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Season 1 Wrap Up
831 Plays5 months ago
Wow. We started in “Fake Spring” and took you through birding etiquette, safety, diversity/inclusion, and budgeting. We are here in mid-summer, excited to celebrate the bird joy we created and shared! We look forward to continuing that and bringing you new and fresh voices from around the birding world. We are all “nerding out” through our bird joy, and it’s so beautiful. Sometimes, we focus so much on the technical aspects of birding that we miss sharing the joy involved in the process. Although Dexter and Jason love talking birds and bird joy, they only provide two perspectives. There are so many other voices we’d like to highlight and hear from along this journey. We want to discuss fun things like best bird songs, fall migration (crazy fall warbler ID) winter birding (weird duck season), and GULLS! Are there other pathways to bird joy that we have not discussed yet? Our host, Jason, is diving into field journaling and bird sketching. Can we interpret nature like our homie and creator of our podcast representations, Casey Girard? Can we get good at nature photography like our homie Anwar Abdul-Qawi? We are taking a break to get the next season going, but we aren’t going anywhere! We will continue to share items on our Instagram profile. Be good and bird safely!
Be sure to follow our podcast on Instagram at @thebirdjoypod and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Season 1 Celebration
00:00:00
Speaker
We did it, bro. This this thing that was an idea. We are now at the final episode of season one of the bird. Oh, we did it.
00:00:16
Speaker
We did it. It's kind of crazy. Like, literally, like, I'm kind of speechless and, you know, you know me. That doesn't happen often, you know? I can't believe it, bro. Like, we started we started recording. It was fake spring. Yep, thanks, Frank. April, you know, and here we are. It's July 7th. Here we are recording the final episode of season one. Is this real? It's
Impact and Inclusivity
00:00:41
Speaker
crazy. It's crazy. I remember us talking before we started. it Like, I was a lot more skeptical. I was like, are you sure, Dex? Don't nobody want to hear my dumb self talking about birding. And you were like, nah, man, trust me. You know, people, this is people need some bird joy. They need
00:00:56
Speaker
and on-ramp man man you were right it uh the fact that there's like hundreds of people now waiting for us to deliver some weekly bird joy it's a little bit of pressure but it validates the idea that birding is for everybody and a lot of the people in the comments we've gotten have been new birders, existing birders that never felt represented. We got people commenting from other countries like, this is crazy. The fact that it was just you and I this season, we didn't even have on any guests. And there's so many amazing people that I think we want to introduce folks to in the future.
00:01:27
Speaker
Oh, hey, man. Yeah, really. Yeah, really get outside the box a little bit because there's kind of if you're into birding podcast and you listen to a lot of them, there's kind of the same set of people that kind of circulate around as guests on bird podcast. There's way more people than that out there. Right. So I ah hope you and I can really dive into that like nobody else can and bring some of those voices because there's other colors and flavors of bird joy out there that you and I can't bring. So we got to bring in the homies. We got to bring in the homies
Season 2 Excitement
00:02:00
Speaker
to show us those colors, show us that perspective. And that part makes me want to start recording season two, like tomorrow. The homies are the Calvary, you know what I mean? I know. We kind of got this attitude, like we're all in this thing together. When you and I was like, bro, I think I finally got the thing we could do where we collaborate. And I was like, it's podcast. And you were like,
00:02:21
Speaker
Okay. The cool thing was is like, you were saying like, oh, you was in but she was like, what's that gonna look like? Yeah. And I was like, bro, I've been thinking about this. And if anybody knows me, if I have an idea, that idea will get thought about for a long time. yeah And if I follow up with you, that idea will be a full fledged, let's go. So not only do we have like a full season that I was like, hey, I would kind of want to talk about all these things, but there was a method behind the madness and and i and I left it with you for a while, let you chew on it. You provided a lot of feedback. We condense all this into a season.
00:03:00
Speaker
of 12 episodes. And yeah I look back on what we did, we kicked it off with why birding and gave people like the why, like the scientific reasons and the the fun parts of it. And we shared all these amazing amazing stories we represented. We talked about diversity in birding. We talked about birding etiquette. We did one that was kind of like probably unexpected for some people birding on the budget in which is wild. Go and look at the numbers. It's the most watched. most listened to episode of the entire season and it blows my mind. And I'm like, there are so many more people at that level. ah And people realize the newbies, the people that are curious. crazy We make people curious just by who we are, the people we know. And they're like, Dax, you like birds? And I'm like, I love birds. And then they're like, what?
