Eco-Stories: April Harper and Threats to Birds

April Harper has been working in the field of environmental science and education for a decade. She studied Biology at Longwood University and received a Masters in Public Affairs from the University of Indiana, concentrating on natural resource management. Her experiences range from biological surveying to formal education as an adjunct biology instructor. As an environmental educator, her passions for biological field work and education are combined through promoting and coordinating citizen science projects and sharing appreciation of the natural world through learning. April is passionate about conserving and properly managing all wildlife, but none more so than birds. She will not call herself an ornithologist as her current career does not involve the study of birds, however her experiences banding, surveying, volunteering at wildlife rescue centers, training birds of prey for educational programming, and overall obsession with our feathered friends makes her quite well versed on the subject of human-bird interactions and relationships.

 

This interview was recorded on September 28, 2020.

Resources:

• eBird: https://ebird.org/home
• October Big Day 2020 (birdwatching event): https://ebird.org/news/october-big-day-2020-bigger-than-ever
• Global Bird Weekend: https://globalbirding.org/
• Collide Escape Window Applicator: https://www.collidescape.org/home

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Fiona Martin (FM):

Welcome to The Eco-Interviews, AH. How are you doing this morning?

April Harper (AH):

I'm doing wonderful. So glad to be here.

FM:

Well, we're excited to have you. I know April, because she's a fellow triathlete. She competed in the World Championships last year in Lausanne with me. But besides being a triathlete, she's also a bird expert, and I love watching her on Instagram with these birds. I'm very jealous. She can pick up chickens, and I still have not been able to do that myself. But you do much more than that. Please, April, introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your work.

AH:

Absolutely. So I am in the field of environmental education. And I find my story of how I got there just a little interesting. So I started with field research. And I was actually doing sea turtle research in Florida, Mote Marine Laboratory. And I had this "aha" moment before grad school, before I applied to grad school, of the connection of how many people are curious about wildlife, but just don't have the knowledge base or the proper tools of, "Okay, who's gonna teach me things?" So I love being out in the field and just talking to folks as they saw me doing something interesting and cool, and they're like "Oh, but why?" And so I found my way into public affairs. And, as an educator, I feel like a biologist/liaison, and that's been my work lately. I stay in the field. I try to do volunteer work within wildlife biology, in terms of fieldwork and data gathering, but largely I am teaching kiddos and then general audiences, bridging the gap, the gaps that we lack in understanding with our connectedness to wildlife.

FM:

Yeah, and we have more and more wildlife encounters as people and part of that is development, residential or commercial, we're, unfortunately, destroying habitats. And some of these encounters we know to watch out for, don't feed the bears. I see my friends hiking always have bear precaution. And for myself, in our neighborhood, we have more and more coyotes coming in, and so people know to stay away from them. But then there's the less threatening wildlife that we hear about, like feeding ducks in the park or feeding the squirrels. Can you talk to us about this human-wildlife interaction, and when it's appropriate. And then, what areas do we need to maybe reevaluate what we're doing when it comes to interacting with wildlife?

AH:

Absolutely. And this is so hard. I fed ducks when I was growing up. And, as an animal lover, I feel like those are the moments that spark some interest for people. But there are definitely precautions. I really like that you brought up bears, because, although this is not birds, there's a really interesting study... I'll trying to find it for you... out of Alaska, and it was comparing at what times a year are we seeing spikes human-bear conflicts. And it is the time when they are going through hyperphagia, which is they're getting ready for hibernation. They're trying to really fatten up, so they're hungry and going for it. And then, if there are fewer fish, they get hangry. And so, they have conflicts with people just because they're hangry, and everyone's all around the food.

And so, that transfers to even with the smaller things that we find less threatening, like smaller songbirds, which aren't usually that aggressive. They're pretty tiny. But geese... How often do we hear about conflicts with geese? It's the animal we love to hate and to feed. So aggression definitely can occur when we're eating wildlife. There is the expectation of food, and then, without food, we see the aggression, which I think is also true of toddlers. I don't know.

FM:

Yeah. Yeah.

AH:

So that's one is just watching out for the aggressive interactions, because, at the end of the day, when there's a wildlife-human conflict, human tends to win. If there's an aggression, usually that animal is then going to be challenged to keep surviving, because humans now said, "Oh, nope. You're a problem," even when we create the problem. I talk about it as a feedback loop. So we're just drawing them in and keeping the pattern going.

Other concerns, because there's a litany... and you stop me at any point in time, because I can go on... are the desensitization, so just the getting used to. So even if you're not aggressive, being in close proximity means you're getting used to this not being a potential danger. And where, Fiona, I don't think you're a danger, and I don't think most people are a danger, but then you do come across some people who aren't as friendly. So keeping animals with that sense of humans are a potential predator, keeps them safer and potentially keeps them further away from residences, which are just... The list goes on and on of how bringing them closer to people, other things can happen.

