The American Birding Podcast

The state of Hawaii’s birds is a topic that is frequently front of mind to those of us who care about bird conservation, and on every island there are bird researchers and conservationists on the ground putting any number of conservation efforts into practice. Dr Hannah Mounce is the program manager of the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project, [https://www.mauiforestbirds.org/] and she joins us to talk about some of the most pressing efforts on the island.  Also, Nate finished his Breeding Bird Surveys and hopes that this isn't the last year for the venerable conservation project. Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/american-birding-podcast/id1186824033?mt=2], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/66zR2yB4AyXb4kRs90QBdo], or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

The story of the Florida Scrub-Jay is one that encompasses many modern conservation angles and concerns. Local government, bedrock federal legislation, development, climate change, eBird, and at the center of it, a remarkable and friendly endemic bird species. Recent challenges to conservation efforts in Florida have prompted the public interest group Earthjustice to intervene [https://earthjustice.org/press/2025/conservation-groups-take-legal-action-to-ensure-survival-of-declining-florida-scrub-jay] to help defend protections for the Florida Scrub Jay and lead attorney Aaron Bloom joins us to to lay out the threats to the jays and to all endangered species, and how birders have helped to make his case.  Also, the 2026 Young Birder of the Year Mentoring Program [https://www.aba.org/young-birder-year-contest/] is open for registration! If you're a young birder, or you know a young birder, sign up now! Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/american-birding-podcast/id1186824033?mt=2], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/66zR2yB4AyXb4kRs90QBdo], or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

It's our 350th episode! And to celebrate, we've brought you a super-sized This Month in Birding, and not only because the panel of Jody Allair, Jennie Duberstein, and Martha Harbison had so much to say about truck-riding gulls, prehistoric birds, and the state of same-sex bird science. We hope you enjoy this summer-solstice sized episode.  Links to articles mentioned in the episode: The First GPS Observation of a Western Gull (Larus occidentalis) Riding in a Long-Haul Garbage Transfer Truck [https://bioone.org/journals/waterbirds/volume-48/issue-1/063.048.0101/The-First-GPS-Observation-of-a-Western-Gull-Larus-occidentalis/10.1675/063.048.0101.short] Study Reveals Birds Nested in the Arctic During the Age of Dinosaurs [https://scienmag.com/study-reveals-birds-nested-in-the-arctic-during-the-age-of-dinosaurs/] Same-sex partnerships in birds: a review of the current literature and a call for more data [https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jav.03452] Study reveals songbirds change flight patterns over Midwest's vast farmlands [https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1085343] Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/american-birding-podcast/id1186824033?mt=2], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/66zR2yB4AyXb4kRs90QBdo], or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

You don’t have to be a birder for a long time to appreciate that birds are capable of producing an astonishing array of colors and patterns, even those beyond what our weak human eyes can discern. Hidden in that avian rainbow are clues to bird taxonomy and evolution, which is the work of our guest Whitney Tsai Nakashima [https://moorelab.oxy.edu/person/whitney-tsai-nakashima], a researcher at Occidental College’s Moore Lab of Zoology. Also, great news for one of south Texas's best birding sites.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/american-birding-podcast/id1186824033?mt=2], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/66zR2yB4AyXb4kRs90QBdo], or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!

Break out your checklists and get ready for another summer of splits and lumps from the AOS North American Classification Committee [https://americanornithology.org/about/committees/nacc/current-prior-proposals/2025-proposals/]. It’s time for our annual look at the proposed changes to the bird lists, the longest running segment on this podcast. And for every single one of those episodes, we've turned to biologist and birder Dr Nick Block of Stonehill College in Massachusetts. It's an interesting set of proposals this year, with Warbling Vireo splits, titmouse lumps, and lots of genetic mayhem.  Subscribe to the podcast at Apple Podcasts [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/american-birding-podcast/id1186824033?mt=2], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/66zR2yB4AyXb4kRs90QBdo], or wherever you get your podcasts and please leave a rating or a review if you are so inclined! We appreciate it!