The final installment of the spring Husky Bites season aired Monday evening, as Dean Janet Callahan and Interim Dean of the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science and Professor David Flaspohler discussed all things birds and birdwatching.

 Joined by Forest Science Ph.D. student Ryne Rutherford, and Social Sciences undergraduate student Brendan Leddy, the group discussed the practice of birding, how to get involved in it, and the benefits of it over Zoom. Over 140 people joined for the presentation and discussion. 

Flaspohler began with a presentation titled “Ten Ways That Birdwatching Will Increase Your Quality of Life.” It detailed the history of birds as symbols, gave bird facts, and even mentioned Taylor Swift. Notably, the audience was encouraged to participate via poll to identify an array of bird calls and songs. During the bird song segment, Flaspohler mentioned an app called “Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab.” The app, developed by Cornell University, takes audio recordings, converts them to images, and uses computer vision to match those images to those of known bird calls, allowing for easier identification of birds in the field. It is free to download and use. Flaspohler also described the physical and mental health benefits of being in nature and birdwatching. 

Following the presentation was a Q&A session with questions submitted by the audience. When an audience member asked, “What is your least favorite bird and why?” Ryne responded, “the Australian Emu,” detailing a story of an emu repeatedly stealing food from him during a trip to Australia. 

The presentation was the final in the seventh season of Husky Bites and is available (along with all the other episodes from this and previous seasons) on the Husky Bites website. The eighth season will begin during the fall, with the first episode planned for the first Monday after Labor Day. For more information, visit https://www.mtu.edu/engineering/seminar/.