Podcasts about magee marsh

Linda Butler (a photographer who's been documenting the effects of climate change for a number of years, most recently focusing on the Great Lakes), and Lynn Whitney (associate professor of photography at BGSU, whose celebrated work consists of black and white photographs of Lake Erie) discuss merging the worlds of fine art and environmental activism.  Transcript: Introduction: From Bowling Green State University, and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, this is BG Ideas. Intro Song Lyrics: I'm going to show you this with a wonderful experiment. Jolie Sheffer: Welcome to the Big Ideas podcast, a collaboration between the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society, and the School of Media and Communication at Bowling Green State University. I'm Jolie Scheffer, associate professor of English and American cultural studies, and the director of ICS. Today, I have the honor of being joined by two women photographers who bring together the worlds of fine art and environmental activism. We have with us Linda Butler, and Lynn Whitney. Linda is a photographer who's been documenting the effects of climate change for a number of years, most recently focusing on the Great Lakes. Lynn Whitney is an associate professor of photography here at BGSU, whose work is in the permanent collections of the Toledo Museum of Art and Yale University. Much of Lynn's work consists of black and white photographs of Lake Erie. Jolie Sheffer: Welcome, and thanks for talking with me today. To begin with, I'd like each of you to talk about how you came to your current landscape work about the Great Lakes, and what motivates you to do this particular work at this time. Linda, you start us off? Linda Butler: Well, I'm going to be a little nervous too, so we'll work through it, but, I guess, my main concern as a human being right now is what's happening to our planet. And, global warming is causing things like unusual storms, and I think this part of the country, for instance, the Maumee River with all its flooding, and the problems flooding causes to the lake itself, because fertilizer is being washed off the fields and going into the lake, I mean, it was an ideal setting to take photographs in. And, it's been a very rich experience for me to work at this end of the state, although, I worked actually around all of Lake Erie. And, I'm tracking both things like renewable energy projects, and which governments are doing more in that area, as well as really heavy industry that uses a lot of energy to make steel or concrete, and finding out where the carbon dioxide is coming from, and, it's heavy industry, and it's also from coal running power plants; coal. Linda Butler: And, if you go around the lake, there a lot of ways that coal is being delivered to barges and so on. And so, it's really evident all around the lake, but less so in Canada, because, the coast of Canada has much less industry, and also the Government of Canada has put a lot of money into renewable energy. Jolie Sheffer: So, in your work, you really show how the Great Lakes are the best and the worst of the current state of climate change and industrial effects on the landscape in some. Linda Butler: Well, I can't comment on the other lakes, because I really know Lake Erie, but there's a lot to learn from Lake Erie and how we're using this water. Jolie Sheffer: What about you, Lynn, how did you come to ... This is a long term project, so what is your story been and getting interested in the lake? Lynn Whitney: My story is interesting, because my story begins with the Maumee River and the bridge construction that happened over the Maumee River. I was commissioned to photograph the bridge that was constructed there, the Veterans Memorial Skyway, from the Toledo Museum of Art, and the river, obviously, factors deeply into that work. After that commission was complete, I was asked by The George Gund Foundation in Cleveland to submit work for a possible commission, and received one which involves Lake Erie, the coastline on Cuyahoga County. I graciously accepted that, because it was a huge honor to be given that commission, particularly because the photographer who had completed Lake Erie before me ... These are all for annual reports, which are really snoozy to read, so the designer ... And Linda also was commissioned by The Gund Foundation; we've shared quite a few stories about that, but the designer was very interested in perking up those annual reports with photographers whose work he respected, and which could break up the sort of snoozy reading that generally, annual reports are. Lynn Whitney: So, anyway, the photographer who came before me making work about Lake Erie was Frank Gohlke, a member of the new topographics movement in photography, and to which I ascribed a great deal of my own practice. And so, it was, like, yikes, coming after him and wanting to, both honor his work, so I would search out where he made certain photographs and go back and re-photograph those places as a way of just getting launchpads for myself, and that mushroomed into just me looking at human interactions with the coastline. I have a very deep interest in American culture studies, because that was my first degree, so, I'm always incorporating themes and issues that revolve around our culture, relative to the lake. So, did I answer it? Jolie Sheffer: Yeah, that's great. Unfortunately, as we're talking about, we live in a time where the effects of climate change are very noticeably harming our environment. We've had that very close to home in terms of the water being toxic, because of algal blooms a couple of years ago. So, in your work, where do you see, and in what ways do you see climate change affecting Lake Erie? What kinds of things were you trying to document, or are you trying to document in your work? Lynn Whitney: