Category: Blog

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #52 with Stephanie Seymour Supporting Information



On this episode I am joined by Stephanie Seymour, the artist of the recently released album There Are Birds. She is an avid birder, has her own private official hawkwatch station at her home in New Jersey, and is a longtime professional musician. This album has 12 songs, each with the title of a listable North American bird except the final track, Migration is Over. Three of the songs are included in this podcast. Enjoy.
You can buy Stephanie’s album at her website: www.ThereAreBirds.com It is available as either a digital download or as a CD you can order.

We mention birding in Central Park with Starr Saphir who led walks in spring there for about 40 years before her death. The movie, The Central Park Effect is very cool, and features Starr in part. I really enjoyed this movie.
You can find her on Facebook and on Instagram @There_Are_Birds
On the ABA website Frank Izaguirre wrote a glowing review of this album you can access on the ABA site by clicking here.

Until next time. Good birding. Good day.

Episode Notes on The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #51 with Lane Epps and Corrie Fulsom-O’Keefe


Lane Epps and Corrie Fulsom-O’Keefe

On the Bird Banter Podcast Episode #51 I talk with two women who have maintained and nourished a long-time and long-distance birding relationship. They actually used a recent episode of this podcast to help plan a birding trip to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and interestingly on that podcast two of my best birding buddies and I talk about our trip. I hope you enjoy the episode.
Lane works with the Back to Nature Wildlife Refuge, and here is a link to their website.
Here is a link to the Brookline Birding Club website This is the club that hosted the bird walk in the Boston Gardens where Land and Corrie first birded together. This bird club is historically famous, having been established in 1913, and currently has over 1100 members.
Here is a link to the Bombay Hook NWR site mentioned in the episode This is a wonderful salt-marsh habitat refuge, and a place I remember for Saltmarsh Sparrow and biting green flies in July.
We talked briefly about the Farallon Islands on the episode, and this prompts me to mention the Bird Banter Podcast Episode #26 with Tim Larson where we talk about the House Mouse infestation of the island and the issues around eradication of this invasive pest there.

Lane talks briefly about the Mead Botanical Gardens and here is a link to their website.https://cityofwinterpark.org/departments/parks-recreation/parks-playgrounds/parks/mead-botanical-garden/
Stay tuned for the first musical episode of The Bird Banter Podcast coming up next when Stephanie Seymour is my guest and you will get to listen to some of the songs from her new album featuring 11 songs with bird names as titles! Too cool. You can get a sneak preview of her music and download the album here: There Are Birds

Until next time, good birding and good day!

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #50 with Nathanael Swecker

Long-eared Owl at Heritage Road on the Waterville Plateau on our ABC Birding Club Freezathon Trip.

On the Bird Banter Podcast Episode #50 I talk with Nathanael Swecker, current president of the Tahoma Audubon Society about his birding story. He has birded on Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM) extensively, and we talk about that birding resource in Pierce County, WA, as well as his experience with bird banding at the Morse Preserve, his work with Tahoma Audubon, and his experiences as an openly gay birder.
I found Nathanael an exceptionally articulate guest, and it was really fun to hear about his birding on JBLM. JBLM is a large (154 square miles of terrain in Pierce County) military reservation that was created by the merger of Fort Lewis (Army) and McChord Air Force Base in 2010. Over 40,000 service members are stationed at JBLM and there is extensive native habitat remaining that elsewhere in the county has been developed for agriculture, housing and other uses. Large stands of oak trees and relatively open prairie remain, and biologists there have maintained large bluebird trails, and protect habitat for the Streaked Horned Lark subspecies and the Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly. Here is an article about the butterfly.
Nathanael is also the president of Tahoma Audubon Society, the local Audubon Society in Tacoma, where I live.
We talk briefly about his experiences as an openly gay male birder, which seem to have been overall not hostile or problematic. Here is an ABA article about this group. http://blog.aba.org/2016/07/gbna_rycenga.html
Nathanael has been an active bird bander at the Morse Preserve, and here is a link to info about that area.

TBBP Episode #49 Home from Texas Notes



I believe in the podcast I called this bird a Red-breasted Becard at times, it’s Red-throated. Anyway a cool bird.
To read a more detailed trip list with photos check out the trip report on our birding club website ABC Birding. Also here for the time with Ken and Bruce. You’ll find several more posts on the Ed’s Birding tab on the birdbanter.com site.
I’ll keep this brief as it is well documented in the links above.
Good birding. Good day.