Yeah, and then, of course, I think we're going to talk about migration. So there's delayed migration for some bird species. Populations of Canada geese have simply abandoned migration. We made these perfect lawns as smorgasbords for them. We feed them. Why would they go anywhere? And then there are other implications to, why is it bad for the geese to stay all year round? Why is it bad for any bird to stay all year around? And there's definitely some issues there. And gosh, since we are talking about these, that's how we found each other in this situation, right?

FM:

Yeah.

AH:

Unhealthy diets. So bread is not very high in protein and has very low essential vitamins that this wildlife needs, even cracked corn. So I remember, I was on Instagram being, "Y'all, this is bad. Let's not have these pictures and encouraging people to feed geese for all these reasons." And they're, "Oh, no, but it's cracked corn. It's okay." I have been in positions of training wildlife for educational programs, and we use cracked corn as a treat. It is like you would not give your kids a Twinkie all day, You might give it to them as a reward. Hopefully, not doing Twinkies all day, but your business. It's kind of like that. It's still low protein. Still low in nutrients.

And then, there are all sorts of health conditions that can come from that. For waterfowl, it's commonly angel wings. So when you see the birds with their little wings poked out and they're sideways, that's a bone deficiency that they're having. So they've lost enough minerals from being fed too much of the wrong food or access to the wrong food, and they end up with these deformities that can then prevent them from flying. So that's not good. And I even know birds are prone to fatty liver disease when they have too much of a seed-based diet. So even if in your feeder in your backyard, you are doing lots of sunflower seeds all year round, lots of peanuts all year round, that's a really high fat diet that can cause birds to develop fatty liver disease.

FM:

Wow. It's pretty wild. I know, similarly, with our pets, our companion animals, dogs, that they have an increase in cancer and fatty liver disease, because, not only are humans not really doing great with their diet overall with our Western diet very focused on high fat, carbs, sugar, it's playing down to the dogs. They're having the same issues we are. Obviously, it's playing out to the birds. I went to a farm, and they had a certain type of chicken. And she was talking about how they really had to watch what they fed them, because those chickens would just eat themselves into diabetes. They had no control, and you had to be really careful with their diet.

And then geese, as well, I think it's a great example. At least where I live, we have more and more developments, similar in other areas. And they tend to be places where the geese would actually stop on their migration. And now, we're in an office building, and people are, "What are these geese doing here?" And I'm, "Well, for the past 40 years, there was nothing here." So it's a shame that they see them as a nuisance and almost like, "Oh, stupid geese." But, "Come on, guys, they were here. They're going to keep stopping here." Are there any other threats due to human activity and development that we're missing here when it comes to wildlife?

AH:

Well, girl... I did want to touch on, my dad has feeders. I have had feeders in the past. And I love birds. Birds are fabulous. I want to see them. They're great. And I think it's just being mindful of our choice. Again, songbirds are pretty flighty. You're talking the tiny guys that are on the bottom of the food chain, and are less likely to be desensitized to humans and act aggressively to humans. We are just way too big. Geese, on other hand, are pretty big, and they can do some damage if they really want to.

So I just like to encourage people to be mindful and watch for patterns. When you gather animals together.... And it's just like humans, we're in a pandemic. We are not gathering together to not spread sickness. But if you have this food source, and you start to see sick birds... a lot of times that's showing feathers, loss of feathers... then that might be time to take your feeder down, so that you're not having a hot spot of disease transmission. Also, population sinks... when you have one source that you're bringing all these animals to, and then a predator is around... so say, a natural predator... or native predator, is what I'll say. In terms of hawks, if you have a hawk that is picking off birds off your feeder left and right, you might want to get your songbirds a better chance and remove your feeders for a bit. And then, there's cats. Can we talk about cats?

FM:

Yeah, let's talk about cats. We have plenty of cats in our neighborhood. My dogs are not cat friendly, so we do not have any cats. But we have a stray cat problem in our neighborhood for sure. So tell us about cats.

AH:

Cats are the best hunters I think there ever were. They are... I love... There's this book by Alan Weisman called The World Without Us. And he has a whole chapter on domesticated animals, and the studies done that cats aren't domesticated. If humans were wiped off existence, they would be just fine. All these other domesticated animals would truly suffer, and cats would be, "No, we're good. I can find something." But because they're such good hunters and because they will hunt, regardless of if they are well fed... And I think that's commonly a misconception that, "Well, my cat is well fed. It's not going to go out and try to eat as much." It's just fun for them. They can, so they do. They are actually responsible for about, it's a little over 60, 63-ish... I'm gonna just say a little over 60 species extinctions, between birds, rodents, reptiles, amphibians.

And they're an introduced species. So we have helped him travel across the globe, and we let them outdoors. And especially, islands are the best example, where there were no cats, and there was no need to be afraid of such a predator, because it never existed before. They completely wipe out species. And a simple thing that we can do, if at least we have one that we call ours, is bring them indoors. Bring your cats indoors. And you can also at least help. If there's a feral cat population, you can try to help get them spayed and neutered to bring that population down. But cats are responsible for over, I think, 5 billion bird deaths a year. A year.