For me, climate change and what's happening to Lake Erie is always in my background of my head. However, I don't necessarily point it out with the images that I make. The good ones maybe suggest some crisis there, but they also suggest our ignorance, or our ... Not ignorance, but maybe just, it's just too big for us kind of feeling. It's just too big of a problem kind of feeling for most of us regular folk. And so, I think, if I could say that I suggest those themes, I guess that's what I would say to answer that question. It's certainly in the background of my head when I make my photographs, but I don't necessarily go out and say, "There are the zebra mussels, and there's the algae bloom," because I can't make pictures like that. So, anyway ... Jolie Sheffer: What about you, Linda? Linda Butler: So, I would say that my work on this project has been more explicit than that. I mean, I consciously went around the lake and looked for renewable energy projects, which, of course, are so important because they give us energy that is not related to burning coal, and burning coal is the reason we have more carbon dioxide in the environment. And so, it turns out that Canada has been much more proactive in terms of renewable energy. The Government of Ontario, in particular, put up 5000 wind turbines that gets the breeze off the lake, and as a result of that, they were able to shut down the largest coal burning power plant in the Northern Hemisphere. I mean, that's a big deal. And then, five years later, they completed a conversion of that plant to solar power, and that just opened this year. Linda Butler: So, some of this stuff is evident in my photographs. The intellectual stuff, though, is not, so I don't have a picture of that array of solar panels. But, the other direction that I've taken is trying to figure out how climate change is affecting the farmers in the region. And the farmers have been blamed for having too much fertilizer, and when rains come, the fertilizer goes into the rivers, and blah, blah, blah. Well, getting to know a farmer and trying to figure out how he is dealing with this issue, it becomes clear that one of the problems is, they're having extreme weather events in a way that didn't happen in the past. He said, "When I was a kid working on my dad's farm," which is now his farm, "we just didn't have a four inches of rain, or three inches of rain in a single 24 hour period. That didn't happen." Linda Butler: And that's ... Climate scientists are always very careful to say, "I don't know if this event was caused by climate change or not." But, the weather is becoming weirder and weirder. And so, I think of it as climate weirding as opposed to climate warming. And, I think of the world being encased in a huge glass bowl, and the ball is formed by carbon dioxide molecules, and when the sun comes in and heats the world, the heat can't get out, like being in a hot car, or a greenhouse. And, on these farms that have three inches of rain that come down at once, they just can't handle it with the normal ways they've learned to deal with getting rid of water from their farms. And, this farmer that I got to know recently, he said he couldn't even plant this year. I mean, he put in some cover crops, but he couldn't get in his corn. Jolie Sheffer: We had such a wet, wet season that most of the corn crops and soybeans too, I think, couldn't go in. Linda Butler: So, this is a huge loss for farmers, but it's also a horrible problem in terms of runoff. And so, it's interesting to see from a farmers point of view working with this today, what some of the experimental projects have been to help farmers deal with this. Jolie Sheffer: We're going to take a quick break. Thank you for listening to the Big Ideas podcast. Speaker 3: Send us the following. Speaker 1: If you are passionate about Big Ideas, consider sponsoring this program. To have your name or organization mentioned here, please contact us at ics@bgsu.edu. Jolie Sheffer: Welcome back. Today I'm interviewing Linda Butler and Lynn Whitney about their photographs of Lake Erie. So, this is for both of you; how much research and learning about the lakes or climate change have you done for your separate photo series? Does data play a role in your work, Linda? Linda Butler: So, when I started out, I hadn't paid much attention to Lake Erie, frankly. And, I got hold of some history books at a used bookstore, and I read a lot about what people suffered, particularly in this area, because there was the Great Black Swamp, and people got mired in it, and stayed, even though it was so wet, and they got malaria, and all of the things that happened to the poor migrants that decided to go West from here. And so, I do read history, and I ... How do you find a good photograph is another issue, and sometimes it's truly good fortune; the stars are aligned. And, one of the photographs that I really love is a photograph of, I call it luminescence, where there's an image taken from a high cliff, looking down at the lake, on the first day of spring, when there was a big melt of the ice. There was no snow on the lake, and there's a perfect reflection of the sky on the photograph. Linda Butler: Well, that's an unusual occasion. I couldn't have predicted finding that, but as luck has it, and just being out there and working, sometimes you stumble on something that's really great. And, I think, I can't remember ... I guess one of the mottoes I live by is, just do it. It's the Nike motto, I think, but it applies to photography as well. I mean, if you're worrying about things and you're at home, guess what? You're not making change happen at all. But, if you're out there taking photographs, I mean, some of the photographs will move people to think differently about their environment and what's happening to it. And so, that's one of the things that I love about