PODCAST · science
Your Bird Story
by Local Nature Lab
Your Bird Story centers the voices of everyday people and their encounters and relationships with wild birds in cities. The podcast is hosted by Georgia Silvera Seamans and is edited and produced by Pod to the People. Subscribe to the podcast. Join us on social media: @yourbirdstory on Instagram.
Episodes
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[From the Archives] Christine Mott Advocates for Free Birds
Owls are back in the news in New York City. This time, two Barn Owls on the Upper West Side. In honor of the city's owls, famous and incognito, we're rerunning "Christine Mott Advocates for Free Birds."
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Bird City in Four Seasons with Ryan Goldberg
New Yorkers who bird know that a common way to experience birds in the city is seasonal, and in his new book, Bird City, Ryan Goldberg captures the lives of resident and migratory birds across all five boroughs of the city. Ryan shines a light on New Yorkers who come out rain, shine, and snow to...
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American Robin Population Decline with Emily Williams
The American Robin, Turdus migratorius, is a common migratory bird found throughout much of the United States; however, the population in Chicago appears to be decreasing. Is this trend specific to Chicago, or are Robins experiencing declines in other cities across the U.S? Wildlife biologist…
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Birding in Tokyo with Loyan Beausoleil
What can birding in a different city tell us about ourselves and the culture of perceiving nature in our community? We check in with Loyan Beausoleil about her recent trip to Japan where she observed Warbling White-eye and plentiful Brown-eared Bulbul among blooming cherry trees, listened to the...
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Growing The Flock with Alejandro Vinueza
Alejandro Vinueza, a wildlife biologist and current youth programs manager, has birds in his wild city of New York. He has watched Ruby-throated Hummingbirds nectaring in Fort Tryon Park, heard Red-tailed Hawks screeching on-the-wing while playing basketball at Cabrini Park, and observed...
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Birding is Essential with Indigo Goodson-Fields
Indigo Goodson-Fields is a writer, poet, birder. We begin our conversation with Indigo’s essay, “Black Woman's Guide to Loving through Birds” (read it!), and end with her memory of seeing her first Northern Flicker in the Native Flora Garden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden. She recalls the sun...
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Dudley Edmondson and People the Planet Needs Now
Dudley Edmondson’s writing and photography spotlight Black, Indigenous, and People of Color on the frontlines of conservation. Edmondson is a role model for People the Planet Needs Now, which is also the title of his latest book. He lives the talk by managing his yard as bird habitat. We talk…
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Angell and Tong, A Field Guide to Dating
Are you ready for it…a new way to court and find love? In 2020, Wenfei Tong released her book, Bird Love, which dives into the fascinating world of avian mating and parenting strategies, was published. Fast forward to 2022 when Bryony Angell picks up Tong’s book for the second time. What happens...
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Christine Mott Advocates for Free Birds
This month we talk with Christine Mott about her new book Free Bird: Flaco the Owl’s Dreams Take Flight, and the rights of animals. Mott was raised in New York City but wrote the book from Southern California. She was the Chair of the Animal Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association....
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Joan Strassmann Synthesizes Bird Sociality
Birds of a feather flock together, and more. Dr. Joan Strassmann studies cooperation and conflict within and between species, mostly social amoebas. In her latest book, The Social Lives of Birds, Strassmann trains her lens on the sociality of birds. The book is a riveting set of profiles of the…
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Matthias Garff Makes Bird Sculptures to Celebrate Biodiversity
Matthias Garff is an artist based in Germany. His sculpture practice is 80% focused on birds. His passion for birds developed through his relationship with his grandfather, who sent poems about the birds in his garden in Buenos Aires. We spoke with Garff about his year-long International Studio &...
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Jenn Lodi-Smith Collects Spark Bird Stories
Jenn Lodi-Smith is a PhD psychologist and founder of The Spark Bird Project. The initiative flickered into life at the Hog Island Audubon Family Camp where Lodi-Smith was introduced to the concept of "spark birds." Lodi-Smith and her colleagues record and analyze contributed stories to better...
