreds of large white-headed gulls, mostly our usual GWGUxWEGU hybrids, and the worker there said I could look them over, but no luck spotting a Herring or Iceland Gull. The gulls were very active, going right into the building for garbage.
On to McNeil overlook, where I managed 5 Greater Yellowlegs and 2 Dunlin, but no raptors (not even 1 Bald Eagle) and as the tide was high not much was seen on the remaining mud. Still, 2 FOY shorebirds was good. No luch there for Hermit Thrush, Purple Finch, or Hairy or Pileated Woodpeckers that I had hopes of finding.
Next at Mounts Road I had better luck. A perched FOY Northern Harrier was easy, on a low post out over the frozen marsh. Lots of FPY Marsh Wrens were active right near the road, and a FOY Virginia Rail replied to a recorded grunt display call. The feeders are no longer in use at the end of Easterday Road, but I walked down and back the whole road hoping for a woodpecker or more likely a Purple Finch, but no luck.
I took the cutofff from Dupont to Steilacoom for a look from the platform where the expected flock of 110 FOY Western Grebes was easy, and a pair of FOY Greater Scaup not so easy. I continued on towards Chambers Bay, and while stopped by the fish ladder, a single FOY Eurasian Collared Dove flew and circled high overhead. On to the Chamber’s Bay Golf Course beach access bridge. I hoped for FOY Murre there, and a nice group was far offshore, and while looking at them at least 2 FOY Bonaparte’s Gulls flew through my scope view. They are easy in the fall in boig numbers, but only a few overwinter. The same is true for California Gull, and luckily an adule FOY bird was on the water close to shore. I had tried earlier to pick one out of the big flock of Short-billed Gulls on the water, but found none so this was a lucky find.
This made 12 FOY species before noon, and I was feeling pretty great. I decided to get a nice walk and try the afternoon at Ft. Steilacoom Park. I had a nice walk, was pleased to see some sign of life returning to the pond after treatment for algae seemed to make it lifeless the last couple of years, with 17 Ruddy Ducks, 3 NOSH, and a couple of coots present. I hoped for Purple Finch, woodpeckers, California Quail, RBSA, HETH, or something new, but settled for a good walk.
I got home about 2:40 and had time for a short nap and a workout at the gym to wrap a really nice day, ending January with 102 species in Pierce. For perspective I think of >200 species in Pierce for a year is decent, and last Jan 2022 I saw 109, and in 2021 114 in Jan.
The Bird Banter Podcast #146 with Peter Kaestner additional information
On this episode you’ll hear from Peter Kaestner, the birder who has seen more species of birds than any living human, using the IOC checklist currently shown on IGoTerra Peter lists 9,729 of the 10,933 extant species on the IOC checklist. That is 89% of the living species in the world. I had thought that there must not be any places Peter could go and find more than a handful of new “lifers” but I was wrong. Peter has trips planned to the Phillipines and Viet Nam where he hopes to add more-or-less 50 new species to his list in each place.
Peter worked for a career for the U.S. Diplomatic Service. Before hearing Peter talk on my recent cruise to Antarctica I had little idea of what a career as a U.S. diplomat involved. It was a great career for Peter, leading him to life and see areas of the world most of us will never experience.
Peter and his wife now often travel for pleasure and birding, as well as diving, and Peter also works for Rockjumper Worldwide Birding Adventures as a part-time guide. This gives him the chance to help others experience the world of birding, as well as travel extensively.
You can reach Peter via e-mail. He keeps his e-mail address current on his eBird profile. It’s not hard to find him, just look under the explore Top-100 list for the world, all-time. He’s of course #1.
To read about the Antarctica trip, here is a link to my trip report.
As of this time, Peter’s most recent lifer I believe was the endangered and remote Hooded Grebe. You can see a great video of this bird by a previous guest, Paula (and Michael) Webster on YouTube here.
Thanks for listening. As always if you have suggestions for guests you’d like to hear from on the podcast, let me know
Until next time, Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #145 with Victor and Ruben Stoll additinoal info.
On this episode I catch up with Victor and Ruben Stoll as they recover from their record breaking 2022 Lower-48 big year. I had a chance to meet them at the Lake Forest Park, WA Red-flanked Bluetail stakeout last March, and they caught a shower and a few hours of sleep at our home before heading to a Westport Seabirds pelagic trip.
You can see their eBird profiles for more details. Ruben eBird Profile Victor eBird Profile
You can also find them on facebook. Victor on Facebook Ruben on Facebook
To hear about Tiffany Kersten’s 2021 Lower-48 big year check out The Bird Banter Podcast #122 with Tiffany Kersten.
We talk about Jerry Cooper’s book: Birdfinder: A Birder’s Guide to Planning North American Trips on the episode. It was fun to hear that other birders have found this book as helpful as I have over the years. I really think that Victor and Ruben should think about writing an update to this book. They certainly have the first-hand experiences to do so. The 1995 book is out of print, but you can find it used at Buteo Books.
