Bring Birds Back

If we want as many people caring for birds as possible, we need people to not only become interested, but to have mentorship and community available for them. Tenijah speaks with Jeana Fucello and Kasia Chmielinski from the Feminist Bird Club, a birding group centered around being an inclusive, thoughtful home for birders who oth erwise wouldn’t have community. The organization has chapters across the country and is continuing to grow and bring more people into its flock. 

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Purple Martins and people have a long history. Native Americans started a practice of providing homes for the birds, which was copied by European colonizers. But those colonizers released invasive species and cleared habitats to the point that the species is entirely reliant on man-made housing. Tenijah talks to Kelly Applegate, Director of Natural Resources for the Mille-Lacs band of Ojibwe about the history of Purple Martins; Joe Siegrist, president of the Purple Martin Conservation Association about how we can help Purple Martins; and 8th grader Kieran MacDonald about why he was inspired to devote himself to these birds.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Names have power. In North America, more than 100 species of birds have eponymous names, many honoring white colonizers. The “Bird Names for Birds” movement to change these names, or “verbal statues,” can be traced to Ph.D candidate Robert Driver’s 2018 proposal about the Thick-billed Longspur (then called McCown’s Longspur, named for a confederate general). More bird name changes are coming, albeit slowly — and some environmental organizations named after colonizers are following suit. One is the Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) in DC, which has announced it will change its name (at this time, they’re still deciding on a new name). Tenijah talks to Robert Driver about how the movement started; Caroline Brewer, formerly in communications at ANS about the decision to change the organization’s name; and writer/birder Stephen Carr Hampton about the impact these names have on people of color who love birds.

• Bird Names for Birds
• The McCown's Longspur Is No More, but the Debate Over Bird Names Continues
• J. Drew Lanham: What Do We Do About John James Audubon?
• A D.C. area environmental group is dropping the name of John Audubon

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Migratory birds use starlight to find their way on their long journeys — which makes light pollution a serious threat. Drawn off course by bright, artificial lighting, birds can wind up fatally colliding with windows or wasting precious time and energy that they need to survive. “Lights Out” programs get cities and their residents to turn off nonessential lighting during migration seasons which can help make their journeys a little easier (and save energy!). BirdCast, a tool that can forecast the peak migration nights of the season, is helping these programs make a greater impact. Tenijah speaks with Julia Wang, project leader at BirdCast and the Lights Out Texas campaign at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

• Lights Out Program | BirdCast
• Lights Out | National Audubon Society
• Research: Study Names Top Cities Emitting Light that Endangers Migratory Birds
• FLAP Canada
• Lights Out for Birds | Houston Audubon

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Tenijah got hooked on birding at the start of the pandemic, and during the last season of Bring Birds Back she learned a lot about our feathered friends. This season, she’s ready to learn and share more simple ways to help birds — while discovering new birding skills from experts. After going birding with her mom and not seeing much, Tenijah wants to know how to better find and identify birds around her. Conor Gearin, managing producer of BirdNote Daily, joins Tenijah to teach her how to identify who you’re seeing outside and why they’re there.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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In our season finale, Tenijah to Tybee Island off the Georgia coast for a day at the beach... picking up trash. She joins Tim Arnold, founder of Tybee Clean Beach Volunteers, to see first hand how plastics and trash can pose a threat to migratory shorebirds and marine life. And she speaks with Kelly Martin, Texas Coastal Outreach Coordinator at American Bird Conservancy, about some of the actions we can take to solve our problem with plastics.

Learn more:

• More about the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act
   
• NPR Life Kit’s Guide to Using Less Plastic
   
• 7 Tips to Be a Better Recycler
   
• 99% Invisible on the Problems Facing Recycling

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Host Tenijah Hamilton hears firsthand from coffee grower Oswaldo Acevedo in Colombia how shade-grown coffee farms offer better wildlife habitat and working conditions than most industrial coffee plantations. She speaks to Ruth Bennett and Justine Bowe from the Smithsonian Institute Migratory Bird Center about the science behind the Bird Friendly Coffee certification, how bird friendly coffee growers benefit birds and other wildlife, how to find bird friendly coffee near you, and the goal to have a whole range of certified bird friendly products on the shelves in the future.

• Find a Bird Friendly Coffee Retailer Near You - Smithsonian Institute
• Ecological Benefits of Shade-grown Coffee
• Coffee and Chocolate Could Help Preserve Endangered Birds in Venezuela
• Café Mesa de los Santos
• Making Sense Of Coffee Labels: Does Your Coffee Support Wintering Warblers? - All About Birds
• How can coffee plantations be more bird-friendly? - National Geographic

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Host Tenijah Hamilton joins volunteers from Georgia Audubon and Trees Atlanta who are planting wildflowers and grasses along an urban rail trail, where she learns how native plants can provide food and shelter for birds within cities. She talks to ecologist Desiree Narango about why birds depend on plants, and how we can transform our backyards and shared green spaces to serve the needs of both people and birds.

Related Resources:
Check out the Native Plant Finder
Find native plants in your region with Audubon
Research native plants in your area with Audubon's Native Plants Database
Find an extension office near you
Read "Why Garden with Native Wildflowers?" on the US Forest Service's website
Attract Birds: A Dozen Native Trees And Shrubs That Birds Love
Visit the website for Trees Atlanta
Visit Georgia Audubon

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BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks!

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The second of this two-part segment pulls apart the issues with cats and birds. Host Tenijah Hamilton gets an overview of how outdoor cats affect bird populations, why it’s such a controversial issue, and what’s to be done about it. She discusses this with producer Mark Bramhill and guests including Karen Krauss, and Joe Liebezeit.

BirdNote is an independent nonprofit media production company. Your dollars make it possible to create sound-rich shows that connect you to the joys of birds and nature. Support BirdNote’s conservation mission, and get more of the content you love, by subscribing to BirdNote+ at https://birdnote.supercast.tech or make a one-time gift at BirdNote.org. Thanks!

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