podcast alert: American Birding & Bird Nerd Book Club feature feathered forest

As mu publication date of September 8th for Feathered Forest: Aloft with Birds in Ancient Trees (Chelsea Green Publishing) approaches, I’m happy to report two podcast interviews aired on Thursday, August 13th: American Birding Podcast and Bird Nerd Book Club. (You can listen in on various podcast platforms).

Thanks to Nate Swick of American Birding and Hannah of Bird Nerd Book Club for hosting me and for making a pitch for PREORDERS! It’s go time before September 8th. Thank you for helping my book soar onto the shelves and into your hands. Also–checkout my Events page to see if I’m coming your way to present my book this fall.

American Birding Podcast with Nate Swick

Highlights from American Birding Podcast

I was actually in London when I spoke with Nate Swick on the American Birding Association’s podcast. He’s always a delight as I knew from chatting with him about Halcyon Journey: In Search of the Belted Kingfisher. He is lively, insightful, and his questions lead to new thoughts for me to contemplate. Thanks Nate!

“What can birds teach us about trees and vice versa?” That’s one of his questions.

The birds bring the ancient forests alive. Each bird I feature is a guide and a messenger to ecological relationships –most out of view high above us.

We talked about loss of the great eastern forests with so few left and the losses and threats in the Pacific Northwest. And the incredible experience when you are within the remaining soaring groves with birds that thrive only here, and in the coolness and “climate refugia.”

He asked me to describe what it’s like to be within the wild forest–I spoke of the need to pause often, to never hurry, and to attend when a Varied Thrush sings a chord, and that feeling of reverence as sunlight filters down two-hundred feet from the top to alight on a spider web. Magical!

Nate loves the structure of my book, he said, from understory to midstory to overstory. And that led to talking about my tall tree climb. It was fun to get into the details of the adventure of not just being high up in a 200-foot-tall tree–but all that was entailed to get there–thanks to my patient teacher bird biologist Nina Ferrari, the PHd student climbing multiple tall trees in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest..

We delved into not just the treetops but all the layers and levels, especially the complex midstory. Birds are tied to ecological niches and the more diversity the better for supporting multiple species at onces. “it’s not just all canopy or bust” he said.

And Nate asked me that hard question. “Which bird resonates with me the most? ” I dodged that one by picking a bird for each level (and I think that could change by the interview!). You’ll have to listen to check out my answers.

We ended with a discussion on the fate of the Northern Spotted Owl–my take on the Barred Owl controversy and my pitch for protecting our last wild forests everywhere.

Thanks Nate!

Bird Nerd Book Club – interview with Hannah of (Hannah & Erik Go Birding)

In this interview, Hannah began by asking me about my influences and background. Sharing snippets from my childhood at Mt. Rainier, Westtown Friends School in Pennsylvania, Concord, Massachusetts, and on to University of Oregon and beyond is a reminder that memoir is an important part of my book and weaves throughout–from the understory of my youth to the overstory where I am today in my sixties.

From giving my overview of the entire book to delving into specifics like Pileated Woodpeckers as a keystone species and giving a pitch for standing dead trees and the beautifully messy forest, I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I also included a story about Vaux’s Swifts and their roost tree in Olympic National Park that is not in my book–a story of National Park Service heroism and the power and influence one individual can make. Last but not least, I showcased wild forests of the Blue Mountains of Northeast Oregon and ancient western junipers along with the lush groves on the west side. I ended with “climate refugia.” Do you know that term? Tune in!

Thanks Hannah!