Project Upland presents the Project Upland Podcast, a cinematic and science-based production that delivers on the independent storytelling you have come to love.
Cohosts AJ DeRosa and Gabby Zaldumbide learn from researchers, biologists, and subject matter experts about birds, nature, conservation, dogs, and more. This podcast is a glimpse into the minds of the curious, obsessive, and hard-working folks who work at Project Upland and an exploration of all the things we find that we can't always include in print.
Join us as we travel into the deepest, most obscure, and nerdiest realms of the uplands. After all, these are your stories.
Host AJ and guest Gabby explore the complex genetic and survival reasons behind the varied color phases of Ruffed Grouse, an interview revealing fascinating insights.
26 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Who Pays for Gamebird Research?
Dr. Lance McNew, Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Montana State University, explains to Gabby and AJ how funding shapes game bird research and wildlife management.
22 Jul 2026
How Congress Created America's First Public Lands
In this “Civics of Conservation” episode of the Project Upland Podcast, AJ and Gabby explore one of the most consequential transformations in American history: how the United States went from a nation committed to disposing of its public domain to one that began preserving land for future generations. Together, they trace the federal government's acquisition of nearly 1.8 billion acres through purchases, treaties, and wars before examining how Congress exercised its constitutional authority u...
27 May 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Governing Body with the Greatest Impact on Hunting
Host AJ and Gabby interview veteran journalist and former Montana Fish and Wildlife commissioner Andrew McKean about the impactful role of fish and game commissions in shaping wildlife policy.
11 May 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Public Trust Doctrine - The Civics of Conservation
How the Public Trust Doctrine Built the Uniquely American Idea of Publicly Owned Wildlife and Wildlife Management In this episode, AJ and Gabby explore the origins of the Public Trust Doctrine with Leon Szeptycki and examine how a series of legal and political turning points helped shape wildlife conservation in the United States. From Roman law and medieval England to landmark Supreme Court cases and the conservation movement of the Progressive Era, they trace how the idea of wildlife as a s...
27 Apr 2026
Rare Itinerant Breeders: How Researchers Discovered the Woodcock’s Unique Breeding Strategy
GPS tracking reveals American woodcock re-nesting movements across the Atlantic Flyway In this episode, AJ and Gabby talk with Colby Slezak, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Rhode Island, about a surprising breakthrough in American woodcock ecology: evidence that female woodcock can be itinerant breeders. Colby explains how new GPS tracking technology, combined with on-the-ground nest checks through the Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative, helped confirm a behavior t...
27 Jan 2026
How White-Winged Doves Are Outsmarting Extinction
Owen Fitzsimmons and Dr. Jennifer Smith discuss the cultural significance and ongoing research, including GPS tracking, of white-winged doves in Texas and Arizona with hosts AJ and Gabby in an interview.
9 Sept 2025
The Birds Aren’t Alright
Host Gabby Zaldumbide and A.J. DeRosa interview Dr. Michael Brasher, senior waterfowl scientist at Ducks Unlimited, about concerning bird population trends and the impact of lost federal research funding.
19 Jun 2025
Urgent: The Senate Public Lands Sale - A Breakdown
Hosts AJ and Gabby break down the proposed sale of public lands included in the federal budget reconciliation bill, focusing on the potential impact on conservation efforts.
30 May 2025
A 140-year-old Woodcock Exposed an Eco Terrorist
Hosts A.J. DeRosa and Gabby Petito investigate an 1885 woodcock dissection that reveals a connection between invasive worms and the migration patterns of American woodcock in this episode.
2 May 2025
The Mystery of Grouse Drumming: From Thunder to Algorithms
In this episode, Gabby and AJ explore the mystery of ruffed grouse drumming—starting in the 1700s, when naturalists first theorized about the sound, and tracing the evolution of human technology that finally unlocked the truth behind this unique behavior. Along the way, they talk to biologist Alaina Roth, Wisconsin’s statewide ruffed grouse specialist, who sheds light on grouse life history, drumming counts, and how technology is transforming wildlife surveys. This episode covers everything f...
9 Apr 2025
Are Upland Hunters Hardcore? The Data Says Yes
In this episode, Gabby and AJ talk about the North American Upland Bird Hunting Survey, which has been conducted annually since 2018. The eighth iteration of this survey explores everything from hunting dogs and shotguns to upland bird species—and just how much and how people hunt them. The 2025 edition includes an expanded opinion section covering current and historical policies, environmental issues, and political leanings. Learn how hard the Project Upland community hunts, all the way to t...
21 Mar 2025
Why No One's Heard Of The Passenger Pigeon
In this episode, Gabby and AJ talk to Mark Avery, author of A Message from Martha. As a biologist and conservationist, Mark takes us back in time to reconstruct the biology, habitat, and final era of the Passenger Pigeon. The Passenger Pigeon's extinction is one of the most dramatic extinction stories of the 20th century, resulting in the loss of the most numerous bird on Earth. This episode explores everything from nesting biology and historical accounts to habitat destruction and the last P...
9 Mar 2025
Cheatgrass May Be The End Of Utah's Sage Grouse
In this episode, Gabby and AJ talk to Associate Professor and Rangeland Wildlife Extension Specialist at Utah State University, Dave Dahlgren. As a sage grouse researcher and scientist, Dave explores the threat of cheatgrass and fire in the Great Basin to habitat. He also shares his experience with changing technology in radio telemetry and GPS tracking and how his pointing dogs have played a role in his research. Lastly, we discuss one of the most influential and limiting factors in sage gro...
1 Mar 2025
We’re Not Sick Of Talking About Sage Grouse
In this episode, Gabby and AJ talk to Utah-based sage grouse expert Dave Dahlgren. As a sage grouse researcher and biologist, Dave teaches us about huge amounts of habitat sage grouse need to survive and explains human-centric issues impacting their continued existence. This is the first episode of a two-part series about sage grouse in Utah. --- Visit projectupland.com The Project Upland Podcast Patreon Read Clint Wirick's article "Are Pinyon Jays the Next Sage Grouse?" Support the show
1 Mar 2025
Trailer: Project Upland Podcast
Project Upland presents the new Project Upland Podcast, a cinematic and science-based production that delivers on the independent storytelling you have come to love. Cohosts AJ DeRosa and Gabby Zaldumbide learn from researchers, biologists, and subject matter experts about birds, nature, conservation, dogs, and more. Join us as we travel into the deepest, most obscure, and nerdiest realms of the uplands. After all, these are your stories. --- Visit projectupland.com The Project U...
Inside a recent episode
Why Are Ruffed Grouse Different Colors?
Published 15 Sept 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] The intermediate gray is basically gray, but with a varying suffusion of brown or chestnut. The brown is clearly a brown feather with prominent alternating light and dark transverse bars. The red phase is the chestnut colored tail with a single dark transverse bar, but lacking the light bar typical of the brown birds. Gullion goes on to say, and I quote, the number of color variations when the tail band is included number about 60 distinct reoccurring color variations, end quote. And while we are generally talking about fan color, when we talk about the color phase of grouse, their bodies can vary in color too, but not across as wide a range as the tails themselves. […]
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