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Amy Berkov Wants You to Know More About Insects
In this episode, we talk with Amy Berkov, a research scientist specializing in beetles and plant chemistry. Dr. Berkov shares her journey from artist to scientist, and her strong expertise in insect ecology, and the relationships among plants and birds. — Read Amy Berkov’s research. — Creator and...
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Edmundo Martinez Birds the Bronx by Bicycle
Edmundo Martinez’s patches are Starlight and Concrete Parks in the Bronx. He has seen inland birds including warblers and woodpeckers as well as aquatic birds like herons and egrets. The Bronx River, New York City’s only fresh water river, flows through these parks. Martinez birds big parks like...
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Kelli Hata's Haecceity Project Honors the Sacred Nature of Every Bird
Kelli Hata founded the Haecceity Project to chronicle the birds who die by colliding with glass structures on the Yale University campus. The word haecceity was coined by John Duns Scotus, a Medieval scholar. Wikipedia defines haecceity as meaning “each individual entity has a unique…
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Aaron N.K. Haiman Birds the California Delta
What do you do when there isn’t a bird guide for neck of the woods? You write one. Aaron N.K. Haiman is the author of the new book,Birds of the California Delta. Haiman talks about Delta habitats and shares his insights into the lives of a few of the 25 bird species profiled inBirds of the...
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Bryony Angell Knows Bird-Friendly Chocolate
Bryony Angell writes about birding culture and lifestyle. Her latest exploration into our relationship with birds is bird-friendly comestibles. In this episode, we talk about cocoa grown by Zorzal in the Dominican Republic, a bird reserve and farm certified as 100% bird-friendly by the…
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Melissa Hafting Gives Back to the Birds
In this episode, I talk with Melissa Hafting about her birding routines and rituals. Hafting’s life is about “giving back to the birds for all they have done for us.” She is the keeper of the BC Rare Bird Alert and founder of the BC Young Birders Program. Entering birding, Hafting—a Black...
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Loyan Beausoleil is a Swiftie (of the Apodiformes kind)
Are you the bird swiftie? Can you tell the different swifts apart? Do you know the connection between hummingbirds and swifts? Have you watched swifts come home to roost? Can you hold your house together with your saliva? Longtime friend and supporter of the pod, and conservationist, Loyan...
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SamSam Graves Really Loves Piping Plovers
SamSam Graves is a NYC-based artist, zine maker, and birder. In our conversation we touched on these aspects of her life. SamSam spoke passionately about Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) conservation. You might be surprised to learn that Piping Plovers nest annually on Rockaway Beach in NYC!!...
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Eric Archer on Hudson Valley Ecology
A conversation with Eric Archer about the film he and his collaborator Jesse Brown are making about John Burroughs, "the literary naturalist," and the ecology of the Hudson Valley. Birds included! - Information about The Burroughs Rambles film can be found here. - Creator and Host: Georgia...
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Jeffrey Train and the Birds of Hoboken
This month's guest, Jeffrey Train, and a group of Hoboken residents are doing great work for birds. Our Tern advocated for the Common Tern to be designed the city's official bird. The City Council of Hoboken settled on "honorary bird" on July 10, 2024. In this conversation, Jeffrey, also known…
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Tammah Watts's Guide to the Powerful Healing of Bird Watching
This joyful and introspective episode with Tammah Watts is the capstone to Season 4! Watching birds from her home helped her deal with the emotional wearing of a physical disability. She guides us through her discovery of birds in her yard and writing her book, Keep Looking Up: Your Guide to the...
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Pamela Lowell's Osprey Summer
Pamela Lowell is a passionate spokesperson for Osprey and bird conservation writ large. She gorgeously captures the lives and habitats of Pandion haliaetus in watercolor which illustrate her new book, My Summer with Ospreys. Throughout Lowell's book, and our conversation, you experience her…
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Queen Birder Kellie Quiñones
Kellie Quiñones is a Brooklyn born Afro-Boricua woman now living in Queens. She has a special place in Georgia's heart, welcoming her into the NYC bird world. Listen to this lively and laugh out loud conversation about birding from home, favorite bird memories, community, and more. Season 4 of…
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Natasza Fontaine is a Botanizing Birder
"I can't think about plants without thinking about birds and I can't think about birds without thinking about plants," says Natasza Fontaine in our conversation about her life as an avian ecologist, natural science illustrator, bioacoustician, and a birder. Fontaine is a founding member of Black...
