TBL host Bill Thompson, III, will be away from the BWD home nest for a while. We hope soon to resume new episodes of the podcast we all know and love, but in the interim, we're taking a trip down memory lane and replaying some of the most popular episodes. In this episode from December 2017, owl expert Scott Weidensaul joins Bill for a discussion of the winter's invasion of snowy owls from the Arctic. Through Project SNOWstorm (co-founded by Scott), a volunteer field research program studying these magnificent, mostly white owls, we are learning a great deal about their behavior, population dynamics, natural history, and how they interact with us humans, and vice versa. Scott also shares his tips for watching a snowy owl respectfully, without disturbing it. Posted Wed, 16 Jan 2019.

Ben gives LeBron-like advice for buying binoculars for kids or beginning birders, explains the visual difference between roof- and Porro-prism binoculars, and updates us on his last backyard bird sighting: a red-breasted nuthatch. Bill talks about a rusty blackbird encounter and how to tell rusties from common grackles. Then the boys welcome Clay Taylor from Swarovski Optik to talk about his amazing backyard in Corpus Christi, Texas, which has become a magnet for birds and butterflies migrating along the Gulf Coast. Posted Thu, Dec 27, 2018.

While snowbound last January, columnist Julie Zickefoose used the at-home time to come up with six tips sure to improve your backyard bird watching as outdoor temperatures fall. Featured in the January/February 2019 issue of Bird Watcher's Digest. Posted Mon, 10 Dec 2018.