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #48 with Mary Guatafson Notes


A poor photo of the Eastern Screech Owl Mary showed me at the National Butterfly Center after we recorded the podcast episode.
I’ve been in the LRGV now for almost 2 weeks, and am starting to feel like I can find my way around. I am also starting to meet some of the local birders, and today was able to meet with Mary Gustafson. I learned that Mary and I have at least one thing in common. Ken Brown was helpful to us in our earlier birding days. When Mary was at UPS Ken often took her out locally birding.
On Feb 6th this female Rose-throated Becard was found at Benston Rio Grande SP. Mary messaged me about it and I got our whole ABC Birding group onto the bird the next day.

Mary is a top national birder, and has lived in the Lower RGV for about 15 years. She has been a trip guide here, has a long resume as an ornithologist working around the country and abroad, and was really fun to meet and talk with today.
Mary runs the listserv for the Lower Rio Grande Valley birding area, a nice resource for birders in this area.
She mentions that she worked at the National Bird Banding Center, and here is a link to their website.
She mentions Peter Pyle’s two tome book used by bird banders and museum curators for bird ID, aging, etc. Here is a link to that on amazon. This is part 1, part 2 is easy to find also.
Here is the web site for the National Butterfly Center.
Be sure to check out BirdBanter.com blog for more info, photos, etc.
Follow @birdbanter on Facebook and @birdbanter on twitter. My error on the podcast, I changed my twitter handle from @dredpullen to @birdbanter.
Good birding. Good day!

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #47 with Ryan and Victor Rodriguez Additional Info


How many 4 Year Olds learn to read by studying their Big Sibley Bird Guide?

My guest Ryan Rodriguez, 12-year old birder from McAllen, Texas, was a joy to meet and talk with. His Dad Victor sat in as the proud Dad, watching his son perform like a pro.

Check out Ryan’s eBird Profile to see his local accomplishments.
Here is a link to the World Birding Center Quinta Mazatlan Site that Ryan haunts as a birder.
The LRGV is a special place to ABA birders. So far in just the brief visit I’ve had here I’ve seen many species that would be difficult if not impossible to find elsewhere in the ABA area.
Green Jay

PARA_4047 Quinta Mazatlan McAllen

Aplomado Falcon
A Lower RGV specialty, seen all over, heard nearly constantly calling its name. [/caption]
Altamira Oriole

These are just a few of the easy ones here.
Add the vagrant Fork-tailed Flycatcher that has been hanging out since before I got here, Clay-colored Thrush, Bronzed Cowbird, and you go a long ways to building your list here.
Ryan is in an opportune place to meet and see visiting birders as well as the LRGV specialty birds.
Good Birding. Good Day!

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #46 from South Texas with Ken and Bruce Notes

What a great gift to have been able to spend 9 days birding the lower Rio Grande River Valley with Ken Brown and Bruce LaBar. They are great birders, fun guys, and we had a blast. I’m sad to have them leave, but needing a bit of a rest, and looking forward to exploring the valley over the next 3 weeks. I am also looking forward to having a group of Tacoma area birders join me from Feb 5-12 for an ABC Birding Club trip afar.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher. The top bird of the trip using rarity in the ABA as a metric.

We talked about the World Birding Center and the 9 sites they have developed into a network of birding destinations along the lower Rio Grande. The system is spectacular, very well run, and a great addition to ABA birding. Check out their web site, and the site for each of the 9 locations.
We mentioned that local and visiting birders have been extremely gracious. On local birder, I’ll leave him unnamed as I didn’t ask his permission to mention him online, has a fabulous backyard birding setup. His home is on the edge of a local housing area, and he and his wife have developed the backyard into a birder’s heaven. They have water elements, dripping water, suet, sugar water, fruit and seed feeders, great cover. This combines to draw in spectacular numbers of birds. This is where Bruce and we got the Audubon’s Oriole.
A Lower RGV specialty, seen all over, heard nearly constantly calling its name.

John Heaney met us several times along our journeys, several looking for the Fork-tailed Flycatcher, which eluded him for a while before he got it after several tries. John was extremely friendly and welcoming, and introduced me to a 12-year old local birder who if all goes well will be the guest on the next episode. I’ll again leave him unnamed until I get formal permission to talk about him by name.
Here are some photos from our day at the Edinburg Scenic Wetlands. It may seem pretentious to use scenic in the name of a spot, but in this case it is understatement.
A great tail shot of a Yellow-rumped Warbler at the Westlaco Wetlands. Note both the yellow rump and the white outer tail feather tips.


