Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season 2 Recap
726 Plays1 month ago
Season 2 of the Bird Joy Podcast was an unforgettable journey! This season, we celebrated diverse voices and explored themes like birding, mentorship, science communication, healing, community, and breaking barriers in STEAM fields. From pioneers like Emmy-award winner and best-selling author Christian Cooper to next-generation leaders like Isaiah Scott, our guests inspired us with their passion and wisdom.
Dexter reflects on the personal growth and healing sparked by powerful conversations with guests like Tammah Watts and Melissa Hafting. At the same time, Jason hilariously compares a male Northern Cardinal to Adele (yes, that happened!).
As we gear up for Season 3, we invite YOU, our listeners, to join the show by sharing your Bird Joy stories. Plus, get a sneak peek at exciting future guests and how we’re working to grow the podcast, reach more people, and fairly compensate our amazing guests.
Connect With Us and Our Guests
Follow us on Instagram @thebirdjoypod and check out our incredible Season 2 guests:
- Christian Cooper – @christiancooperbirder
- Isaiah Scott – @ikesbirdinghikes
- Jordan Rowley – @brighteyedbirding
- Mariah Hryniewich – @mariaheve13
- Luis Eduardo Gles – @phonescoper
- Amar Ayyash
- Lauren Pharr – @ldpharr
- Dr. Murry Burges – @murryloub
- Field Inclusive – @fieldinclusive
- Indigo Goodson-Fields – @indigoindaflow
- Tammah Watts – @tammahwatts
- Calvin Feagans – @biotainframe
- Alex Troutman – @n8ture_al
- Melissa Hafting – @bcbirdergirl
Looking Ahead to Season 3
- Audience Involvement: We want to hear from you! Record a short voice memo sharing your favorite birding moments, reflections on the podcast, or what Bird Joy means to you. Please email us at birdjoypodcast@gmail.com
Shoutouts:
- A big shoutout to Field Inclusive (it’s Field Inclusive Week!)
- Jasmine Banks of Operation Fresh Start, Christopher Kilgour of Color in the Outdoors, Outdoor Auntie.
- Support the Podcast: Help us grow by subscribing, sharing, and leaving a review. Interested in partnering with us? Reach out to support or sponsor the podcast and help us scale while fairly compensating our guests.
Closing Note
We’re so proud to showcase the diversity and beauty of the birding community. To all our Bird Nerd homies, thank you for making Season 2 unforgettable. We’ll see you in Season 3—we outside all 2025!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Season 2
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the bird joy podcast. I'm Dexter Patterson. And I'm Jason Hall. This is the podcast for all the bird nerds and homies out there that want to find a little bird joy. Yes. Are you ready for a little bit more bird joy in season two? Let's go. Let's
Reflecting on Successes
00:00:16
Speaker
go. I know. I can't even believe that I said only a little bit more for season two, bro. Like this is crazy. How did we get here? It's 2025 and we're wrapping up season two. This is crazy. I know, I know. It was a vision to have on so many people and to get a second season out there and, you know, took a little bit of elbow grease in terms of scheduling and running shows and research and trying to be good hosts, right? And coordination and damn it, if we didn't do the damn thing. I mean, I think we did. I think we did. I think we did. I would just say thank you to you. We've been working hard all season just wrangling all these amazing people. And like you said, putting together shows that we felt were fitting of that guest. But also, we were very intentional when we talked about transitioning to this season and wanting to make sure that we not only brought the joy out of all the guests,
00:01:14
Speaker
but a little bit more than what we have been seeing out there in the ether. I think that's probably what I'm most proud about, bro, is that sure we were able to center the joy, but also just these amazing people on the way, I don't think had been done prior to this season of our podcast.
Unique Podcast Style
00:01:30
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it was, you know, making sure that we did it the way we wanted to do it. Not the way other podcasts do it necessarily. Nothing, nothing wrong with them. You know, we have a certain thing vibe that we wanted to put out there in a way to have a conversation with folks that would have been similar to the same conversation we'd have with them out burning out to dinner, out having an adult beverage, whatever it is. Right. And, um, it was really a joyful season, man. It was a great season. And like, I'm wondering, like, what was your favorite part? If you can even pick one.
00:01:57
Speaker
You know, it's funny, people always ask me, Dex, what's your favorite bird? And I'm like, picking a favorite bird is like picking a favorite kid. I have four kids, bro. yeah I think when it comes to this season, I'm taking a similar approach. I plead the one, two, three, four, five, fifth. Because they're all amazing. Like, every guest was amazing. Every week was amazing. Like, when I think about how we structured this podcast, it was, you know, with the seasons of birding. And we wanted to be able to be with people during these these core seasons of birding. yeah And I look back back on it and it's been three months, bro. And in three months we talked to all these amazing people. And I think that was what really resonated with me, what stood out to me most was like, man, I knew these people, but I know these people. And having an opportunity to sit there and listen and learn. To me, I was just... You talked about those moments of the birdjoy cup being full and I told you my cup is full after certain
Virtual Travels with Guests
00:02:55
Speaker
events. I swear every Sunday, I get so excited to sit down and chat with you, but it it changed because we were not only chatting with each other, but chatting with these amazing people. And it has to be the guest for me, bro. It has to be. It has to be the guest. Of course.
00:03:09
Speaker
Of course. What about you? How did this season feel different from season one? on Season one, we're together. We're getting our podcast legs up under us and like yeah figuring things out and and figuring each other out and how we want to communicate with each other. Yeah.
00:03:25
Speaker
But what was different for you this season? I like the fact that other people took you and I on a journey, right? Like there was some storytelling, right? Like I, I feel like, you know, we were in Alaska with Lewis and Mariah. We were in Malaysia with Alex, you know, we were on the great lakes with the Marr, you know, we were in San Diego with Tama. Um, you know, we were, we were just all over. It's just so many guests. flat bush Yeah. Right. We're in Flatbush. Right. We were in North Carolina. We were in Florida. We were in Utah.