photography, is it's such an accessible medium, and it's repeatable. So, if I give a photograph to you, it's not the only one I have. And so, I can use it in other ways. Jolie Sheffer: What about for you, Lynn? Lynn Whitney: Research. My research is ... I don't know, it's Robert Frost who said that when you walk in a field, it's the birds that stick to your stocks, it's the things that you bring with you. My research; I have some knowledge about the area just by being here, and I'm reading and have read most of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes- Jolie Sheffer: By Dan Egan? Lynn Whitney: Mm-hmm (affirmative), mm-hmm (affirmative). But I'm not researching per se, I'm really interested in the life that's along the lake, and as Linda was saying, it's really about serendipity; where I land up is where I land up. I'm often going to Magee Marsh, I'm looking at, thinking about the population of birders that come in from all over the world and how that represents world peace. Everybody gets along, everybody's helpful with one another, and everybody's looking at these really elusive creatures that are storing up their food to fly across this great big lake, and it's just miraculous to me to have those kinds of events transpire right in our backyard, and that people know about it and people care about those birds that are diminishing. Lynn Whitney: And so, my research, I wouldn't say is really traditional, it's, I read a lot of fiction, I read poetry, I just bring to my practice those words, and thoughts, and music, and try to incorporate that in how I see. Jolie Sheffer: What do you think photography does to communicate our changing environment and our relationship? A lot of what you're talking about is communities and people's relationship to the landscape. What role do you think the arts play in shifting, if not public policy, public awareness? Lynn Whitney: A lot. My work, no, I don't find my work to be very activist, but I do find that I ... My hope is that I slow the world down a little bit, and make people, or help people to consider, not make people do anything, but just help people consider what they're looking at. It's like, if I went to church it would be like that, just calmly-looking, and considering, and being internally changed by having done so. I think ... Is that right? I mean, is that the question I'm answering? Jolie Sheffer: Yeah, yeah. Lynn Whitney: Okay. Oh, I often get off track, you can take that out. So, that would be my answer to that question. Jolie Sheffer: What about for you, Linda? Lynn Whitney: I think you have a lot to say on that, Linda. Linda Butler: So, I think I'm a bit more of an activist with my photographs. So, in the project that I did on Lake Erie, I'm very concerned about global warming, and I wanted the photographs to capture some of the causes of global warming that were affecting the lake. And so, I looked for that material in factories around the lake, coal burning power plants, I found out a whole lot of them, [crosstalk 00:18:53]- Jolie Sheffer: But how did you find them? What was your research process for that? Linda Butler: Well, I went around the lake. "Look,..." Jolie Sheffer: Your feet. Linda Butler: "...they have dirty smoke. It's coming from somewhere." And, "Where is it coming from?", trying to get close to it, and so on. And, some of the work was very conscious. So, I saw an incredibly huge refinery in Detroit, and it's on the main I-75, and it's not a place you can readily stop. And, it was a specific time of year, because there was a sunset going on, as well as the cold making the smoke more relevant you could actually see it. And so, I went back with a friend, a year later, and she zipped in with her little Fiat, and I was in the rider's seat. I jumped out of the car with a tripod, I took a photograph really quickly, jumped back into the car, and before police could stop us, we zipped off and tried to not be squished by one of these big trucks that was passing. Linda Butler: So, that was a really conscious effort to get a specific photograph that had to do with global warming. Jolie Sheffer: Do you use your photography to teach viewers? So, we've talked about this a little bit, but explicitly about that idea of teaching, and, if so, what are you hoping people take away? So, Lynn, you were talking about a more of a affective contemplative response, but you are also a teacher teaching students; teaching undergrad and MFA students at BGSU. So, what are you striving to teach them about creating fine art photography about their relationship to the world, and what they can do with their work? Lynn Whitney: I strive to teach them to be present and honest in their approach, and I teach, I hope I teach that, through the history of photography, students learn other artists and how they've approached this medium, but everybody has to really come to it from a place that feels genuine, and relevant to themselves. And, I teach, I think, students to really care about the medium, and about the world and it's place, the mediums place in it. It's a really aggressive tool. We often shoot, we take, we do all those words that are very loaded, in my opinion, which is another word that's aggressive. I try to change the language around the medium, so that there's more of a community that students are involved with in the world, and can then bring that experience alive in an artifact. Lynn Whitney: I don't know if I really got to the point, but I think it's a difficult question what you're asking, because, people hear in different ways, people take in in different ways, and I really hope that they're at least getting a part of what I just said, which was to really use this medium in an empathetic, and honest, and genuine way. Jolie Sheffer: What about for you, Linda, what role does your photography do in trying to teach, or engage, or educate