Duane Bidwell is the author, most recently, of the new book After the Worst Day Ever: What Sick Kids Know About Sustaining Hope in Chronic Illness, with Beacon Press. He’s a professor, a chaplain, and an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). He also loves a raven, but we’ll get to that.

Today’s episode is all about hope. Where we might find it, what we can learn from kids who have it—often against all odds—and how may serve as agents of hope to one another.

We also dabble a little in birds, don’t you worry.

Whether you’re feeling hopeful or hopeless, this is an episode not to be missed, my friends. And don’t forget to check out Duane’s beautiful book. You can find it anywhere books are sold.

Janet Hill first appeared on The Thing With Feathers back in 2023. I’d followed her wonderful photography for years and grown to appreciate her invitational style, and our conversation cheered and heartened me.

I couldn’t think of a better person to come on the show to talk all things winter birding than Janet. From Saskatoon to Newfoundland, from California gulls to Black-billed Magpies, join us for a conversation about listening, the benefits of keeping records, and why Janet believes in the importance of getting outside every single day, even in sub-zero weather.

Plus: an update on Mary the Blue Jay.

Follow Janet over on BlueSky to see more of her beautiful work.

Simon Stuart is the senior advisor to conservation at A Rocha. Until April of 2023, he served as Executive Director of A Rocha International. Simon has been instrumental in the species conservation movement around the world, including winning a Blue Planet Prize for his work with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Really, I could go on. Simon is a gracious, brilliant guy with a biography longer than my arm. (He spent his gap year with Jane Goodall! He was almost kidnapped twice!) But I’m going to let him tell you his story of conservation and hope in his own words.

Two things really stuck out to me about my conversation with Simon. First, his perspective that good, healthy change begins with “cultivating the love of what God has made.” With so much hopeless and despair around everything from the loss of biodiversity to climate change, it can be easy to descend into despair. But he reminded me that all good work begins and ends and has its roots in love.

Secondly, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to discover a new species. Simon has that story to share as well.

Buckle up for an adventure of an episode that takes us from Bath, England to Tanzania to India and back again. You won’t want to miss this one.