Songbirding

The Christmas Bird Count is a census of birds in the western hemisphere that is held between December 14 and January 5 each winter.
It was devised originally as an alternative to the 19th century tradition of hunting birds at Christmas, and has evolved to become the longest running citizen science project.
There are tens of thousands of participants - seeking out and counting tens of millions of birds each year.
2025 will be the 126th year of the Christmas Bird Count. If you don’t already participate in one, as of this episode’s release, you still have time to find and join a count local to you.
For the next two episodes I’ll be sharing with you my experiences out in the field during two of the 2024 Christmas Bird Counts, starting with the 49th Hanover-Walkerton Christmas Bird Count in Bruce County, Ontario, Canada.
Credits
Songbirding is a Songbirding Studios production, and was recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.
The Songbirding cover art (Blackburnian Warbler) is by Lauren Helton: https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/projects/5344062
Creative Commons music is by Scott Buckley.
For more information about the Christmas Bird Count, see: https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count
The eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S124632617

Creators and Guests

Host
Rob Porter
Rob is a software engineer and naturalist in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is the winner of the 2025 Betty Blashill Environmental Prize, and started the Songbirding podcast in 2019.

What is Songbirding?

Immerse yourself in the elsewhere.

Guided by award-winning naturalist and field recordist Rob Porter, the Songbirding podcast is an audio nature documentary that takes you on guided hikes while you learn the songs of dozens of North American songbird species. Entirely recorded in the field, and equally ideal for learning or relaxing to. You really won't hear any other podcast quite like this (and if you do, we'd really like to hear about it!).

Songbirding has been four-time nominated as Best Science Podcast for the Canadian Podcast Awards.

You can start with any episode in any season. Season 1: Bruce Peninsula, Ontario; 2-3: Southern Ontario; 4: Mid-western & Southern Ontario; 5: Johnston Harbour, Ontario; 6: Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania; 7: Kananaskis Country, Alberta.

For those with high-frequency hearing loss, please search for "Songbirding Under 5kHz".

Credits

Recorded, engineered, narrated and created by Rob Porter.
Cover art by Lauren Helton - https://tinylongwing.carbonmade.com/

About the Host

Rob is a software engineer and naturalist in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. He is the winner of the 2025 Betty Blashill Environmental Prize, and started the Songbirding podcast in 2019. He is also currently the Bird Studies Group Director of the Hamilton Naturalists' Club.

Support

Support the show at https://songbirding.com/support