00:03:54
Speaker
you know like I feel like each episode took us to a different part of the world and I enjoyed being able to navigate how we found all these different flavors of bird joy in those settings with those people and their perspectives. like It really, I think, was a good example of the diversity of this community and how even though the base layer comes down to a human and a bird living in the same environment, And at least from our side, our appreciation for our little feathered friends that from that foundational point of connection, there is just so much color and diversity with our experiences, right? Like that was the cool part to me. Like just, it it almost seems infinite, you know, like it seems like, uh, this could go on forever. Cause there's 10,000 plus species of birds and there's 8 billion people. And it's, you know, is there's not enough podcast seasons to to get you the full picture. But it was it was great, man. It was great. I mean, I think we did a good job of trying to represent that diversity within our guests this season. And I think we're going to continue to do that moving forward. I mean, what do you feel like? You feel like we we at least dipped our toe in some of the some of the different voices that we would hear out in nature this season?
00:05:07
Speaker
I think
Centering Diverse Voices
00:05:08
Speaker
so, bro. And we really, we were intentional about trying to highlight stories and different perspectives, but really kind of lasered in on the passions of black and brown voices, which was just a really kind of, you know, that's kind of who we are. That's the missions that we have for our burning clubs is kind of how we surround ourselves, how how we kind of move in the space as a whole. And and it's just really a core part of this season. So it really, it felt special. to share so many of those voices with our audience. And it made me realize, cause I was just like, I could book like three more people on this topic or, you know, this, you know, there was like, it was just so eye-opening and where I was like, wait a minute, we are in any spaces. And we're moving in ways that are special. And like you said, I know we we will be able to continue to tell those stories and invite these diverse voices and that are representing birding and nature and so science as a whole on this podcast. And I think that's what that really excites me just to know that, yeah, there will be a season three and probably a four and a five. God willing, right? yeah
00:06:10
Speaker
um that we can continue to be here and and be able to connect people with all these amazing, and amazing people that we know across the globe. And even new people, bro, that that are kind ah kind of coming into the
Gratitude for Guests
00:06:21
Speaker
fold. Shout out to our audience. I feel like we have like the best audience. They're always keeping us in the know and letting us know, hey, you should chat with this person or that person or that person. Please do not stop that because there are clearly, clearly so many more stories that need to be told and and we want to do our best to be able to tell them. Yeah, I don't know, man. Yeah, I mean, i and it's just just, you know, you know, it's just like, wow. Sometimes, you know, I'm not one to be left speechless often, but I would say our guests left me speechless quite often this season. Yeah, they were all amazing. And I think we need to give them their flowers, you know. Yes.
00:06:58
Speaker
from like, you know, like we just had so many amazing, and these folks like, let's, let's remind people, like our guests that we have on, right? Like we're not major podcasts budget yet. We asked these folks to take time out of their day to spend time with us and share their stories and, and Certainly in some cases they have other initiatives that that they share with us that we're happy to put out there, whether it's a book or ah ah a conference or an outing or just a message or whatever it is. Right. And like we really, really appreciate them sharing their time with us. You know, we wouldn't have got to this level of joy without them. And so I just want to make sure they all get their flowers, you know, and, uh, I think you touched on something big is like, we literally just created this together, you know,
00:07:39
Speaker
yeah It's just me and you where there's no budget or pocket. There's no sponsors behind the podcast. It's literally Jason and Dexter. yeah right know everything We do everything ourselves. It's completely funded by us, you know out of our pocket. Just something that we want to do. cause It was on our heart. We got pushed to start something. When we went to St. Simon's Island and that experience, I think that experience was like payment. I feel like going there and and and connecting with so many people, that was priceless for me. i just want
00:08:13
Speaker
those pivotal moments in my life that I'll never forget. And and and I'm super grateful for that.
Reminiscing Christian Cooper
00:08:18
Speaker
And hopefully this podcast is returning that joy to other people that get to listen. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and speak of that Island, right? Like the everything kicked off with Christian was Christian and Karina and and and others invited us down there. And Christian Cooper was our first guest ever on this podcast. And it was a while just even, did you hear what you just said? I know.
00:08:39
Speaker
what Like our first guest ever was Christian Cooper. Like that is fred crazy. He was literally like, when we started talking to about guests, we're like, dude, like if we had our dream guest, man, it'd be Christian and Dr. Drew Lanham.
00:08:55
Speaker
And that list is only grown, right? That list is only growing, right? Because we're meeting so many people and so many people are reaching out, right? But like Christian kicked us off and just really provided a great way to start this conversation. And then we jumped into what we had Isaiah Scott up there at Cornell. We had Jordan Riley out there in Utah, Mariah and Luis, you know, down in Florida and I guess Alaska sometimes. I don't know where they are right now. right And like all of those folks, like just drawing that through line, you know, that thread and like everybody's stories coming from a different place, but this thread is connecting all of it, right? And you've, and you felt like there were things that in an hour of a podcast we had in common, right? Even though we all come from different places, right? And that's really these, these stories that connect the humans and obviously surrounding the birds, but sometimes it's just experiences that we have in life that we don't know that we're connected on that come out because we found each other through birds, which is amazing. And even if those ah experiences are different, right? Like it's just like they could be different, but they aren't that different, right? It was just like this common thread of joy. And like, you know, I started thinking like about Amar when he came and and schooled us on all things goals and goals. Literally we had been nerding out about goals and teasing goals since season one, you know, to see him come through the goal guy. of all cool guys, man, to just, yeah man, I can still see you smiling, bro. Like that day, like you were just lit up and, bro, speaking of lit up, then Lauren and Dr. Murray Burgess come on a field inclusive, which today is actually January 12th, as we're recording this episode is the first day of field inclusive. week So shout out to them. Shout out to them. So go check that out. You can literally see their work in action right now, this whole next week. They're trying to connect people all over the country. Talk about inspiring work when it comes to diversity and inclusion and when it comes to field research, bro. like
00:10:52
Speaker
yeah It's just wild
Insights from Guests
00:10:53
Speaker
to see. And it was crazy to go from that where it's it's this very, you between Amara, Lauren and Dr. Murray Burgess, like this very tactical in the field kind of process to learn things, make things available and inclusive, whether it's Amara's book or Field Inclusive Week, that piece of it being so detailed and being so excited to go through all of that right with them. And then having a moment to like take a breath. And then we're all of a sudden wearing, wearing Flatbush with Indigo and wearing San Diego with Tampa. And they're talking us through how to take reflection on those moments, how to take those interaction with those birds and those people around those birds and actually use them. to better our lives, right? In these very thing, meaningful and consistent ways, right? and And hearing about the way that both of them do that, let's say on two different coasts with with two different backgrounds was absolutely tremendous. Like it was like this beautiful mindful birding cookie, like Oreo, right? And like you and I are in the middle and Tama and and indigo on either side and like, you know, having those perspectives, right? I think it was great, you know, and it came a good time of the year, right? Where everybody was, yeah I think, politically charged for different reasons.
