Photographing birds across continents. In this episode, we interview His Excellency Jacques Pitteloud who happens to be the Swiss Ambassador to the United States.  Based in Washington, Ambassador Pitteloud is also a birdwatcher and bird photographer.  In 2021, Ambassador Pitteloud’s photograph of a rare painted bunting that appeared in Maryland landed in the Washington Post prompting lots of excitement in the birding world. Later, the Washingtonian ran an article about him, titled, “The Guy Who Got That Photo of a Rare Painted Bunting? He’s the Swiss Ambassador!” He posts his birding photos on his Facebook page. On that page, he posts nothing personal or political. Here he talks about how he developed this passion for birds and some of his favourite regions and birds.   Episode highlights 12:45: his views on the “big year of birding.” 13:45: his view on the different species of bird watchers. 15:00: he talks about two anecdotes in Africa– Kenya.  About finding the blue-headed beeeater and the Mackinder’s Eagle Owl. 18:00 mountain passes where you can see raptor migrations. He talks about Chicago’s Magic Hedge in the middle of the city where migratory birds especially warblers (thousands of them) congregate in early May before crossing the Great Lakes.   19:30 about the Connecticut warbler and warbler identification. 21:15 the apps that he uses to identify birds. 22:00 Is there a link between birding and diplomacy? “Birding is the new golfing.” 24:15: what photographic equipment does he use.  He uses Canon. 600mm F4 lens.  Camera is D90.  With 500mm lenses he shoots handheld. With the 600mm he uses a tripod. 26:00 his favourite birds.  Raptors.  How they move differently.   27:15 about his Indian Facebook friends.  

Bird Podcast with Shoba Narayan

Episode 62: Bird diplomacy with Ambassador Jacques Pitteloud

In this episode, we highlight conservation experiments that are interesting and have worked. We have chosen three experiments from previous episodes. Our hope is that you will go back and listen or watch sections of these episodes because they are worth your time. The first conservation plan that worked comes from Episode 50 where we interviewed Professor Yossi Leshem of Israel. He is a bird migration specialist and worked with the Israeli armed forces to help prevent bird and aircraft collisions. The way he did this was by mapping the migration routes of large birds, such as pelicans, storks, and raptors. The fact is that 1 billion birds migrate through Israel each year.  Go to 1:30 to listen to about ten minutes of this fascinating episode to see how the Israeli defense forces prevents bird and aircraft collisions. The second episode that we highlight is Episode 14 where we interviewed Chris Wood, who is in charge of the ebird program at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Chris talks about how the Nature Conservancy (an NGO) adopted an ingenious programme in which the rented the rice fields from the farmers who populate the Central Valley of California in order to make their fields available for migrating birds. Go to 42:42 to listen to about ten minutes of this fascinating episode. The third episode that we highlight is Episode 13 where we interviewed Sy Montgomery about how California condors were saved from extinction. This was done through a political action plan where the use of lead bullets was banned and copper bullets were used in their place. Go to 9:00 to listen to about ten minutes of this fascinating episode. And lastly, we asked you to go back to watch Episode 29 where millions of migrating Amur falcons are saved through a magnificent community conservation effort Featured Image: Julia Craice/Unsplash  

Episode 61: Bird conservation: experiments that work

Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal are veteran journalists and birdwatchers. They ran newsrooms, assigned features and wrote books.  They publish a website called FlyingLessons.US: What We’re Learning from the Birds,’’ and are here with us to speak about their new book, “A Wing and a Prayer: the race to save our vanishing birds. Questions: What is the thesis of your book Your book begins with a sparrow and a woodpecker.  Tell us about that. One third of the birds have disappeared from North America. Shocking statistics.  Discussion The bald eagles resurgence in North America.  Do you think this has to do with size and resonance as the nation’s symbol? Scrub jays symbolise the balance between human development and endemic birds.  How does this play out? Using sound to protect a storied species: california spotted owl. Cerulean warblers in Ecuador. Talk about the Choco Corridor and multiple countries that need to work together Hawaii is the extinction capital of the world.  Why? And How can this change? The red cockaded woodpecker and the US military. Coexisting with birds Outline some case studies of getting this done. Making a case for birds.    

Episode 60: The race to save our vanishing birds with Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal

In this episode, we talk to Noah Strycker. Noah is the Associate Editor for Birding Magazine and author of several popular books about birds. He set a world record in 2015 by finding more than 6,000 species of birds in one calendar year. 6,042 species to be precise. Noah has made more than 70 expeditions to Antarctica and the high Arctic, literally spreading the joy of birds from pole to pole. In this episode, we talk about the countries he has visited, the species that he has seen, what he learned from his big year of birding, the equipment he carries and how to replicate this exercise should you want to. You can connect with Noah via his website: https://noahstrycker.com/    

Episode 59: The big year of birding with Noah Strycker

This episode is set in Hadinaru Kere, a lake outside Mysore in India.  In the winter, the lake attracts a number of migratory birds.  Some 85 species have been recorded in March 2023.  This episode talks about the black-tailed godwit.  

