Episode 31: About extinctions and conservation with Dr. J. Christopher Haney
Our guest today is Dr. James Christopher Haney, a conservation biologist, wildlife researcher, and author of more than 250 peer-reviewed journal articles, technical reports, and science summaries. His career trajectory spans the arc of conservation and extinction and we are going to talk about both these topics today.
Episode 30: Birding Uganda with Judith Mirembe
About shoebills, turacos, ostriches and other Uganda birds Our guest today is Judith Mirembe who is currently based in Uganda. Judith is a bird guide and researcher with a passion for birds, keen on their conservation as well as protection of their habitats. This passion stems back from when she was a kid where she learnt birds in her local...
Episode 29: The flight of the Amur Falcons
This episode is about the magnificent migration of the Amur Falcons, the largest raptor migration in the world. It is 4:30 AM on a cold day in November. A group of us from Bangalore are driving from Dimapur to Hakhezhe, Nagaland to observe a spectacle like nothing we’ve seen before: the greatest raptor migration on earth. Here is written...
Episode 28: Of birds and birdsong with Dr. Samira Agnihotri
With us today is Dr. Samira Agnihotri, who has studied bird song, racket-tailed drongos and ethno-ornithology. Dr. Agnihotri has worked in the Biligiri Rangana Betta or BR Hills from 2005 when she began to study birdsong while pursuing a Master’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation from the National Centre for Biological Sciences....
Episode 27: Birders of Africa with Professor Nancy J. Jacobs
Our guest today is Nancy Jacobs is Professor of History at Brown University. The topic of our discussion is based on her third book, third book, Birders of Africa: History of a Network (Yale University, 2016. Her current work is on the “Global Grey Parrot.” She specializes in South Africa, colonial Africa, the environment, knowledge, and...
Episode 26: How Audubon Americas is ramping up conservation
This episode features two senior conservation specialists from Audubon: Aurelio Ramos and Gloria Lentijo. They talk about Audubon's new strategies in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada. This hemispheric approach stems from the recognition that the majority of vulnerable bird species found in the U.S. spend most of their lives in...
Episode 25: The Allure And Majesty Of Hornbills With Dr. Aparajita Datta
Dr. Aparajita Datta leads The Nature Conservation Foundation’s Eastern Himalaya programme, under which research and community-based conservation with hornbills as a flagship have been carried out for over two decades. She completed her PhD on hornbill biology and their role in seed dispersal in 2000. Since then, she along with her team have...
Episode 24: The Real James Bond: Birds, Theft and a Spy.
Is there a link between birds and 007? Well, author and American birder, Jim Wright says there is. The title of his latest book says it all. “The Real James Bond: A True Story of Identity Theft, Avian Intrigue and Ian Fleming.” The book says, “Long before Ian Lancaster Fleming became a bestselling author, a...
Episode 23: Jonathan Franzen talks about birding
Jonathan Franzen is arguably America's greatest living fiction writer. He has won numerous accolades and awards. His latest book, Crossroads, is just out. Like many of his novels, it has little to do with his other passion. As Jonathan says in this interview, he doesn't bird very much when he is working. Now to birding. In his New...
Episode 22: How climate change affects birds with Dr. Umesh Srinivasan
Life on Earth is undergoing its sixth ever mass extinction, one that is entirely driven by humans. Amongst the multitude of “global change” factors causing species’ extinctions, climate change and the loss and degradation of natural habitats are major causes. This is especially the case for species in tropical mountain ranges, where most of...