FM:

Oh, my gosh.

AH:

It's a lot. It's a lot. It is the number one... We call it anthropogenic, a human cause, because we did help them travel the globe. But they're the number one threat to birds, and people' don't realize it. There are so many threats to birds, but these little fuzzy kittens that we love so much are just... they're just really good at being predators.

FM:

Wow. Well, I didn't know. I didn't know. Like I said, we don't have cats. That's super interesting. We used to... As a kid, we had cats, and they definitely were good at hunting mice and lizards and maybe a songbird. But wow. Amazing.

AH:

And the idea is, "Oh, they're going to them home. We're going to know exactly what they kill." Yeah, sometimes they bring them in, but they're doing their own thing. They're swatting it around

and playing with it. And it's a lot. Yeah.

FM:

Oh, my goodness. I said to my husband, I was gonna ask you a personal question, but I am, because he was asking about... We have 14 chickens in our yard now. And we let them run free in the yard, and it's like a jungle. So I feel like, as jungle birds, they have lots of cover and they eat lots of bugs. But now my husband's, "What about the songbirds? They don't have the same amount of insects?" Do we need to worry about our other birdies in the yard?

AH:

Other birdies... you're worried about your birds...

FM:

No, our chickens are fine. My husband's concerned that the chickens are eating the food, as in the natural food... we don't put out feeders.... that they're eating all the insects that the songbirds used to eat.

AH:

I would not stress over that. If we're going to talk about the general food chain, of course, habitat loss does play into the resources that we have. But, in general, our insects, some of our insects are struggling, but our general insect population is doing okay. And I think the thing to consider... it's probably out of your control... is how many people are using pesticides that are actually targeting, specifically what is threatening a crop or whatever. Residential landscaping is bigger in terms of its impact on the environment and actual agriculture. There are way more of us doing things to our lawn than there actually are acres of farmland. So although I am for global responsibility, I'm going to advocate for that. We have so much power in what we do. So no, you can pass on it. I would not be concerned about your chickens taking over, because chickens are also helping. Their efforts of scratching is helping turn over soil. They are playing a beneficial part in your backyard ecosystem.

FM:

Oh, I love it. I know. I love watching them. I was never a bird person, and getting these birds was an inheritance from our father-in-law. But oh my god, I could just watch the birds all the time. They're utterly fascinating. Their social hierarchy and what they get up to, so I love them. But I'm glad you brought up pesticides and herbicides. That's a human input that has real issues for the wildlife around us. And we did speak to Zach Steinhauser on a previous episode, who's a purple martin expert, and he mentioned-

AH:

I love him. I follow his work.

FM:

Oh, amazing.

AH:

Yes.

FM:

Amazing. Well, if you're in South Carolina to come see the purple martins, then we'll have to connect. I haven't had that had a chance to see it myself. He was talking about their aerial insectivores, which is a cool word to throw out. My husband was, "That's not a word." I'm, "It's totally is a word." They eat the bugs. And you mentioned pesticides, herbicides, are going to linger in the food chain and affect the birds. Let's talk a little bit about that, if you want to, and also, climate change, and its effects on birds as well.

AH:

Absolutely. So, again, I know our families want to protect ourselves, especially, the waves of human pathogens... So Zika, I think of Zika and mass increase in spraying your yard for mosquitoes. And I understand. I am very sensitive to our public health. But I also encourage those that weren't at risk, like if you're not trying to have kids during that time, which was the major concern is, 'I am pregnant," or "I'm trying to have kids." But this is just a good example of, what can you do that personally affects you? Are you capable of using your own insecticide on your body? Could you plant more lemongrass in your yard? Watching for water filling.... So I'm just pro those actions.

In the bigger sense, if we do move on to agriculture, there's definitely a ripple down effect. And it's really hard sometimes to manage those things. There are protections for farmers to be able to utilize these different tools, and it's fair. That is your livelihood. But we, as individuals, can also seek out organic farmers that are doing their best effort. I'm also going to advocate for putting your money where your beliefs and hopes are. So there is definitely the ripple down effect.

I think in agriculture, one of the things that is maybe even a bigger concern than specifically attacking certain insecticides... There is one pesticide called carbofuran, and it is incredibly deadly. And it's actually banned in most of Europe, because of how bad it is, but farmers still have access to it. And I think a lot of deaths, specific deaths, are accidental. But there's also, in agriculture, that I think trickles down to our lives, of the stigma. Poor blackbirds. Poor crows. They are fascinating creatures that are just wonderful. But some individuals... not all, most farmers are great. There's always a bad egg in every demographic. But I think there's a lot of stigma that goes into trying to actually purposely hurt some of these animals. That a lot of it is accidental.