00:12:01
Speaker
having the ability to know that your experience outside with birds could be contextualized the way those two gave us the ability to do was great man it was great yeah they literally like after like leaving those calls you know a lot of people know after those calls we call each other and we like nerd out over like the call ah like We didn't already do it for an hour. I cannot believe this just happened, basically. yeah Just to leave those conversations just feeling so like wholesome and full and seen. Bro, like seen, heard, respected, loved. Those conversations just, I'm getting goosebumps even saying some of that stuff, just thinking about how special those conversations were. And I know if I felt that somebody else felt
Themes of Healing and Community
00:12:50
Speaker
it. You know, like somebody literally just commented today from Melissa's episode talking about this just gave me life. yeah Right? so So like when I read stuff like that, yeah trust me, I know exactly how you feel because like, I'm like, they're filling me up with exactly how you feel. in those moments, so I get it. And I am so happy we did that. We talked about gratitude and vulnerability and being present and compassion, community. like oh That is stuff, bro, that transcends beyond the woods and the forest to just life. And if we're able to to tap into those things, life just gets better. yeah It just does those little things. So man, I'm with you though. They just, oh, just left me feeling just, you know, like the, you, you leave conversations when you talk to people like that, just believe in the humanity again. You know what I mean? And I think that's, I think that's what we should be getting from the media that we consume is, is, is, is. We should never be, at least in my mind, perpetually putting ourselves in situations where we're listening to things that leave us without hope, you know, as as crazy as this world is, right? Like we got to stay informed on stuff and not always easy to listen to or watch. You know, you got to be putting yourselves in a position to fill your cup back up so you can go out and make the difference you want to make, right? Or just get through the day. And so, yeah, like, so Indigo and, uh, Tama definitely helped us do that for sure. Yeah, felt those in my soul, bro. Like, no lie. Those ones gonna stick with me. And then having the homies like Calvin and Alex come through to talk about the science and just their whole vibes, completely different. One and one in Pittsburgh, you know, and then one in the swamps in the south, you know, like, but the passion for for nature and the birds came out of them in a way completely different, but the same, you know what I mean? Like, where it's just like completely different, but the same. Like these brothers like really, really are bringing it, man. And I'm just, ah, just so grateful to know these brothers. Yeah. Yeah. And I think I think I like it just how much we laughed with both of them. Um, we laughed at all of our guests, Calvin's memes that we laughed about, and I still encourage folks to go check out his page. Just posted some new ones that are pretty, pretty great. Oh, he's been sharing a lot of that photography lately too. It's been great. It's been great. And then rolling
00:15:07
Speaker
Alex, like just the vision of, of, you know, when he said the Troutman's pulled up in that silver minivan or whatever, like just rolled out. I was like, yeah, I lost it. Like, you know, and just imagining like, like all of that really just, you can, you can relate to it. Cause this, these are real life stories about people and how they grow up and how they view the world for both of them. They've experienced things or talk about things sometimes that are tough subjects, you know, whether it's conservation.
00:15:33
Speaker
and western pennsylvania or access to nature in georgia and through the federal service and access to actual research opportunities and alexis case was a tough things to talk about and they talked about them in the way the brought people in and brought some joy and i'm getting to do that with them are cup you know. art And I used to go to my, my father was a deacon and pastor in a church for a while. I always remember them saying my cup overflow. It's your heart is full. Right. And so by this point, I think you and I are our heart is full. And then here comes the homie, Melissa Hafting, um, who just, she just brought the perfect bow, I think to put on the season. And again, had some things to talk about in terms of healing and mentorship and breaking through some barriers. Right. And, um, she really gave us a great outlook and, um, My favorite thing was making Melissa laugh. I'm just be honest with the people. I loved making Melissa laugh. It was like my favorite thing, right? Because I just feel like that person gives so much to others. And, um, you know, I love making all of our guests laugh, but making Melissa laugh is the last episode of the season and having her honor us by giving us that time with her and feeling comfortable enough to have that conversation will be ah one of my favorite things about season two for sure. So for everybody, everybody was awesome. Yes.
00:16:47
Speaker
So, so grateful for for everybody. And I start thinking about all these and individual conversations, and and we touched on some of them. And our shout outs there, when I start thinking about some of those memorable moments, thinking about us kicking it off the season with Christian and Dudek, you know, that won an Emmy, best-selling author at the time. and And here we are, we reaching out to him. Like, hey, you want to chat with us um on our podcast? And literally, it was like, yes.
00:17:14
Speaker
Like right away, yes, yes. When y'all want to do it, you know? and And it was just for that to happen, not only was I super grateful, when I listened back to the conversation, I listened to that episode a few times. It was just different. And what stood out to you about his story and our conversation with him? Because like you said, we listen to other podcasts, we do a lot of different things. And when I listened to that conversation, it was just very unique and and inspiring. what What stood out to you about that conversation?
