Tammy Poppie and I talk about backyard birding and bird feeding on this episode. Tammie is the creator of On The Feeder, a website where readers can find information about bird feeders and feeding, find an injured bird rehab facility nearby. IMO this is a pretty cool feature of the website. I tried it for my home zip code and it gave several facilities in the area.
I talked about two prior episodes on the podcast, and so thought I’d put their players here:
On this episode we talk about Dr. Klem’s decades of work on birds and window collisions.
Suzie Gilbert and I talk about bird rehabilitation on this episode, as well as about her two books related to the topic.
We also talk a bit about feeder related Salmonella infections. Here is an article about the outbreak in the winter of 2021-2022.
As I mention on the wrap of this episode, stay tuned for the next episode with Alex Harper about birding around Sin City.
Category: Blog
The Bird Banter Podcast #136 with Matt Goff Additional Info.
On this episode you’ll hear from Matt Goff, a longtime resident, all-around naturalist, and birder from Sitka, Alaska. For those of you who have not been to the Alaska panhandle, Sitka is a small city of about 8400 that is located on two large islands that make up a series of islands extending south and east from the large landmass of most of the rest of Alaska. Matt describes the weather in Sitka as “similar to Seattle but about 10 degrees cooler and with a lot more rain.”
Matt has done a radio show on KCAW of Raven Radio, a public radio show in Sitka for over 10 years. He does shows every 2 weeks, so this is over 270 shows. These shows cover various nature related topics and are enjoyable. You can find them on his web site SitkaNature.org where you can also contact Matt, or you can e-mail him at sitkanature-at-gmail-dot-com
Matt mentions his son in the show. Matt’s son is the #1 eBird lister in Sitka, and Matt is #3. Cool to be the dynamic father-son birding duo for a county.
Matt also talks about a Bioblitz he worked with in Sitka some years ago. Here is a link to the Bioblitz in Whistler he mentions.
For those of you who have not used iNaturalist, it is a phone app and website that allows you to keep records of living things that youfind in nature. I am no expert but it has features to allow other users to help with the ID of things you post with photos. I think of it as a bit like eBird for everything.
I mention an episode with Mike Denny on the episode. You can find that as episode #63 at this link.
Again thanks for listening. Feedback is always appreciated. Leave a comment or reach me on the contact page on this site.
Until next time, good birding.
The Bird Banter Podcast #135 with Sarah Swanson Additional Information
On this episode I talk with birder, author, Portland Audubon volunteer and all-around interesting woman, Sarah Swanson. Sarah has written two birding books, and the latest is:
I think this book will be a great tool for those interested in enjoying and learning the birds of the Oregon coast who are maybe not already familiar with what they are likely to see and their identification. This book is available for pre-order now, and is expected to be available in October of this year.
Sarah previously wrote a book called Must See Birds of the Pacific Northwest which is available used.
Sarah is an active member of the Portland birding community, and it was fun to talk with her about birding in her area, the process of marketing a new book, her birding story, and lots more.
You can find Sarah on Instagram @sarahlovesbirds or on Twitter @MustSeeBirds.
I also enjoyed hearing from Sarah about inclusiveness in birding, how Portland birders have been leading the way with birding groups like Feminist Birding Club of Portland and others. It helped remind me to try harder to be more inclusive and inviting to everyone.
Thanks for listening. As always I welcome suggestions for and introductions to potential guests for the podcast. Reach out to me on the Contact Page anytime with ideas.
Until next time, good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #134 with Mike Resch Additional Info.
Mike Resch is such a wealth of information on state and province birding throughout the continental U.S. and Canada. He has not just birded in every state and province, he has birded a lot in every state. So much that he has seen >200 bird species in every U.S. state (except Hawaii). You can find more about Mike on his State Birding Blog
We talk about his most recent trip to western Montana and the Idaho panhandle. We talk about the difference between chasing rarities and finding a large number of common birds in each state. Mike has done both, so knows the difference well.
Mike also has a post-retirement business of trip guiding and planning. If you need help planning a trip to see rarities, see great birding spots near where you’ll be visiting, or otherwise planning a birding trip, Mike is available to help. Reach him through his website or at reschmike1-at-gmail-dot-com on email.
I read Mike’s blog, and wondered how he creates the cool U.S. maps with color and numbers for each state. I didn’t ask him how he does it, but this website works.
If you want to hear the first episode with Mike check out episode #33
I’m hoping that when Mike decides to visit eastern WA and OR that we can link up and bird a bit together there. He has not visited these areas, and I love getting east of the mountains birding. Mike has 268 WA species and 249 in OR, all west of the Cascades. I’m sure we could add some good birds for the states in SE WA and NE OR. The Blue Mountains, Mal Huer, and the Asotin County areas would make a great trip.
Here are some photos of birds mentioned on the episode.
If you know of birders who might make great guests, please contact me with suggestions.
Thanks for following. Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #133 with Dan Casey
On this episode Dan Casey and I talk about his birding story, birding Montana and lots more. Dan and I share the goal of trying to see 100 species of birds in each of the counties in our state. I have it much easier in WA, with only 39 counties and a state smaller than Montana. Here is my eBird profile of WA sightings:
Here is Dan’s for Montana.
eBirders will appreciate the NO GRAY counties for both of us.
You can reach Dan by email danielcasey55-at- gmail- dot- com
We talk about a few organizations, places and topics. Here are some related links:
The American Bird Conservancy
Partners in Flight
Hawk Watch International
Westport Seabirds
Northern Great Plains Joint Venture
You can find the Birds of Montana book Dan helped write on Amazon here.