audiences, viewers? Linda Butler: From the beginning, this body of work, I thought, would be able to travel to different sites. And so, I was thinking of it as being a traveling exhibit, and it's become that. And so, when it's a traveling exhibit, I go with it and have an opportunity to talk to people. The photographs in this exhibit are attached to captions, and the place of where the photograph was taken on the lake is identified in the caption. So people can really look at a photograph, see where it was taken, and place themselves on the lake. And, it's been interesting. I've had a number of traveling exhibits. This one, people are pausing longer over the photographs than I've ever seen before. And I think the captions are very intriguing to them, but also, the aerial photographs give a completely different point of view of places that are familiar. Linda Butler: So, if they see that the city of Cleveland, they try to find themselves in it, or ... For instance, one of my favorite photographs in this body of work is called mixed real estate, and its Oregon, which is right at the mouth of the Maumee River, and there is just a strange conglomeration of things that are there that relate to coal and global warming, but also, nice houses right next to the coal, or a golf course. And, it's just a strange mixture, and I think that's kind of fun to see a site that you're so familiar with, but in a different way. But, I think also, my talks, I really spend a lot of time figuring out what message that I'm really most concerned about, and really talking about that, and persuading people to, if they care about these issues like of global warming, to talk to other people about it, their friends, their huge group of friends, and also to vote, vote for people who are supporting renewable energy, and are not taking corporate contributions that will persuade how they vote in legislature. Jolie Sheffer: I want to now turn to our studio audience for some questions from BGSU students. Jacob Church: Hi, I'm Jacob Church, and this question's for Linda. So, in your work a lot, there are these really nice aerial views often, and, I think, formulae and compositionally, they're really pleasing in that sense, but the issue itself, I know is troubling. How do you deal with that in your work, or have you struggled with that in the past? Linda Butler: Let's see. Okay. I'm attracted to beauty, and I consider some of the things that are ugly that I photographed, I mean, or are really spewing carbon dioxide, to be quite beautiful and worth looking at. And, I don't mind that they look beautiful in my photographs, because it gets people to look closely at them. So, the amount of coal and iron ore that's on the [da-zag 00:26:46] island, is really relevant too, when we think about using steel in our lives. I sure deal with that a lot. I drive a car. We're all participating in global warming in one way or another. And so, I think having images of how it happens helps people understand that we're all in this together, and we need to figure out other ways of managing how we create energy. Linda Butler: That's not quite the right answer to ... So, another thing is, I do have quite a few beautiful landscapes of, for instance, marshes, and wetlands. And, I particularly wanted to get those images, because the Great Black Swamp used to look like that, and, I think, for people to realize that it was an giant sponge at one point in the life of the state, not just in one point, in hundreds and thousands of years, it was a Great Black Swamp. And, now it's cornfields, and, guess what? The change in that use of the land has had an effect in terms of how water runs off of it. And so, I think to photograph these beautiful swamps and marshes is relevant to the message that I have. Lynn Whitney: I would just add, I think the beauty in Linda's work is so incredibly there, there, that it allows for an access to it that one might not necessarily be provided with if it wasn't like that. I mean, you have these aerial photographs that, to me, are just incredibly rich with information, and presents the way we've used the land and the way the land is being used, and engages the viewer to take part and be a participant in, and recognize their own participation with the issues. And I think that's what is so compelling about your exhibition; the information is rich and dense and complicated and scary, and yet you kind of mediate that with these photographs that bring that sort of tension alive, and make our awareness that much more acute, and maybe, hopefully, will activate people's feet so that they do get out and vote, and they do get out in march, and they do get out and do things to help with the crisis. I'm really, really proud of your work. Linda Butler: Oh, thank you. Clara Delgado: Hi, I'm Clara Delgado, and my question is for both of you. I guess my question is, how do you deal with human emotion, and/or ambivalence, apathy, to climate change in your photographs? Lynn Whitney: I deal with it a lot. I mean, I think my work is not specific about climate change, though it's there in some veiled way. It is veiled, probably, in me. I care very deeply about climate change, but I'm probably not effectively making a difference with my work in that regard. And the human emotion, I have several photographs where people are pictured, and their relationship to the lake is in the same way that mine is, which is, there's the lake as your backdrop, or your theater, or your stage, and you're in the foreground performing some activity that has something to do with the lake, in terms of your enjoyment of it, or in terms of it's just there. And so, it's suggested that, the issue of climate change, because that lake is rising, is part of the picture, but not necessarily pointed to in a way that makes that point come across. I guess I expect my viewer to already be open to