00:03:48
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? And at least till then I'm like, now they're paying attention and i and I absolutely love it. We're fathers. We talked about burning as a family. We talked about burning and mental health as two black men to be able to be vulnerable and talk about that. and to be able to have a space where you know i can talk about some of my issues and like people talk about you and i and like all we got a vibe in this or that is like i feel like i could talk to you about anything i think that helps and i i hope you feel the same way we just kind of like
00:04:18
Speaker
we just talk about
00:04:22
Speaker
to be able to homies safe and wrapping it up with like with that. I think we laid a foundation, bro, where now we could use all of these different buckets and now we start reaching out to the experts in the field that can take us into the why behind all these other things that we've kind of just opened up the door to, but we don't have all the answers. And I think that's what I'm excited about, bro, is season two to really go deep and go down some of these rabbit holes and and and really branch off all these foundational elements that we set for season one, I think is going to be the catalyst for season two.
Universal Joy of Birding
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah, not only season two, but if I can be like LeBron, three, four, five, you know, like we could do we could do as many as we want because there's plenty of amazing folks out there. There's the beauty about birding, um especially as you open it to new communities is that it creates new stories day after day after day, creates new scientists, new birders, new ornithologists, new folks active in their community to get nature in the hands of folks that need it. It's it's ah it's kind of a never ending thing and um the world needs more bird joy, needs more different kinds of people outside. And i yeah I honestly, man, I'm just kind of honored, you know, number one, that, you know, you thought of me for this, but number two, that people think enough of us to
00:05:56
Speaker
to come leave a review or comment just reading some comments today from some of the instagram snippets of the the safety episode and like this is like okay we talked about this subject we know it's important. We don't realize that like there's those common threads. like i always say we We say birding is for everyone, but like when we talk about birding safety and we talk about it from this lens of, you know obviously, we're two cis black males that kind of live in this world, right we have our perspectives.
00:06:27
Speaker
We lead birding clubs and and we have a ah unique look at the world in the sense of we try to proactively think about other people and other groups and and that includes women and differently able birders and different things. One thing we won't do is we won't speak for them and we won't say we have all the answers. We are thinking of you. yeah And I think that's the starting point. And hopefully now we can start reaching out to to other people that can intimately talk about those things. And I'm really excited to be able to do that. That's uncovering those stories. And and I want to hear about how they find the joy yeah in those circumstances as experts in their in their fields and whatever they may do.
00:07:09
Speaker
Dude, those conversations, they haven't happened yet. But right now, just like you, I cannot wait to start getting those conversations started and recording those episodes for season two. Yeah, absolutely, man. One thing that that we probably would want to do is is make sure that folks always have this um the word I want to use, pathway, give us feedback. I think we've done a pretty good job of that. And I you know certainly encourage folks, if there's something that we're missing, let us know. and Instagram DMS or or otherwise, but that part's been great that that that people feel enough to say, hey, you know, also this this piece right here is cooler. Even in some cases, they'll provide resources like in the comments like, hey, that was a really cool part of that episode. Have you ever seen X, Y and Z when they got somebody's profile or, you know, and and other people and then you see other people.
00:07:57
Speaker
that aren't you and I liking that comment maybe going to check that out and like that communication pathway I think is part of this
Inclusivity and Learning
00:08:04
Speaker
community that we're building or at least trying to enhance and I want to encourage folks to keep doing that right like I never want anyone to feel like you and I are on here for self-promotion that's never I was never our intention but I think you and I get a lot of energy joy from other birders honestly like like we do right like we love birds obviously right you and i in particular i think really love hanging out with other birders and talking with other birders and laughing with other birders and finding common ground with other birders especially those in black and brown communities that you and i are focused on enhancing that part of it is the same thread that builds this community for everybody
00:08:44
Speaker
It's like if we can take that thing that you and I love and say, hey, like you know you don't have to be afraid of other birders. right I know there's a population of birders out there that probably will never get it in terms of being inclusive and and open and birding. But this community will always get it. And so it's great to see the overlap, the connecting threads between someone that maybe you'd be struggling with or or challenged with accessibility versus um someone who maybe doesn't feel safe. And they both can find each other in the comments and find some common ground. so Thanks to everybody for giving some of that feedback. You know, it's really been validating and helpful and it's just going to kind of be rocket fuel for the rest of what we do here. It really is. And that feedback, them sharing those moments, it's funny because like every episode I'm reflecting back and thinking back and like every episode, there's like this moment where we nerd out about something so normal.