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Jazz Odes to NYC Birds with Elijah Shiffer
Birds sing to "defend and impress" (All About Birds). Bird songs are good for soul, though this depends on the person listening, the species of bird, and the type of sound they are making (Dr. Eleanor Ratcliffe via Natural History Museum UK). New Yorker Elijah Shiffer composes jazz pieces to...
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Window Strike Taxidermy with Emmett White
One way to communicate the violence of window strikes is through art. Emmett White entered Wunderkammer 2023, a taxidermy competition, with a sculpture of seven pigeons colliding with windows. In this episode, we talk with Emmett about the piece, his other less woeful taxidermy projects, and a...
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Pigeon Gyotaku with Molly Tenzer
How do we recognize and commemorate the life and death of wild creatures among us? Gyotaku is a Japanese ink printing method conventional used by fishermen to print their fish to verify species and size. NYC-based artist Molly Tenzer uses gyotaku to print the dead bodies of birds and mammals she...
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The Queen Kingfisher with Marina Richie
Halcyon Journey: In Search of the Belted Kingfisher by Marina Richie was published in 2022. Earlier this year Georgia read the book and knew she had to speak with the author. Halcyon Journey is the best of nature writing. Each ingredient in the book is wonderful on its own but together make an...
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Moshassuck River Wildlife
The Friends of the Moshassuck River is led by Greg Gerritt. He has a 50-year history in environmental advocacy from NYC to Rhode Island. From the Friends website: "The Narragansett Indians gave the river its name, Mooshausick, meaning the river where moose watered." Greg hasn't spotted any moose…
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Encore: Creatures of the Sky
In honor of fall bird migration and Halloween, we are re-airing this episode about the birds of African diasporic myth and folklore. Enjoy it again or for the first time. Fresh episodes coming in November and December. --- Kene'h Oweh is the creator and storyteller of By the Fire. In conversation...
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Nate Swick Wants You to Bird How You Want To
We sit down with Nate Stick to talk about his sciency childhood, his career path, his blog, fave bird facts, and his bird watching strategies which he wrote about in his book, Birding for the Curious: The Easiest Way for Anyone to Explore the Incredible World of Birds. Nate is the digital...
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Rodney Stotts, Caring for People and Birds through Falconry
Don't call Rodney Stotts a master falconer. He told me other people gave him the label. He focuses on relationships between birds and people. During our conversation, Rodney refused to choose a favorite bird. Every species and individual bird has special characteristics. He honors people in his...
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Katy Tanis is More of a Bird-Bird Person Than She Thinks
Katy Tanis, children's book writer and illustrator and pattern designer, describes herself as "not a bird-bird person." In our conversation, Katy talks about Edward and Annie, her book about Rockhopper Penguins; her fascination with goldenrod and the Golden-crowned Kinglets who she's observed on...
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Birds of a Lesson: Devan Aptekar and Middle School Science
In this episode Devan Aptekar shares his joyful journey of being a science teacher in a New York City middle school. Devan's goal for students is for them to graduate middle school believing and knowing they are scientists. Georgia brought the Explore Birds education program to 12 science classes...
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Dr. Leo Douglas, Bird Ties that Connect Jamaica and West Africa
How do you disrupt the "great forgetting machine" that is colonialism? Biologist and zoologist Dr. Leo Douglas offers this observation among many: "The more we can encourage people to think about this history, it's the more we can bring a broader cross section of society into the conservation…
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Wildlife Surveyors in Washington Square Park
Our sister program, Washington Square Park Eco Projects, has been conducting a wildlife survey in Washington Square Park since 2016. Tatiana and Ted, neighborhood residents, volunteer to collect survey data. We spoke with them about their experiences walking the survey transect, noticing birds…
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Julie Peppito, Environmental Artist for the Birds
Environmental artist Julie Peppito talks with us about the origin of her art, her family ties to New York, the materials she uses in her "creature-like sculptures, layered tapestries, large installations, collages, and playground art." Our favorite Peppito piece is "United Birds of America," a...
