Backyard Birds and Beyond with Greg Bodker

Birdwatching and Birding

The flagship program — how to see, enjoy, and understand birds in the backyard and in the field, told through photography, video, and personal stories.

Audiences
Adults · Young adults ages 12+ · No experience required
Length
About 60 minutes, plus questions
A Black-capped Chickadee perched on an open hand filled with sunflower seeds.

Greg combines photography, video, and personal stories to help audiences see and enjoy birds — both at the backyard feeder and out in the field. The program draws a friendly distinction between simply watching birds and “birding”: paying attention to bird behavior and letting it pull you outdoors.

It is an approachable starting point for anyone curious about the birds around them, with plenty for longtime watchers too. Greg has birded all 83 Michigan counties, and that local knowledge grounds the program in places the audience recognizes.

Above all it encourages “Slow Birding” — taking the time to notice what birds are actually doing, and enjoying it.

What the program covers

  • How birdwatching reduces stress and supports well-being
  • The difference between birdwatching and birding
  • Attracting birds to your backyard — seed types and feeder care
  • Slow Birding: enjoying bird behavior
  • Birding beyond the backyard, and finding local hotspots
  • Stories from bird chases and field experiences
A male Northern Cardinal passing a seed to a female cardinal in the snow.
Backyard feeders provide opportunities to study bird behavior. A male Northern Cardinal feeds a female during spring courtship.
Two Blue Jays competing for food at a feeder on a frigid morning.
You do not have to travel to see bird behavior. Here Blue Jays battle for food on a sub-zero morning.
An older man seated with a camera, photographing birds near backyard feeders.
My Dad, age 81, getting ready to photograph birds near the feeders.
A birder standing in an overgrown swamp watching for warblers.
See different birds by going to different habitats. Here I enjoy seeing warblers in an overgrown swamp.
A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at a hole it is excavating in a tree trunk.
Birding means enjoying bird behavior. This Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is drilling out a nest.