00:09:36
Speaker
I'm like, it tickles me that there's other people as nerdy as us out there in the world that are having those same moments in their lives. well No matter where they are, I think that's what's so amazing about birding. That's the truest sense of bird joy is that We're all nerding out about this stuff in our own ways, all over the globe. And it's freaking cool, man. like It's really cool. I take a lot of joy at being able to hear those stories and see those short those stories kind of unfold in the comments or whatever it's been. But it's helped me grow. And I've learned a lot along this way as a birder, as a person, as a podcast host. as you know It's just been kind of cool, man.
00:10:20
Speaker
Yeah. and you know one One cool thing I see in some of the reviews just looking through them today is like ah this space we enter that's not straight technical right off the bat. and I think that really helps a lot of folks because me personally, I i i listen to some other bird podcasts that are you know have a heavier technical viewpoint. That's fine, but that's what I like because I like to hear things and be like, what is that bird family that they just talked about? and then I got to go Google it. right That process of me learning something myself, I don't need to assume anyone else knows that, right? So if you and I, like we when we talked about, I think we talked about ruffs, the shore bird and how they have different, yeah you know, they have different, like subspecies, yeah species they got these dominant males, which is non-dominant males and the plumage is different and their behaviors are different. And it's like, that stuff is really cool. I would love to bring on someone that has a birding for all perspective that can give us more information about that, maybe more technical information. information. We can bounce through the joy of that rather than just having recite technical information about this bird. What was it like sitting out there on the middle of that? march mary like Those translators, right? Let's grab that. Hopefully we can be the ones that like get that out of them. Because I think so many times they focus on that technical stuff, bro. They gloss over to Joy. Because I guarantee there are those moments where they see something. They have that aha moment. That's what I want them to talk about. Absolutely. That's what we'll bring out of no one to burn Joy Pocket.
00:11:49
Speaker
Yeah. And what people will see is that I think we talked about before the researcher that is down in the jungle finding a species that we thought was extinct for 30 years and that the just stupid grin on their face when they finally see it is the same thing as that brand new birder who got their first pair of binoculars and they see a Baltimore Oreo for the first time through binoculars and they and they and they can't have got the same stupid grin on their face. that part of it needs to be more of the conversation. Cause I said this before, even the most experienced birder all over the world, everybody's chasing that stupid smile. Like that's, that's what it is, right? Like unless you're getting paid to go survey birds, which some people are, if you're a non-professional, as in nobody is paying you to go look at birds, that's what you're chasing.
00:12:42
Speaker
i don't I will argue with anyone. And if there's someone out there that's going to look at birds and they're not trying to chase that joy, why? What's happening here? What's the purpose here? Like I said, unless you're getting paid. So like that piece of it is really where I want people to realize that they are they are not disconnected from these 30, 40 year expert ornithologists or birders that go out and chase these things. Yeah. they're part of the same community. and If we can pull their joy out along with the joy of the starting community birders, people will realize we're we're all in this thing together, right or at least try to. right and There'll be things within that that we have to break down and understand and recognize. But that's
Seasonal Birding Techniques
00:13:19
Speaker
that's part of the process. Birding is not supposed to be this static thing nor is this community. so you know I'm really excited for people to hear some new voices that they've never heard before on that front. i Yeah. and Honestly, I want our listeners to keep on exploring.
00:13:33
Speaker
If anything, hopefully they'll appreciate nature more now. yeah They're paying attention to what's around them. Please take a moment and emphasize that joy. Pay attention to, like you said, how do you feel before and after and really focusing on that fulfillment that you can get from birdwatching. Try to bring in as many people as possible. continue to to value that that community. Get involved. I think we talked about that at so many different levels throughout season one. Go get involved. Find some spaces that work for you that make you feel comfortable. If they're not around, maybe you can create one. Right? If you need some help with that, reach out. Seriously. ah But ultimately, understanding birdiness for everyone. We want it to be as inclusive as possible and that that was one thing. Two, you and I talked about this. We want people to understand after this season, if you got through all these episodes, understand that it's for you. Birding is for you. It's for every single person that can hear our voice. It's for your neighbor. It's for every, it's that person across the street. Maybe you haven't talked to them. Maybe that's where y'all connect. I don't know, but it is for every single one. and And I hope that if you get one thing, if you've gotten through this season to understand that birding is for you.
