Episode 49 is a special two-part episode of OTWTB. Bill and Ben have a heartfelt discussion about why 2019 is going to be a different kind of year for the podcast, and why it will be the “Year of the Big Sit” for Bill. Ben then welcomes Alvaro Jaramillo to the show, and we learn a bit more about this international man of mystery. Their conversation topics include the shifting nature of birding tourism and why you don’t want to play chess in Antarctica. Hint: It’s too cold!

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.

Favorite holiday gifts given and received is a major topic of this episode and among those gifts mentioned are a hockey stick, a mink coat, ten-speed bikes, and a vintage saucepan. Ben's nightmare Christmas Bird Count experience and Bill's Disney World surprise stories take center stage. Also mentioned are a conspiracy theory about wild birds, a new app that's like Shazam for bird sounds, an update on Ben's hot feeder action, and plans to handicap the results of the OTWTB Global Big Year Challenge™.