Black-and-white Warbler

Northern Parula

We didn’t mention that at Anzalduas County Park we got to see a Sprague’s Pipit in the grassy field. It was really cool to walk the fields and find these secretive birds poking around in the grass.
We also didn’t talk about chiggers. Chiggers are a tiny insect that if you walk in tall grass or brush can get on your clothing, and move around until they get into a tight spot, and then burrow under your skin, causing a terribly itchy rash. We have all had chiggers in the past, though mine minimal, and so avoiding chiggers was a big effort. It looks like Bruce git 3 tiny bites on his legs, and Ken was thinking he might have a bite on his buttock on the drive to the airport. If you come, avoid tall grass, and try to keep chiggers from getting onto your skin.
We also discussed the welcome wall. Here is a photo of the wall, and here is a link to a story about the National Butterfly Center fight to keep the wall out of their preserve.
Here is a link to my flickr site for photos from our time birding together.
Stay tuned to see if I can get my youngest to date top birder as my next guest. I’m looking forward to that and the rest of my time here in McAllen.
Good birding. Good day!

Notes on The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #45 with Annie Meyer


I’m posting the blog post early because I’ll be traveling when Episode #45 drops, so it should be available on Jan 16th.
As I mention on the episode I first met Annie when Kay and I took she and her Dad Dane on a birdathon trip when she was about 10 years old. It was so much fun talking with and doing the recording. We talk about her birding story, her travels and work in South and Central America, and hear some really cool adventure stories. Enjoy.
You can reach out to Annie Meyer @anniemeyer on Facebook on Instagram @Annie_Meyer
Click on this link for website for Third Millennium Alliance in Ecuador, preserving corridors for wildlife is
Here is a link to the Science article we talked about tht documents the dramatic decline in bird numbers in the Americas over the last 30 years.
We also discussed Land Trusts. Here is a link to the Washington Association of Land Trusts
Here is a link to a photo of and info the Hoatzin, the bird we discussed, the Hoatzin. It really is a cool bird.
Stay tuned to see if I can find one or more guests for the show during my upcoming Lower Rio Grande Valley visit.
Until next time, Good birding. Good day!

The Bird Banter Podcast Episode #44 with Clarice Clark and Jerry Broadus Notes

I am impressed and inspired by people I meet and know who expend their resources, the Time-Treasure-Talents triad of the things we have to offer, to support their passion and causes> My guests on this episode are a couple who have spent much of their resources working on bird habitat conservation and research. Here are some links to things we discussed on the episode. Leave comments if you want additional information.

First here is a link to our ABC Birding Club website and the article on the presentation by Jerry and Clarice.
This is information about the Duck Stamp program and a way to buy yours online.
This is the website of the Friends of Willipa Bay who run the festival we talked about on the episode.
This is the site of the Nisqually NWR https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Billy_Frank_Jr_Nisqually/
This is more information about the issues Jerry and Clarice faced in their recent work in Hawaii.
Last this is the site of Duck’s Unlimited. You know an old and powerful organization when they have a great url like this.
Until next time. Good birding. Good day.

Year in Review Blog Post

March Owl from Morocco

In addition to the podcast episodes this year has had some personal birding highlights.
Near the top of the list was my trip to Morocco with Legacy Tours. Michael Carmody, my guest on Episode #12 was a fine trip leader, and a really good guy. Be sure to check out Legacy Tours for his contact info and upcoming trips. On the trip I personally listed 214 of the about 225 species seen on the trip in eBird.

Desert Warbler from Morocco trip.

Buddhist Temple in Thailand

Not far behind was my trip to Asia with my son Brett, where I got to spend a full day birding in both Thailand and Cambodia with a guide. Country lists stand at 92 for Thailand and 55 for Cambodia with a combined 90 lifers for the trip, on a trip primarily focused on non-birding tourism and visiting Brett.
Red-wattled Lapwing from near Chiang Mai, Thailand

I had good listing years in both WA, with 310 species for WA and 213 for Pierce County as of today. I consider > 300 and >200 pretty good year lists, and feel great about these this year.

Besides listing, I had really good chances to get out birding with friends, especially Ken and Bruce, but also with other ABCers and with my girlfriend and novice birder Marian.

A trip to places not birded by me in the past, to the Sandpoil River area and to areas in Spokane County, WA was really fun, and I got to several other WA counties I’d birded little or not at all since using eBird in 2012. A winter trip with Ken, Ryan and Bryan to Columbia, Aostin and Garfield counties was especially rewarding. We saw fabulous numbers of Gray Partridge and Ring-necked Pheasant, a huge mixed flock of Horned Larks with Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs intermixed, a Glaucous Gull, Gyrfalcon and several owls.

A moose seen near Wenachee

I visited Maine as usual in the summer, and my friend there Don Mairs is still going strong, and we spent a brief time birding near his home.

I have lots of plans for 2020. Stay tuned on the podcast, and follow on Facebook and Twitter @birdbanter to stay in touch.

Good birding. Good day.