00:14:44
Speaker
That's right. And so are the so are the upcoming seasons. Right. Are going to are going to have the same message. And that's I think we'll probably be going into the fall right as we as we start to get some more episodes going and like I'm so excited for the fall. Like number one, like I said, it's hatefully hot out here in Pennsylvania. It's terrible. I don't like it. But number two, you know, it's another kind of start of migration season. So in August, we'll start to get heavy loads of shorebirds showing up on mudflats. And I'm guessing we're going to have a lot of mudflats because we ain't got no rain. Then the songbirds start to migrate through. And the cool part about that for folks, if you're looking, if you're and if you're a newbie birder and you're looking at fall and like, oh, and you're just terrified around trying to ID.
00:15:24
Speaker
warblers and their fall plumage, if you live on the East Coast, don't worry about that. There's plenty of time to kind of figure that out. But the cool part about fall migration is the birds don't have to rush. I think I said before that they're not rushing up to make babies and and have a family. They can kind of leisurely make their way back down. So, you know, you have some birds that are starting to disperse now, you know, so those babies are, are, are fledging and they don't know which way to go. You know, they just be like, ah Maybe I go north. Maybe I go west. Maybe I go south. You know, maybe I end up on a fishing boat in the middle of the Atlantic. I don't know. um So you get these weird birds showing up in the rest of the summer. So as long as you're staying safe and getting out there, you may you may find something weird. But once August kind of hits, a lot of those flyways, at least in North America, are going to start to get heavy with. with a lot of birds heading back down. And that'll continue through early November, many cases, sometimes late into November, if you're talking about some of the bigger birds of prey. That is really exciting to me because it's a whole different perspective. Like you said, we started in late spring or early spring, whenever it was, fake spring. And like, so there was, you know, there was this anticipation for spring migration and it came and went.
00:16:29
Speaker
at Blackbirders Weekend. Now there's other other things to talk about, right? Like we haven't really had an episode on winter birding and weird ducks. That's going to be fun, you know? But we will. We will, right? And like I said, we're going to have an episode on Gulls. I don't care what anybody says. All right. We're going to make it fun and joyful. And trust me, Gulls is one space that like is very easy to slip into a bunch of technical stuff. And that's cool, but you don't got to be bland about it. So like, So we're definitely gonna definitely going to get into some goals and why I think they, you know, Larry Day or the best family of birds on the planet. I love it. Yeah. I'm probably going to make some enemies though.
00:17:08
Speaker
hey But think about it. I've said this ah multiple times. We bird 12 months a year. We do. And birding in different seasons and exploring habitats in different seasons, that's part of birding. I think in season one, we did a really good job of introducing birding at a pretty basic level. And I think in season two, we will be able to get a little more advanced and talk about some more advanced birding
Birding and Art
00:17:32
Speaker
techniques. Every season is different. And idea in birds and bird behaviors and different than in the fall, way different. I mean, they're not trying to make babies. Like you said, they're not defending territories. They're kind of like, oh, job done. Like they chilling like they don't even want to be seen. They the colors change into more dull and trash because they don't want to be I tell people all the time. after After Labor Day, once it cools down, I'm putting the sweatpants back on, right? The birds, the birds do the same thing.
00:18:03
Speaker
I ain't got to be looking fresh for nobody to end up with Thanksgiving. No, no, no, no, no. We're going to put that winter plumage on. We're going to chill. We're going to make some chili. We're going to hang out. We're going to have some holidays, some family. And the birds are doing the same thing. And this is real cool progression to watch. Because, for example, the warblers, which maybe we can do an episode on fall warblers. Because I actually think it's pretty fun. The little brown birds? Yeah. It all ends up looking kind of the same. This is like, yeah, we call them LBJs out here, little brown johns. ah that phil Yeah, that's right. I like it. But I don't, I don't know how many people stop and kind of recognize this impression, right? Of the birds. Like, how do they change their plumage? We can get into how those feathers get replaced, right? They don't just change color. They actually come in and come out and some birds switch plumage more than others for different reasons. And like, that's wild. um Some of the changes are so freaking drastic. Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
Insane. The scarlet tanager is one that comes to mind for me. Fall, winter, this thing is yellow. sweet shirt, you know what I'm saying? And then all sudden in the spring is bright red. Yeah. Come talk about drastic changes. Yeah, that that kind of stuff. it's I love nerding out about that stuff and explaining it to people because when you're a new birder, it could be super challenging. It could be frustrating. But for me, I want people to don't focus on frustration, focus on the fascination. That's really why I was like, whoa, this is crazy. And that's where we kind of come in where we we shift the conversation a little bit to the joy. It's fascinating. Yeah, it's it's absolutely insane. This is like I love the fact that I probably will never see every bird species on the planet. That means until the day that I check out of here, like we said, I'm going to have something maybe to look forward to and not even just seeing the species, but like their species that I've seen hundreds of times that I learn new facts about all the time.
