We hear about parakeets in the Boston Public Garden; we learn some amazing facts about Ben Franklin's choice for our national symbol; and Mike O'Connor proffers some advice about presenting pumpkin seeds to your feeder birds.
#242: November 22, 2009
We welcome Chris Rimmer from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies as co-host, and we learn about the biggest tern in the world.
#241: November 15, 2009
We learn about the amazing behavior of a Whip-poor-will relative; we get a rare bird report from a listener in Toronto; and a lady named Phoebe provides the inspiration for our Mystery Bird contest.
#240: November 8, 2009
We learn about a bird who sounds like the Pillsbury Doughboy, and we find our Mystery Bird in a prairie dog hole.
#239: November 1, 2009
We learn about the bird that's the national symbol of Kazakhstan; Mike O'Connor offers advice on whether to put rice in your feeders; and we begin the show with the sound of...silence.
#238: October 25, 2009
We'll hear how Martha Stewart turned her backyard into a mecca for birds; Mike O'Connor talks about the world's heaviest bird feeder; and Ray Charles helps us introduce our Featured Feathered Friend.
#237: October 18, 2009
Lots of folks in the northeast are saying the birds have disappeared from their backyards—we try to find out why.
#236: October 11, 2009
We present a Mystery Bird that says its name, and we find our Featured Feathered Friend way down in South Texas.
#235: October 4, 2009
We learn about the bird that inspired the saying, "You look prettier than a pewee in a peckerwood tree." Our man John Galluzzo checks in live from Block Island, and we get a fearless fall finch forecast from Mike O'Connor.
#234: September 27, 2009
We offer praise for the "common" crow, and for another bird that gets the Rodney Dangerfield treatment.
#233: September 20, 2009
From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York, features Laura Erickson, editor of the Birdscope newsletter; a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker as our featured bird; and a live sighting of a juvenile Bald Eagle!
#232: September 13, 2009
We learn about a bird that's also a pack rat; we report an unusual close encounter; and we get jealous over a bird's ability to lose weight, fast.
#231: September 6, 2009
We learn about a fellow named Dick who lived in the White House long before Dick Nixon. Also today, we NEARLY stump our callers on the Mystery Bird contest, and we offer a salute of sorts to the people of Hinckley, Ohio.
#230: August 30, 2009
The tern that doesn’t fish, and bird sighting reports from Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.
#229: August 23, 2009
Scott Weidensaul explains why shade-grown coffee is essential for the survival of birds. Also, we hear a bird that sounds like a frog, and Mike O'Connor solves an Osprey mystery for a listener.
#228: August 16, 2009
We learn about red-eyed birds and skunk-headed coots, and how to find owls in the daytime.
#227: August 9, 2009
Wayne Petersen talks about the Important Bird Areas program and bird-friendly coffee. And Mike answers the provocative question, "Why can't we get British women to twitch?"
#226: August 2, 2009
We offer free samples of bird-friendly Birds and Beans coffee; the big bad Black-back stars as our Featured Feathered Friend; and in our Let's Ask Mike segment we hear about the Cardinal vs. the Oldsmobile.
#225: July 26, 2009
David Clapp talks about shorebirds heading south, and the shearwater spectacular; Mike O'Connor discusses the "robin with a sore throat;" and a listener identifies a hard-to-find Mystery Bird.
#224: July 19, 2009
We find out why our Mystery Bird has a strangely-shaped bill; we learn about a blue heron that's sometimes white; and we salute an Australian town for their successful battle against waste and pollution.