MARIETTA, OH—Back in 2007, few people knew what a podcast was, and even fewer people listened to podcasts regularly. That didn't stop Bill Thompson, III, from exploring the new medium and deciding right away to launch a new podcast called This Birding Life.
From its first episodes, This Birding Life has featured in-depth conversations with birding experts, authors, conservationists, movie directors, and fellow travelers on trips all over the world. Some episodes have included laugh-out-loud humor while others have moved listeners to tears. Thompson's hosting style is easygoing and friendly and his interviews elicit interesting stories from his guests.
"I'm fascinated by interesting people and topics, plus I love to talk, so I guess podcasting is a natural extension of that," Thompson said.
This Birding Life has grown in worldwide popularity during its decade of once-monthly episodes. It now enjoys more than 320,000 downloads annually and has filled the ears of more than a million listeners since 2007.
"We've got listeners on every continent—some of my birding friends tune in from Antarctica—which is pretty cool. I never thought TBL would last this long or become this popular. Podcasting was just something fun and interesting to try out—a new way to deliver birding content," Thompson said.
Thompson's twin interests in birding content and audio recording stem from his day job as editor/publisher of Bird Watcher's Digest and a lifelong involvement in music recording and performance.
"I grew up in a house full of music, with musical parents and siblings, so, sounds and sound creation have been with me always," Thompson explained.
This Birding Life celebrated its tenth year of podcast episodes in March 2017. The podcast's most recent episode is an interview with ornithologist Peter Marra, co-author of the book, Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer. The interview discusses the catastrophic impact of pet and feral cats on wild bird populations.
"Because TBL episodes are between 30 and 60 minutes in length, we can go deep into a subject and we can cover complex topics that require lots of explanation," Thompson explained. "If I had my way, I'd just do the podcasts and a bit of music and nothing else. But thats not realistic economically—I've got kids in college."
This Birding Life is sponsored by Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, the American Birding Expo, and is hosted by Bird Watcher's Digest. It can be accessed for free on the Bird Watcher's Digest Podcast Central page as well as in iTunes and other podcast aggregators.