00:17:41
Speaker
Oh, you know, the thing I think stood out the most, which most people would probably not see right off the bat, is that where the news stories focused on the trauma of the situation that kind of started in Central Park, right? Like he he he spends most of his time focused on forward and the things that he's doing, like he he was he was straight up with us. Like, you know, I don't really think about that moment in the park and it it happened and And although it was a, you know, it maybe we'll call it a cannon moment for the, the black and brown birding community. And he flipped that thing into an Emmy and, and he, so yeah I think he's looking at it as yeah, it happened, but I mean, look at me now, right? Look at us now. And, um, I think that was the part I took most from him was like, don't let these things inhibit you. And if you have the desire, flip them into something positive. Think that was the big message that I not only got from him in that episode, but I get from him every time I'm with him. you know, whether he's in Philly or I'm in New York for something. That's really what I got out of it. And then, you know, I don't, I don't recommend that folks go out and look for trauma in the birding community, but just know that like, you know, if it happens, you know, there's ways to deal with
Mindfulness in Birding
00:18:44
Speaker
it. And we had conversations with Melissa and Tamara around some of that right around how to heal um and just mentally get yourself to a place where maybe you can start to drive forward, right? Like did those, did you get like a similar thing from Melissa and Tamara? Like how did those episodes like kind of work with you? Yeah. Bro, I remember when you first told me about your experience with Tama when you went out there and that just, I hadn't even talked to her personally one-on-one before that. But like, I remember you telling me about your experience and and I was just like, I never ever thought about that? How do I feel in this moment? How do I feel during? How do I feel after and being really intentional about like, how do I feel in these moments when I'm out in nature, when I'm out birding? And it was something that I really started doing more of. And I was like, yeah, this is the, this is it. This is it. I'm not feeling great.
00:19:35
Speaker
I'm not feeling great right now. I think I need a walk. I'm going to walk after that walk. I'm feeling better. And I was like, okay, I got to start sharing this magic. I got to start sharing this magic with people. So I think that's what it got for me because it was like healing in itself, like trauma. People always like try to connect trauma with, oh, you're so strong. And I'm not necessarily in that camp. I'm in the camp of trauma wears on you. Trauma puts you in fight or flight. Trauma beats you up. Trauma has these long lasting negative impacts on your life. Healing can help get some of that back, right? So I'm not in the camp of trauma makes you stronger. Healing helps.
00:20:17
Speaker
restore the damage that trauma did to you. And I think that's what I got from them was this like, on my these last 10 years or so, I would say for me, healing has been the key to all of my success, right? Being willing to to confront, whether it's childhood trauma stuff that you went through, but dealing with real issues that you may be confronted with, mental mental health issues you may be dealing with and confronting them and being honest about them and understanding that those things don't make you lesser than. yeah And especially for men, and I will say, you know, I'm speaking for myself in this, we are taught not to feel, we are taught not to deal with a lot of different things and and that causes trauma. So I think those two just kind of really opened my eyes to not only like the like the power of vulnerability, of gratitude, and of understanding that grief is normal, and that only makes you human.
Healing and Community Support
00:21:13
Speaker
um I think I will be forever, forever grateful for those type of conversations.
00:21:18
Speaker
just as a human being to even be able to have that conversation with them, but to be able to facilitate a conversation like that for our audience, bro, I think is is literally a game change. From that respect, I just think I'm going to be forever forever grateful for what they did. that just It just changed me. It changed me, bro.
00:21:38
Speaker
I'm hoping other folks get the same thing, right? If you and I got it, if we did our job, you know, other people got it from the episode as well. Right. Yeah. You know, ah we chatted a little bit about this in the shout outs, but I can't tell you, like when we were recording with a Marr, the Goldjoy episode, I just kept like looking at you and it was like this little bitty light popping off of your face the whole time. You know, like. Like you're so happy. What did that convo do for you? That, that gold joy convo. You know, it really, um, it did two things, right? One, um, it finally gave me a chance to talk about something that I enjoy, right? I'm not an expert at it by any
Embracing Diversity in Bird Species
00:22:15
Speaker
means. Like I have people around me out here in PA that are just fire, man. They're, they're, they're gala. but these skills are just insanely good, right? And um I'm not that yet. I don't know that I ever will be necessarily. It just validated for me that there's a place for people like me in the community of birding around trying to figure out goals, right? Cause it's, you know, we grow up and we, we goals take this place in many of our communities. It's just these things that are near water sometimes and still your French fries, right? And they don't, doesn't go past that in the common knowledge of most folks. And then even in the birding community, Amar said it, right? Some people say, Gulls, right? Cause if they're just, you know, as if they're just some, all of a sudden no longer a member of the, of the bird community in this, which is weird. So it validated that, that there's a place for beginner Gullers in the community and someone that is arguably one of the foremost experts on Gulls in North America, ah making that very clear in our episode and in the book, which is quite extensive. If you take your time with it, you can, you can, you can start to learn.
00:23:13
Speaker
So that, and then also it just kind of excited me because goals are a puzzle and some people hate puzzles. I don't like puzzles necessarily. Like in terms of like sitting at a table and doing a puzzle, my wife is great at it. I am not. I like a puzzle in terms of a bird ID sometime. And I like goals cause I'm wrong half the time. Like I, I know that sounds weird, but like I like a good goal mystery. like I check North American goals every day on Facebook. right and i And I'll try to guess based on what I see before I read anybody's comments or responses. right And I'm wrong half the time because half of them are those weird West Coast hybrids. um Sometimes I'll get it right. a know and And I'll be like, all right, you know it's getting there.
00:23:54
Speaker
Just giving me an anchor. And I think, you know, the last thing I loved about that episode was that because people don't talk about goals that much and birding in general, you can imagine that many black and brown communities don't hear about goal diversity that much, right? Or how we can even connect with the resilience of that family of birds. And so knowing that we got that out there and I've had, I've had more black and brown people talk to me about the goal episode than I have non-black and brown people, which is, which is hilarious, right? Like it's like, here we go.