00:19:57
Speaker
Right. Whether I'm reading something or listening to somebody else's podcast or something flips through on Instagram, you know, some fun bird fact or something like that's wild. That's incredibly wild. And it's and it's beautiful and it's so it's never ending. We're going to have this little break here for a little bit, but I don't want people to feel like the bird joy is over. Right. I certainly go explore a little bit, not necessarily outside if you don't feel like. Maybe head to your local bookstore, grab a couple of bird books, see what they look like, or check out the used bookstore, see what's in there. I just signed up for a class on nature journaling, and in particular, how to draw birds, something I've been trying to learn how to do. I'm gonna be doing that, right? I'm just gonna, you know, like I got a little discount on the class. i'll put ah I'll put a link in the bio where it is on our labs. And I'm just gonna see, like, how can I, you know, I got myself a fancy-ass colored pencil kit. I'm ready to go. Ready to go.
00:20:46
Speaker
I'm going to stay in the air condition and I'm going to sketch some birds. You know, it's funny that this little and and it's a short break, but it kind of lends itself to to the seasons, right? You can have the spring migration come nesting season. Now, like you said, a lot of these birds are fledging and trying to figure some things out. I call it gray catbird season. cause i know You go out, you just that's like all you see. Catbird, catbird, catbird. everywhere So it kind of makes sense that behind the scenes during great catbird season, we are working, you know, recording again and interviewing, you know, all these amazing people that we hope to bring in and, you know, renowned birders conservation is people that can go deeper on some of the, you know, the specific topics that we've already kind of started the conversations on. Also want to continue to invite our listeners to suggest topics and questions, guests that you think we should be covering next season. Honestly, we read all that stuff. We talk about it. It means something like what the homies say means something to us. So the things that you say do not be shocked that you see those little changes implemented and those improvements in season two based off of your feedback.
Bird Artists and Collaborations
00:22:03
Speaker
So just know what you say to us matters.
00:22:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And you know, we can just is so much I'm excited about. and i And I encourage folks like I want to have a few newbie birders on to interview them. Right. Because like, what's that? What's that experience like? Right. You know, I posted a reel a while ago as a young a young girl and her friend, I think, in the teacup ride at Disney World. And it was like slow motion. It had India playing in the background. And they just had these eyes wide look of joy plus fear on their face. And it was like, you know, when you experience your first spring migration, like, like, what's it like? What are you guys going through? What did you see? What was, what was exciting? Like, how to make you feel? What did you not like? What are you looking forward to? Like, I want to, I want to hear all that. Uh, we do want to hear all that. And in that, those, those stories are just as valid as the experts.
00:22:53
Speaker
Because eventually, the newbie bird or the newbie scientist is going to become the expert bird. And obviously, our hope is that as that plumage change happens right in birding, that the feathers on the other side of that are a lot more colorful and diverse than they were initially. and And that's really only going to come by folks staying engaged and you know making sure that Dexter and I can see if you have somebody that you think would be a good guess or a good perspective on a topic. I would love it. Also, I want to do some fun stuff. I want to do an episode on top 10 bird songs and start some fights. There we go. Meet us in the comments. Let's go. Meet me in the comments and tell me why Scarlet Tanage is not in your top 10.
