American Birding Podcast

When we chose Iiwi to be the 2018 Bird of the Year, there was really only one person we could ask to do the artwork. H. Douglas Pratt is a bird artist, author, and researcher, currently based in Raleigh, North Carolina, whose work has been featured in the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America and the Handbook of Birds of the World, among other works. He literally wrote the book on Hawaiian birds, writing and illustrating The Field Guide to Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. He spoke with me about the cover art he created for the February issue of Birding magazine, as well as what he’s seen in his 50 years of working on the Hawaiian Islands with Hawaii’s native birds.

Also, new contributor Alain Clavette debuts on the podcast, with a field interview with Peter Gadd, a New Brunswick birder who, for the last few weeks, has hosted a very lost thrush.

Thanks to episode sponsor, the Port Aransas Whooping Crane Festival on the Gulf Coast in Texas. Experience the last naturally-occurring population of North America’s largest bird at its traditional winter home.

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