Much of the life history of Bachman’s Warbler is a mystery. It spent only four months in the American Southeast each summer before migrating to Cuba and often inhabited swampy, difficult to access environments. With its likely extinction in the 1980s, there’s much we will never know about this bird…but that doesn’t stop John from speculating! Using historical accounts dating back to the 1800s, information from preserved specimens, and inferences based on its close relatives, John tells you everything there is to know about Bachman’s warbler along with his own thoughts. Was Bachman’s Warbler a bamboo specialist, an ecosystem now almost entirely extinct in the US? Could Bachman’s Warbler can be a flower specialist in Cuba, like the honeycreepers of Hawaii? 

Also, could it still be out there? John and Bird Photographer and enthusiast Tanner think possibly so! Tanner joins John in this episode to discuss his own personal search for Bachman’s warbler in one of the few Canebrake ecosystems left in the US. 

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The following bird calls are from xeno-canto.org

Northern Parula call by Naomi

Chipping Sparrow by Manuel Grosselet 

Worm-eating warbler by Cristopher McPherson

Black and white warbler zeep: Matt Wistrand

Bachman’s warbler call record by Arthur A. Allen and Paul Kellogg, preserved on the Macaulay Library through the Cornell lab of Ornithology

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Intro song sung by John Janousek, using “Taking Care of Business” instrumental from Drew’s famous classic rock instrumental version 2 

Outro music by the Sidewalk Slammers