Birdchick Podcast

Stare at gulls to get them to leave you alone. Birds nap.Rabbit or BirdLarry Bird mural.

Sharon forgot to corral the links. But the public podcast is up.

You can pre order a signed copy of Julie Zickefoose’s new book Saving Jemima. I HIGHLY recommend it. The crazy lengths people will go to try and have the best list…Four pound dog taken by a gull.Loons raising a mallard.

We got to meet Dr. Chuck Tingle this weekend…yes, THAT Chuck Tingle. If you are unaware of who that is then follow this link when you are not at work and not around your kids. The curious case of Curry Gull!Drunk guy uses Uber to get a bird to wildlife rehab.New York Times birding gear guide…that hat is a hard no from Sharon.

Non Birding Bill and I referenced Letterkenny. Here’s a scene for what the show is like. The guys are tailgating waiting to get in a fight and they argue about how to cook steaks. In season 4 there’s an episode all about “Canada Gooses.”Speaking of tv shows there’s a great one from Jason Ward called The Birds of North America. And a really shit one from Rolling Stone basically copying Jason’s idea badly. So here is one of Jason’s shows. Are black vultures really doing this much damage in Kentucky or are they being unfairly persecuted?And piping plovers are breeding in record numbers in Maine and New York as well as putting a wrench in the plans of music events in Sandy Hook and Chicago. .

Hey, Sharon forgot to create a post for last week’s podcast, so this it totally not Bill’s fault. Enjoy, and Bill is blameless as always!

Sandhill Cranes raising a Canada goose gosling. Sharks eating migrants. Sharks eating migrants in the gulf. I think everything else we talked about was the usual nonsense.

Wait…what did we talk about?

The Patreon members said they wanted guests, so we brought on a guest. Our aim is not to have just anyone bird related on as a guest, but someone who can hang. And Jeremy certainly can. We played the game Wingspan before we podcasted. This is not posed. This is totally Non Birding Bill trying to explain the rules of Wingspan to Jeremy Messersmith. You should definitely check out Jeremy’s music in your preferred method. We hear him on the radio, especially the Current here in the Twin Cities. Some of our favorite songs include:HitmanGhostTatooine Be sure to check out the linked videoLet’s Ditch ChristmasEverybody Gets a KittenOther topics covered in this podcast include Florida man killed by cassowary. And it was 20 years ago that Fabio slammed his face into a Canada goose.

The feminist birding revolution article. Me on a podcast explaining the relevance of Twitter seven years ago. Most poplar bird in the us. OMG what did I post a picture of…Check out Redpoling: a birder polling group. The Bird Banter Podcast.

A dozen ways you can celebrate the life and legacy of Bill Thompson III.Bald eagles are going crazy by nesting on the ground and dropping trash in people’s yards. Record sandhill crane count in Nebraska. Do you live in one of the top ten most dangerous cities for migrating birds? We do. Bird Genie which can help you id bird sounds is available for iPhone or Android.

That Florida grasshopper sparrow hot mess. Hey, gang, if you missed the great black hawk in Maine…you will still have a chance to see it. Totally ok and understandable to suppress a rarity on private property. Not really ok to announce it in this fashion. What kind of content do you get if you are one of our Patreon members? This kind of content!

Using birding to help anxiety. This is an interesting perspective of how someone found their way to birdwatching. Please read the latest from Bill Thompson III’s caring bridge site. The man who invented the falcon copulation hat has died. Yes, it’s true. There really is a live cam on a bald eagle trio (two males, one female) raising young together.

According to the will of the Patreon I read H is for Hawk. Turkeys are terrorizing Moorhead, MNWisdom the albatross is mating again. Gizmodo has a more colorful headline.

Is it ok to call a bird a trollop in a formal presentation? Move over yellow cardinal, you’ve been replaced by the gynandromorph cardinal. White-throated sparrows and the complexity of gender. A king eider shows up in Maine. Birders go crazy and post about it. A hunter uses social media to locate and legally hunt the rarity. Join the Birdchick Patreon!

We started a Patreon!The great black hawk that’s been in Maine is in wildlife rehab with frostbite. What will it’s future be?The American Birding Association Bird of the Year is the red-billed tropicbird. The artwork is by Megan Massa. Follow her on Instagram @MeganDrawsBirds. The raven and snowy owl video we referenced in the podcast.

