Birds seem like a delightful lens through which to view curiosity: Here’s a species that lives among us, is literally part of the scenery, but to which many of us are almost entirely blind. But when we choose to be curious about birds, suddenly it's like a whole new universe emerges in our own backyards. 

We see things we didn’t see before. 

We hear things we didn’t hear before. 

We learn things we didn’t know before.

You can imagine my delight when I stumbled on María-Elena Montero, president of the DC Bird Alliance. She leapt at the chance to talk about birds--as well as some of the curiosity practices and life lessons to be learned from observing our avian friends.

Check out DC Bird Alliance: https://dcbirdalliance.org

Theme music by Sean Balick, "Wingspan" by Bayou Birds, via Blue Dot Sessions.

CHOOSE TO BE CURIOUS

Ep. #259: We Are All Birders, with Maria-Elena Montero

Tis the season for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count!

Episode 158 Christmas Bird Count

The 2024 Christmas Bird Count season continues ...

Episode 159 Christmas Bird Count Season

A little philosophy about how expectations effect my birding outings.

Episode 160 Managing Expectations

Episode 161 The Year Ends

Programs to reduce use of water from the Colorado River may impact local bird populations.

Episode 162 Colorado River Water And Grand Birds

The Cornell Ornithology Lab describes 7 things YOU can do to help birds.

Episode 163 Seven Simple Actions To Help Birds

Bitter cold in North America may bring unusual birds to Grand County.

Episode 164 Polar Vortex

It's a new year and a good time to revisit the American Birding Association Code Of Ethics

Episode 165 The ABA Code Of Ethics

Forty years of Moab Christmas Bird Count data can tell us some things about the local bird population.

Episode 166 Moab Bird Count Trends

Birds and birding in Moab and Grand County Utah.  Broadcast on KZMU, Moab Utah.

Choose to be Curious is a show all about curiosity. We talk about research and theory, but mostly it's conversations about how curiosity shows up in work and life.  

Now syndicated and available via Pacifica RadioNetwork.

New tracks tagged #birding