Adventures with the World’s Best Birder: In Your Backyard and Beyond

Noah Strycker is the Indiana Jones of birding, willing to brave jungle heat and Arctic cold just to spot that rare bunting, owl, or hawk. In 2015, in a quest that spanned 41 countries and all seven continents, he set a world record by finding more than 6,000 different kinds of birds—more than half the bird species on Earth—in a single year.

But, as Noah explains in this episode, searching out our feathered friends doesn’t necessarily require epic treks across the globe. Sometimes birding is as simple as keeping your eye on a backyard feeder or taking a mindful walk in the woods. It can also be a great part of any road trip in the West, from the canyons of Arizona to the Bering Strait. Noah regales aspiring birders Mitti and Michelle with tales of his own greatest birding adventures and offers tips for anyone who wants to embark on one of their own.

Destinations we visit:

• Madera Canyon, Arizona
• Point Reyes, California
• Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, California
• Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon
• Nome, Alaska
• St. Lawrence Island, Alaska
• Colombia
• Guyana

 Birds we observe:

• American robin
• Bald eagle
• Barred owl
• Choco toucan
• Great horned owl
• Harpy eagle
• Northern pygmy owl
• Ptarmigan
• Puffin
• Red-tailed hawk
• Ringed kingfisher
• Sandhill crane
• Snow goose
• White-throated sparrow
• Yellow warbler

Guest:

Noah Strycker is a writer and photographer based in Eugene, Oregon. He has written several bestselling books, including Birding Without Borders: An Obsession, a Quest, and the Biggest Year in the World and The Thing With Feathers: The Surprising Lives of Birds and What They Reveal About Being Human. He is also the associate editor of Birding magazine. He’s been called a “Travel Pioneer” by the BBC and “Birdman of Razzmatazz” by Newsweek. Noah has an especially soft spot for penguins, which he's observed and researched on nearly 50 expeditions to Antarctica.