New Podcast Episode "This Birding Life" Nature in Iraq

Marsh Arabs have inhabited the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq for thousands of years. ©Mudhafar Salim/Nature Iraq

Available today at Podcast Central is a new episode of "This Birding Life." Episode #29: Nature in Iraq. I'm quite proud of this one since it contains some positive news from the warn-torn country of Iraq.

Last winter, at a birding conference here in Ohio, I interview an Iraqi civil engineer and an American soldier who connected as birder/environmentalists while both were in Iraq.

Dr. Azzam Alwash with a team from NI, monitoring the marshes. ©Nature Iraq

Dr. Azzam Alwash is the director of Eden Again/Nature Iraq, two organizations working to restore the Mesopotamian marshes of southern Iraq which were drained during the Saddam Hussein regime.

The drained Mesopotamian marshes. ©Azzam Alwash/Nature Iraq

Major Randel Rogers is an officer in the Ohio National Guard who has served two deployments in Iraq with the 371st Sustainment Brigade. During his time in Iraq, Randy went birding on the Al Assad air base whenever possible. He then went looking for somewhere to share his observations. That's how he discovered and contacted the members of Nature Iraq.

Major Randel Rogers of the Ohio National Guard, birding in Iraq.

To hear the rest of their story, you'll have to listen to the podcast episode. Don't worry, it's free. And it's also available via iTunes. Just search for "This Birding Life."

Re-flooding of the marshes has begun. ©Nature Iraq