Have you ever found yourself off to a great start birding in a certain area and decided maybe you should see how many species you can find in that area for the year, sort of a kinda-big-year? That describes many of the recent years of my guest this episode, Alex Patia. The ABA, New Mexico, Washington and Clallam County big years have come about this way for Alex since he became an avid birder and lister in about 2014.
We talk about his career as an environmental educator. He has worked for Nature Bridge, as well as at a camp in Maine, Camp Chiwonki
While at Camp Chiwonki he led several trips to Eastern Egg Rock. You can learn lots more about this area as well as Atlantic Puffin Reintroduction programs on The Bird Banter Podcast #57 with “Puffin” Pete Salmonsohn. The boat ride out to Eastern Egg Rock is one of my favorite easy short boat rides ever. I got my life Atlantic Puffin and Northern Gannet on this ride years ago.
I was fascinated to learn about the great birding in New Mexico too. I have birded just a little in NM, on a soccer trip with my daughter Jean when she was 13 and playing a regional tournament in Albuquerque, and on a vacation in Santa Fe with friends when we made it up to the Sandia Crest Lodge in Cibola to see Black Rosy-Finches at a feeder there.
I would love to get to Guadalupe Canyon there if that is still within my physical capability. This is a link to the eBird Bar Chart of species that can be found there.
Here is a link to Birds of the World that I talk about in the introduction. I love this website.
Last, here is a link to the Bird Banter Podcast #55 with Suzie Gilbert to hear and learn more about bird rehab centers and Suzie’s novel Unflappable.
I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for listening. Until next time. Good birding and Good Day!
Category: Blog
The Bird Banter Podcast #90 with Cameron Cox Additional Info.
Cameron Cox is a well known ABA birder who is spending time in Washington this winter as a consequence of Covid restrictions. I took advantage of Cameron being here by getting down to Chelalis last weekend to see the Lesser Black-backed Gull he picked out of a flock of gulls near where he is staying in the Chelalis area, a Lewis County first for this species I believe. Cameron has a lot of experience at bird ID in flight. We talk about his philosophy and understanding of how birders can learn this challenging skill, and how he has developed this expertise. Examples of his experience are at hawk watches, sea watches and at the Cape May morning flight.
Kay and I spent a week at Cape May several years ago. We took a 2-day hawk watching class from Pete Dunne at the Cape May Hawk Watch platform, and two mornings went to the morning flight. It is a truly incredible experience, and we were lucky enough to be there for an extraordinary flight day. Imaging seeing and identifying (or in our case not identifying but enjoying) thousands of warblers flying by at eye level, often within feet or even inches from our heads, in the breaking dawn. It is somewhat mind-blowing, and hearing the pros identify these birds in flight by their shape, size, flight pattern and call notes is pretty special.
We also talk about tropical birding in Central America, his favorite birding places, and more.
Here are a few links to topics we discuss.
The Panama Canopy Lodge.
Monte Verde Lodge in Costa Rica
The Cape May Hawk Watch
Cape May Morning Flight
Here is the Kikoldi Hawk Watch Tower Facebook Page
Thanks for listening to the Bird Banter Podcast.
Until next time. Good birding. Good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #89: Looking Back
The Bird Banter Podcast is 2 years old now, with my first episode published 2 years ago tomorrow, Jan 22, 2019. A lot has happened since then. The 89 numbered episodes of this podcast have covered a time during which we have spent the last year in a worldwide pandemic, a U.S. presidential election that seemed to dominate and IMO drag our country through a time I hope can be put behind us. That said, I’ve had a lot of fun doing TBBP. In this episode I look back, at guests, stories, and more.
I won’t dwell on this, but want to here again give thanks to everyone who has helped. Listeners, guests, family and friends, and the whole birding community for your encouragement and support.
Let’s make the next 2 years better in many ways, and continue to enjoy and love our passion for birds and birding.
Thanks again.
Ed
The Bird Banter Podcast #88 with Brian “Fox” Ellis
It was really fun to talk with a professional story teller on The Bird Banter Podcast #88 with Brian “Fox” Ellis. Brian is a lifelong birder and story teller. He started earning money telling stories in college, and this evolved into a profession. I have to say stories are what powers long road trips with birders, and the lore is one of the parts of birding with friends I most enjoy. Most birders, IMHO are storytellers, and the stories are integral to birding.
I think Brian is right in that most of us come from storytelling families. I hope that you all enjoy the stories that are an integral part of this podcast. One of the things I most enjoy about doing this podcast is hearing the birding story of my guests.
Brian’s web page, Fox Tales International, will give you more information about Brian and his new books.
We talked about a number of Brian’s favorite birding sites today. You can read about many of them on the Illinois River Road Birding webpage.
Brian’s web page is at Fox Tales International and his you tube channel is here.
Here is the Hummingbird Tales video Brian mentions as one you may enjoy.
