This winter, as I was birdwatching in Delhi, I looked for birding podcasts. One of my discoveries was this podcast by environment journalist Ashley Ahearn called GROUSE the story of Americas most controversial bird. This is a deeply reported story of this really funny, odd looking bird called the Sage Grouse and about the community that has prospered in its home. I haven't seen the sage grouse but I already love it's story cos this is a universal story.

From https://www.birdnote.org/listen/birdnote-presents/grouse:

"The Greater Sage-Grouse has eclipsed the Spotted Owl as perhaps the most controversial North American bird in the 21st century. These strange, wonderful birds live exclusively in the sagebrush steppe of the Intermountain West. But they are in decline, and protecting them has sparked fights between stakeholders across the region. Host Ashley Ahearn is a newcomer to sagebrush country, and she uses her personal journey — as an outsider trying to understand rural life — to serve as the proxy for listeners. She went from filing news stories on deadline to herding cows on horseback — and she talks about it in the show, weaving together her flailing attempts to understand country life with her quest to understand what it is about the Greater Sage-Grouse that gets so many people riled up.

Grouse is an eight-part podcast series produced in partnership with BirdNote Presents and distributed in collaboration with Boise State Public Radio."

If you have time, if you are interested in debates on conservation vs resources, this podcast is time well spent. Getting to know the sage grouse is the best bonus.
Press LISTEN to hear the wonderful trailer of this show, you can hear the sage grouse that sounds like it's playing drums under water at 46 seconds in the clip😆