FM:

Yeah, I think... It's interesting when we talk about there's different standards, say in Europe or other places, as to what sort of insecticides and herbicides and pesticides you can use, and I think, I can't.... Like you said, I purchase food, hopefully, from farmers that follow along the same ideals that we do. Personally, I can choose what I use in my yard, which is nothing. We have no chemicals in our yard, and it's fine. We have the scrubby part of the backyard, which all the snakes and the stuff who want to stay out there. They're not interested in coming to the house, and it works that way.

But I think there's also, there's a misconception with the general public that if it's on the shelf, it's safe. I have seen people, two instances, in particular, someone saying, "Isn't it amazing that they invented this herbicide that kills all the bad things, but leaves my grass?" And I'm just like, "No. It literally kills everything except for this genetically modified grass. You're like killing everything else under it. So let's get that straight." And then, I saw someone else asking about, "What can I spray on my anthills that's safe for pets. And I just was, "Nothing is safe for pets period."

So how do we educate... Besides telling consumers to really educate yourself, what can we do, even maybe on an advocacy point, to try and get this stuff off the shelf? Because even in another interview with compost, we've had an issue with tainted compost due to store bought herbicides that the landscapers use, and then they take the grass clippings to the composter and it's tainted all the compost and ruined crops for the next season.

AH:

Yeah. Well, and in terms of education, I approach... Some people... I'm not going say some people don't care, but some people, it is not the priority to think of the thing other than what they want. One the tenants of wildlife biology that I learned was beauty's in the eye of the beholder. And so sometimes I even think approaching it from a private land standpoint of, "Okay, well, what do you consider beautiful in your landscape?" So that would be my first step of encouraging. If you're having this conversation to say, "Oh, well, what is something else you could do to reduce your anthill?" And sometimes that's landscaping related. Sometimes it has to do with, what could you plant that is going to manage maybe against that certainly animal, that ant? So you manage for something, you have to manage against something. So you could manage for maybe a more natural landscape, which planting natives is going to provide. If you're concerned that the animals are getting enough food, that is a good way to feed animals without making it a hub and causing conflict when it's natural. So I think that is one thing. Just from a compromise and educational standpoint, that is an easier shift.

And then, if you want to go to the next level, I think you already know this, contact your public office. Contact your public officials. I find that it is easy to do the ones that are, if you have an interest in circulating on social media, and all you have to do is click, and then some genius already wrote up something for you, and you just have to hit submit. So emails are great. Calling is better. Tie in your personal story and why your concerned. Make it a heart string thing. And then, don't... And I see this as well, in terms of advocacy, we have our votes. But then, once someone has voted into office that we don't share the same ideologies with, we don't bother to contact them, because they think they don't care, but they are still your public servant. And so stay engaged. Stay engaged and challenge people, because, at the end of the day, they should be listening. And if enough people say it, then that is going to invoke some change... maybe not as fast as you'd like, but some change.

FM:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). I think that's hugely important is something I've tried to do to get more engaged with the local government and our officials. And you're right, I've heard it echoed through some of our other guests, including the Conservation Voters of South Carolina, the assumption that if someone who you didn't vote for is in, that the conversation stops. But you're right, it's your elected official. You need to hold them accountable. I think that's a huge thing, especially on a local level. A lot of the local officials never get emails, phone calls, about anything, so when you do contact them, they don't know what to do. But they almost have a more direct effect on your day-to-day life then someone who's in Washington, DC, and so I think they're more approachable and able to do things that you want them to do.

AH:

And even just talking about those concerns, when we're talking about products that we want to eventually have, at least more warnings, more obvious side effects. And I think that that's what you were originally getting at is, how do we let people know that some of these things are safe? So in that conversation, bringing those things up before it gets really bad. DDT is an extreme example, but we've had to nearly lose many species and see side effects in people before there was action. And if you have a concern, you can start talking about it now, and hopefully, hopefully, we address it before things get a little worse.

FM:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Let's talk about bird migration, and some of the things that are affecting it. I've seen articles out talking about climate change, changing the weather patterns, and some of those weather patterns cue up birds for moving north, south, wherever they need to go. And also, one thing that I sometimes forget, but then it always comes back up is humans' use of lighting also seems to be an issue. So tell me about that.

AH:

Absolutely. And, I will also say, we started this with feeding, and we talked about the late migration. I'm going to take just a second to advocate for when we delay migration, and I think of this as, so we have our geese, and that's a whole thing. But hummingbirds are a typical one that we leave our feeders up for a really long time, and they sometimes stick around a little longer. And some of the things that happen when we delay their migration, regardless of what's going on with climate change, is that the ones that stick around, they have the first choice of breeding grounds. And then, we see this ripple effect where the more fit of the species, their genetics aren't getting passed on as well, because other birds that stayed, are taking up residence. And they might have been ones that wouldn't have survived migration. So, again, I'm just going to circle back around, please be cautious when you feed wildlife.