00:23:39
Speaker
Give me any comments. Because I think that kind of stuff is fun and also brings out the fact that some of these birds are significant to us because of the experiences we've had with them rather than what they look like or what their song is like. It's it's the moment you were in when you experienced a bird. That's another part of it. I mentioned my colored pencils. I know nothing about bird art, but man is my Instagram algorithm kicking with some amazing artists and I'm like, yeah how do you do it? you know like It's one thing for me to sit here with my, you know, bird guide, bird guide, and like, you know, sketch something from there. if These homies be sitting in the forest sketching a bird while it's there. How? How, Sway? How? Like on the spot, you know. On the spot. Maybe they got like their little Sibley journal that they're using when they go. ah Folks, when we talk about these things, we're not just talking about these things. These are things we do. Yeah, and it's wild, man. like i want to I want to understand that process and how you get to that space, because I'm always impressed by artists, because i just I've never felt like I've had much of an artistic inclination. And so I wanted to focus, but then just freedom of thought to figure out where to put things and what looks good and like
00:24:56
Speaker
I was talking to my when I was getting all these tattoos, I was talking to my tattoo artist who has like a master's degree in art from Penn State. They were telling me about color theory. And I was like, that's wild. Like these like graduate level courses on color. I teach color theory in my documentary photography. is It's crazy. It's crazy. So like all of that, right? All of that. And then being out in the field and seeing a, um, Lazuli bunting, right? Or Lazuli bunting, however you want to call it. And that bluish
00:25:30
Speaker
teal color, right? Moving into that yellowish brown, like, how do you decide which color pencil or paint to pick up to do that? Like, that's crazy. And the fact that you have to sit down and think about it creates a connection with that bird that most of us probably don't have because we're not trying to interpret the bird into art. You know what I mean? That kind of stuff is like I'm going to be here with popcorn whenever we have a guest about that. I want to know. now when When you mentioned artists, how about a shout out to the artists for the artwork in our season one graphics? Casey, Casey Gerard. Yeah. Oh, down there. Yeah. Below the below the Mason Dixon line has been absolutely tremendous. um If you all don't know her, we will put her link in the in the show
Exploring Birding Environments
00:26:17
Speaker
notes. Did artwork for
00:26:20
Speaker
a lot of the black birders doing the first five black birders weeks. It's how I found a lot of I found people through her art that I didn't even know. And I was like, who's this? Who's this homie? Oh, I'm not connected with this homie. I started following people based off of some of the artwork that I was just seeing from Casey. Yeah, yeah, yeah. and and And really quick apologies. They Casey goes by they them. They really create ah this amazing artwork. And one of the cool things they do is they put the art on leaves, which I actually have one in my office of a painted bunting. And I think I have a cedar wax wing on these oak leaves. And I would love to get them on to talk about how they do that, because it's it's wild to me to be able to interpret these things in nature and then decide you're going to flip it onto a leaf.
00:27:07
Speaker
It's absolutely insane and I'm looking forward to talking to people like that because I don't think we hear enough of those voices around how to interpret birds and birding from other artists, right? It's mostly- The homie, the homie Ike, the homie Ike is one of the best- His bird drawings are insanely good. Like insanely good. I remember sitting with them in Georgia when we were down there on Louis Saint Simon's Island yeah and seeing some of his stuff. And like my instant reaction was like, you're like David Sibley, like the next generation, this young black man that like, bro, Ike is a game changer. I hope we could get Ike on season two, because like we talk about art, we talk about the next generation. yeah Young birders, young scientists. and it's just all ah There's so much to love about Ike. Shout out to the homie Ike, man. Yeah. Yeah. and I got to tell her everybody a secret. I am a collector of art from other birders. so I have a drawing from Ike of painted buntings. I have Casey's work. I got a homie, a Panfili, that's a photographer, Anwar. ah He's in Slovenia right now. yeah He's incredible. He's photographing.
00:28:22
Speaker
So he put like a picture of bears on his on his thing yesterday. And I was like, du me how you have me he was like camping out overnight at some spot in the dark and then is waking up and getting pictures of this mama and baby bear coming to like get water or something. And he's got the back of the camera photo on the Instagram story. And I'm just like, dude. This is insane. So people like that, I think, need to come on this podcast and tell us about their bird joy. They need to come to let the let the people know because, you know and there's is a ton of other folks, there's children's book authors, there's researchers doing amazing right?