00:24:21
Speaker
I got homies in Philly and we got tons of goals in our waterways and they're like texting me pictures like, Hey, what kind do you think this is? What is this? Right? And these are, you know, an industrial waterways and rivers around the city, right? People are excited to see great black bagels in South Philly. So like that episode did a lot for me. I think it did a lot for the community to validate that we deserve to be here. We deserve to enjoy these puzzles of goal ID. And we enjoy, we deserve to connect with and relate to goals as a valuable member of the, uh, you know, the bird community. I love it. And I'm going to my first gold frolic in February. Let's go. That's right. That's right. You going to be out there. You just going to? Yeah. Oh, man. Take some pictures, please. That's going to be awesome, right? Yeah, we both going. She's been a couple times, so she does. She knows them all. I love it. I love it. That's such a beautiful part, right? Cause you're, you're establishing a community with a new kind of birds that, that maybe you didn't spend that much time with before for whatever reason. Right. And like you have, you know, for, for a fact, you have two smiling faces that will be there in the Mar and Rita. Right. And you can establish that point of, you know, mentorship, right? If you want to and others can write, which I think is really great. And we had a lot of that, you know, through a lot of our episodes, right? Of like you and I making those connections, right? Did you, do you think those topics resonated a lot with people? Like in terms of finding community and mentorship, like we did a pretty good job. What did you think? I hope so because one thing I also noticed that was common with our guests that black and brown folks don't have that and didn't have that. I'm hoping, you know, there's a phrase that I really love is break the cycle.
Creating Lasting Habits
00:25:58
Speaker
And if we can break the cycle on this podcast, if we can break the cycle. as club leaders, if we can break the cycle as birders, if we can break the cycle as parents, whatever, we can be a part of that change. And I think that's what we did is we showed people, like Alex said, like living life with a wildlife mirror, right? Showing people, yourself, myself, and all of our different guests that, hey, young folks, we are out here. There are people that look like you in these steam fields doing things that are willing to answer your questions.
00:26:30
Speaker
and yeah that are willing to be there for you. Like you just mentioned, somebody sending you pictures of galls and different things. prime example That's ah a little example of just being there for somebody, answering a question for somebody. I had a friend of mine send me a recording of an alcohol they kept hearing outside that their house. They had no clue what it was.
00:26:51
Speaker
Of course I told the homie what it was. You know what I mean? That type of stuff lights me up because that tells me that you've been paying attention to what I'm doing and now you're paying attention to the birds. You're paying attention to the sounds. You're paying attention to nature. And what do I always say? When you start to pay attention, you're birdie.
00:27:09
Speaker
Keep watching, keep asking questions. yeah Keep being curious. That's that's what I'm what i'm ah really, really excited about. But also those themes of mentorship and community really got me thinking about how I wanted to move different in the
Future Outdoor Plans
00:27:25
Speaker
new year. right like I always tell people, I'm not a goals person. I'm a habit person.
00:27:30
Speaker
So I'm ah um'm a type of person where I build habits. I build new habits, not goals, because I feel like habits, last goals end. So now what's next? So instead of setting goals for the new year and new year resolution resolutions, I always say, what habit am I going to get into that is can change my life for the better? And for me, I started thinking about meeting my audience where they are. So all All the red already, bro, in 2025, I've been going on hikes with different organizations and meeting people here and meeting people there, not even necessarily my burning events, but they're related to outside. So if you're outside, I'm outside. I said, we outside all 2025. That's literally like, that's the habit that I'm trying to establish in the new year is I'm outside all 2025. You know, I don't care where I'm at, where y'all going, what you need, and I'm pulling up. I'm sliding. Where are you going? I'm going ice fishing. I'm sliding. what all right yep I'm going here. um mit Bro, um'm I'm doing whatever I can do. You know, ah shut out to ja Jasmine Banks ah from Outdoor Afro. She's actually a member of ah of our club, but she started she started leading hikes for Outdoor Afro and the homie Christopher Kilgore of Color in the Outdoors. He, black man, has an organization dedicated to just getting outside and enjoying nature. Bro,
00:28:51
Speaker
Why I look online yesterday and Jazz and Chris are literally in an ice shanteen ice fishing together. ah Black woman, black man, and they catching fish, bro. I lost it. I said, i had oh I had a walk yesterday, otherwise I'd have been in that joint with them fam. Like I'm talking about, I'm so excited just to get outside with everybody and Jazz, myself and Chris are actually going to lead all BIPOC walk on MLK day. So I'm really excited to collaborate with them. That's kind of
00:29:22
Speaker
That's what it did for me, where where I'm like, this keep coming up. This must be it. Be that. Be that person for people and get out there and show people that that this is for them. Yeah, it absolutely is. Right. and it And like I said at the beginning, it's almost infinite.
00:29:37
Speaker
There's so many different voices and diverse voices in our outdoor communities, right? Birding is just one part of it. And even within birding, it's wild, right? Which our guests this season indicated, right? And will indicate in seasons to come. But then you start talking about stuff like ice fishing. Like, number one, that's you. You got that, right? I love the cold, but you're not going to find me. I don't know ice, but I watch too many of the weird shows. I'm not trying to get you rescued by a golden retriever. They out there, bro. They got heaters and food.
00:30:07
Speaker
They look like, they like chilling, like literally, like they look all comfortable. They don't look cold. I don't know, man. Yeah. I mean, I get it. Listen, I, I sit around ice when I'm looking for stuff, you know, there's a sand, it was a sandhill crane out here the other day, sitting on ice that drove everybody crazy. You want me to cut a hole in the ice and then sit next to the hole for hours. Y'all got it. Send me some pictures. All right.
00:30:31
Speaker
But I think that's, I think that's beautiful because someone else is going to see that and they're going to love that. And they're going to go out and they're going to see you doing it. They're going to see the homies doing it. And they're going to start asking questions. How can I go do this? And that's when it starts, right? And like, we just want to make sure that folks are inspired to be the answer to that question. When someone is sitting around and they say, how can I learn how to ice fish? And they're coming from a community that probably never has done that. Is there someone out there to help? And that's really where we are. It's very similar, bro, to when we had Alex on talking about hunting. You don't hear black folks talking about hunting that often. Definitely not on a bigger platform, right? Where you're reaching thousands of people all over, like hearing this black scientist talking about hunting. Bro, find me somebody that's doing that. You know what I'm saying?
