03-23: Documenting Birders on the Border with Otilia Portilla Padua

The American Birding Podcast

naswick

Science, Birding, Hobbies, Travel, Birdwatching, Leisure, Aba, Ornithology, Nature, Birds

4.7 • 632 Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2019

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many birders throughout the ABA Area have been paying attention to the ongoing situation in South Texas with regard to the construction of the border wall. So many of our favorite birding sites have been under threat, and the situation has been alternately sad and triumphant and frustrating. Filmmaker Otilia Portillo Padua offers her insight into the often fraught affair with Birders, a short documentary recently released on the streaming platform Netflix. She joins me from Mexico City to talk about the film and her journey from Texas to Veracruz through the eyes of birds and the people who love them.

Also, exciting news about a hummingbird oasis in Arizona and thoughts about the recent Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the American Birding Podcast is brought to you by Tirezmo de Lisboa.
0:05.6	The Iberian Peninsula offers some of the best birding in Europe, and Lisbon, Portugal, is an excellent gateway to it all.
0:12.4	Located at the mouth of the Tagus River, with exceptional birding just a short distance away, Lisbon is a paradise for migratory waterbirds, with wintering flamingos, storks, raptors, and more.
0:22.8	And it's one of the most affordable cities in Europe.
0:25.3	For more information on what you can expect from Portugal's capital, be it cultural or birding highlights, go to visit lisboa.com.
0:43.8	Hello and welcome to another episode of the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association.
0:51.6	I am your host, Nate Swick, and I'm back from an exceptional few days at the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival down in Harlingen, Texas.
0:54.5	If you are a regular listener to the podcast, you know that we did a live game show this year.
1:00.7	It was a lot of fun.
1:02.2	And those of you in attendance might be just a little disappointed to know that we are not running it this episode immediately after the festival.
1:09.9	John and I want to take a little bit of time to
1:11.7	piece it together into something that sounds as good to you and your earbuds as it sounded
1:16.5	to everybody in the audience. So that will be next time. Please be patient. We'll get there.
1:22.0	It'll be worth it. I do want to take the time instead to talk a little about a really exciting
1:26.6	development that happened along the border in Arizona with regard to one of the ABA area's most storied hummingbird sites.
1:35.6	Many, many birders have traveled to Ash Canyon and visited the Bed and Breakfast run until relatively recently by Mary Jo Ballator over the years. You never had to be a
1:45.9	guest to enjoy the hummingbirds that came to her exceptional feeders. And it was one of the most
1:51.5	reliable sites in the ABA area for Lucifer hummingbird as well as big rarities like Plankap Starthroat.
1:58.6	She had a great hummingbird feeder array hanging around this
2:02.3	really beautiful tree and, you know, amazing gardens that she maintained. But when Mary Jo died
2:08.1	earlier in 2019, there was a real worry that the subsequent sale of our home would mean that it
2:14.2	would no longer be available to birders. I don't know that a lot of
	...

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