Bring Birds Back | BirdNote

Bring Birds Back® is a show about the most pressing and relevant issues in bird conservation, from climate change and environmental justice to policy and technology. With each episode, you’ll learn how you can help make a better world for birds and people through simple, everyday actions. By spotlighting the voices and expertise of people from many different backgrounds, identities, and communities, we share stories that are not only educational, inspiring and timely, but also inclusive.

Bring Birds Back podcast art © Hayden Maynard

Radical Joy with Dr. J. Drew Lanham

September 3, 2025

Ornithologist, poet and MacArthur Fellow, Dr. J. Drew Lanham, speaks with host Billy Almon in our season 7 finale! The two begin by talking about Drew’s humble beginnings and southern influence from his grandmother’s teachings, and how he became a self-taught birder. Later, they discuss…

Bring Birds Back Season 7 Episode 5 with Dr. Rose Abramoff and Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali

The Climate Crisis is at Home

August 27, 2025

What’s a climate crisis without acknowledgement of an emergency? In conversation with guests Dr. Rose Abramoff and Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, host Anika Hazra discusses the ever-evolving battle for a healthy world from the front lines to legislation. Rose, a climate scientist turned…

Birdsong and Speech with Dr. Erich Jarvis

August 20, 2025

Host Anika Hazra speaks with tenured professor and leading voice in neuroscience, Dr. Erich Jarvis! Erich, who has spent decades researching the neural biological connections between mammals and birds, shares his research that indicates some birds are ancestrally connected to humans…

Bring Birds Back Season 7 Episode 3 with Kelsey Leonard

Indigenous Water Justice

August 13, 2025

Host Billy Almon speaks with Indigenous water scientist, legal scholar and advocate Dr. Kelsey Leonard. Kelsey incorporates both her Indigenous knowledge and practices along with her western science studies to advocate for a better world for us all. From the importance of birds to…

Bring Birds Back Season 7 Episode 2 with Mario Pesendorfer

Restoration Ecology: The Birds and the Trees

August 6, 2025

Meet your co-host, Anika Hazra! Anika is a former restoration ecologist turned science communicator, and in this episode, she’s teaching us all about her past work life. Restoration ecology is a less popular method of conservation that holds a lot of potential and Anika walks us through…

Biomimicry, Birds and Beyond with adrienne maree brown

July 30, 2025

On this season premiere episode, meet your new co-host, Billy Almon! Billy is an astrobiofuturist (which you’ll hear more about later), and one of his passions and expertise is in the art of biomimicry. Billy lays out the history of this ancient process, how it's been instrumental in…

Season 7 of Bring Birds Back Coming Soon!

July 23, 2025

Bring Birds Back, is back... and we’ve got two new co-hosts, Billy Almon and Anika Hazra! They'll be sharing their own personal knowledge and passions with you, and speak with world-renowned faves like J. Drew Lanham, adrienne maree brown, and Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali – to name a few. We…

Let’s Talk About Bird Flu

November 6, 2024

Avian flu, better known as bird flu, has been in news headlines all of 2024. Still, many questions remain for the general public. What is it? What’s causing it? How is it spreading? And how serious should we be taking this public health matter? Our co-hosts Purbita Saha and Deja Perkins…