American Birding Podcast Archives

Flight Paths: How a Passionate and Quirky Group of Pioneering Scientists Solved the Mystery of Bird Migration

For the past century, scientists and naturalists have been steadily unravelling the secrets of bird migration. How and why birds navigate the skies, traveling from continent to continent—flying thousands of miles across the earth each fall and spring—has continually fascinated the human imagination, but only recently have we been able to fully understand these amazing journeys. […Learn More]

The Glitter in the Green: In Search of Hummingbirds

An acclaimed natural history writer follows the trail of the remarkable hummingbird all over the world.

Hummingbirds are a glittering, sparkling collective of over three hundred wildly variable species. For centuries, they have been revered by indigenous Americans, coveted by European collectors, and admired worldwide for their unsurpassed metallic plumage and immense character. Yet they exist on a knife-edge, fighting for survival in boreal woodlands, dripping cloud forests, and subpolar islands […Learn More]

A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds

An exhilarating exploration of the science and wonder of global bird migration.

In the past two decades, our understanding of the navigational and physiological feats that enable birds to cross immense oceans, fly above the highest mountains, or remain in unbroken flight for months at a stretch has exploded. What we’ve learned of these key migrations—how billions of birds circumnavigate the globe, flying tens of thousands of miles between hemispheres on an annual basis—is nothing short of extraordinary. […Learn More]

What It’s Like to Be a Bird: From Flying to Nesting, Eating to Singing– What Birds Are Doing, and Why

The bird book for birders and nonbirders alike that will excite and inspire by providing a new and deeper understanding of what common, mostly backyard, birds are doing—and why

“Can birds smell?”; “Is this the same cardinal that was at my feeder last year?”; “Do robins ‘hear’ worms?” […Learn More]

The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Genius of Birds, a radical investigation into the bird way of being, and the recent scientific research that is dramatically shifting our understanding of birds — how they live and how they think. […Learn More]