Show Notes
2025 was an exciting year for rare bird sightings in the ABA Area, with two first ABA records and a fascinating array of interesting and unexpected records from all corners of the US and Canada. North American Birds editor Alex Lamoreaux and writer and teacher Tim Healy join host Nate Swick to have some fun remembering the highlights of last year. Check out the 2026 Bird of the Year merch available NOW at aba.org/store Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
More from The American Birding Podcast
Birders across the ABA Area are taking part in their state or province's Breeding Bird Atlas project, with 44 States and 8 provinces taking on the project to build a bigger and more precise look at where birds are. California is the latest, and the birdiest place to take it on so far, with an effort that started this year. Morgan Tingley and Sam Safran are part of the team that is organizing the project. They join me to talk about it. Also, 2026 was a banner year for Great Lakes Piping Plovers! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
Birders know that the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Duck Stamp program is one of the most effective conservation initiatives in the US, but what of the Duck Stamps themselves? How are they chosen? What do judges look for? Why does one family always seem to win? This year Catherine Hamilton, a southern California based birder and artist, was given the responsibility of helping to choose the year's most enduring conservation image, and she joins host Nate Swick to talk about her experience. Also, Nate is back from a great weekend with Birds Houston, and is looking forward to the ABA's next Community Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
The recent split of our Mew Gulls into Short-billed Gull and Common Gull, in the Americas and Eurasia, respectively, has offered yet another complicated identification concern for dedicated gull-watchers to ponder. And ponder they have, in North American Birds, Common Gull in Eastern North America by Chicago area birder and author of The Gull GuideAmar Ayyash, takes a look at the status of Old World Common Gulls in the ABA Area, suggesting that there are mysteries hiding within the bird we used to call Mew Gull. Also, birders should be on the lookout for a significant irruption of Rocky Mountain bird species into the lowlands. More at aba.org. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
There are a few lucky places in the ABA Area where parrots still fly free, even if most have captive origins these day. But these big loud flashy birds have a history and future than is perhaps more interesting than many birders might imagine and these feral populations can even give us some insights into the frequently threatened wild birds in Mexico and Central America. John McCormack, director of the Moore Lab of Zoology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, was one of the authors of a paper about how two closely related Amazon parrots in southern California more or less fit into the landscape together and he joined us in 2021 to talk about it. Also, Nate returns from the St. Louis Community Weekend with stories about warblers and serendipitous swifts. Join us for our next community weekend in Charleston, South Carolina, in November! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!
The last Thursday of the month means it's time for This Month in Birding. For September 2026, host Nate Swick welcomes Andres Jimenez, Mikko Jimenez, and Sarah Swanson to discuss real data in the bird name debate, Dodo intelligence, Ontario Plover news, tiny backpacks for birds and much more. Links to items discussed in this episode: Birds of many feathers? Examining perceptions among US birders following the American Ornithological Society's eponymous renaming decision Federal government assessing threats to piping plovers in Wasaga Beach Only two complete dodo skulls are known to exist. Scientists just looked inside them – and discovered this Tiny backpacks reveal the secret, sometimes circuitous migrations of small songbirds Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!