00:31:18
Speaker
punches of color is doing it right so you got big So that's what I, when I, when you asked, you know, we thinking about what resonated, what's a moment for you that reminded you that centering those diverse voices is so important. Um, I mean, all of our episodes had moments there, but I think the episode we had with Jordan Rowley did because, uh, we talked about birding in Utah and Utah is one of the whitest places you didn't Black folks burning in Utah. Yes. another element and you know I didn't say it in the episode. Um, I missed it. The homie Ashley Cleveland at, at outdoor auntie on Instagram was the one that invited me out there in the first place to do the walk at the, uh, the PO quiet nature center. And the fact that Jordan, a white man was showing up saying, man, I.
00:32:06
Speaker
have been dying for something like this and more diverse community and showed up to that wall and enjoyed it and noticed, you know, I don't, I don't live there. So he knew that it was different. And so that, that validation from him is not someone who works at the aviary or anything like that, but is actually studying birders and saying, this was a difference. This was a different thing that happened that you were involved in. Um, you know And then just meeting other people out there that are that are focused on conserving the Great Salt Lake, focused on making sure the trails out there are accessible, all of that. So I think Jordan's episode was cool because it kind of gave um not only some validation to doing those kinds of things, right going to spaces where you may not know, may not be as comfortable, but knowing that it can make a difference right was key for me. So I look forward to doing more of that, honestly, in 2025. We talk about habits and I think I already have a habit of saying yes to a lot of stuff when I need to slow down, but I don't think I'll do that necessarily in terms of meeting new groups. or I was just talking with someone yesterday and we have a a community outside of Philadelphia here that was the mushroom farming community in Chester County, PA, and it and these the staff for the mushroom farms is you can imagine majority immigrants. folks that are that are that are working trying to support their families here and this young lady is like hey they you know she said to me yesterday she said a lot of these folks when they come the countries they grew up in they have connection to nature in those countries and then they come here and they still want that but they have no idea where to start and so she's trying to get
00:33:35
Speaker
some bird out is going for those man speaking communities and she's were trying to get her helped out red and like i just my cup was full just from a twenty minute conversation with her right like where she had only met me once in one of my bird outings and then decided she was gonna go do something for her community and i was like well let's go you know like when jordan was on invalidating that and then to have that experience yesterday as a thing that pops in my head right now is like the opportunities are there.
00:33:59
Speaker
They are. and And when you when you mention opportunities and we're talking about community, I love our community online, our listeners like I just I love their comments. I love the joy I want. Hopefully, like as we start looking ahead to season three, bro, in the spring, I hope we can start to introduce her joy stories from our audience members
Inviting Listener Stories
00:34:22
Speaker
next. Yes. Let's this community like our podcast is all about the community. I really want to try to elevate the voices of our community a little bit more, encouraging people to record like ah a small voice memo on their phone, sharing their favorite burning moment of the week or season or a reflection on their favorite episode or. My podcast guest meant the most to them and they literally can just record that like 30 seconds on their phone. It will sound clear enough for us to use it and email that to birdjoypodcast at gmail dot.com. If they could do that, we can start incorporating their stories into the episodes. And I really want to do that next season. If you're listening today, think about that. Think about sending us an email with some of your favorite burning moments in your life or reflection from an episode or a shout out to a guest or what a guest meant to you. We would love to hear from you. So like I said, record that. It can be as simple as recording it on your phone on a voice memo and emailing that to birdjoypodcast at gmail.com. And we can make it sound all nice and pretty incorporated in our episodes in season three. So I really want to do that, bro. Yeah. And there's this listen.
00:35:35
Speaker
There's some homies out there. Some of y'all commenting on the Instagram weekly. You know who you are. A lot of y'all are finding joy and different connection with different episodes. Like shoot us a note. We want to hear it. I don't care if it's on your lunch break, you know, when you're listening to a red belly woodpecker sound off in the oak tree next to your office. I don't care if it's you out in the middle of the field hiding in the bush, you know, trying to wait on this owl, like I don't care what it is, right? And I think the thing I want to hear the most is how people are feeling in those moments, what their excitement is. You know, it's cool if you send us something and you say, hey, like, you know, my name's John, I'm sitting in the bush. And if you're in the background, you can hear, you know, all these Northern Cardinals singing. That's cool. But John, how do you feel, man? What you out there for? for like, yeah, like I want to know, right? Because that's the part that we leave open to interpretation sometimes. And like, I love the idea of the voice memos, but the cool part I think about our episodes is that not only do we have some technical information, we have some introspective information, but we also have this opportunity with every episode to people to
Dream Guest List
00:36:38
Speaker
feel the joy and excitement, get excited for that. And so like, what's exciting? You're like, I love Northern Cardinals, right? Like every spring when Northern Cardinals start singing, that's like my favorite sound.
00:36:47
Speaker
I don't care. You can save all the other birds. You can save all the other birds every spring. Because it's literally like Adele was a bird. Think about it. It's rich. It's deep. It's loud. It's on point every time, right? And you don't hear it. You don't hear it in the fall, right? Or in the winter. But man, it started getting a little warm. The daylight started getting a little longer and the homie just like, it's like they like drinking the honey tea and then they just, they just hooked up and they're like, I'm about to give it to the world right now. If you send us that,
00:37:20
Speaker
want to I want to hear that from you. I want to hear why you're out listening to the thing you're listening to. What inspired you to do it? And I love that. I can't wait to incorporate that. That's going to be so exciting, man. So exciting. Yes, please, please, please send us those moments. That would be awesome. Jay, as we start thinking about it, we've already been chatting about guests. We got some guests already lined up for season three, which is pretty wild to think about it. But what are some guests on your dream list for season three? Oh, uh, I have a lot of them and I, 12 episodes of season, 12, 13 episodes season. We're going to have to execute some patients here because there's so many amazing people. We got to talk to the homie Dudley Edmondson.
