The American Birding Podcast

The birding world was shocked and more than a little saddened late last year when the venerable magazine Bird Watcher’s Digest announced that it was ceasing operations. Famously founded by Elsa Thomp…

If a bird calls in a forest, or a swamp, or a grassland, and no birder is there to hear it, did that vocalization really happen? The birds sounds we miss contain so much information about bird behavi…

It’s the last week of the month and that means it’s time for This Month in Birding. And while February is the shortest month, we do not give you the short shrift with our panel this month. We're join…

There is no question that climate change is having an impact on bird populations, but dig a little deeper and you find a tangled web of changing weather patterns, land use, habitat loss, and the diff…

We have seen, in recent years, an increased awareness of the need to make birding welcoming, inclusive, and accessible. There are many many avenues to making a reality. Birdability is an organization…

We might be well into 2022, but it’s not too late to look back at the previous year in bird and birding phenomena. While the year started slowly, it built into an exceptional one for rare birds, with…

It’s the last week of the first month of 2022, and time again for This Month of Birding. One of our panelists Brooke Bateman was scheduled to be with us but unfortunately came down with COVID, and we…

Texas birder Tiffany Kersten did not start 2021 with an ambitious year of birding in mind. But out of a job because of Covid closures, and with other hobbies unaccessible, the opportunity opened up t…

Editor of the ABA's Birding magazine and frequent podcast guest Ted Floyd just returned a few weeks ago from a trip to Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, for the African Bird Expo. It just so happens to be…

Last month the ABA officially announced the 2022 ABA Bird of the Year, which is Burrowing Owl! The excitement over the owl is, no doubt, helped along by the exceptional artwork of our Bird of the Yea…

We’re at the end of the month and the end of 2021. So it's time for the This Month in Birding panel. We bring back some of our birding friends from the year that was in the form of The Birdist Nick L…

It is one of the great dreams of many birders, to be part of the discovery and description of a bird species that is brand new to science. But it is a process that can be long and involved. Ryan Terr…

It is amazing how many people combine the two interests of birding and music, though few as professionals. Stephanie Seymour manages, however, to do it. As a birder she explores the birds around her …

Hawk-watchers are easily the most established sub-groups within the birding community, and the hawk-watching community in North America is close-knit and passionate. One of its undisputed authorities…

The last Thursday of the month means it’s time for This Month in Birding, a very special This Month in Birding for a couple reasons. First, it is Thanksgiving in the United States, the birdiest of ou…

It is time once more for the most anticipated Birding Book Club of the year, our annual Best Bird Books of the Year episode for 2021. And while it is still November, holiday gift-giving season is rig…

The annual Winter Finch Forecast is easily one of the highlights of the birding year for many, and a perfect combination of birding science and birding art. When Ron Pittaway retired in early 2020, b…

Perhaps more than any bird in North America, Rock Pigeons suffer for their omnipresence and familiarity. But there is more to the humble and ubiquitous species than meets the eye. They are a great op…

The last Thursday of the month is This Month in Birding with a panel of Jennie Duberstein, Nicole Jackson, and Sean Milnes. We have a wide range of stories to discuss, from escaped birds to birding b…

The second half of 2021 has been an exciting half-year for the ABA, not least of which because we got to welcome two new colleagues. Katinka Domen and Laura Guerard are the Coordinators of our Travel…