Weather. Climate change. So we are finding that birds are taking flight sooner with warmer weather. And the reason that is concerning in because with climate change, weather is tumultuous and will have these different waves, so a part of the concern is, the trigger happens. And, some of the studies I've read say that by day two... You have some warm days and on the second day of these higher temperatures with higher barometric pressure... So high barometric pressure is really important for safe travel and flight and then usually comes with less wind... I don't have words right now... less headwinds. So high barometric pressure, rising barometric pressure, you get a little less of the headwinds that are going to make migrating more challenging. So if it's not exactly right, and you take off, but then you have these tumultuous winds, then you might need to veer off course. You might just not make it, because of a weather event that forces you into a city, which we'll get to lights, because that definitely does disturb migration patterns. And then, what if you get somewhere, and it's just not ready for you. The food that you're trying to get is not ready for you yet, or you end up a place that's too cold and just not ready to sustain your little birdie life. So those are some of the major concerns with just general climate change.

If you talk specifically about seabirds, all sorts of different other things, like ocean acidification messing with the food chain. So main weather events... And then, when we're thinking about climate change, so we're still studying plants and plants being a part of a food source, but plants, although they do shift their blooms with temperature changes, they do have more of a reliance on length of day. So there are a lot of plants that really what triggers them are length of day. So when these two things aren't lining up, then you're just messing with the food chain food source of when birds are arriving and going.

With some of those moves and during migration and why watching birds for migration is really important, is that all of our lights, like you said, actually draw songbirds in. It's something that's mesmerizing, and it's almost like they get caught, and they're like, "I don't know where to go." They end up funneling around our city lights. And the main lights that we're concerned about are upward facing lights, the decorative lights that really not necessary, but people find aesthetically pleasing when they look at a cityscape. So those can really confuse birds. If it was just confusing, and then, they did escape the light tunnel that's happening and move on, that'd be great. But, usually, they migrate at night, so then they're stuck during the day, because they're not ready to take off during the day to start their migration, or continue their migration. And then, we have these big buildings.

And the majors... So if cats are our number one bird killer, building collisions are number two. So we're thinking of window strikes, and then, even car collisions. But birds are not great at seeing a building reflection, and the clouds in the building reflection, and knock right into it, dive right into it. So there is a significant amount of songbird mortality that occurs just from building strikes. So the lights draws them in, they get trapped, and then, they end up flying into the buildings. And it's just all very depressing.

One great example I'll give you that's a positive story, so the 9/11 Memorial Lights that they do, that was causing thousands of birds in those lights. And of course, it is during fall migration, but they worked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to say, "Okay, when we see a certain number of birds that are starting to gather, we can turn the lights off for a period of time, and then the birds go away." So they became more vigilant, and they took a really easy action that is a compromise, like, "Okay, we're honoring 9-11 and all those lives lost, but we can still turn them off for a little bit and make sure we're protecting birds."

FM:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). It's really interesting that it's the upward facing light, so I wasn't aware there was a difference between the upward and then, say, a street lamp, that there'd be a difference.

AH:

Absolutely. And that's a conflict when you bring up lights and turning off lights or as a movement. To help migratory birds, one of the first things that comes up is safety. And we're thinking most... Birds are not traveling for migration at low levels for streetlamps. They are up high. On waterfowl, we don't see a lot of this as much, because waterfowl will migrate up to almost 4,000 feet sometimes. They're staying pretty clear, not that they can't get distracted by lights, but they're not getting at... It's not the same level as many of our songbirds. Downward facing is just helpful, but we can still... We can close our blinds at night to help with just the ambient light source. But really, the biggest factors are those big decorative lights around buildings and things that are facing up, because that's just that that's what's going to go directly into the sky.

FM:

Wow. Something that we've also seen, the wildfires out West, there was an article going around about birds just dropping out of the sky. And they didn't necessarily directly connect it with the first. I think they're researching it. Have you seen that article? Do you have any thoughts about what's going on there?

AH:

Absolutely. There are the combination of things. I think we are in such a time where there's so many factors going on at once, it's hard to isolate a single variable, but I would imagine, and from a little bit that I've read, they're trying to figure this out, but, yes, smoke, if it's not directly smoke inhalation, which some of it could be. And bird systems are extremely sensitive. For flight to occur, they have air sacs throughout their body, so that means that the things that they breathe in are traveling throughout their body more than you or I or your dog or your cat. So that is of concern of how easily it can go through the body. So I think we would be silly not to consider all that smoke inhalation as not a factor.

But then, it's the habitat loss. This is the time of year where birds are meant to be fattening up. If they're going to migrate, and some of them have very, very long journeys, they are putting on somewhere between three to sometimes ten times their body weight in fat, so that they can travel very far. So if you're losing your food sources, maybe you're driving out to more arid or less abundant places in search of food, then you're stuck and hungry and it's just the perfect storm.

FM:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). It is hard to see those photos. And then, just anecdotally, my husband gets really concerned about that stuff. And then, we were driving, and we had two birds just fall out the sky in front of us, and he was "See." And I'm, "Okay, Lance, I don't know what to tell you." It is quite... It's not fun to see that for sure. I don't know what's going on but we need to keep an eye on it.