Thanks for listening. Until next time. Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #86 with Jason Westlake Additional Information
My experience in birding in Costa Rica is very limited. I have visited my daughter Jean there once, about 2 years ago, and birded alone in the far southern Caribbean coastal area. I can’t wait to return and get around the country more birding. I enjoyed learning more about birding Costa Rica in talking with Jason on this episode of The Bird Banter Podcast. I am excited about maybe getting out birding when with Jason when I return, and seeing The Tierra de Sueño Lodge he and his wife run in Playa Chiquita. From the website it looks great, check it out on the link above.
The hawk watch Jason discusses can be seen here on its Facebook page, Fundacïon Raspaces de Costa Rica
The Guatemalan guide I used was Claudia Avendaño, and you can find her website Cayaya Birding here.
I don’t have a photo of the Pink-headed Warbler we talked about, but here is the Wine-throated Hummingbird
and here is the Brown-backed Solitaire.
Here is a link to the Bird Banter Episode with Patrick O’Donnell we talked about.
I’ll be sure to let you all know when I get to Costa Rica again.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #132 with Matt Aeberhard Additional Info.
On this episode Matt and I talk about his amazing story and career as a wildlife videographer and as a birder. The two obviously are intertwined, as he has worked in spectacular places where while filming mammals, birds and lots more he has had a chance to do some birding too.
Matt has a website and is on Instagram. You can find lots of his work online. Here are a few examples of his acclaimed work:
Our Planet
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can be seen on Netflix. It is a series that Matt filmed that is extraordinary.
Crimson Wing is a film Matt produced for Disney, that you can rent on Amazon.
Here is a video from You Tube where Matt talks about video techniques.
Matt also did parts of the Netflix Series Dances with the Birds and the opening sequence of Perfect Planet which you can find on Prime Video.
Thanks for listening. Stay tuned for stories from Costa Rica when I visit my daughter there in the next couple of weeks.
The Bird Banter Podcast #131 with Marcos Trinidad
On this episode I talk with Marcos Trinidad, the Center Director at the Debs Park Audubon Center in Los Angeles, CA. I learnded a lot about being inclusive to persons of color in birding, about helping people incorporate technology into postive experiences in nature, and about Marcos himself.
You can find more about Marcos at his bio on the Debs Park website, and about his podcast, Human/Nature at their website.
You can follow Marcos on Instagram or Twitter also.
I hope you enjoyed the episode. I’d love to hear of guests you’d like to hear from, and you can suggest guests or topics using the Contact Page. Please send any contact information you have on guests you suggest.
Thanks for listening.
Until next time, good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #130 with Bill Young additional info.
On The Bird Banter Podcast #130 Bill Young and I talk about his life experiences birding, his passion for and inimiate knowledge of his home patch, Moticello Park in Alexandria, Virginia, and the web site he has co-created MPNature.com where you can find incredibly detailed information about the park and its fauna and flora. I especially enjoyed his reasoning and attention to the seasonal occurrence of many of the neotropic migrants found in the park. He is so right about a few days making all the difference in the chances of seeing a particular bird. Here are a couple of the examples from the website:
Note that on these two dates, only a week apart, the list of migrants that have been recorded are very different. On May 12th only Yellow-rumped Warbler has been recorded, but on May 5th 12 different species of warblers have been seen.
Here is an example of one of Bill’s YouTube Videos, the one he mentions about the Mississippi Kites that nested nearby.
Here are the eBird sites for Bombay Hook NWR, Forsythe NWR (formerly Brigantine NWR), Monticello Park, and Los Cusingos in Costa Rica, the place we talk about that Dr. Alexander Skutch lived and worked.
Here is a link to Bill’s book The Fascination of Birds.
I could not find much information on Optical Brighteners and their U.V. spectrum residue that may be easily seen by birds, so if any readers find good information, please use the contact page to let me know. – Thanks to Bill, he sent me this link to information used by the U.S. military on optical brighteners. Bill also copies a short segment from Jon Young’s book where he talks about what birds see. It is worth the read IMO. Funny and informative. Read here.
Thanks for following and listening. Until next time. Good birding.
The Bird Banter Podcast #129 with Jackie Lindsey and Charlie Wright of COASST
On The Bird Banter Podcast #129 Jackie Lindsey and Charlie Wright from COASST, the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team and I talk about the program as well as Jackie’s background a little. You can hear Charlie on episode 116 from Nov of last year. Even though it seems to me that Charlie has been a mainstay of Washington birding forever, he is still a young birder. He is the data verifier for COASST, meaning that he is the person who confirms the identity of bird carcasses found on the beaches the coast walkers report. COASST has developed a guide for volunteers to use in identifying birds they find that is quite different from the way a birder goes about identifying a bird. They first put the bird into one of three foot types, and then have an algorithm from there to get to the correct species.
Volunteers agree to walk a specific beach area monthly, and attend a day long training program to learn how to ID and report their findings. We talk a bit about some of the unusual findings that volunteers have found. They include this first Washington Least Auklet that was the first bird Charlie reviewed after returning form his Alaska summer field work where he saw lots of Least Auklets.
We also talk about the Purple Gallinule wing that a volunteer found and sent in as an unknown.
COASST is always looking for volunteers and you can see if you might be interested or sign up here. This is the link to donate to their program, as they depend on outside funding to do their work.
Here are photos of the three types of foot of seabirds:
Lobed Toes
Webbed Toes
Non-lobed and Non-webbed Toes
Thanks for visiting. Good birding.