09-38: A Dirtbag Big Year with Owen Reiser

A Big Year is maybe the ultimate expression of birding obsession, with all the drama inherent to the effort. Brothers Quentin and Owen Reiser’s attempt at a Big Year maybe most of all. It’s the subject of their documentary, Listers, an attempt to throw themselves into the birding world through perhaps the most extreme expression of the hobby. It’s profane, it’s funny, it's honest, and it covers all aspects of the birding world, warts and all. Owen joins us to talk about the film and his experience undertaking what he calls a "fully dirtbag Big Year". Plus there's a companion book! Also, check out the ABA's biweekly What's This Bird show on YouTube! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!  

For more than 40 year the National Geographic Field Guide has been an essential text in the library of US and Canadian birders. The venerable series is in its 8th edition now, published as East and West earlier this year and as as guide from coast to coast just recently. Ted Floyd, a regular on this podcast, is the author, but a field guide is only as good as its illustrations. Former Bird of the Year artist Andrew Guttenberg is the art coordinator for this series as it takes a turn into the 21st Century and he joins us to talk about it.  Also, have you seen the new Listers documentary? Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!  

Gray-headed Chickadee is certainly one of the most enigmatic species of breeding birds in the ABA Area. Though it is found broadly across northern Eurasian it was, until very recently, also known from an isolated breeding population in northern Alaska and far northwestern Canada. Those bird, long a bucket list objective for ABA Area birders, might be gone, and the reasons for that are unclear. Alaska birder and conservationist Brad Meiklejohn explores their disappearance in the Lost on the Frontier: The Mysterious Disappearance of North America’s Rarest Breeding Bird, published in the July 2025 issue of Birding magazine, and he joins us to talk more about this avian mystery. Stay tuned for a publicly accessible version of this article.  Also, the auction featuring some of our past Bird of the Year cover art is up and running! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's This Month in Birding for August 2025 and, as we do at the end of every month, we’ve got a great panel of birders to discuss the month’s birding news and scientific publications. Jason Hall, Mikko Jimenez, and Jordan Rutter join host Nate Swick to talk about grackle behavior, museums, and our very favorite penguins.  Links to articles discussed in this episode: The Rodrigues parakeet's last day: What one extinct bird tells us about the role of museums Exploration and dispersal are key traits involved in rapid range expansion, urban bird study finds Conservation sweet spots: How protecting nature helps both birds and humans in the US Fighting isn’t sexy in lekking greater sage-grouse: a relational event model approach for mating interactions Dagger beaks and strong wings: New fossils rewrite the penguin story and affirm NZ as a cradle of their evolution Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Every once in a while, Birding editor Ted Floyd drops in for for another episode of Random Birds. The Birding Gods smile on Ted and Nate's random number generator for an eclectic bunch of birds from warblers to gulls, and one incredibly apropos selection.   The AOS Classification Committee decisions are in, and Michael Retter has all the changes to your list laid out at aba.org.   Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Bird tourism is booming, and in many parts of the world we’ve seen countries invest in conservation and tourism infrastructure to take advantage of it. Certainly birders are drawn by unique species, but  perhaps our choices for bird-watching destinations have as much to do with other factors as they do with the presence of really great birds. It’s the subject of a paper to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal People and Nature by Natalia Ocampo-Peñuela and Scott Winton, who join us to talk "bird capital" and birder wants.  Also, a much loved birding hotspot in Fort Worth, Texas is closed indefinitely.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Writer Amy Tan is perhaps best known for her many novels including The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter, exploring themes of identity, family, and the immigrant experience. Her newest book, however, explores something rather different. The Backyard Bird Chronicles is a collection of nature writing and sketching focuses on the many avian visitors to Amy’s California backyard over a period of several years. The book was published in 2024, bit more recently Amy is the subject of an upcoming Birding magazine interview and The Backyard Bird Chronicles was recently reviewed in the magazine as well. She joins us to talk backyard birding and finding community among the birds and her nature sketching peers.  Also, does a recent Salon commentary suggests a return to the "birders are weird" genre of writing? Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The end of the month means This Month in Birding, and for July 2025 we've got a great panel of fun birders to discuss the month's birding news and scientific publications. Birders know Rebecca Heisman, Nick Lund, and Dexter Patterson for their great work in the birding world, and they join host Nate Swick to talk about hummingbird bills, drinking birds, and the best bird tribute to Ozzy Osbourne.  Links to articles discussed in this episode: AvianLexiconAtlas: A database of descriptive categories of English-language bird names around the world A new study knocks down a popular hypothesis about why birds sing at dawn Bird feeders have caused a dramatic evolution of California hummingbirds Birds are consuming alcohol more often than we realized Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The ABA’s 2025 Bird of the Year Common Loon is beloved across the United States and Canada, and though we at the ABA will only celebrate it for a short time, there are other organizations that have made protection and awareness of Common Loons their reason for being. The National Loon Center in Crosslake, Minnesota, is one such organization. They aim to restore and protect loon habitat, enhance responsible recreation, and promote research and education of not only Common Loon, but the habitats they enjoy. Natasha Bartolotta is the Science and Stewardship Manager for the National Loon Center, and she joins us to talk about loon outreach and wetlands conservation.  Also, urban Cooper's Hawks show surprisingly clever adaptations.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!  

The search for the perfect mnemonic is the bane of any field guide author, from Roger Tory Peterson to your podcast host. It's the part of writing about birds and birding that requires the most creativity, ans Nova Scotia author and artist Becca Rowland, The Girl in White Glasses, has come up with an entire book devoted to the weird and wonderful sounds birds make, and the weirdest and cleverest ways to describe those sounds. It's called Bird Talk: Hilariously Accurate Ways to Identify Birds by the Sounds they Make from Storey Publishing. She joins us to talk bird noises and bird community. Also, some thoughts about the new taxonomy at Avilist.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!