Earlier this year, as I was considering ways to expand this publication, it occurred to me that written interviews with birders could be a great way to better know the people who share a passion for the world’s incredible avifauna, and by extension the natural world. Birds are interesting. So are birders. I was determined to find out what makes us tick. The idea was simple and would be easy to execute. I figured I could crank out one per week, and I would call it Ten Birding Questions.
Moments after floating the idea to my wife Alex, her brain got to work, and the weekly interview quickly morphed into monthly podcast. Suddenly we were talking microphones, editing software, and original theme music.
I don’t consider myself a particularly gifted conversationalist. I’ve never interviewed anyone, and podcasting is not something I’d ever considered. But after the initial wave of panic wore off, it occurred to me that talking birds is something I love, and doing so in the context of an interview could be fun. So I determined to stop being such a wimp and began thinking of candidates for a first interview. I knew I wanted someone who had a vast knowledge of birds, but was also a seasoned podcasting vet. I’m as green as it gets. Having an experienced guest could only help in smoothing over the rookie mistakes.
Years of posting about birds and interacting with birders daily on Twitter gave me an ample pool of candidates to consider, but one jumped out as ideal for the first round.
Frank Izaguirre’s credentials as a birder were a given. He edits the American Birding Association’s Birding magazine, and his passion for birds was all over his social media. I especially enjoyed the humor Frank brought to his birding life, and I loved the way he celebrated other birders’ achievements, especially in getting new life birds.
Frank, like me, is based in Pittsburgh, and he has a wealth of experience as a podcast host and guest. His association with my beloved ABA sealed it for me—I wanted Frank as my inaugural interviewee.
The nerves I felt when I reached out to him were akin to the first time I asked a girl to a school dance. The delight I felt when he readily agreed was akin to when she said yes. Of course the panic in some ways escalated in both cases—in 1990, there was still the matter of going to the dance. In 2025, there was still the podcast to record.
Then there was the theme music. Never one to do things half-assed, Alex, my Venezuelan wife, insisted on original music. Her film crew recommended Venezuelan composer Alejandro Zavala. I wanted a melody that matched the ebullience I feel when birding, and I gave Alejandro what I believed was the song that best embodied that feeling for me—“El Sapo” by the Venezuelan folk band Serenata Guayanesa. I also wanted the tracks to be heavy in cuatro, the traditional Venezuelan four-string guitar. Alejandro took those notes and ran with them. A couple of weeks later, I had music I’m proud to present to the birding world.
This first podcast comes to you through some serious growing pains and several false starts, but I’ve come away with an episode I’m pleased with, even as I size up all the room for improvement.
But through my mistakes, I had one thing going for me—my guest. Frank was a funny and generous conversationalist. I loved talking to him about his birding origin story and very special spark bird, the travails of birding as a parent, and his scholarly work in elucidating the genre of field guides, and I thank him for sharing a very personal story in answer to The Dreaded Question. In other words, my instinct about who my first guest should be proved correct. I hope you enjoy Frank’s insights and humor as much as I did.
And if you can find and identify the bird who makes a singing cameo during the course of the interview, congratulate yourself on your birding acumen!
Featured Photo(s)—Kentucky Warbler (and Hooded Warbler)
During our talk, Frank and I discussed some of the benefits of birding in western Pennsylvania, particularly when it comes to a number of the warbler species that can be tough to get in the northern United States. One species that didn’t come up but deserved to was the Kentucky Warbler, a bird I never saw in my years of birding in Michigan and had only seen once before in my life—more than 30 years ago in Summit County, Ohio. During this morning’s birdwalk with my friends Elizabeth and Sofia, we heard multiple Kentucky Warblers but had all but given up on seeing one… until this individual called out to us with a song that to me was unfamiliar for a Kentucky Warbler—a sonorous, almost double-vocal-chord-sounding song reminiscent of a thrush species, but not belonging to any thrush I could think of. When Merlin indicated Kentucky Warbler, I thought, Huh. I’ll have to remember that one. After five minutes or so of trying to track this fellow down, he moved to a tree above the trail and all but insisted we take numerous photos before being chased off by this surly Hooded Warbler.
10/10 Recommends
The Birds That Audubon Missed, Kenn Kaufman
I just finished this astonishing book by Kenn Kaufman, so rich in bird knowledge and history, it will merit multiple readings in my lifetime. One pertinent topic he tackles is the wooly concept of speciation, which Frank and I discuss in the podcast in the question about his scholarship within the genre of field guides. Kaufman writes with warmth, passion, and (often self-deprecating) humor about a controversial figure (to say the least) in the history of bird discovery in the New World. I appreciate Kaufman’s refusal to dismiss John James Audubon’s artistic genius in spite of his laundry list of defects as a human. Audubon was a genius. And he was important. And Kaufman handles the thorny subject of his legacy with absolute grace.
That’s all for this time. If you listened to Ten Birding Questions, I’d love to hear your feedback. What did you like? What could I do better? As always, let me know in the comments! 👇
Until next week, thanks for reading, thanks for listening, and bird your ass off!
nwb
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This post was human generated. All photos by Nathaniel Bowler except where noted.
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