Birding doesn't always fee inclusive to the LGBTQ community. We are losing Bentsen State Park. Swamp sparrows have possibly always sang the same song.Timing is everything when birds leave the nest. Crow necrophilia. Don't be like this herpetologist.

MPR had a racoon. Some Ohio officers do not know how to step aside under a bird nest.Pad Redig from the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center is an amazing man and one of the reasons I moved to Minnesota. There was a raccoon in Minnesota. There were issues.    

From now on birders will ask each other at festivals, "Where were you when you first found out about The Tadoussac eBird List?" Here's a video to give you an idea of the event.Let's face it, bird taxonomy is currently a shit show. Pileated vs Tesla. Stick insect eggs can survive being pooped out of a bird. Rabbit vs fox vs bald eagle.   

Neil Degrasse Tyson needs a hug. Laurel or Yanny...also where it came from. One male great horned owl living with two females.Also some great horned owl raising a red-shouldered hawk chick. Until the tree fell down.   

Puffins beaks are amazing...and you can attract them with window feeders?There's a red warbler in Arizona!Gulls get a guy banned from a hotel for 17 years.New book: Does It Fart? Also, help out Laura Erickson.If guys flirted like birds...and vice versa. Birds can see the Earth's magnetic field. Why did the eagle attack the pitcher?

Birdcast has live migration maps this spring!A hot mess of an article about birds, National Parks and climate change.Urban barred owls give very few ducks.The closing of the Lodge and Spa in Pico Bonito National Park is covered in a bit more detail over at This Birding Life.Bird sperm fundraiser. Yep. That's what I typed.Laura Erickson on Bird Farts.EDIT: added the correct audio file. Whoops! -nbb    

  Oxpeckers sleeping around giraffe "armpits" and testicles. Thanks to searching for poop on NASA images, we found some penguins. Video of red kites at Gigrin Farm. Here's the naturalist dream date. eBird is keeping some locations of birds vague.Costco Hawk is living it up indoors and yes it escaped.The obscure 80s movie called Looker.   

Beast Box--make your own dj poppin' sounds with actual wildlife calls. What? A saw-whet owl band in a barred owl pellet. The O RLY owl is 17. The Internet is old. Sparrow Swap for bluebird trail runners. Godwit Days. FYI There's a yellow cardinal.

What real field biologist resumes should include.Ovenbird vs a garter snake. OMG those birds are surprisingly badass. Morning Bird Walk Bingo!Woodpeckers get brain damage.Blind goose involved with swans dies. Nigel the gannet dies next to his statuesque mate. (Read while listening to Making Plans for Nigel or Attainable Love)Bird Walk Bingo!

It's winter so of course we talking about owls. Here's an article that I did for Audubon with tips on how to search for Northern Saw-whet Owls. The politics of reporting owls...there are definitely more northern species of owls in the northern US this year, but the locations are being kept on the down low this winter. Even eBird has put owls on the sensitive species list so you can't use it for exact locations.Vogue did an article about bird watching...and it isn't terrible...Non Birding Bill's other podcast: Aging Poorly.One of the reasons we stopped podcasting is in this post. It's hard to have a snarky birding podcast when the news is often terrible. But we're back for now. Thank you for your patience.  

It's the end of an era, folks. Eagle Optics is closing its doors at the end of the year. There's some cool stuff over at Big Day Birding. Great article about what different birds species do during a hurricane. Could captive breeding help sage grouse?

The plight of young conservationists seeking an actual job. Hawk + Snake + power lines = frowney face. Map of what people observing birds noticed during the solar eclipse. You should totally listen to the American Birding Association Podcast. Hurricane Harvey the Hawk updates. 

A study attempts to categorize birders. Do you fit one of the four categories?Listen to Alec Baldwin learn about birding from Charles Munn on Here's the Thing. Spencer Pratt is the hummingbird hero we need right now. If you purchase this print by August 23, 50% of the purchase goes to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Paddle Birding!

So...we recorded this over a week ago and forgot to post it. Whoops.The first half hour is a rant on the Senior Pass price increase for federal parks. If you really want one at the old rate, order it at YourPassNow.com before August 28. The second is about the government looking into public and private land to build a wall that will keep no one out of the United States. Without going through due process for Eminent Domain, work has already begun on private property at the National Butterfly Center for a border wall. Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge will also be ripped apart for a useless border wall.

