Avian Obsessions

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Wisconsin Public Radio

Prx, Philosophy, Knowledge, Wpr, Ttbook, Wisconsin, Society & Culture

4.7 • 844 Ratings

🗓️ 1 June 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s summer, and you might be pulling out your binoculars, filling your bird feeders, and looking up as you hear a melodious song. But for many birdwatchers, it's not just a simple pastime. Identifying bird calls, tracking rare breeds through marshes and waters, and watching our feathered friends as they watch you has turned into true love of birds — an avian obsession.

Original Air Date: June 17, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:
'Utterly unlike other birds': The inscrutable brilliance of owls — Mark Obmascik on Competitive Bird Watching — The Indelible Myth and Meaning of Ravens — Christopher Benfey on 'A Summer of Hummingbirds'

Guests:
Jennifer Ackerman, Mark Obmascik, Charles Monroe-Kane, Christopher Benfey

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi friends, it's Anne.
0:07.0	If I open my window right now, I can hear goldfinches.
0:13.0	Morning doves, maybe a mockingbird,
0:17.0	sometimes even a pair of sandhill cranes.
0:28.7	Here in the Midwest, that chorus of birdsong means summer is finally here.
0:30.5	No wonder we love them.
0:35.3	But for some people, birds mean more than pretty songs and bright colors.
0:37.0	A lot more.
0:39.9	This week, on to the best of our knowledge,
0:41.9	avian obsessions.
0:48.9	From WPR.
0:53.4	It's to the best of our knowledge.
0:54.6	I'm And Strange Champs.
1:00.5	Have you ever fallen in love with a bird?
1:03.6	A particular kind of bird, I mean.
1:07.6	It can be a life-changing experience.
1:18.2	The most vivid encounter I ever had with an owl was one day last spring in western Montana.
1:21.0	Rider and birder Jennifer Ackerman.
1:25.3	I was with Denver Holt, who's one of the world's foremost experts on owls.
1:30.3	We were in a gully that was just full of hawthorn and choke cherry trees,
1:35.3	and we had just trapped a female long-eared owl in a mishnat.
1:40.3	I had actually seen this owl earlier while she was roosting in a hawthorn tree in the gully.
	...

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