I have been really pleased with the start to the year birding and here are a couple of photos of cool birds I’ve seen.
Please tell your favorite birding story in the comments section of this blog post. Thanks.
Until next time. Good birding. Good day.
Until next time. Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #87 with Dan Cooper Additional Info.
Dan Cooper is my guest on The Bird Banter Podcast #87, and we talk about his youth as a young California birder in the fabulous birding community that was California in the latter 20th century, about his career as an ecological monitoring and research consultant, and about birding passions. Enjoy.
I feel like every time I get to talk with a birder who grew up birding in California during what I think of as the golden age of birding there, the 1960-1990 timer range, I learn lots, enjoy the stories, and am a bit envious of their experiences. Dan Cooper was a part of that birding community, and as a podcast guest shares some of his stories of that time and more.
We talk about a mutual friend John Sterling (epoisode #10) who was one of the trip leaders and guides on a trip I took to Kenya with three prior guests, Bruce LaBar, Heather Ballash and Marcus Roening. They are also the Pierce County birders I talk about in the introduction.
It was fun to hear Dan talk about his achieving his PhD recently on the topic of urban birds. Here is an article about the Goshawks of Berlin, and here is a link to the ABC Birding club meeting with Ed Deal when he talked about his study of Cooper’s Hawks in the Seattle Area.
I wish you all a great New Year, great birding and safe travels as time passes.
The Bird Banter Podcast #86 with Jason Westlake Additional Information.
I cannot wait to get to Costa Rica. Not just for birding, though I expect that to be fabulous. My daughter lives there and I realized that all of 2020 has now gone by without seeing her and seeing her live in Costa Rica. The vaccine, control of this pandemic, and freedom to comfortably travel safely again cannot come fast enough for me.
Jason Westlake is a fascinating guest from my standpoint. As I mention in the introduction to this episode Jason is my first self-described traveller as a guest. Sure, lots of us travel, and many likely travel to bird, or bird while travelling, or both, but how many of us think of travelling as our vocation? My guess is not many of us.
If you visit Costa Rica you can find Jason at Tierra de Sueños Lodge website. I mention several other episodes in the intro so here are quick links to some of those.
First my episode with my daughter Jean about her food forest in Playa Chiquita.
Patrick O’Donnell is a top Costa Rica birding guide and was my guest on Episode #65
To hear from Stephanie Seymour and hear a sample of her music check out Episode #52
Know any birders who also sing and play in a Swamp Opera Band? Check out the episode with Andrew Emlen.
Birders may enjoy the novel Flyaway by Suzie Gilbert, and can here about it on Episode #55
Peter Hodum was a fascinating guest on Episode #70 as we talk about seabird ecology and his career as a conservationist and researcher.
Peter Wimberger on Episode #30 , also a professor at UPS was equally terrific talking about the role of museums in modern ornithology and science.
There are lots more to hear, so browse and check out any that interest you.
Happy New Year. May 2021 be a healthy and special birding year for us all.
The Bird Banter Podcast #85 with Jonah Gula Additional Info.
Jonah Gula is a graduate student at Texas State University doing research on the African Saddlebill Stork. We talk about his work with African storks, his birding story and adventures, and his other field research work. I grew up in Maine near where Jonah attended Unity College, and it was good to hear his story of work there on black bears with my niece’s husband Kendall Marden.
We talk about predation of Greater Sage Grouse by raptors that are likely predated by Swainson’s Hawks. I was surprised. I checked on Birds of the World, and male Greater-sage Grouse can weight from 1.9-3.1 kg lbs, with females weighing from 900 – 1800 grams. Swainson’s Hawks weigh from 700-1300 grams. So the Swainson’s Hawks can weigh nearly as much as the smallest female Greater Sage Grouse.
Saddle-billed Storks are indeed a spectacular bird. Check out this photo in the McCauley library. https://macaulaylibrary.org/asset/93102161#_ga=2.37371427.2037751036.1608164645-532505861.1607311548 They stand up to 1.2 meters tall, and weigh up to 6 kg. They are boldly black-and-white with a huge red-black and yellow bill.
Here is a link to publications by Jonah.
I mentioned previous podcast episodes by Paul Bannick and Florence Reed so here are links to the blog posts for those episodes. Here is a link to the Sustainable Harvest International effort to help small farmers establish sustainable wildlife-friendly family farms.
I hope you enjoy this episode. Please leave comments with feedback, suggestions for future guests, or just to say hello.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #84 with Larry Hubbell Additional Info.
One of the great things for me about doing this podcast is that I keep learning, or being forced to accept, about myself. I am an impatient birder, and thrive on new places, different experiences, and don’t do as well with deep exploration of the same place over and over. People have asked me why I went into family medicine instead of another specialty. I think I thrive on the variety, and like seeing different things through the day and work-live. I realize i also don’t have the patience of endurance to be a really good patch birder. I have started, after talking with Larry Hubbell on this episode, to bird the Chinese Reconciliation Project Park which is right in front of my condo, but have no illusion that I’ll stick with it like Larry has a Union Bay in Seattle.
