06-22: Unraveling the Mysteries of Bird Vagrancy with Alex Lees

Finding birds in places where you shouldn’t expect to find them if certainly one of the more exciting aspects of birding. In fact, it might well be the reason for the American Birding Association’s very existence. The unpredictability, the excitement, the community that builds around these sorts of birds are certainly appealing even the mechanisms that bring them to these places are not always known. Alex Lees is a senior researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University and, along with James Gilroy, the author of Vagrancy in Birds, which attempts to answer some of those questions of how and why vagrancy is so prevalent in birds. He joins me to talk about this ever-fascinating topic Also, a sad end to Monty and Rose, and a happy beginning for their offspring.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts, and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!