Yeah. We mentioned agricultural practices in terms of the chemicals, but there's also... Our conventional agriculture is mono cropping. How is that having an effect on the birds?

AH:

Someday I am determined, in my lifetime, I'm going to be an advocate for switching out gen ed in university from being, "Oh, you can take Physics 101 or Bio 101 and learn transcription and translation just one more time, and take conservation biology." Because I think we just miss these steps. Because it's so simple. Low diversity at the bottom of the food chain means low diversity as you get to the top of the food chain. And so that's really... Beyond soil and water care from certain different agricultural practices, if we're thinking about just the overall diversity that we want to maintain... And birds are such a diverse group of animals. They're about 10,000 species of birds, only about 5000 species of mammals... so, so many birds, and it's great. And then, we think of insects... But if you have one plant, just it's not going to be beneficial to multiple species of animals. And so that is the main thing.

And the Farm Bill, which doesn't get enough credit, it is updated very frequently, every handful of years, and often has these wonderful protections. So it'll offer protection. It'll work with farmers to help certain species, all sorts of species, but birds included, that are maybe threatened or endangered, that could be directly affected by our agricultural practices. And there are the subsidies for crop rotation. So one really good thing is crop rotation and then, leaving certain crops just a year to say, "Okay, well, now wildlife can come and pick at it, if they want to, in between our growth." So I encourage everybody to learn a little bit more and appreciate the Farm Bill for what it does do for wildlife. But yes, if you can support a farm that is doing its best to grow a variety of different things, that is just going to be better for our ecosystem in the long run.

FM:

Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. So obviously, you have a passion for birds. I want to ask you... Why birds? There's so many... We've talked about a few different species of animals, cats and bears and all that, but tell us about your love for birds and why birds are so important.

AH:

Well, I didn't know I loved birds, until I took ornithology. I think I have a general love for all creatures, and a fascination. But I took ornithology, and it was like a world opened up to me to, to these beautiful and interesting creatures that are actually very easy to find if you know where to go and you know to open your eyes to look for them. So I almost think of it as like, you know when you get a car? You got a new car, and then, all of a sudden, you start seeing that car everywhere. You never noticed your model of car before, in the same way, and then all of a sudden, you're, "Oh, there's so many Priuses around." And that's kind of like it is with birds. If someone doesn't point out to you and be, "That's a different type of bird," you never really know, and then, they're all birds. But there's just such variety. And birds are so smart. They're fascinating. We can do a whole other interview if you just want to talk about the cool things birds do, because it is so cool.

So yeah, I am a birdwatcher. And I go, and I try to see as many birds as I can. I have a little collection of, "Okay, I've seen this species. I would really like to see this one." I'm not much of a chaser. So some people follow birds, and to the extent where they're, "I'm going to go across the country, because this rare bird showed up." One, my finances don't really help me to pick up and do that. But, let's say, snowy owl, sometimes they are years that snowy owls make their way further down South, more abundantly. I'm going to schedule a trip to go and make sure I get to see a snowy owl, because how cool.

And running, I don't know, you should... I recommend this for most people doing endurance sports to learn some bird calls, because in the longest runs or bike rides, it can get monotonous, and you're just, "What? I have two more hours of this to go. I'm bored already." But for me, I listen for birds, and I'm, "La de da de da. There's a northern bobwhite. La de da de da. Indigo bunting. La de da de da. Eastern meadowlark." I'm just... It helps. It helps pass the time.

FM:

That's awesome. Yeah, I wish I knew the bird calls better. I will say, as a recent bird mama, I'm just fascinated by their social structure and their hierarchy. And, as we're watching the chickens and the songbirds, the amount of phrases we have in our language that are directly related to birds, just astounds me. And I'm a linguist... I studied languages, and so, having that in our language shows me that we evolved with birds. We wouldn't have all these "birds of a feather" and "bird brained" and "pecking order" and "flying the coop"... All these things that we say, we wouldn't have that if we didn't have that close relationship with birds. Can you highlight... I know you have probably so many interest facts, but highlight one of them for us. Blow our minds with a little birdie thing that they do?

AH:

Oh, my gosh. Well, I think it's a very common as understanding that birds are completely monogamous and the best mates ever. Some are. Some are really stellar, but life has to go on. They don't mourn for an extended period of time. But one of my favorite things is the... So monochromatic, the birds look alike for males and females, those dads are usually better caretakers or helpers of protecting their young. And the more stark the difference is... The poor northern cardinal, those dads are garbage.

FM:

What?

AH:

It's not that I want anyone to hate on them or anything. They are there to be flashy and to spread their genes, and they are not incredibly helpful. So I think... Not that I want people be "Oh, well, birds are jerks," but there are just some really fascinating misconceptions. And if I can continue to answer the question why, I love working with kids. Kids are scientists. Their curiosity is that of a scientist. And birds are this amazing visual with all sorts of different opportunities for observation and questioning. I personally think there's no better organism to help facilitate the spark of the sciences than our feathered friends.

