In this week’s episode, co-hosts Natalie Argerious and Ray Dubicki are joined by conservation educators Hanae Bettencourt, Josh Morris, and Kate Lanier from Seattle Audubon. We get to talk about birds! The good news: it’s fun to get into birding and Seattle’s a great place to do it. Unfortunately, there is some bad news too. The region’s birds face a number of threats, including window strikes and our resident “adorable murder machines” — cats.
Come to find out, due to its location between mountains and water, Seattle is home to a wonderful array of bird species. From the to the super smart crows of Bothell to the migrating Rufous hummingbird, the region does well for spotting all sorts of interesting species. And getting into the habit is easy, regardless of the stereotypes that hang on bird watching. Here’s a link to the Merlin bird identifying app we talk about in the show. But really, the only thing it takes to watch birds is getting outside and giving them a little attention. Which is good for us too.
Is there a fantastic bird you’ve seen or a place you enjoy listening to our winged residents? Reach out to us at podcast [at] theurbanist.org.
As always, you can find The Urbanist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and other major platforms. And if you are enjoying the podcast, be sure to offer a “like” or “thumbs up” on your favorite platform. It’s a great way to spread the word to new listeners.
Ray Dubicki is a stay-at-home dad and parent-on-call for taking care of general school and neighborhood tasks around Ballard. This lets him see how urbanism works (or doesn’t) during the hours most people are locked in their office. He is an attorney and urbanist by training, with soup-to-nuts planning experience from code enforcement to university development to writing zoning ordinances. He enjoys using PowerPoint, but only because it’s no longer a weekly obligation.