I’m not sure but I think this is an article about the high wind storm the Stoll’s encountered on their chase to see the Garganey in Montana in May.
It sounds like Victor and Ruben have as high a regard as I do about Michael Todd, a previous podcast guest and Tennessee birder who was on episode #124.
As always, if you have suggestions for podcast guests, please let me know using the Contact form here.
Until next time, good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #144 with George Armistead Additional Info.
On this episode you will hear from George Armistead, a well known ABA birder, tour leader, podcaster, and all around interesting guy. We talk about his our trip to Antarctica, so after the last episode where I talk about the trip in detail, George can add another perspective and some new stories.
Check out George’s bird tour company Hillstar Nature .
You can find George on Facebook and Instagram too. Hillstar Nature has their own Facebook page too.
I promised more information on a number of topics in this post too. To keep this from being just too much I’ll keep it brief with links to more detail if you’re interested.
Beginning in 2011 the South Georgia Heritage Trust began the eradication of rats on the South Georgia Islands. This was controversial in that it used rodenticides, and was by far the largest land mass with rodent infestation that eradication had ever been attempted. The project was highly successful, and by 2016 rats were likely completely eradicated, but it was not until 2018 that the official declaration of a rat free South Georgia was given. You can read more about it here. Birders who visited South Georgia on the recent expedition cruise I was on saw many South Georgia Pipits, a marked difference from stories of birders who visited 20 years ago (I missed the visits with Covid isolation). The continued vigillence is intense, and we had rat-sniffing dogs search our ship before one landing.
Early in his career Geroge worked in several capacities at the Academy of Natual Sciences in Philidelphia. If I get to Philidelphia again it will be on my must-see list of places to explore. It is the oldest natural history museum in the U.S. and has a great collection of bird specimens. I remember many years ago speakers and others talking of getting photographs from VIREO, the program George mentioned in the episode.
The Bird Safe Philly project reminded me of talking with two prior guests on the topic of light polution and bird safety. First was the episode with Alex Israel of the New York Audubon Society and learning about the Safe Flights Program there. YOu may also enjoy hearing about the dangers to birds from glass collisions, especially in homes like you may live in on the episode with Dr. Daniel Klem.
For many birders the Christmas Season brings the fellowship, birding and experience of the Christmas Bird Counts. George talks about how important the CBCs have been to him, especially the early ones when he met other young birders and the joy of the fellowship of birding. It is still not too late to find a CBC for this year. It’s easy to find your local count or another. If you are looking in Washington State where I live, look here on the WOS websitge. For a worldwide look, check this cool site.
I’ll end with a link to this site explaining Katabatic Winds. In summary it is a wind tha flows downhill after cooling and changing pressure. They can be extraordinary in places like South Georgia with big mountains near the ocean.
Again, thanks for reading and listening. Until next time, Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #143: Antarctica Additional Info.
I will make this unusually brief, as I wrote a full trip report under the Ed’s birding notes tab of this page. See lots of photos on my Antarctica Flickr album.
Stay tuned for the next Bird Banter episode with George Armistad. I hope have several upcoming episode with fellow birders I met on the trip.
The ABA was a main driver behind filling a ship with birders for a birding focused expedition cruise, which added greatly to the focus and fellowship on the ship.
For me one of the best parts of the trip was meeting Alvaro Jaramillo, and spending time with him and his co-leader Ricardo Matus. Both are not just extremely accomplished birders and guides, but have a fabulous depth of knowledge about the bird world. Alvaros lecture on the likely new species split from Wilson’s Storm-petrel was great, but all trip we got to learn life history and exquisite details of innumerable topics. Super fun to be around Alvaro and Ricardo.
Rockjumper Birding was the organizer and primary birding tour managers, and did a fine job.
If all goes as planned my next episode will be a talk with one of the top guides on the trip, and fellow podcaster George Armistad. Follow his podcst (along with Alvaro Jaramillo and Mollee Brown) Life List: A Birding Podcast.
Until next time, good birding and good day.
The Bird Banter Podcast #142 with Francis Canto Jr. Additional Info.
As I mention on the episode, Belize was one of the first places outside the U.S. where I birded with my late wife Kay. We took a trip to Belize, and while at an ecolodge hired a guide for a couple of half days, and enjoyed the dry tropical forest birding there. We also took a side trip to Tikal, the famous ruins in Guatamala and also spent some time at Caye Calker on the coast. Overall a great trip. Talking with Francisco brought back really good memories.
Francisco was recommended as a guest by a listener, which is one of my favorite ways to find great guests for the podcast, so please let me know who you’d like to hear from on the show.
I had no idea that hawk watching was such a special time in Belize, and seeing large numbers of Hook-billed Kites there sounds pretty unique and intriguing.
I did know that for a small country, Belize has a nice mix of habitats, from coastal to the mountains, and all areas in between. You can check out Francisco’s eBird profile here.
Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!