The Badgerland Birding Podcast

We talk with Everett Wery, creator of "The Birding Game" about. his trip to Wisconsin, the game, spring migration, and more. Check out the game at thebirdinggame.com!

Jeremiah Psiropoulos discusses updates from his guiding business and talks about birding in Colorado.

We talk about our recent birding trip to San Diego, California, try a Pennywort Drink, and talk about our America's Favorite Shorebird bracket for Migration Madness!Check out the birding game at https://www.thebirdinggame.com/Support us on Ko-Fi here: https://ko-fi.com/badgerlandbirdingCheck out out merch here: https://badgerlandbirding-shop.fourthwall.com/

Margie McMahon joins the podcast to talk about her spring birding adventures as well as some of her exciting new art designs that will be released soon!

I talk with Gary and Noah Steinberg about breaking the Florida Big Year record, Florida birding, and more!Bios provided by Noah Steinberg: Gary Steinberg is a long-time Buddhist meditation practitioner and teacher, as well as an avid birder. He teaches silent meditation, dialogue practices, and other forms of Buddhist study. Gary began birding in the mid-90s and moved to Florida in 2022. In 2023, Gary and his son Noah undertook a Florida big year together. Gary and Noah ended 2023 first and second in the state for the year, setting a new Florida Big Year record. That record fell the following year. In 2025 they did it all again, pushing the record to 421. Noah Steinberg is a tour leader with American Birding Guides, a co-founder and administrator of the Florida Birding Discord, the creator of rare bird alert group chats for Orange and Osceola Counties, and an eBird reviewer for Orange County, Florida and the High Seas (Northwest Atlantic Ocean). Having taken on the role of ‘Big Year Manager’, Noah joined his dad in making a run at the Florida record while maintaining detailed spreadsheets to plan and document the year in whole. Just shy of his dad, Noah observed 417 species in 2025. However, Gary and Noah understand this wasn’t an individual achievement, but a communal one. Birders across the state contributed by finding birds, showing up at chases, sending tips, and offering friendship. Without the community of Florida birders, it wouldn't have been possible.

I talk with Brian Wrightsman, content creator for "Feathersnap" which makes smart bird feeders. Here all about how they went about designing one, what to look for in a good smart bird feeder, and more!

I talk with Phil Mitchell, founder of the app "Larkwire", a fun tool to learn bird sounds. We go through the app, test it out, and show how you can use it to be a better birder! Download the app here, there is a free version and options to pay for more (We do earn a commission from qualifying purchases): https://insertaffiliate.link/950kUSEZzocpd8CaOliJsm5j4Q63/BADGERLAND

Jeremiah Oden joins the podcast to discuss his love of digi-scoping, doing a global owl big year, and how he got started birding.

Hannah Toutonghi discusses her work with one of the most fascinating owls in the country; the Northern Hawk Owl. She also delves into her birding origin story.

I talk with Selina (@selinasatlas) about her Big Year in Berlin, Germany, the German birding scene, and more!Follow Selina on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@selinasatlasInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/selinasatlas/

Sally Wildrick of Best Life Birding talks about her birding journey from past, to present, to future

I talk with Garrett Rhyne from the American Bird Conservancy about innovations in bird tracking using Motus technology, Swainson's Warblers, and more! Check out the Motus website here: https://motus.org/

We talk about our annual "First of the Year Birding Challenge", as well as an all black Great Egret in Louisiana that has been the topic of debate.

We talk with Nigel and Kayleigh from the Backyard Aviary Adventures about birding in the UK, their channel, differences between the US and the UK, and more! Check out their channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@UCttsXR6K5jNFphVesZge2Wg

David Brown of Lyco Birds joins the show to discuss birding in Delaware, hawk watching, and more!

We talk about what we've been up to recently with 1 hour birding challenges, philosophical and ethical ideas about birding, who we've had on the podcast and more. Thanks for sticking with us for 100 episodes!

We talk with Everett Wery of The Birding Voayge YouTube channel about his channel and his new game called "The Birding Game". Check it out at thebirdinggame.com!

I talk with musician and artist Tommy Siegel about his "Extremely Accurate Birds" artwork, his band Jukebox the Ghost, his songs incorporating bird vocalizations, and more!Links to Tommy's work (Note: While many of Tommy’s comics are family-friendly, some do contain adult themes): https://tommysiegel.net/

Birder, author, and podcaster Sparky Stensaas discusses his recent birding adventures and what's on tap for the Sax-Zim Bog this winter.