those issues, which is probably not a good idea, but ... It's a tearful. Linda Butler: Well, something that Lynn said earlier about sort of meditative way of looking at the landscape, is something that I also do. I don't think I take good photographs if I'm holding up a big bat and trying to knock somebody over the head with the message. The good photographs have to persuade on their own. And, I think, when I take what I consider to be a really good photograph, is so often coming from a meditative state. I don't like to have people with me when I'm taking photographs, I like to not talk, I like to respond to what I see, and really try to figure out, "How do you pursue to create a photograph that's really well composed out of this?" And, really, just thinking about that; being there in the moment, and trying to work with what's there. Linda Butler: And, maybe, on a given subject, I'll take 20 photographs. It's easy to use a digital camera in that way, because you can take a lot of material, it doesn't cost anything. And then, go home, quickly look at it on the computer if I'm close, and I didn't get it, if my focus is bad, or I've made some technical mistake, I can often go back, and maybe it's a new experience when I go back, but the meditative attitude without an agenda is really important. Ann Toberly: My name is Ann Toberly. I have a question for both of you. Given that you've photographed over many years, both of you, there's been times when you've had limited access to different areas, and, have you ever been denied that area and went ahead and taken the photograph, or what is your perspective of private property, and once the photograph is out, whether or not you should print if it wasn't necessarily given permission? Jolie Sheffer: Do you have that experience? Lynn Whitney: That's a good question and one that everybody needs to pay a lot of attention to, is private property, and, basically, the legality of what we do. I have taken a lot of risks, I'll be honest with you, in my lifetime as a photographer. I've done things I probably should not have done. In my bridge project, just to cite an example, the early days of the bridge project were very different from after the accident where workers lost their lives. In the beginning, I did not need an escort, after the accident, I did. The escort's time schedule limited my ravenousness for the subject matter, and I got restless, and I pushed my limits a little bit with that too much. I don't recommend being me with some of those things. With the Lake Erie work, I am very sensitive to private property. I always ask if I can go, if there's an individual who's out that I can ask permission of. Lynn Whitney: And, if I'm permitted to make work there, I'm always bringing work back to the individual who permitted me to be there. That way you establish yourself as, "I meant it, and here it is, and this is what I did." And it wasn't, in my opinion, anything that might shame them, or do something that was negative towards them. And if it was, in their eyes, because you never really know how what you see and what you understand about what you're seeing is the same for the other person, they have every right to say, "No, that's not, that's not." And I will then not show it. Linda Butler: So, to some extent in my Lake Eerie photographs, I got away from needing permissions by going into the air. And so, with some of the places that would be considered private, I mean, by the company's probably, I got access in another way. And anybody can take a picture of that from the air; who's in an airplane? So, it's not like they own the airspace in my opinion. And so, I don't see any moral conflict with that. With private property, I'm much more sensitive. And so, I knew that I needed to take photographs of a farm, but I didn't have access to a farm in this area. And I was reading the same book that Lynn has read about The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, and the man who wrote it had listed some of the people's names who he approached who were farmers in this area. And so, I started calling them, and nobody called me back, so I called again. Linda Butler: And, finally, somebody actually did call me back. And so, I drove from Cleveland to talk to him, and it was a courting process to some extent. He wanted to know what I was going to do with the images, and he didn't want to be involved with something that wasn't on the up and up. And, we developed a great relationship. I mean, he's a wonderful innovator in how he uses fertilizer, and he's a leader, I think. Probably why Egan interviewed him in the first place, but it's been a really great relationship. Now, sometimes I've gone down a lane that is marked "no trespassing" in order to get to the lake, and I've been chased by a couple of people who say, "You're not supposed to be here.", basically, even before I get out of the car. And, there is ... I don't know, I kind of feel, the lake is a public lake, so people don't own that, and if I'm not really doing anything wrong on their property, like going down a private road, I don't really think that's a moral sin, but if I'm involved with photographing their property, and they don't consent, that's not good. Jolie Sheffer: You're both really talking about the ethics of photography, and that it is a relational practice, and needing to have a set of guidelines for how you engage with others. Linda and Lynn, thank you so much for being here with me today. I really appreciate getting to learn about your work. Jolie Sheffer: Our producers for this podcast are Chris Cavera and Marco Mendoza. Research assistants for this podcast was provided by ICS intern, Eishat Ahmed, with editing by Stevie Scheurich. This conversation was recorded in the Stanton Audio Recording Studio in the Michael and Sarah Kuhlin Center at Bowling Green State University.        