I have tremendous respect for Larry’s work, and it was such fun to hear his story on this episode. The personal connections Larry has with friends like Marcus Roening and Dennis Paulson added to the enjoyment.
The Union Bay Natural Area and the Arboretum are top hotspots in King County. Located adjacent to the University of Washington they attract lots of local birding talent, and vagrants seem to be very frequently found there. Just this year I’ve tried for a Least Tern and a vagrant warbler there, both chases not successful.
Here are links to some of the topics we discussed on the podcast episode:
Union Bay Watch
Arboretum Creek Revitalization
The Live After Eddie Post
Marcus and Heather episode
Dennis Paulson episode
The Common Raven dropping water call- listen to the bottom recording on this page, the 23 second recording. 
Thanks for listening and reading. Please leave comments with any feedback, suggestions for guests you’d like to hear from, or whatever you’d like me to hear.
Thanks.
Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #83 with Matt Bartels additional info.
The making of a county birder is really the birding story of Matt Bartels. Matt is a Seattle birder, the WA Bird Records Committee Secretary, one of just 2 birders to have seen 200 species of birds in each of Washington’s 30 counties, and really nice guy who is my guest on the Bird Banter Podcast #83.
Matt didn’t really start actively birding until his young adult years, and he fell for the county listing bug from the get-go. Hearing his birding story is really the story of his county listing.
Matt also contributes to the WA birding community in many ways. He helps with the Marymoor Bird Walk along with Michael Hobbs and Brian Bell.
Matt has served as the WA Bird Records Committee, a key part of the Washington Ornithological Society, and as Brad Waggoner, a prior guest told me, carries the heavy load of getting the committee’s work done, recorded, and made public.
On the episode we talk about two birds the committee discussed in detail at the recent annual meeting. For fun here are links to information about the species involved:
Nazca Booby vs Masked Booby
Northern Giant Petrel vs Southern Giant Petrel
As you can tell the differences are subtle.
We talk about county listing as a pursuit. It can be fun, and a way to challenge yourself to explore your state more intentionally. I have had lots of fun in the last couple of years trying to find new species in all of the WA counties. This really began for me with a 4 day winter trip with Ken Brown (guest on episode 2), Ryan Weise and Bryan Hansen. This was to “get rid of the gray” on our eBird profile pages. At the time the WA map on eBird showed all the counties of WA with color coding for the number of species you have recorded on eBird in each county. A gray color denoted zero species recorded. All of us had birded Asotin, Columbia and Garfield counties at least a little, but all were before we started keeping rocords on eBird, so a trip in Jan 2019 added color to the Southeast part of our WA profiles. Read about the trip on the ABC Birding blog. Since then I have made trips to several WA counties, seen birds, roads and scenery I’d not seen before, and am starting to learn lots more about Washington State.
Here are some trip report links if anyone is interested.
Thurston County last week
Two reports on a recent winter eastern WA trip to Spokane, Lincoln, Ferry, and Whitman Counties.
Southwest WA County Birding this fall
Chelan in summer
These are just examples of the fun to be had chasing county birds in WA.
So much fun hearing Matt’s story, so until next time, Good birding and good day!
The Bird Banter Podcast #82 with Paul Bannick additional information
It seemed appropriate that the day after talking with Paul Bannick for The Bird Banter Podcast #82 Marian and I got a chance to see the Snowy Owl that has been roosting on rooftops in a Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle for a week or so. It brought to mind the studies done a few years ago about the Snowy Owls in the big invasion year, and how they often hunt sea ducks at night. Maybe this owl is hunting ducks on the nearby Green Lake at night, probably easy picking, and doing just fine in this urban setting.
Snowy Owls are such an iconic bird, and I am looking forward to seeing and reading Paul Bannick’s new book on the life history of Snowy Owls as well as the book on Great Gray Owls. I saw my WA first Great Gray Owl this year when Mike Denny took Ken Brown and me to a site to find them and we sat and recorded The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #63 with Mike Denny sitting on the side of a logging road as recently fledged Great Gray Owls walked on branched very nearby.
On this episode Paul talks about his conservation work for Conservation Northwest, about the wildlife corridors they are working to create, and about newly reintroduced species like Gray Wolves, Wolverine and Fisher. I feel like I better understand the I-90 wildlife bridges that we see on our trips to E WA.
I’ve had other photographers on the podcast in the past, including Dorian Anderson, Nate Chappell and most recently with Idaho birder and photographer Darren Clark.
Please leave comments and give me feedback about this episode, the podcast in general, or if you have thoughts por suggestions for guests you’d like to hear from.
Until next time: Good birding and good day!