00:38:01
Speaker
Yes. We have to, right? We have. I would love to get Karina on. I know she, she like raising babies and stuff now. So maybe we can get some of her time and talk with her about what she's doing and and and what she's getting into. The homie, Ficus, Ficus Wildlife on an Instagram. B I K A S wildlife. and anarica like just yes like on like I you know ah learned of Vikas last year right with documentary in Alaska, just incredible documentary skills. And then a week later, Homie was on ah a boat in Alaska looking at stuff, filming birds, eye level flying along the water. The Homie Anwar out here in Philly that was just photographing Iberian links in Spain. um
00:38:44
Speaker
They're still on my wish list, right? Dr. J. Drew Lanham because he has been, uh, I've never met him. I've emailed with him once. He has been one of the biggest influences on my ability to contextualize my experience growing up in nature and who I am now based on what he wrote in his book, um, home place and also his two poetry books, right? Sparrow envy and, um, joy is the justice that we give ourselves. Those are, those are some of mine. I have,
00:39:10
Speaker
a ton more too. What about you? Who's on your list? Did I, did I, like did I, did I steal some of yours? Yeah, you know, but you know, well I'm gonna let it slide. You know, the homie Nicole Jackson. Yes. Black and NPS. That's right. The homie Deja Perkins. You know, we got the homie Joseph Saunders. We go.
00:39:35
Speaker
Man, we got, man, there's a lot of folks, bro, like, we could just keep chatting and chatting to homie Tykey. I'm having him get mentally ready for Tykey, though, because he's gonna come in with like 16 dad jokes, so I'm gonna have to figure myself out.
00:39:52
Speaker
There's so many, like there's so many in our, speaking of mushrooms and our mycelium network, you know, of people all over the country and in the world. We proved that when we hollered at the homie in British Columbia. Still North America, but you know, we, we, we go on to different countries and stuff, bro. There are a lot of, a lot of some younger folks just pop out and just like item. So elevating some of those younger folks coming up, I think will be, will be really, really fun. If I got my druthers and we can get a big homie on the show, it would be the hip hop science show. If we can get the homie from the hip hop science show, because he literally slid in on a couple of our latest reels. I saw that.
00:40:34
Speaker
I saw that. Al got the homies attention. So, you know, when we're thinking about bringing in hip-hop M.D., that would be kind of crazy because he literally is, he is Bill Nye meets
Admiration for Hip Hop M.D.
00:40:47
Speaker
World Star. And the homie is just, he's the goal to science communication to me. So if we could get hip-hop M.D. on the show, I would ah probably would faint for like five minutes and then wake back up and be like, is he still here? is this Is this for real? Is this for real?
00:41:02
Speaker
You know, he's like, bro, I don't know who people think is the goat, but he is. He is the go to science communication. East coast people might say, might, might say biggie, you know, you got people might say pa that's who he is. That's who he is for science communication.
00:41:19
Speaker
to me. Yeah. Yeah. I hope he has some love for birds because his storytelling is absolutely tremendous. Bro. It's so funny. It's so funny. I laugh every single thing he does. I laugh right. And I learned something. No, it was the one he got you on with the, with the pumpkin pie versus sweet potato pie. Oh, see, listen, now that one, that one. Yeah.
00:41:43
Speaker
That one was blasphemous, right? like he like If you came to my house with that nonsense, I'm going to send you straight to church with that. You're going to have to go repent for your sins. Don't you bring no pumpkin pie up in here. I'm good with you know good with the pumpkin roll. That's fine. It's a separate thing, but don't, don't know no, no, we're not going to do that. I'm crying, bro. I'm crying.
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah. So that would be great, man. That would be great. And I think folks just live, learn this season that like we are birdjoy podcast, what it is. It is parallel to being in nature and studying nature and enjoying nature and finding value and connection with nature, not just with the birds, right? So we talk with people and where they're experiencing other creatures and other communities that are, that are, you know, adjacent to us. right. And so, you know, I hope folks like that and look forward to more of those kinds of themes, like continuing. We still don't bring the bird joy, right? It's always going to be there, but bird joy is like an amoeba. You can slide it into different spaces. where It can fit around these common themes of access to nature, of learning, of finding joy outside. And so like, do you have any, you know, do you have any different themes that you want to try to check out this season coming up? Hey, you know, my mologist, you see, I said it. You got it.
00:42:53
Speaker
No, we, we could just start exploring any, I think, I think having conversations and maybe it's not every week, but I think opening up to all steam fields is fair game for us. Yeah. I just, as long as we're centering and amplifying voices from underrepresented communities and.
00:43:10
Speaker
And um ultimately they just got to understand what's at the heart of bird joy, the joy of nature. The bird joy podcast is about the joy of nature and science and as a whole. So I think diving into other steam fields, I think would be really cool. Also like this idea of meetups or only BIPOC folks.
00:43:29
Speaker
We're like, we run clubs and and we we created our clubs for people of color, but also allies. But stepping away from that and focusing on meetups for only BIPOC folks and how to go about that, I think that will be an interesting conversation. um yeah like i Like I mentioned, the ml k day the MLK day hike and and the way that we're going about that is a lot different than how we would go about a typical club event. And I don't know, I think there's some just some really cool conversations I think we could have in regards to creating creating those experiences for those groups specifically and being intentional about those groups and what that looks like and how to go about that. I'd be i be i'd love to have that conversation.
00:44:12
Speaker
What about you? Yeah, I mean, I think that one would be awesome, right? And it's a good part about it is there's some intersectionality there with other underrepresented communities where they can listen and maybe we get ideas on how they do that in their spaces, which I always enjoy. And those kinds of events are necessary because it does it it prevents ah it presents a slightly different, I'll say, substrate for community and and learning, right? and you know this world is getting more diverse by the day and even in our little bubble here in north america right or in the united states we're not really even considering right now my conversations the level of diversity is happening across all these other continents and parts of the world languages religions backgrounds everything and so.
00:44:52
Speaker
Our conversations are just conversations. They're meant to spur the mind and give some platform to the thought, essentially, right? So that you have some place to start with it, right? And see what you want to do. So I'm really looking forward to that.