Episode 58: Where bar headed geese and black tailed godwits visit in the winter.

A conversation with the author of “Where Song Began.” In this episode, we talk to author Tim Low, whose book, “Where Song Began” has been credited with turning the map upside down in terms of ornithology’s Northern hemisphere bias.  Tim proves that the world’s cleverest birds originated in Australia.  Tim Low is an award winning author, biologist, consultant and speaker.  You can read more about him at his website, Timlow.com In this episode, Tim Low discusses Australian birds and what makes them unique.  

Episode 57: Australia and birdsong with author Tim Low

In episode 28, we spoke to Dr. Samira Agnihotri about bird song and how the Solega tribals interacted so closely with the forest around them. This episode is about a recent visit to the BR Hills.  It talks about how humans and wildlife can live together in the forest.  Listen andWatch how the Solega tribals live and worship a Magnolia champaka tree or a Sampige tree as part of their culture. 

Episode 56: BR Hills in Karnataka: a recent visit

This episode is about demoiselle cranes congregating in a village in India. Last month, on a trip to Rajasthan, I visited the village of Kheechan.  To get here, you have to fly to Jodhpur and drive two hours North.  The thing about this place is that every winter, some 20,000 Demoiselle cranes congregate here because they are fed morning and night with grains or jowar.  In this episode we explore the Demoiselle cranes that migrate to a Jain village in Western Rajasthan.  These are the smallest cranes among the 15 species of cranes in the world.  What’s interesting is the attachment that they have with the villagers of Kheechan.  Here, they have a daily routine.  Read about how a community feeds the cranes here.  And read about sacred spaces called orans here. From here: “Demoiselle cranes have to take one of the toughest migrations in the world. In late August through September, they gather in flocks of up to 400 individuals and prepare for their flight to their winter range. During their migratory flight south, demoiselles fly like all cranes, with their head and neck straight forward and their feet and legs straight behind, reaching altitudes of 16, 000 – 26, 000 m. Along their arduous journey they have to cross the Himalayan mountains to get to their over-wintering grounds in India. Many die from fatigue, hunger and predation from golden eagles. Simpler, lower routes are possible, such as crossing the range via the Khyber Pass. However, their presently preferred route has been hard-wired by countless cycles of migration. At their wintering grounds, demoiselles have been observed flocking with common cranes, their combined totals reaching up to 20, 000 individuals. Demoiselles maintain separate social groups within the larger flock. In March and April, they begin their long spring journey back to their northern nesting grounds. They are part of Indian lore and legend.  The crane formation was part of the Mahabharata.  Valmiki composed the Ramayana when he saw a hunter kill cranes that were occupied in a mating dance.   

Episode 55: Demoiselle Cranes in India

Our first episode was about the Great Indian Bustard. The logo of the Bird Podcast is the Great Indian Bustard or GIB as it is called.  Salim Ali wanted this bird to be India’s national bird for three reasons: it is indigenous to India, it is a large and charismatic bird, and it deserves protection because its numbers were dwindling, even in the 1950s when Ali made his plea. Instead the peacock won out.  Then, as now, the fate of the bustard hangs in balance.  Will we save the bustard?  The biggest problem for bustards: the powerlines that criss-cross the desert landscape.  Locals hate them because they are ugly.  Bustards cannot see them because their frontal vision is poor.  In October 2022, yet another bustard was killed because it flew into a power transmission line, prompting wildlife organizations such as the Bombay Natural History Society or BNHS to once again petition the government to lay these lines underground.   In 2017, when we interviewed forest officials in Desert National Park, there were 150 birds.  Today too, there are 150 birds.  So while the numbers haven’t risen, they haven’t dropped either. There are 128 in Rajasthan’s desert regions, less than 10 in Gujarat and Maharashtra, and 16 chicks being raised in Sudashri incubation centre in Rajasthan. The Rajasthan government has launched a project to save the bustard. Bird Podcast sincerely hopes that this will be successful. 

Episode 54: The Great Indian Bustard: Update

This episode gives a glimpse into the birds of Australia, told through the eyes of Franck Masna, an aboriginal elder who tells us the story of how birds got their colours and also through the eyes of Michael Simmons who runs Tweed Escapes to show tourists the sights and sounds of the Tweed River in Australia. This video is about the Tweed Valley, New South Wales, about an hour by flight from Sydney.   When people think of Australian birds, they commonly think of emus, parrots and maybe the Southern Cassowary.  But the country-continent 850 species of birds, 45% of them not found anywhere else.  Some spectacular species include the giant Southern Cassowary where fathers incubate the eggs, the tawny frogmouth- a master of disguise, the barking owl, the rainbow lorikeet, the superb and the splendid fairy-wren, which are beautiful blue birds, the laughing kookaburra which is the basis of a song that we learned as children even here in India, and a whole variety of parrots.  In fact, early Dutch explorers called this land Terra Psitticora or Land  of the parrots.   Did you know that pretty much all songbirds and 60% of all bird species originated in Australia.  In fact, Australian scientists often talk about how much of a "Northern Hemisphere" bias ornithology has.  In future episodes, we hope to interview experts from Australia but for now, here is a teaser episode in which I interview two folks from the Tweed River.

