10-21: This Month in Birding - May 2026

It's the end of May, the season for bald cardinals, baby birds, and buggy birding. But most importantly, it's the last Thursday of the month and that means it's time for This Month in Birding, our monthly panel discussion of bird news and science and we have rounded up another great group of birding friends to have that discussion. Host Nate Swick is joined by Mikko Jimenez, Jordan Rutter, and Brodie Cass Talbott, to talk vagrant birds, robo-grouse, and birdy World Cup crests. 

Links to articles discussed in this episode:

When Primm resort-casinos go dark, what happens to the birds?

Students fabricate randy robo-grouse whose strut could save birds at Jackson Hole Airport

Demography and dispersion: evaluating the causes and consequences of vagrancy in North American migratory birds

Inter- and intra-individual variation in the feather coloration of American crows