FM:

Yeah. It's so cool to get to know them. And that monogamous misconception, I know I used to have that. And when I lived in Edinburgh, I'd see the ducks going down the river all the time. And so, I Googled it, because you're like, "Oh, the drake and them all, they match up." And then I learned about flight rape, and I was, "Ducks. What? You all are getting up to some stuff." I felt a little bit bad for the female ducks after that.

AH:

Absolutely. And that's, of course, not across the board. I think mourning doves are delightful little dads. Birds of prey are fabulous in terms of their care for their young. But there are just so many different little things. Can I tell you one more fun fact?

FM:

Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

AH:

It's super fun. So one of my favorite birds is the chickadee just because I am a pretty compact, short person, so I appreciate small, but spunky creatures, and chickadees certainly are. But they have that call. So across chickadees, they're different species, but they do a little, "Chickadee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee." A couple of things about their alarm call, which their chickadee-dee-dee is usually an alarm call, is that the more dees that they add to their chickadee-dee-dee, it's telling you this is more of a threat or of an aggravation. So if they keep going, they're seriously ticked off about something versus a little one, maybe it's just like "Uh, that's annoying. I don't like that. Let's go away."

And more than 50 species of animals, not just birds, recognize the chickadee-dee-dee as there is potential danger around. So they are such a cool little indicator, and just how ecosystems and organisms evolve together that they're like, "Oh, when I hear that sound, something dangerous is around." And to me, that's just fascinating interspecies communication.

FM:

That is really cool. Yeah, I'll definitely have to listen out for the chickadee, because that is one of the ones that we grow up learning is an easier call to hear, that and mourning doves. I'm pretty good at spotting those... and crows. But they're so cool. I love talking to the birds. A lot of people hate crows, because they can be a little bit aggressive if you're you know nasty to them. But I had a crow this year that every single morning, it would start squawking, so I would say, "Hi" to it and I felt like we had a little relationship in it.

AH:

Well, and it remembers. Crows remember faces. There is a lot of great, great research done on... Crows remember. If you're mean to them, they will be mean to you. And if you're nice to them, they will sometimes bring you gifts. They are just fascinating, crows.

FM:

I think the crow brought us pizza. My dog found pizza in our yard, and there's no way... It's way too far away for someone... No one would throw a piece of pizza. I have no idea how a pizza ended up... And we're vegan, so it's not... It was cheese pizzas. I don't know. So I'm just... I said to my husband, "I bet the crow brought it," because I have no-

AH:

It very well could be.

FM:

... concept of how that happened. So I will always be nice to the crows. Man. What can we do as people to be better friends to the birds?

AH:

Thank you. And this the most important thing, because it's so overwhelming and scary. Number one, please, if you have a cat, consider keeping it indoors. That is just so simple. And your cat can be happy indoors. In this, if you get feedback, I will help provide the list of keeping cats happy and enriched indoors, because there's so much information.

In terms of buildings, even residentially, we can do our part to help prevent building collisions. So one simple thing is, even if you have your blinds and you leave them so they're open, but slated, if there is enough space for her to fit through, they will try to go through. But if you have lines about half an inch to an inch apart, then they can recognize that and they're like, "I'm not supposed to go through that window." And then there are great and not expensive applicants, and they're meant for design. They're meant to not be tacky things you put on the windows, but they're grayed out, and it just helps. It helps. You can apply them yourself, and it helps you to be able to... or helps the birds to be able to just see the window and recognize it's there. So I will send you a link to that, if you want.

FM:

Definitely. We need that, because we get bird strikes on our back window, definitely certain times a year, but I hear it and I'm, "Oh." And sometimes, we can find a bird afterwards, but it bothers me when they do that.

AH:

Absolutely. And so, I know there was a movement of these silhouette, like, "Oh, if you put a couple bird silhouettes..." And that's getting to the principle, but again, if the birds is small enough, and it sees a space it thinks it can escape through, it'll go through. So unless you're, silhouette, silhouette, silhouette, it's possibly not doing the trick.

And then, I think the other thing that I would encourage people to do, because it'll inspire you to learn more, is to just go watch birds. There is eBird.org is amazing for information about people reporting birds. Citizen scientists are the greatest bank of data for researchers. Just go out, look out your window and see who you can identify. There are free apps out there. So I think in terms of just action, there's a list of different little things we can do, but learning the birds around you, and even then taking the step to start reporting them to eBird, is going to be beneficial as we experience climate change, as we're trying to monitor all the things that humans are contributing.

So those are my number... the number the top three things. If I did have to add a fourth... if you let me... I don't know. I'm sure there are plenty of coffee drinkers that listen to your podcast, but going for shade-grown coffee or bird-friendly coffee. You can look for specifically bird-friendly coffee, but that helps prevent deforestation, which is where, in many of the countries where our birds are migrating to, and they need a place to be able to perch and sleep and hunt, so shade-grown coffee.