Laura reviews Kenn Kaufman's new book and talks about the famous Magee Marsh of northwestern Ohio.

Episode #4 of The Bird Banter Podcast with Christian Hagenlocher Christian Hagenlocher is well known in the birding community after his 2016 ABA Big Year where, documented on his blog at The Birding Project http://www.thebirdingproject.com/ Christian has a book coming out in May 2019 at The Biggest Week in Birding Festival at Magee Marsh, where he is speaking and will be a trip leader.   I think you'll find his birding story fascinating and enjoyable. Please leave a review and rating on your favorite podcast feed site.  You can find The Bird Banter Podcast on the iTunes Store https://birdbanter.podbean.com/feed.xml or at Google Play, Spotify, or Stitcher. Follow @birdbanter on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/Bird-Banter-2335327946695629 @dredpullen on twitter @dredpullen on instagram Links to sites mentioned in the today's podcst The Birding Project   http://www.thebirdingproject.com/ John Weigel's 2019 ABA Big Year Blog  https://birdingyear.com 2019 Attu Birding Tour  http://www.zbirdtours.com/attu-alaska-spring-migration-may-22-june-8-2019/ Mountains to Sea Birding for Teens  http://hogisland.audubon.org/programs/mountains-sea-birding-teens Biking for Birds - Blog about Dorian Anderson's biking big year.  http://bikingforbirds.blogspot.com/ Olaf Danielson's Big Year (2016) Blog  http://olafsbigyear.blogspot.com/ Sorry to any expecting to hear about my Kenya Trip with James Bradley, as that interview fell through at the last minute. Maybe another time.  See you soon with another episode.  Good birding.  Good day.   