Storytelling as a Future Theme
00:45:05
Speaker
You know, honestly, I don't have any specific themes. I think my themes are going to come from some of the stories that you want folks to share. I think that is where I'm really going to start to, my brain is going to start to, I don't know what the word is, sizzle a little bit, right? because there's stories out there that we don't know. And just like I want to see all the birds in the world, I want to hear as many stories as possible. I think storytelling as a theme for next season is going to be something that I'm interested in. Just how people go about that and what their context is and where they're coming from. Oh, I do want to do an episode or maybe a conversation. Maybe this'll be season four, but I got a homie in New York, Ed Mundo, who is one of my burning and biking homies. And I, and I'm going to get up there to spring to bird through some of the, some of the burrows with him on bikes. And like just the idea of transporting yourself through a metropolis on a bike, not in a car, safety issues, what birds you can see. That kind of fascinates me because it gives another, you know, we always talk about accessibility. Well, maybe you don't have, you know, the funds for a car right now, but you got a bike. So how can we make that bike get you what you need in terms of birding, especially in a city like New York or in a city like Philly? That would be something I would be definitely interested in too, man. That'd be super dope.
00:46:23
Speaker
Yeah. I would just say ultimately moving forward, we want to really kind of get the audience involved
Appreciation and Future Plans
00:46:29
Speaker
more. So like I said, please share your stories with us, share your stories with us so we can share them with the world. We're also looking for potential sponsors for season three. Hit us up. If you're a brand or an organization that wants to partner with the fly us burden and podcast in the game, maybe we can build something together. Let's go. Ultimately down the road, I would love, you know like you said, shout out to all of our guests. I mean, they're they're giving us their time. Time is a very valuable resource, especially for the type of folks that we're talking to. So an hour, that means a lot. um If we were to be able to compensate people for jumping on the pod and stuff, that would be a dream just because you deserve it. But I just want to say thank you to everybody that that literally just sat down ah to chat with us, because we're literally doing this for the love this season and last season.
00:47:18
Speaker
yeah Absolutely. and and And thanks to everybody who listened,
Season 2 Highlights
00:47:21
Speaker
right? You make it worthwhile that these folks, it's because of you, the listeners out there and who you represent that, that these folks, these guests, you know, feel it worthwhile to come on here and share their stories, right? It's because you are worth. Thank you for listening. And if we had to button it up, Dex, you know, what's one word you would use to describe this season?
00:47:38
Speaker
excellent Hmm. Hmm. That's a good word. It's a good way. You're not going to be able to use it for next season. Just know you already took it off the tape. And it literally was excellence. Every time we talked to somebody, they were just doing excellent things in their field, wherever they were in that part of the world. Excellence. What about you? Oh, um, fun. Honestly, like I, I, I just, I was looking at some of the promo videos and like, you know, we have a lot of them and and I look forward actually to putting together a little recap promo video for the Instagram and Facebook, but fun. Man, I laughed so much with so many people. We're all so silly and I love that we can have super serious topics like goal ID, but then it's made me enjoy the episode laughing about silly stuff like which goal you're going to bring to a fight.
00:48:30
Speaker
You know, you know, it just, it's just, it's just that fun, fun was me and I, and I hope in the future we can, we can keep stacking these, these representative characteristics of our podcasts, diversity, fun, introspection, storytelling. And so that's really my hope is that next season with getting some of the stories in, you know, we can, we can build on that. I love it. And to everybody listening, in please don't forget to share the podcast with people you think could, you know, benefit from these stories, but also leaving reviews for the podcast wherever you get your podcast helps us reach even more people. So if you haven't done that already, please leave a review of the podcast for us so we can continue to grow and reach more people with this bird joy. Yeah. Yeah. And this again, thanks to everybody, but I'm already, you know, we're thinking about season three, you know, it's January right now. So everybody that lives in this cold state will hunker down, get some soup. We'll certainly keep active on the gram and and share some stuff. You can start sending those stories in right away, right? If you want to write, we would love to hear them and try to find a way to share them. so we um I mean, if they start sending them, who knows? Maybe we can, we can start sharing some of those you know and content. yeah Yeah, some bonus stuff. I like that. Yeah, please share those. yeah Share those stories with us. Yeah, if you're out freezing your butt off on a great lake looking for gulls with Dexter, Amar, and Rita, send us a little note. Tell us how it is. Is it really that fun? you know Are you seeing something cool? Do you have hand warmers? Are you okay?
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah. so Yeah. Yeah. Looking forward to that, man. And that dude, thank you. It's been another great season, brother. Thank you so much. Yes, bro. Yeah. Thank you. My Sundays, man. I always look forward to it. I would say people can expect us back probably in April around there. Um, sometime in April, I would think we'll come back. That's what I think. I'm pretty sure that's when we kicked off the last time, didn't we? Around there. Yeah. Somewhere around there. Yeah. Something like that.
00:50:25
Speaker
Yeah. Spring time. Spring is going to be a fun, fun spring. So I think there's going to be a lot of cool stories that we'll be able to tell some folks. We got some cool stuff coming up together in the spring and super excited. That's right. That's right. We got some stuff coming up in the spring and I'll have some stories from Northeast India.
00:50:45
Speaker
You're going to India next week. You're going to, you're going to find the Citrine Wagtail and you're going to make sure that one of their homies goes to visits Melissa. And that's right. I'm going to drop off the note, the recommendation and the directions and we'll be good.
00:51:00
Speaker
Oh, man. Thank you for joining us on the Bird Joy podcast. We hope you enjoyed exploring the world of birding with us in season two. Yes, yes, yes. Shout out to the BIPOC Birding Club of Wisconsin. We are still busy. We were just out yesterday birding in the winter. We saw 24 species of birds in the middle of winter. So shout out to the BIPOC flock. If you're curious what we got going on, just stop by the website, BIPOCBirdingClub.org. Awesome, awesome. We haven't done too much in the winter yet with in-color birding, at least not in January. It has some locks in December. But at homies in Philly, incolorbirding.org, we are going to roll out some of our events for late winter and early spring along with a brand new website for all of you to enjoy, which is going to be pretty dope. So I've been working on it for a few months now with some homies in Philly. Yeah, if you're in Philly, incolorbirding.org, check us out. Love it. Like I said, please share. Also subscribe if you haven't already. Leave a review. Shout out the podcast to all your fellow bird nerds. Help us spread a little bird joy. All right, my guy. We did it, bro. Another season in the books. Enjoy your trip to India, my guy. Thanks, my guy. I talk to you. Peace. All right, peace.