I talk with Harish Thangaraj, who was part of the team that re-discovered the Jerdon’s Courser, one of the rarest birds in the world. The Jerdon's Courser is a mysterious species that was once thought to be extinct, but was then rediscovered in 1986 in India. After that, it vanished again for nearly 20 years. That is, until a team of researchers — including Harish Thangaraj — found it once more, and in a completely new area. Today, Harish joins me to share the incredible story of how they made that discovery, what it was like in the field, and what it means for the future of this critically endangered bird.Learn more at Harish's blog here: https://harryfication.wordpress.com/2025/09/04/dream-come-true-jerdons-courser-discovered-outside-lankamalla-after-125-years-on-the-first-day-of-our-trip/

I talk with Jed Aplaca and Pete Deichmann from Houston Audubon about their efforts to buy a new section of land to preserve in Bolivar Flats as well as the Red-vented Bulbul population in Houston, and more! Help preserve the flats here: https://houstonaudubon.org/conservation/protectbolivar.htmlLearn more about the flats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO0cTfePPMhttps://youtu.be/zTJPxSK8MIY

I catch up with Will Huggins to here about his most recent trip to Panama to find tropical bird species including the elusive Harpy Eagle.

We talk with Ken Behrens of the Naturally Adventurous podcast about our top birding destinations in the United States, how to dip your toes into international travel, and what it's like living in Madagascar! Learn more about Ken and the podcast here: https://www.ken-behrens.com/naturally-adventurous-podcast

On his album titled "Lifer", musician Aaron Grych incorporates bird songs that you may be familiar with, and encourages people to listen more closely to the world around them. Listen to the album here: https://quokkaband.bandcamp.com/album/lifer

The creator of the new documentary "Beyond Our Senses: Bank Swallows" David Busse discusses his film.

Tyler Hoar and Matt Young join the show to give everyone their first look at the 2025-2026 winter finch forecast!https://finchnetwork.org/winter-finch-forecast-2025-2026?fbclid=IwZnRzaANGJkBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHlBkHKQ8LXOptt0KZzNE8pbC5rIWeAnHNpVWjX-Zv2ViUCX26xlr29V1TG30_aem_SDxiy_-jvGlv8oAFfB6YeA

Mathew Radford discusses his podcast, birding in Oklahoma, Sasquatch. and more!

Peter Mundale (a hawk watcher at Hawk Ridge in Minnesota) discusses fall migration and some trends to look for this year in the bird world.

Danny Bernard is trying to see 100 birds in each of the lower 48 United States in a single calendar year while also meeting different people from those states, and seeing their most iconic places. Hear about Danny's journey, and the best and worst of his trip! Learn more here: https://peopleplacesbirds.net/

Artist and owner of Forest Press, Margie Griggs discusses how she got into birding and what it's like to be a bird artist.

On this week's episode we share an interview we did a few years back with Dr. Chris Haney, talking about his book "Woody's Last Laugh - How the "Extinct" Ivory-billed Woodpecker Fools Us Into Making 53 Thinking Errors". You can purchase the book here (As Amazon Associates we do earn from qualifying purchases): https://amzn.to/3rSz9sQ

We talk about if we think the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extinct, our recent nemesis birds and more!

We talk with our friend and experienced bird guide Rachel Clark about what's been going on in the California birding scene, the downfall of our favorite Sasquatch mural and more. If you'd like to take a tour with Rachel, head to centralcaliforniabirdingtours.com

We talk with "The Grouse Guy", Jeremiah Psiropoulos about birding in Colorado, finding grouse, Colorado-style pizza, and more! Learn more about Jeremiah and his tours here: https://antigonewildlifetours.com/about

We discuss our latest birding adventures, searching for the smallest gull in the world as well as our first full day of birding in Colorado. Thanks to Brome for sponsoring this episode. Learn more at https://store.bromebirdcare.com/

Peter Mundale joins the show to discuss birding topics from the state of Minnesota including the state of Connecticut Warblers, the Sax-sim Bog, and the crazy owl winter that was.Thanks to Brome for sponsoring this episode! Learn more at https://bromebirdcare.com

Nathaniel Wegner has been along for many adventures with the Badgerland Birding crew and an extremely skilled birder even without having a drivers license.