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Creatures of the Sky with Kene'h Oweh
Kene'h Oweh is the creator and storyteller of By the Fire. In conversation with Ken, she shared myths and folk tales about birds and bird-like creatures of the Black diaspora. She also spoke about feeding birds during the lockdown in London, and her burgeoning interest in pigeons. Definitely...
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Monica Yadeun, Bird Protector in Mexico City
Monica Yadeun wears many hats. She is a veterinarian, a bird advocate, and an environmental innovator. Her initiative Pollinator Resorts is part of the World Economic Forum. She founded Guardianas de las Aves. In our conversation, Monica talks about her path to veterinary care, doctoral degree in...
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Katie Leung Loves Raptors
Katie Leung's childhood interest in charismatic megafauna and predatory mammals and fish has evolved to include raptors like the Eastern Screech-Owl and the Osprey. Katie describes her previous work with raptors in New York City. She is effusive about her new job working on the Hudson River, a...
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Bird Times at a Manhattan Middle School
Last month, Your Bird Story x CHIRP spent two weeks with 12 science classes in a Manhattan public middle school. We showed bird specimens, prepared bird specimens, talked about birds and urban ecology, and swapped bird stories. This episode is based on a recording made in one classroom during the...
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Zoey Liangzhang Birds in Beijing
UX designer Zoey Liangzhang caught the birding bug in New York City. Among her spark birds was a Red-tailed Hawk that spent time on her fire escape. When she returned to Beijing she immersed herself in the birdwatching community there. In this month's episode, Zoey talks about her birding life in...
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American Robins According to Emily Williams
How much do you know about the American Robin? Turdus migratorius is the focus of the doctoral research of Emily Williams, an avian ecologist. How big are robin roosts? Are female robins territorial? How flexible is their migration? After all, migratory is in their name. Emily's research, based…
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Your Bird Story - Staff Picks
The Your Bird Story team listened through our 2-year archive and selected three of our favorite segments to share with you to close out Season Two. You'll hear about deterring bird-airplane conflicts, Black people in the outdoors are not unicorns, making friends through bird watching…
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Rescuing Birds with Project Safe Flight
Large urban centers can be wonderful places to encounter nature. From LA to NYC, Melissa Breyer has experienced urban wildlife, and is keenly aware of threats to wildlife in cities, especially to migratory birds. She works with Project Safeflight to rescue and to collect data about collisions....
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Balcony Birdwatching in Singapore
Shimona Quazi, a forester and researcher in Singapore, shares her childhood memories of unstructured and organic discoveries about nature. She recalls exposure to rural birds, caged birds, balcony birds, and family members who went hunting. Through her role as research projects manager, Shimona…
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Millennial Birders
In this episode, Akilah and Alyssa share their approaches to education and ethical birding. They also spotlight the human dimensions of biological diversity. As New Yorkers it's no surprise they praise the city, but it's no exaggeration! NYC provides opportunities for diverse people, plants, and...
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Three Ways to Know Birds
Loyan Beausoleil, the Nature Notes writer for the podcast, joins us to talk about her bird life and the ways in which she has come to know birds and how she shares her knowledge about birds with others. +++ Season 2 of Your Bird Story is made possible with a Puffin Foundation grant! +++…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Your Bird Story centers the voices of everyday people and their encounters and relationships with wild birds in cities. The podcast is hosted by Georgia Silvera Seamans and is edited and produced by Pod to the People. Subscribe to the podcast. Join us on social media: @yourbirdstory on Instagram.
HOSTED BY
Local Nature Lab
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Your Bird Story have?
Your Bird Story currently has 68 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Your Bird Story about?
Your Bird Story centers the voices of everyday people and their encounters and relationships with wild birds in cities. The podcast is hosted by Georgia Silvera Seamans and is edited and produced by Pod to the People. Subscribe to the podcast. Join us on social media: @yourbirdstory on Instagram.
How often does Your Bird Story release new episodes?
Your Bird Story has 68 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Your Bird Story?
You can listen to Your Bird Story on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Your Bird Story?
Your Bird Story is created and hosted by Local Nature Lab.
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