House finches that use cigarette butts in the nest may get some insect protection. Canuck the Crow is causing some mail delivery problems. Also, you can follow him on Facebook. Eagle mistakes testicles for turtle eggs (fake news).Report your dickcissels. BSBO and ABC stops a wind turbine on the Great Lakes.  

Eastern phoebe feeding a brown-headed cowbird chick. Cowbirds are kind of like the Manchurian Candidate. Gay griffon vulture pair raise a chick in an Amsterdam Zoo. A fascinating look at the amazing talent of Julie Zickefoose as she restores an Audubon Elephant Folio. Jane Yolen is partnering with Cornell Lab of Ornithology to write some books about birds for kids. You know the dude who broke the North American Big Year record? He donated over $36,000 to offset his carbon footprint. What, there are other podcasts to listen to? Here are the ones we referenced:Out There With The Birds specifically the migration episode. The American Birding Association PodcastLang Elliot's Music of NatureNon Birding Bill's podcast with Sam Landman called Aging Poorly

Weird things happening on bird cams. There appears to be a Canada goose uprising and they're taking over osprey nest platforms. Not all ospreys are taking it lying down. The field guide we've all been waiting for: The Field Guide To Dumb Birds of North America.

Help a graduate fund her research project. How much would you pay to go glamping for a nigh parrot in Australia?The city if Wichita is offering tips to prevent herons and egrets from nesting in your yard. The California super bloom has been great for birds too. Be sure to check out the video. It's project nest watch time and there is of course an app for that.

Have you seen Swarovski's new BTX scope? Also, the Cotton Carrier tactical birding harness is no joke and comfortable in the field. Are you having a hard day? Check out this bubbler type bath with a buttload of Allen's hummingbirds. Why do turkeys walk around in circles and why do bush stone curlews stare at themselves?Canada's national bird battle. Migration needs to hit soon because all North American birders are doing is arguing about owls and baiting. Good Birders Still Don't Wear White is out and you should buy it!

The owl drama is intense this month on social media. You can follow the hashtag #owlmasterbaiters on Facebook to following along. Funny caracara story and terrible caracara movie. Lawsuit in New York to protect threatened piping plovers from non native feral cats. Oh hey, it's a great blue heron eating an alligator. New apps out there including Merlin which will ID your bird photos and Song Sleuth which cam help ID some bird songs.

For some reason, somebody took this guy seriously about his ivory-bill sightings. Seriously, he's been at this since the original sightings. Falcons on a plane. Great news, updated Warbler Guide app and it's now available for Android!Bird themed tarot deck.

 This winter's gull drama involves a Ross's gull. Here's one heck of an eBird list with pictures. Bald eagles might be more of a problem on free range chicken farms than we realized. Newer podcasts to check out:American BirdingOut There With The Birds

Thank you to everyone who became new members of the American Birding Association last year and sited us as a reason. We won the trip to Canopy Tower in Panama! I was there back in 2012 and I've always wanted to go back!Some Subarus now include an app that directs you to birds reported to eBird. The debate goes on over how many species there are in the world. Again if you are looking for other birding podcasts, there are some new ones. Check out the American Birding Podcast and Out There With the Birds.

Are you in the mood to travel? Want to go to Cuba? Come with me!There are some new podcasts in town that you should check out! One is from the American Birding Association and the other is from Bird Watcher's Digest. Here's a sum up of the people who did a 2016 North America Big Year. And then there's Arjan and his word-wide Big Year. But then there's the worldwide big year from Arjan... 

Kabuki back when he would chill on the porch with us. You may have noticed we went on a bit of a hiatus. For those who didn't see on social media, our 18 year old cockatiel Kabuki went blind in September. At first he seemed to adapt but things got worse and...well we had to make the decision that no one likes to make for their pet. Over this period, it was all I could do to just to meet the bare minimum at work, let alone all the other things I enjoy doing. When I finally felt ready to return to normal life, I thought it might be fun to revamp the podcast. We're bringing in special guests. Not just birders but people who have an interesting relationship with birds. Our first guest Levi Weinhagen a non-birder who wants a northern goshawk tattoo!Sponsors this week: Holbrook Travel--want to come with me to Cuba next April?Things we talk about in the podcast:Common swifts break the record for nonstop flight. Sibley has a coloring book!Who got Murphy Brown pregnant. Pluggers...I'm sorry. Here's a bird related one. Things we recommended:Learn more about Levi at his Pratfalls Podcast and his newest venture the Not About You Podcast. Levi recommended Breaking the Jump a book about the history of Parkour. Non Birding Bill recommended Civilization 6.And I recommended Beautiful Anonymous Podcast.  

