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“Thank you for bringing science and community together in a joyful radio show.”

— Colleen, East Walpole, Massachusetts

On our latest show (#1,047 July 20): A cloud forest audio postcard; a preview of a great urban birding festival; and Mike O’Connor’s thoughts about kingbirds. Hear it here.

Atlantic puffins on a rock with ocean in the background

Five views of puffins

Pssst: Want some puffins? Yeah, we got puffins. Lotsa puffins. Here's Expore.org's multiview of Project Puffin on Seal Island in Maine -- with FIVE cameras. Now go watch some puffins…and tell 'em we sent you. (7/23)

Graphic that reads, "Go plirding"

Picking up litter while birding

…is what we call “plirding,” The Talkin' Birds crew do it all the time; won't you join us? Follow this link to read all about plirding and the Plirder Pledge. We promise we won't make you say "Plirder Pledge" three times fast. (7/21)

A Sea-eagle nest cam in Australia

The EagleCAM is a live, remote feed that operates out of the Discovery Centre in the Newington Armory at Sydney Olympic Park. It was started and funded by a small group of BirdLife Australia volunteers who still maintain it. Being in Australia, the time zone is GMT +10, so it might be night when you tune in. (7/9)

Mike O'Connor pointing to a man wearing a ballcap with the RBTB patch on it.

Mike and Corey

One of these buff, handsome guys is Talkin' Birds listener Corey Wesnitzer of Somerset, New Jersey. The other is our man Mike O'Connor. We can't tell them apart, but they're both at the Bird Watcher's General Store in Orleans, Cape Cod. If you have any idea who is who, kindly let us know. Oh, and we love the hat. (7/11)

How watching birds for 10 minutes a week can help climate scientists this summer

UCLA’s annual Project Phoenix aims to document how birds change their behavior when there’s more wildfire smoke. (7/1)

A violet, red, and black songbird perched on a twig

The beautiful Varied Bunting

Ray mentioned the Varied Bunting on show #1,047 (July 20) as well as this lovely piece Matt Griffiths wrote about it for Tucson Bird Alliance. Got any photos of this bird? We'd love to see them! (7/24)

Graphic with words "The Urban Birding Festival" with stylized birds (Baltimore Oriole, Peregrine Falcon, Rock Pigeon,  Common Yellowthroat)

Register now for Chicago

Back for a second year and going strong, the Urban Birding Festival will take place in Chicago September 12-14. Author/cartoonist Rosemary Mosco will be the keynote speaker; and there will be presentations, outings, workshops, and other activities for birders of all backgrounds and skill levels. Grab your spot! (7/21)

Make Your Own Swag contest Grand Prize winner

Congratulations to Maddie Carr of East Syracuse, New York! Maddie has won a Vortex Diamondback HD 16-48x65 spotting scope.

Random drawing determined the winner, which was fortunate because we received so many great photos that we couldn't have chosen any other way. Thanks, everybody! We will do this again.

Plastic-free July calendar

Thirty-one days of NOT choosing single-use plastics....What could be better for our planet than that? This inspiring calendar gives us all a new way to take action every single day of July. Look around the website for fact sheets, events, and publications. (7/9)

30ish white man in green ballcap and tee-shirt looks through binoculars to his right. He's wearing a turquoise wrist band on which is the Talkin' Birds patch.

Make Your Own Swag contest winner #5

This week’s winner is Josh Denton from Indian Trail, North Carolina. He wins a Brome Squirrel Buster Plus special bird feeder (retail price: $124.45). Good going, Josh! (6/30)

 

Our sponsors and partners:

Bird vocalizations provided by The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology 
Website photography by Shawn Carey/Migration Productions.