Season Watch

What makes a birder a birder?

By Heidi Holtan,

Published December 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM CST

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A man in a red coat and large mittens peers through binoculars on a winter morning. — Malachy Koons looks for birds on Dec. 14, 2025 during the annual Christmas Bird Count in Itasca County.

In this episode, co-hosts Heidi Holtan, Charlie Mitchell, and special guest Malachy Koons discuss qualifications involved in becoming a birder and discover a new word: Snarge.

How does one become a birder? Do you learn to identify a certain number of species? Attend a certain number of birding events? Own (and use) a pair of binoculars that are larger than a dinner plate?

Co-hosts Heidi Holtan (Director of Public Affairs, expert co-host wrangler), Charlie Mitchell (Phenology Coordinator, aspiring pine marten spotter) and Malachy Koons (Minnesota Mixtape and Music Producer, non-aspiring birder) posit some potential tests to distinguish birders from non-birders, learn the meaning of the word "snarge," and discuss the origins of European Starlings.

Attributions:

Bohemian Waxwing recording from iNaturalist user murraymushrooms: Observation 194814213.
Murmuration voicemail from Gary Lilja.
Meniscus voicemail from Richard Thouin.
Pine Grosbeak recording by Becca Engdahl, XC394337. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/394337.
John Latimer's phenology report and the Little Falls Middle School phenology talkback originally aired on KAXE/KBXE.

Love the podcast? Want to taunt Charlie with a pine marten sighting? Let us know! Email us at seasonwatch@kaxe.org.

You can also send us a voice memo through Speak Pipe!

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Heidi Holtan

Heidi Holtan has been involved with KAXE since 2002. Now as Director of Content and Public Affairs she manages and is the host of the KAXE Morning Show, including a variety of local content like Phenology, What's for Breakfast, Area Voices, The Sports Page and much more, alongside Morning Edition from NPR. Her latest project is Ham Radio: Cooking with Amy Thielen.

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Charlie Mitchell

Charlie Mitchell (she/they) joined KAXE in February of 2022. Charlie creates the Season Watch Newsletter, produces the Phenology Talkbacks show, coordinates the Phenology in the Classroom program, and writes nature-related stories for KAXE's website. Essentailly, Charlie is John Latimer's faithful sidekick and makes sure all of KAXE's nature/phenology programs find a second life online and in podcast form.

With a background in ecology and evolutionary biology, Charlie enjoys learning a little bit about everything, whether it's plants, mushrooms, or the star-nosed mole. (Fun fact: Moles store fat in their tails, so they don't outgrow their tunnels every time conditions are good.)

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Malachy Koons

Malachy joined Northern Community Radio in 2022, where he helps curate the sound of KAXE and gets to share his passion for local music as Producer of Minnesota Mixtape, an all Minnesota music show airing Fridays at 10 a.m. and Saturdays at 3 p.m. You can also find him hosting Headwaters every Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. and 10 p.m., and curating our weekly live music feature The Setlist.

See stories by Malachy Koons