00:29:02
Speaker
i just I want people to stay tuned because um we're not going to be able to fit everything in season two. though That's why, like you said, three, four, five, we're trying to win more ships though. You know what I'm saying? Give me some rings, brother. I'm trying to win some rings for the people. We're trying to win some rings for the homies, you know what I mean? Whatever we got to do to elevate birding, elevate the people out there doing the work, the homies doing the work, that's what we're going to start focusing on in season two and and and moving on. Yeah, it's going to be really tremendous. But like what are you going to be up to for the rest of the summer? like what's it What's life like for you? no I would say i got ah you know i like i say I do teach, so I'm wrapping up. I got a few more weeks of teaching this summer, so I'll do that. it is This is a great time. Like you said, the the birds are fledging and stuff. This is a great time to go look at juvenile birds and find the birds like with families and stuff. So yeah I'll probably go explore Horicon Marsh and in some different areas within the next month. Like you said, the shorebirds are going to be rolling through. And, uh, before you know, at mid mid August, you're going to start seeing some of these fall migrating birds coming through. Some birds leaving like the Orioles leave late August and noticing all of these little different changes in behavior. But when some leave others come and that's kind of like the beauty of the seasons. I think we're lucky. We get all seasons. A lot of people don't get it, so our our perspective may be a little different than both. And I actually want to know i want to know from the homies that don't get the, I'll say, typical four seasons, right? Because I know like in the Southwest, they have like a rain season. like I'm always wanting to go to like Arizona in September or August, whenever it is, at the monsoons, and everything greens up randomly. and they get all these wild birds, right? The homies in California on the West Coast, right? California, Oregon, Washington. They don't get the warblers we get, but man, did they get a bunch of hummingbirds. Man, did they get massive flocks of shorebirds. What's that like? What is that like? Yeah, all the experiences.
00:31:10
Speaker
um we We got listeners in South America, Australia, Africa, Kenya, and all these different places. I'm trying to hear what y'all seeing too. like This is like such a never ending cycle of learning. I remember the first time I went to Arizona and I was like, where am I? Like, this is insane, right? like I was like, what bird is, what sound is that? and I'm good, like, in my area, bro. I'm known for my ear. Like, I'm pretty good at what I do. okay I'll go to, I went to Vegas. I was like, where am I? I went to Arizona. I felt like, oh, wait, what is this alien country? Well, I knew nothing. that's right I was humbled in five minutes, you know what I'm saying? I was running around, you know, like the kids, you know, from our kids episode, I'm running and around, I'm running around. but what you're at bridge merlin
00:32:06
Speaker
a humble yourself because you have all answers out there folks cause ah You travel one good time from anywhere away from where your your parents or where you're to be running around like
00:32:22
Speaker
and just I just got this image of you like on the on the Vegas Strip holding your phone up. you know It's like, what is that? Hey, what was that? I'm running down the Strip. when I went birding on the Las Vegas Strip before I thought I was crazy. and The only thing I was missing was wearing my debos, but I had my do-rag on. It was super early. yeah I got my camera, my binoculars, and I guarantee people were like, what is this dude doing? Yeah, but you know what, though? There's so much habitat. Probably not that much, though, because you were in Vegas. There's all kinds of wild stuff in Vegas. Bro, there was some beautiful birds, though. like I was just blown away. Mockingbirds, just chilling, beardings, and all these... I was like, what are you, little dude? Different kinds of black-throated sparrows. I was like, what are you? I've never seen you before. You're amazing, right? Yeah, they got these little parks around there everywhere. They got Vermillion flycatchers. Yeah, like I was like, dude, what is happening? Right. Like it was pretty cool. So yeah, Vegas Vegas is is like, I guess I had to go there for a wedding in between the wedding festivities. I was able to bop around and go see some birds and like it's it's the the habitat outside the city and sometimes inside the city. There was a park there to get was a gambles gambles quail, I think, or something like that. he Just running around.
00:33:38
Speaker
just running around like not even, you know, and and so like, but that that's that experience of getting humbled back into a beginning birder, right?
Gratitude and Future Engagement
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's why I'm saying you my people I get. Yeah, like some people. Some people might be that that might make them nervous. Right. But it only makes you nervous because you think you're supposed to be something that is ah that is not it's not true. You're not supposed to be an expert. A matter of fact, if you're already an expert on something, sometimes you don't you're not going to find joy as easily. So like going to places where you know nothing.
00:34:12
Speaker
And then having to start over at least for the period that you're there is to me, it's really fun. It's like I got it right. Like I'm doing I'm going to India in January and then I'm going to Puerto Rico in March. Puerto Rico, maybe I'll be OK. Right. But there's some endemic down there that I have no idea. You know, I don't have to study India um like I'm just going to be like, right you know, and I'm not even like the thing about Merlin is like it really is only good if you have enough data going into it for a particular species of regions. I'm going to Northeast India. I don't know if people using Merlin like that up there. So like if they're not, Merlin is no just out the door. I got to go back to the basics. I just I just ordered a ah birds of India God. It just came today. I was checking it out of my coffee this morning and I was like, bro, it is like it's like 20 species of quail.
