eBird is a great tool for many purposes, but there are times when a birder wants to know how to best bird a hotspot, where to park at the hotspot, are there restrooms there, and generally about birding the hotspot.  It is great to ask a local birder, but often that is not possible, and so what to do?  Now the answer is easy. Go to BirdingHotspots.org where my guests Ken Ostermiller and Adam Jackson have created an open source, crowdsourced site for birders to help each other know how to find birds at any eBird hotspot.  

You can help by using the "suggest edit" feature to help flesh out the information on any hotspot. 

Please get feedback to me, or contact Ken to volunteer to help as an editor for your state.  

Thanks for listening. Please leave a rating and reveiw. See more on the Bird Banter Blog.

Until next time, good birding and good day. 

On this episode I talk with two of the leaders of The Feminist Bird Club, Molly Adams who is the originator of the NYC chapter, and Sydney Golden Anderson who has been active in the Chicago chapter and now lives in Colorado.  I was excited to hear about the clubs work to increase diversity and be inviting to all people with an interest in birds. Their work toward this goal is inspiring to me and I hope to you.  

You can find the the Feminist Bird Club NYC Chapter website here, and there find links to many of the other chapters. Follow the NYC, Chicago or Seattle clubs on Instagram.  Buy the new book The Birding for a Better World: A guide to Finding Joy and Community in Nature anywhere books are sold, available Sept 5, 2023, but you can preorder now. 

I mention BirdingHotspots.org in the episode, and I encourage listeners to participate in this crowd-sourced birding tool online. 

Check out the blog post associated with this episode on the Bird Banter Website. 

Thanks for listening. Until next time, good birding and good day!

On this episode I talk with Greg Harrington, a Seattle, WA birder I've met several times in the field, and who had become a proficient and prolific birder in the area over a very few years.  He is always fun to meet, and was really fun to talk with on this episode.  He is a high school history teacher, and spent some of the Covid time when teaching was online teaching from the road while travelling around the U.S. exploring and birding. 

You can find Greg's email on his eBird profile here. 

Here is a link to A Birders Guide to Washington on the WOS website. You can buy it here. 

Here is Jerry Cooper's old but IMO still fabulous:  BIRDFINDER:  A Birder's Guide to Planning North American Trips 

See the blog post associated with this episode on the Bird Banter Blog for more details.  Thanks for listening. Please leave a rating and reveiw.  

On this episode Scott and I talk about his discovery of birding as a passion later in life, and about how this led to his quest to see all of the Lower-48 raptors, initially in a year, but eventually in 17 months.  Scott is also a prolific author, and we talk about his writing and his future birding plans. 

His newest book:  RaptorQuest:  Chasing America's Raptors

See more about the places and people we talk about on the BirdBanter.com blog. 

Thanks for listening. Good birding and good day!

On Episode #155 I talk with Arkansas birder Dan Scheiman about birding in Arkansas, his birding story and creating backyard habitat by Planting for Birds.  You can see Dan's eBird profile here, and read more on The Bird Banter blog here. 

I'd love to hear about birders you'd like to hear from as guests.  Reach me on the contact page or in part of an episode review.  Thanks for listening. 

Good birding. 

Pelagic birding is different in many ways from birding on land.  It's fun, exhausting, and difficult, but can be really great too.  Ken Brown, my long-time birding buddy, and I have dreamed of  getting out of Hatteras N.C. with Brian Patteson for years, and finally made it happen this year. Despite difficult weather we had a great trip, and talk about that and more on this episode. 

Patteson Seabirding

Westport Seabirds

The Science of Birds Podcast

Blog post on Birdbanter.com

Dynamic Soaring Video

On this episode I talk with Rebecca Heisman, author of the new book Flight Paths, and hear about the story of writing the book, more stories about the people behind the research on bird migration, and her personal and birding story.  

In the introduction I talk about the migration watch scene at Dune Peninsula. Check out the eBird hotspot page here. 

You can learn more about Rebecca at her website rebeccaheisman.com

As always find more related info on the Bird Banter Blog post about this article.  

Until next time, I hope you enjoyed migration, and good birding!

On this episode I talk with Seattle area bird----more----er Bryony Angell, who is a professional writer with many published articles related to birding. Much of her recent work is related to women in birding and the birding experience from a woman's perspective.  

You can reach Bryony on her website here.

Read more about Bryony, and topics discussed on the episode on the Bird Banter blog post related to this episode. 

Here is a link to the article about women only birding trips we mentioned on the episode.  The Guatamalan female guides we mentioned were Claudia Avandaño who led my trip and Ana Paula Oxom is the guide leading an upcoming Guatamala trip. 

Until next time, good birding and good day!

Jim and I talk about his birding in Johnson County, Iowa as well as his birding story, which began as a youth, had a long dormant stage, and has been revived in recent years with county big years, birding around the ABA area and a reinvigorated interest in backyard nature habitat.  I think you'll enjoy hearing Dr. Kettelkamp's story.

You can reach Jim on Facebook @jim.kettelkamp where you can check out his backyard habitat.

Read more on the Bird Banter blog. 

Thanks for listening and until next time, good birding and good day!

I put up this episode in part because it's been longer than usual since my last episode was published, and I didn't want listeners to think I had disappeared. It's a different than usual episode, without a guest. I talk about my recent getaway trip from the rainy Pacific NW, to the Florida Keys and to Costa Rica. 

It was primarily a winter vacation trip, with some time dedicated to birding.  I loved the chance to enjoy Big Pine Key from the comfort of a vacation home of a friend of Marian, and I talk a bit about the birding there. 

In Costa Rica I spend a few days birding in Caño Negro, and a few more with my guide Carlos Ureña in the La Fortuna area PN Quetzales. 

Be sure to watch for future more typical episodes with great guests.

Thanks for listening.  Until next time, good birding and good day!