Day 14: Today's Pick — A Bird Podcast That Made Me, Finally, Care About Birds

I am thirty-four years old and have spent my entire life passively not-noticing birds. They were just background. Then I subscribed to Laughing Thrush, a weekly podcast hosted by two working ornithologists, and now I notice every single bird I see, every day, like a person who has acquired a new sense.

This is partly the podcast and partly probably a coincidence of midlife brain change. But the podcast is the catalyst.

What it is

A free weekly half-hour podcast, hosted by Dr. Adesuwa Iduebibi and Dr. Will Foreman, two working ornithologists who happen to be excellent at audio. Each episode focuses on one species, dives into its biology and behavior, and includes high-quality field recordings.

What I learned in the first three episodes

• House sparrows are not actually native to North America (introduced in the 1850s)
• A male blue jay can imitate a red-tailed hawk to scare other birds away from a feeder
• The chickadee at my window has approximately 38 distinct calls and they mean different things

That last one rewired my brain. I had been hearing "chickadee chickadee" all my life and thinking it was one sound. It is, in fact, a complex communication system, and once you know that, you cannot stop noticing it.

The hosts

Adesuwa is a postdoc at Cornell doing work on songbird vocalizations. Will is a working field ornithologist who's been on five continents. Their chemistry is genuinely good — they tease each other, they catch each other on factual errors, they laugh at the same dumb bird jokes. The podcast feels like sitting with two friends who happen to know an enormous amount about a subject.

How it changes your life

After episode 4 I bought binoculars. (A pair of $80 Vortex Crossfires, which the podcast recommends for beginners.) After episode 6 I downloaded the Merlin app and started identifying birds at the park. After episode 12 I went to my first official bird walk, run by my local Audubon chapter. After episode 24 I had a five-bird life list and was, slightly, the kind of person who has a life list.

I am genuinely happier in a way I cannot fully articulate.

What's it cost

The podcast is free. The binoculars were $80. The Merlin app is free. The Audubon walk was free. The total cost of becoming a person who notices birds is about $80, maybe $0 if you have binoculars already.

A note on the format

There's no transcript yet. The hosts have said one is coming. If you're hard of hearing or process audio poorly, you can read the show notes for each episode, which include the species name, range, and recommended further reading.

Tomorrow: a strange piece of software for managing your bookshelf that I cannot stop using.