The Thing with Feathers: birds and hope with Courtney Ellis

Courtney Ellis

Booking Overview

This is an interview-driven show focused on birds, Christian hope, spirituality, and the natural world, with recurring external guests who are authors, poets, ministry leaders, and subject-matter experts promoting or discussing recent books. Credible pitches include published writers, theologians and spiritual-practice experts, naturalists, birding historians, and Christian leaders with distinctive personal stories; booking difficulty is low to medium because guests are accomplished but generally accessible professionals rather than major celebrities.

Metrics

Episodes: 130

Frequency: Biweekly

Rating: 4.9/5.0

Estimated listeners: 1k-10k

Gender skew: Unknown

Location: USA

Contact Information

Publicly listed emails

courtneyellis@substack.com

Looking for the right person? Join Podseeker to find direct host and producer contacts and manage your podcast outreach.

Host

Courtney Ellis - Courtney Ellis is a writer and podcast host who explores the connections among birds, hope, spirituality, and attentive engagement with the natural world.

Booking Intelligence

Booking Requirements

low

Typical Credentials:

Published authors, poets, Christian ministry leaders, spiritual-practice experts, naturalists, birding historians, and other knowledgeable professionals with a distinctive perspective and a strong connection to hope, spirituality, literature, or the natural world.

Required Achievements:

Published books, especially recent releases, Founding or leading a ministry or mission-driven organization, Established expertise in poetry, spirituality, natural history, or birding, Distinctive lived experience connected to renewal, suffering, faith, or nature

Recent Guest Discussions

Seth Wieck - Poetry, Open Spaces, Community, Nature, Hope, And The Landscapes And Wildlife Explored In His Collection.

Stéphanie Rousselle - Christian Spirituality, Delight, Hope, Conversion, And Finding Deeper Satisfaction In God.

Becky McCoy - Spiritual Practices, Christian Faith, Weariness, Gentleness, Suffering, And Finding Grace Through Ancient Church Rhythms.

Chera Hammons - Poetry, Nature, Trauma, Hope, Grace, And Finding Perspective Through The Natural World.

Patrick Dean - Birding History, Mark Catesby, Early American Natural History, Exploration, And The Possible Survival Of The Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Recent Topics

Birds, Christianity, Spirituality, Nature, Poetry

Episodes

Here's the recent few episodes on

The Thing with Feathers: birds and hope with Courtney Ellis

131: The Poetics of Nature

September 14, 2026

I first got to know Paul Willis as a kind grandfather who occasionally attended my church. He and his wife Sharon lived up in central California, but when they were down here visiting their children and grandchildren, they’d sit right in the front pew, always with a warm, kind word for me after the service.Then I discovered over time that Paul had a list of credentials longer than my arm. As so many wise, brilliant, truly kind people do, he never led with this. He wanted to hear about me. Abo...

130: The Poetry of Open Spaces

August 31, 2026

I first met Seth Wieck in person at the 2024 Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin University. We had a thirty second encounter where he held a door for me in his red raincoat (Michigan in April can be a little fickle when it comes to the weather) and we exchanged a greeting. That was it.The Festival is one of those places where the sheer volume of interesting people can be overwhelming. The halls are filled with New York Times bestselling authors, literary agents who can change your life, ...

129: Awakening Delight

August 17, 2026

Stéphanie Rousselle, founder of Gospel Spice Ministries, came on the show today to talk about her brand new book, Awaken Delight: Satisfying Your Soul’s Longing for God, out just a few weeks ago with InterVarsity Press. Our wide-ranging conversation covered her childhood, growing up as an atheist in France, to her conversion to Christianity as a young adult, to discovering the deep delights offered to us in Christ.Plus: a deep dive into the two French words for hope and why understanding a bi...

Publicly listed emails

courtneyellis@substack.com

Looking for the right person? Join Podseeker to find direct host and producer contacts and manage your podcast outreach.

Get your clients booked on top podcasts

Try us risk free with a FREE 3 days trial.

Start Your Free Trial

Join hundreds of PR teams using Podseeker to pitch and land bookings