In response to a rude email from a listener, Book Character Bill Holm sits out his annual trip to Magee Marsh with Feather Brained author Bob Tarte. In between discussing the birds that Bob isn’t seeing on the famous Magee Marsh boardwalk during a lackluster migration impeded by cold weather, he and Bill lament the lack of support from What Were You Thinking? listeners. The upshot? You folks had better straighten up if you want Bob and Bill to continue producing the only supposedly humorous birding podcast in the entire known universe. And that’s a singularity. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Special Magee Marsh 2017 Listener Depreciation Day Podcast with Bob Tarte

It’s a total turnaround as Bob and Book Character Bill Holm enjoy a wind-free, warbler-filled new morning of birding at Magee Marsh. If that’s not enough excitement, listen closely to a slice of audio verite for a chance encounter with the esteemed author of The Warbler Guide, who had no idea he was being recorded – because Bob and Bill had no idea who he was. Pay close attention as Mr. Tom Stephenson validates an ID by Bob that another birder had just disputed. It doesn’t get any better than this! But please listen to the podcast anyway. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Special Delayed Feather Brained Magee Marsh Show from 2016 Part Two with Bob Tarte

Sure, it’s almost a year late. But the jokes are as timeless as the birding observations when Bob Tarte and Book Character Bill Holm dragged themselves to Magee Marsh in northern Ohio for the annual May warbler migration. High winds nearly ruin the birding, but Bob and Bill’s high spirits blow away potential misfortune in this unique, radio-simulcast episode that’s just begging for a Part Two. Plus you get the skinny on Bob’s new book about birding, Feather Brained. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Special Delayed Feather Brained Magee Marsh Show from 2016 with Bob Tarte

BirdCallsRadio show with naturalist Mary Warren of Magee Marsh Wildlife Area in Ohio. Magee Marsh has been named a Top 10 spot for birdwatching in the United States. Listen as Mary discusses bird migration, other wildlife, Magee Marsh, and how she became a naturalist late in life and encourages others to follow their dreams. Mary also discusses the importance of getting kids involved in the outdoors.

How bad is part two of World’s Worst Birding Show? So bad that Bob Tarte and Bill Holm burn up the first 15 minutes apologizing for how bad the show is. Things get brighter in the second half, recorded live from the Estuary Trail at Magee Marsh, Ohio. A Gray Catbird, a Yellow Warbler, and other birds add their voices as Bob and Bill somehow manage to run into three birders even grumpier than they are. It's all a bolt of blazing sunshine compared to the first half of the show - another nugget of comedy birding gold from the author of the forthcoming book FEATHER BRAINED. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - World’s Worst Birding Show, Part 2 with Bob Tarte

You may never read this description of the World’s Worst Birding Show, Part 1, because this podcast might never make it online due to the need for certain minimum quality standards. It’s the usual content-free rambling from Bob Tarte and Book Character Bill Holm about their annual birding trip to Ohio for the warbler migration plus breaking news about Bob’s forthcoming book Feather Brained. Tough to sit through. But comedy gold for start to finish as Bob and Bill analyze mysterious doings at Magee Marsh. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - World’s Worst Birding Show, Part 1 with Bob Tarte

In part two of the birding show that took a full year to produce, Book Character Bill Holm blows the lid off the fraud that he considers ‘birding by ear’ to be and Bob defends the practice as they recap the 19 warbler species seen the previous day at Magee Marsh in Ohio. Then they set out with open ears if not open minds for day two, though they were spoiled by so many birds on day one, they don’t bird nearly as hard. Bill wows the boardwalk crowd with his Swainson’s Thrush expertise while Bob wonders if he brought enough one-dollar bills, since a very cooperative Prothonotary Warbler was obviously angling for a tip. What a migration! What a show! Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Full-Year-in-the-Making Birding Show, Part Two with Bob Tarte