FM:

Oh, definitely. We'll look for that for sure. There is a bird migration event coming up on October 17th. Tell us about this. How can we watch birds? Tell us something that we need to be doing on the 17th.

AH:

Absolutely. And I would, as soon as you can, just start warming yourself up and figuring out who might be showing up to your backyard. So there is a Global Big Day in May, and that's been happening for a couple of decades now, and it's worldwide. Worldwide, people are going outside and for 24 hours, trying to see as many birds as they can. And then they report those sightings, eBird. So May, it's a date high in spring migration. And they've recently started watching the fall migration, so we can learn more about fall migration and help us learn more about effects of climate change.

So top tips... eBird does, and Cornell Lab of Ornithology has an online free, you can look at all the birds, and it'll show you where you should go in your region. They have an app that is also free that can help you identify. And they have great, very easy to cues for learning birds. And you don't need binoculars, but if you have them, a couple of tricks, get used to your binoculars. So I would say practice spotting with your binoculars, because birds are fast. And then, really take your time to look at the bird, before you run to the computer or run to your field guide, because you might not be able to have a chance to go back to it. It might already be gone. So I would encourage anyone who's trying to learn birds to take the time to look at it. What are its marking? How big is its bill? What size... We mostly know crows. We know the size of a crow, common bird, the size of a mourning dove, very common bird. And say, is it smaller than or lesser than? And all these little things are going to help you identify that bird. And then, you just go out on the day of and see what you can see.

FM:

Nice. So around the 17th, we go out. We look and see what we can find and take note on eBird.org. Correct?

AH:

Yes. And there is an app for that as well, and it's very user-friendly, very user-friendly.

FM:

We will definitely link to all that in the show notes, and we will be sure to alert our listeners to make sure that they keep an eye out and see what we can find. I'm excited about it, because there's definitely times where we live in a semi-rural area, where you'll be driving, and there's just hundreds of birds across a field, in the road, and you just stop. And I'm just like, "I wish I knew what I was looking at." You know what I mean?

And so this is for us to start getting there. And I've found in my exploration with nature is, understanding what you're seeing just gives you a much deeper appreciation for what surrounds you and makes you more likely to care about what's going on and care for it. Mm-hmm (affirmative).

AH:

And really, you don't have to go far, especially, there are lot of movements for diversifying the city, so like certain tree planting. Especially, we want to reduce heat within the city, and we want to make sure there's environmental justice and everyone has the same amount of shade, but those are just more opportunities to look for birds. And I know within... I live in the city of Richmond, and there are so many birds in the city, and even if where you are, you don't feel like there are a lot of birds, that data is still important. So getting started just to say, "You know what? I'm right here, and these are the birds that I see." That is important information to have. You want to know about the lack of birds, as much as you want to know about the abundance of birds. But you can find birds no matter where you are. So if you're in the city, I encourage you take a kiddo out. That's another thing, take your kid out to do... It's almost like Pokemon. You got to collect them all.

And one more fun fact, a lot of birds say their name. It sounds like they're saying what we call... They got their names... The forest guys, there were, "Oh, we think this sounds like this," and so then we named the bird. So a lot of birds, like the eastern towhee, will say, as it's called, "Towhee. Towhee." And then, that's fun to teach, too. They're really good at mnemonics. Okay, I will go on forever.

FM:

No, I love it. Yeah, birds are amazing. Think about your interactions. I used to live somewhere near the coast where there was seagulls, and a lot of people don't like seagulls. They're quite... They can be aggressive, but it's usually because someone's being nasty to them. And I have seen someone swat at a seagull, and I watched that seagull dive-bomb that person three times and poop on his head. And I was, "Well, you did go after the seagull, so..."

AH:

And then, that's of course, another classic food motivation situation. Oh, that's a lot of -tions. But, of course, you go to the beach, and it's, well, French fries. Of course, I'm going to go... It's opportunistic. There is not an animal in the world that is not going to take the easy way out for food. It's why we go to fast food sometimes, too. We're a lot like wildlife.

FM:

Yeah, surprising that that's what we are. Well, April, I really appreciate our chat about birds. I'm going to download the eBird app right away. I'm going to make sure we link up everything. I'm going to remind people the 17th and just encourage everyone to get out there and just look at the birds and your understanding will come with observing them, I imagine.

AH:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. This has been a lot of fun.

FM:

Yeah. Thanks, April. Have a great rest of the day and keep up with the birds and the training. I need to add identifying birds while I train. My thing right now is trying to identify the plants on the side of the road, like all the wild ones.

AH:

And they don't move away, so that's really helpful.

FM:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, they're still there. But it's, like you said, three four five hours on the road, lots of things that we could pay attention to.

AH:

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so much.

FM:
All right. Thanks, April. Bye.