This Month in Birding – October 2022
October 27, 2022
It’s the end of October and time for our monthly This Month in Birding panel. This week features a fun crew with MD/DC Bird Atlas coordinator Gabriel Foley, Birding magazine editor Frank Izaguirre, and Sarah Swanson, author of the new Best Little Book of Birds: Oregon Coast. The panel geeks out over woodpecker brains, commiserates over the sobering State of the Birds, and suggests exciting bird costume ideas for Halloween, among other things.
Links to topics discussed in this episode:
2022 State of the Birds Reveals Widespread Losses of Birds in all Habitats
Never Before Seen Colorful Bird Hybrid Surprises Scientists
Even a Small Amount of Spilled Oil Damages Seabird Feathers
Woodpecker Brains Process Their Own Tree-Drumming as if its Birdsong
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The American Birding Podcast brings together staff and friends of the American Birding Association as we talk about birds, birding, travel and conservation in North America and beyond.
Join host Nate Swick every other Thursday for news and happenings, recent rarities, guests from around the birding world, and features of interest to every birder.
Bird-inspired Halloween costumes:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4X-XbMnnkR5qlCpVhcEsgfmzoOerpRo-of4rU0/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=
My kids went as a snowy owl and a black-capped chickadee in 2019.
A blue-footed booby was a fun costume I wore one year. Spray-painted my rubber boots blue and wore a push-up bra 🤪!
I’m a regular listener to the Podcast and love it! This month (Oct 2022) in particular had me riveted. The article discussions were excellent, and the Halloween costume conversation was wildly entertaining! I am especially partial to Nick’s puns at the end of each episode. Gabriel and Frank are two of my all-time favorites of your guests. Sarah’s report on the oiling of seabirds was fascinating.
Interesting discussion about the State of the Birds – definitely some sobering messages in there. However, as one of the contributors to the latest (2019) Canadian version (http://nabci.net/wp-content/uploads/39-004-Canada-State-of-Birds_EN_WEB-1.pdf) I wouldn’t say it was particularly difficult to write about the trends. Maybe it’s a function of having spent the past 25 years working with species at risk in various capacities – perhaps I’ve gotten sufficiently numb to the bad news that I can write about it objectively! More generally though, I agree about the need to avoid falling into a pit of despair … there’s a fine line between taking in… Read more »