Episode 53: Birds of Australia: Stories and Species

This is a story about a wood stork called Flinthead.  He lived with his partner in Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Florida.  The wood stork couple depended on the wetlands in Florida for not just their survival but also to bring up their babies.  This is a post-episode trailer of Episode 5 where I interviewed Dr. Jerry Jackson. Even though the audio isn’t perfect, Episode 5 is worth listening to because he covers so much ground. Ecology, wood storks, wetlands, anhingas, and much more. Here I focus on one aspect of that episode: wood storks   

Episode 52: Amazing bird species: Wood Storks

This episode is about wetlands.  This is a post-episode trailer of Episode 5 where I interviewed Dr. Jerry Jackson. Even though the audio isn’t perfect, Episode 5 is worth listening to because he covers so much ground. Ecology, wood storks, wetlands, anhingas, and much more. Here I focus on one aspect of that episode: wetlands What is the feeling that you get when I say these words? Swamps, marshes, bogs, mangroves, flood plains.  If you didn’t wince, good for you.  Humans seem fundamentally averse to wetland because we think of them as a breeding ground for insects– which they are.  But they are also the most diverse ecosystem there is. And for this reason, they are supremely important. There are three things every wetland needs: hydric soil, which is the scientific term for soil that is submerged in water for long periods of time.  Which results in oxygen-less soil in the upper part, which in turn causes a particular type of plant species called hydrophytes to grow.  These aquatic plants like water lilies and sedges create their own unique ecosystem– called wetlands. In Episode 5, Dr. Jerry Jackson has a simple term for wetlands.  Wetlands are wet land.  They are not ponds, or lakes.  They are lands that get submerged in water.  Wetlands are huge in ecology.  In fact, we have a particular organization called Ramsar that focuses on important wetlands all over the world.   Wetlands occur everywhere except in one continent.  Guess which one? I’ll give you a hint.  Which is the continent where nothing can stay wet?  Where is the biggest wetland? All this and more in this episode.   

Episode 51: The importance of wetlands: Post episode trailer

In this episode, we have Professor Yossi Leshem from Israel joining us to discuss several things: tracking migratory storks with GPS, working with barn owls as pest control agents, regional cooperation, reducing aircraft collisions, and working with defense forces.  Dr. Leshem has won countless awards and is Professor Emeritus at the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University and is the founder of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration. 

Episode 50: How Israel tackles bird conservation with Professor Yossi Leshem.

Post Episode Trailers are short episodes in which I highlight an earlier episode that is worth watching. This episode is about Episode 12 of The Bird Podcast in which author and migration expert, Scott Weidensaul talks about the amazing feats that birds do in order to migrate.

Episode 49: Bird Migration with Scott Weidensaul: Post Episode Trailer 1

In which we go behind the scenes to see the fascinating aspects of the bird specimen collection of one of America’s most well-respected museums. You really should watch this episode on our Youtube page (Bird Podcast) or our Instagram feed (bird_podcast), but in case you cannot, included here is also the audio only version.   In this episode, Dr. Shultz shows us house finches, parrots, frigatebirds, penguins, condors, munias, whydahs and the many marvelous specimens in the Natural History Museum’s collection. Allison Shultz is the assistant curator of ornithology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. In this fascinating episode, she takes us behind the scenes to show us the vast and varied collection of bird specimens at the museum.  Dr. Shultz , as you see in her website, has loved animals her whole life, and fell in love with birds during her undergraduate at UC Berkeley. She is a native Southern Californian, and loves the diversity of habitats (and birds!) available in a very small geographic area! She credits her artistic eye for first drawing her to studying bird coloration, but now that is one of her main fascinations. 

Episode 48: Behind the scenes with Allison Shultz of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles

Welcome to the Bird Podcast — hosted by Shoba Narayan. This podcast will focus largely on birds, specifically on Indian birds with occasional global forays. India is home to some 1200 bird species, amongst the highest in the world. This podcast showcases and highlights our feathered friends We will talk to naturalists and birders about common and special birds such as the Greater Coucal, Himalayan Quail, Nilgiri Flycatcher, the Malabar Trogon, the Great Indian Bustard, and other amazing species. We will highlight issues both old and new. About India’s vanishing forests and wetlands and how it impacts birds. About breeding areas of migratory birds and how they are hunted en route. We will speak to the men and women who successfully saved the Amur Falcon from being massacred in Nagaland. And we will do individual podcasts on bird species of India. Welcome to the Bird Podcast. Come fly away with us.

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Bird Podcast with Shoba Narayan

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