It took Bob a full year to prepare for this birding show, working every single minute of the day, seven days a week. But it was worth it for his annual return to Magee Marsh with 'don’t call me a birder' Bill Holm, who contributes a report of his own recent birding trip to Cape May, New Jersey. Will the Magee Marsh trip be another bust, as chronicled in last year’s two-part podcast? Or will Bob and Bill babble happily about their huge success in another memorable non-pet Pet Life Radio show? Don’t miss this mildly amusing audio event! More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Full-Year-in-the-Making Birding Show, Part One with Bob Tarte

Bob Tarte and Book Character Bill Holm experience what one birder terms the worst spring migration day in 13 years at Magee Marsh in northern Ohio, and the paucity of birds is mind boggling. Nevertheless, they manage to see a few noteworthy species - like a White-eyed Vireo and a pair of nesting Prothonotary Warblers - and to their surprise they realize that they had a great time after all. Even more astoundingly, Bill admits to having enjoyed his interactions with birders, who were so desperate for something to look at this year that they flocked around turtles and frogs. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Biggest Week in American Podcasting, Part 2 with Bob Tarte var ACE_AR = {Site: '845738', Size: '468060'};

Bob Tarte and Book Character Bill Holm discuss their plans to attend The Biggest Week in American Birding for the third year in a row and ‘borrow’ the Biggest Week title for their own series of podcasts. Bob shocks Bill by boldly coming out as a birder. Then things get fast and furious as the pair tries to decide how best to present their trip to Magee Marsh this time around without repeating the same tired podcast they’ve done the last two years. Bob and Bill also prepare for an author-and-book-character talk at an Ann Arbor-area library and predict that it will turn into the usual disaster. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Biggest Week in American Podcasting, Part 1 with Bob Tarte var ACE_AR = {Site: '845738', Size: '468060'};

They're away from home. They're birding. They're seeing lots of warblers. They're even mistaken for experts by other birders. So why are Bob Tarte and Book Character Bill Holm their typically glum selves? Catch the buzz (and the buzz kill) in a fun-filled you-are-there podcast recorded live on the boardwalk at Magee Marsh in northern Ohio. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Biggest Week in American Birding (Part Two) with Bob Tarte

The two biggest losers in birding, Bob Tarte and Bill Holm, visit Magee Marsh in Ohio for the huge spring migration event known as "The Biggest Week in American Birding." Listen and marvel over the fact that despite seeing more good birds in a few hours than they usually see in 18 months, the pair still find something to complain about. Questions or Comments? Email Bob at: bob@petliferadio.com More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - The Biggest Week in American Birding (Part One) with Bob Tarte

It took host Bob Tarte so long to say the title of the show, "Not a Non-bird Birding Show, Take 2," that it wouldn't fit it into a single podcast. So Bob and Book Character Bill Holm are back for the second half of their trip to Magee Marsh in northern Ohio, where they lose themselves among a flurry birds and birders. Did they make it through the experience with their sanity intact? Does an ostrich have wings? More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Not a Non-Bird Birding Show, Take 2 (Part 2) with Bob Tarte

Six weeks ago, Bob Tarte and Book Character Bill Holm visited the usually ‘birdy’ Muskegon Wastewater facility to record the "Not a Non-Bird Birding Show," but the lack of birds doomed the podcast. This time they traveled to Magee Marsh in Ohio at the height of the warbler migration for a not-a-non-bird birding podcast that’s, well, not too bad. They ended up with such extensive on-the-scene reporting and so much baseless complaining especially from Bill, that "Not a Non-Bird Birding Show, Take 2" ended up as a two-parter. Get an up-close, you-are-there aural glimpse at birder frenzy at its best and worst. And find out why Bob packed his dress shoes. More details on this episode MP3 Podcast - Not a Non-Bird Birding Show, Take 2 (Part 1) with Bob Tarte