00:35:04
Speaker
quail Right. Like not even, you know, you know, and and then there's this other stuff in there that I'm like on the East Coast. Maybe we have three species in that family and they have 40. And I'm like, this is this is this is going to be wild. You can do that going anywhere new. Right. You can do that in a new season in the same place. It's this idea of getting back to a space where you have to learn something new is the really exciting part. And if you can do it with joy in your heart, that's what's going to stick, you know, not doing it with anxiety. or fear, but really saying, like, oh, man, I don't know what that is. Let me go figure it out. I love that. And honestly, that's I find joy in hearing those stories, bro. Those beginner birders, those baby birders, when they see their first this or they see their first baby Canada goose or they see their first baby maler family or whatever. Right. It literally takes me back.
00:35:58
Speaker
And I remember how I felt when that happened. And I love hearing that. And I really want to encourage everybody. I really want to encourage our listeners to continue to stay connected and to share their stories with us. Go back and leave comments and share those stories for people to really absorb them, like to absorb those, because that stuff matters. and And I really want you to continue to share those stories with us because it really does take me back. And I love hearing about those type of moments. Yeah, me too. I am. I'm so glad we found birding, you know, and I'm so glad we found each other. And i'm I'm hoping we can create, you know, I mean, top level is, you know, by the time you and I are done birding as humans, that there are just so many other connections out there between people.
00:36:45
Speaker
um Maybe we didn't create, but we help um explain to people that they're possible so that there's just just a saturation of burning podcasts that are joyful. you know like How awesome would that be? We got we got one homie, Cole, who listens to us every Saturday morning on his walks. I feel so special. I'm like, where are you walking to? Where are we going today? you know like like know you know I feel like we're with We're with Cole and there's there's others that have expressed the same thing on their daily weekly habits where they have a time that they listen to our podcast like maybe Friday mornings on the way to work or whatever and like. That makes me feel special and I just want to say thank you again to everybody because this season would not have been successful without all of our listeners and just the feedback and the commentary and the validation that birding is for everybody and it's.
00:37:35
Speaker
Can't say any more about it, man. No, I echo that, man. Extreme thanks to everybody. The gratitude that we have really can't be expressed with words. I know this is a podcast. Your messages and that kind of kept us going and it let us know that. the mission that we had going into this was pure. And this is what we were hoping to do is to bring some homies together to be able to talk about burden in a way that we hadn't seen it talked about. You know, there's some amazing things happening out there, but we wanted to do it our way. And that's by spreading bird joy. And just want to thank everybody for joining us for season one.
00:38:11
Speaker
of the birdjoy podcast continue to stay connected. Please leave a review, subscribe if you haven't season one, share it with people still, right? We're not going away. We're just going to be getting ready for season two, but there are a lot of people out there that could use season one. So please continue to share that. And I just want to say thank you um from the bottom of my heart. Seriously. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What are we going to do now? We're going to enjoy with my Sunday afternoon for a little bit. I like look at gray cat birds for a couple of weeks and we'll be reaching out to a lot of our homies. So don't be surprised. yeah You'll see Jason and I reaching out to y'all as we can start to plan out season two. We like to record behind the scenes and before you know it, we'll be back for it the fall migration. that's our That's our goal is to be back with y'all. We were with you for the entire spring migration, going into nesting season, into summer. We want to be with you for the entire fall migration, heading into winter, and then we'll see where we'll go from there. Yeah, buddy. Sounds lovely. All right, man. It's been a good day. one has been a good one. We'll still be there. We'll still be sharing stuff on the socials and we're not just going to go dark. Just say that. Thank you again for everybody out there. That's listened to even one episode or all 12, whatever it may be of the bird joy podcast.
00:39:29
Speaker
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And any homies in and around Philly, we will have a few more events in the summer heading into the fall. So in color birding.org. We're just visiting Philly for some reason. Just hit us up. Don't come through and get some birding. Yeah. Yeah. Same here in Wisconsin. If you're visiting, we got some stuff going on. So check us out by park birding club.org. And we already got stuff planned going into the fall. You know what I'm going to do one of these days? I'm just going to sneak in Wisconsin to show up at your bird walk. I'm just gonna slide in there. I'm not even gonna say no. I'm gonna put on some shades. I'll be incognito. I'm gonna say nothing. I'm just gonna show up and work on Mars. Like, what's good? What's up? Why I'm here? Oh, man. All right, brother. All right, brother. I'll see you. Peace. Peace.