The American Birding Association is having several contests this year in an effort to get new members and get former members to renew. We are also having a contest for people to join the American Birding Association. If you join the ABA and in the comments on the application say you joined because of Birdchick or Non Birding Bill, then send us the confirmation with your mailing address you could win one of three prizes:An Advanced Guide to Birding autographed by Kenn Kaufmann (we'll put in a personal message too if you want).An autographed postcard from Neil Gaiman thanking you for joining the ABA. An autographed copy of Disapproving Rabbits (Sharon's first book).Send confirmations to sharon@birdchick.com with your preferred prize and mailing address. Autographs from Kenn Kaufman, Neil Gaiman and us are prizes. Other things we talked about include the documentary about the Duck Stamp art contest called Million Dollar Duck. We highly recommend it.PokemonGo players help injured pelican.Some jerk got a worthwhile fine for killing hawks that were hunting the quail he wanted to kill.

I love that not only have I received official federal guidance about Pokemon for my job but that a hook and bullet publication put my post about Pokemon Go out there. If you think Pokemon Go is the beginning of the end of society...read this. JOIN THE AMERICAN BIRDING ASSOCIATION Send us proof that you joined or renewed and you could win one of the Kaufman field guide. Specify which one you want to sharon@birdchick.com. First come, first serve. You won't believe how high some birds can fly. Weird, it's legal to release rehabbed starlings and house sparrows in the United States but not parrots... You cannot unsee this. Poaching caught live on an internet eagle cam in Israel.

So there's this think called PokemonGo...Frigatebirds can fly a long time!Army vet shoots down branch to help young eagle tangled with rope. Loons raising a goldeneye. This eagle is trying to land, it's not trying to take off with the boy.

Spice Gull. The struggle of birders attracting new birders. Gary the philandering godwit. Bird brains blah, blah, blah. So if you have an iPhone, some extra time on your hands and you're looking for a bird dating sim app...

Here's ill-informed Zeke from Indiana spouting nonsense. Sometimes commenters on bird cam forums go too far. Canadian police are digiscoping...watching out.    

Bird news:Why are the crows so violent in Canada?Bald eagle cam shows bald eagles bringing a young cat back to the nest. John James Audubon was kind of a punk ass troll. Oh...this isn't going to piss any birders off...at all. Apparently people think birders are as creepy as clowns. Birders on Instagram.Migrating birds boycott North Carolina. Bird Jobs:Fairy Wren volunteer field assistants. PNG Fairy Wren volunteer field assistant. Recommendations:The Happy Wren ShirtsAging poorly.

This podcast is brought you by WildSide Nature Tours. Come with me to an ancient land to watching thousands of migratory birds like common cranes, storks, spoonbills and red kites. We'll also look for Palestine sunbird, jungle cat and white-throated kingfisher on my Raptor Bonanza Tour in Israel in November--history, culture and birds all combine for the birding trip of a lifetime. Israel is one of the most unique countries you can visit for birds, it's a major flyway for European and Asian birds as they head south into Africa. This podcast is also brought to you by Holbrook Travel. Would you like to get away to Central America and hone your smartphone digiscoping technique on toucans, parrots and dazzling hummingbirds? Join me in Belize next March. The search is officially on in Cuba for ivory-billed woodpeckers. Insane spring warbler fallout photos from 2011. Some duck stamp artists are not happy about a proposed change to the stamp art. Some weirdo is apparently eating bald eagles. This is the most badass red-tailed hawk you will see this year. I got in a Twitter war over what I felt was an unfair segment about the Great Texas Birding Classic...and the host replied.

The Birdist explains why you don't see native birds in movies.Albatross babies in flower pots and albatross buried in sand.Sharon has issues with this job description. Wisdom with John and Yoko. Wisdom and mate displaying on the fall of the Berlin Wall. Have historical photos from the last 62 years? Send them to me and we have a guy who might put Wisdom the Albatross in them!Recommendations:Sharon: Baby Birds.Non Birding Bill: Still Buffering. 

News:Jon Hamm helps a hummer. Eurasian jay dodges a sparrow hawk Matrix style.Sand martin necrophilia. Bird Jobs:If you were unemployed for a few months, which job would you take:Tundra Nesting Bird Internship at Arctic National Wildlife Refuge orBahamas Shorebird Field Assistant...live on a schooner.