In today’s episode, we’re joined by Kirk Wallace Johnson, the author of The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century. This gripping true-crime tale takes us into the world of rare bird feathers and the relentless pursuit of a bizarre criminal and the feathers that he stole from The Natural History Museum in Tring. Kirk's meticulous research and storytelling uncover an astonishing story of a thief, the feathers he stole, and the worldwide pursuit. So settle in, because today, we’re talking to Kirk about how this all came together. 

As always, you have John Bates, Shannon Hackett, Amanda Marquart, and RJ Pole here for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social, YouTube and tik tok as well!!

This week we close out with our final thoughts on the Feather Thief, as well as talk about the importance of museums and their collections. It’s our last episode before we talk to the author Kirk Wallace Johnson, so get ready for next week. 

This week we talk a little bit about obsession in general, and how it is human nature to become obsessed, whether it was Alfred Russel Wallace, or even Edwin Rist. It’s important to channel that obsession into something positive because it can go dark really quick. 

We start off talking about the accomplice in the book named Long, and whether or not he was manipulated by Edwin. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming discussing different birds soon enough. Once back, we are kicking it off with episodes on the Harlequin Duck and the Mourning Dove. So get ready for those in a couple weeks. 

Welcome back to Part 5 of our exploration of the book The Feather Thief. We discuss the horrific act that’s still causing ripples in the world of museums. We’ll also take a closer look at the role museum collections play in science—a subject misunderstood by some fly-tiers in the book. We also talk about how museum specimens drive scientific progress. We’ll also touch on some of the oddball research requests museums have received over the years, including one inquiry about the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

We begin with a brief talk into Shannon’s thoughts on Canadian-American relations, particularly the threats of tariffs, before drifting into a discussion on precious metals and their unexpected influence on foreign policy decisions. But don’t worry—it’s all over in a flash, and then, it’s back to The Feather Thief and all its intrigue.

As always, you have John Bates, Shannon Hackett, Amanda Marquart, and RJ Pole here for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social, YouTube and tik tok as well!!

Our adventure through the pages of the book The Feather Thief continues! We’re thrilled to have Jason Weckstein join us again. Jason is an enthusiastic fly fisherman and fly-tier, and also an amazing ornithologist. He joined us last week, and is back with even more laughs, stories, and an extraordinary depth of insight into the quirky worlds of both fly tying and bird watching.

We dive into one of the birds mentioned in the book: the Argus Pheasant. Shannon has some captivating info about these birds’ remarkable feathers, and the unique way that they produce the color blue. We also get into the similarities and differences between fly-fishing and birdwatching. 

Jason is an Associate Curator of Ornithology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and Associate Professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science, Drexel University. 

As always, you have John Bates, Shannon Hackett, Amanda Marquart, and RJ Pole here for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social, YouTube and tik tok as well!!

We are doing a mini-series on The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. This week we have a very special guest, Jason Weckstein, join us for a conversation about the intricacies of fly-tying. Jason is not only an avid fly fisherman and fly tier but also a passionate ornithologist. Jason is an Associate Curator of Ornithology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and Associate Professor in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science, Drexel University. 

Join John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social, YouTube and tik tok as well!!

Part two of our Feather Thief mini-series!  This week we cover chapters on Walter Rothschild’s infamous museum, the fashion madness known as "feather fever," which drove people to decimate millions of rare and exotic birds. Then we’ll explore the aftermath—how a group of determined women, appalled by the devastation, sparked a movement to protect birds, culminating in the founding of the Audubon Society. 

We are doing a mini-series that will break down parts of the book, and to sum it all up will be talking with the author Kirk Wallace Johnson. 

Join John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social, YouTube and tik tok as well!!

We're doing something a little different—a mini-series focused on the book The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. The book is part true crime, part cultural exploration, and it digs into the themes of obsession, beauty, and the lengths people will go to for something they can’t possess. It’s one of those true stories that’s so bizarre, you couldn’t make it up if you tried. In 2009, someone broke into the British Museum of Natural History, stealing hundreds of rare bird skins. He did it all to fuel his obsession with fly-tying for fly-fishing—a hobby very niche, but has a secret society on the dark web. This is for birders, nature-lovers, museum buffs, and true-crime fans alike. 

We are doing a mini-series that will break down parts of the book, and to sum it all up will be talking with the author Kirk Wallace Johnson. 

Join John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social, YouTube and tik tok as well!!

We’re stepping away from our usual routine to dive into something a bit different—The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson. This is a story of a museum heist, someone who stole rare bird skins from a museum in order to sell them on the dark web to fly-fisherman. 

Two of our hosts, John Bates and Shannon Hackett, are curators at the Field Museum in Chicago, making them perfect guides to unravel this strange and captivating story.

We’d love for you to join us by picking up a copy of the book and reading along. We’ll be offering behind-the-scenes insights into the world of museum work and its bird collections—you won’t want to miss a word.

For those who haven’t had the chance to read it yet, we thought we’d share the prologue, which sets the stage for the book’s, dark, and twisted tale. 

The reading of the prologue is the only part of the book that we’ll be reading aloud in this mini-series. Our regular lineup—John, Shannon, Amanda, and RJ —will be back for the rest of the episodes. And we’ll be joined by ornithologist and fly-tier Jason Weckstein for a few chats along the way. Then we’ll cap it all off with an interview with the author himself, Kirk Wallace Johnson. 

So, sit back, relax, grab your binoculars, and enjoy the prologue!

John is back from his trip to the Falkland Islands to study Gentoo Penguins, so we ask him all about his trip. We also answer a mailbag question on what birds do in the rain when it storms. 

Join John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social and tik tok as well!!

We are kicking it off the new year by revisiting an older episode that we did on the Willard’s Sooty Boubou. This was a bird that John and the team at the Field Museum were responsible for describing as a new species. We are doing a mini-series on the book The Feather Thief in a few weeks, so we wanted to share an episode that highlighted what John and Shannon do at the Field Museum before we kick that off. Bird specimen at The Field Museum led to describing the new species, and John tells us about his trips to Africa to study this new species. 

Join John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for Birds of a Feather Talk Together. 

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to [email protected]

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Blue Sky Social and tik tok as well!!