There has been a proposition to destroy important old growth forest on South Padre island in South Texas that is great for migratory birds. Here is how we can stop it from being destroyed. What you need to know, from Jusin LeClaire: "Perhaps the final battle to save the SPI Convention Center native habitat is coming this Tuesday.The SPI City Council has decided NOT to listen to the wills of thousands of their constituents. They are sticking with their latest plans to destroy the majority of native habitat at the Convention Center for the expansion project (see photo – at least half of the habitat on the south side of the property and within the driving loop will be removed). There is officially an agenda item (https://tinyurl.com/ac53j9j3) to seek approval for the CC expansion plans on the Cameron County Commissioners’ Court meeting for this coming *Tuesday, June 17, at 930am*. They need a majority vote from the commissioners to move forward because the property is on county land. It sounds like Commissioners Garza, Benavides, and Ruiz may be on our side thanks to all of your support so far, but who knows what the truth is and what has been happening behind our backs. HOW TO HELP: Submit a public comment against the agenda item regardless if you can attend in person or not. Here’s how- Download the “public comment registration form” https://tinyurl.com/4wy4nb7k. State your info, check the boxes to say that you are “against” agenda item 4-E and that you do not wish to address the commissioners, add a quick comment to say you are against any expansion that requires native habitat destruction at the SPI convention center, and email the form to [email protected] BEFORE 845am on June 17. It’ll take 10 minutes of your time, but enough emails against this agenda over the weekend may help push a majority of the commissioners in our direction. Please do also attend the meeting if you can.Feel free to send a/another email out to the commissioners themselves as well. Thanks for any and all help! (special thanks to Karen Nussbaumer for staying on top of details and sharing it all asap)Judge Eddie Trevino(956) [email protected] Benavides(956) [email protected] Lopez(956) [email protected] Garza(956) 361-8209 [email protected] Ruiz(956) 427-8069 [email protected]"Save the South Padre Island Bird Habitat Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/987229576083150/Link to the petition: https://www.change.org/p/preserve-the-migratory-birding-habitat-at-south-padre-island-convention-center?recruiter=1177294348&utm_campaign=signature_receipt&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&fbclid=IwY2xjawK8jnNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETEyZzBIM20zY1ZRQ2l4b0J2AR4tGk-XgM9QnEXwbZ57dz0K6z6mvOPI0E26dvtwNDVrYJ3n2X12_uOH8tuLig_aem_v1EyGQqL8aJd4-3ABp4wQQ

Cole Roecker joins the show to discuss ur recent 150 species Big Day as well as what it's like birding in Chicago, Illinois.

We catch up with Tim Hahn, who did a Waukesha, WI County Big Year in 2025 and talk about his total, birding in Wisconsin, the Breeding Bird Atlas, and more!

We talk about what we've been up to, birding in may the past few weeks, about crane populations, and more!

We talk with Pat Ready from the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin about the decline and recovery of the Eastern Bluebird. You can learn more here: https://www.braw.org/

We talk with Marissa and Easton from Coddiwomple Chronicles about exploring Wisconsin, birding for the first time, travel tips, and more! Check out their instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/coddiwomple_chronicles/Thanks to our sponsor Brome Bird Care!: https://bromebirdcare.com/en/

We talk with Owen Kroeze, a 17 year-old birder from the Netherlands, all about what it's like birding there, difference between the Netherlands and the United States, and more!

We talk about non-native and invasive species that have taken over the United States as well as some American animals that have made a home in Europe. Visit our shop here: https://badgerlandbirding-shop.fourthwall.com/

We talk with Mr. Train (Jeff Train), co-founder of "Our Tern", a project to help protect Hoboken, New Jersey's honorary bird, the Common Tern. Learn more here: https://www.ourtern.com/

We talk with Matt Miller, director of science communications for the Nature Conservancy and editor of the Cool Green Science blog all about birds, bird conservation, and more!

We talk to our friend Aiden, a young birder from Ohio about what it's like to bird there, the Biggest Week in American Birding, and more!

We talk all about the different ducks you can find in the United States, give an update on the orange Snowy Owl in Michigan, give an update on the warbler bracket, and more!

We talk about spring migration, the orange Snowy Owl in Michigan and how it may have gotten that way, our America's Favorite Warbler Bracket, and more!