The Science of Birds

This episode—which is number 93—is all about the the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), one of the world’s best known and most abundant birds. It expanded across the planet along with humans over the last 10,000 years, with the spread of agriculture. Today, this plucky little bird is a model organism for the study of basic bird biology. Over 7,000 scientific studies of the House Sparrow have been published.

In this episode, we’ll get into what this species looks and sounds like, where it lives, its behavior, its breeding biology, and more.

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This episode—which is Number 92—is all about the value of desert ecosystems as habitats for birds.

Deserts are important for the birds that are adapted to live in them—birds that can handle the harsh conditions.

Deserts are home to relatively few bird species. Only the polar regions and maybe some parts of the open ocean have less bird diversity.

Even if a bird species can handle the extremes of heat and cold in a desert, the desiccating winds, and the lack of water, that bird may not find much food.

Because where there are few plants, there are few invertebrates. So a bird in the desert can have a hard time finding any leaves, seeds, fruit, or bugs to eat.

And yet, an assortment of bird species from many disparate families have managed to carve out an existence in the world’s most arid lands. There may be nowhere near as many of them as in, say, a tropical rainforest or a temperate woodland…

BUT, the birds we do find in the desert are, I think, a particularly fascinating and admirable bunch. They’re tough little buggers. They’re resilient. Desert birds have interesting adaptations and behaviors that allow them to survive in places that would kill most other birds in a day.

CORRECTIONS: I realized after I recorded this episode that I mispronounced the names of the Namib and Thar deserts. Namib should be pronounced "NAH-mib." Thar is pronounced "Tar."
 

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This is Episode 91. It’s all about birds in the family Paridae. These are the chickadees, tits, and titmice—cute little forest-dwelling songbirds known and loved by many people around the world.

I’ve had a lot of requests to make a podcast episode about chickadees and their kind. Some species in this family are familiar visitors to backyard bird feeders. They’re highly active, vocal, bold, and sometimes quite confiding with people. It’s possible to gain the trust of tits and chickadees of some species by feeding them seeds out of the palm of your hand.

These birds not only visit bird feeders regularly, at least in winter, but they’ll also happily lay eggs in artificial nest boxes. All of these traits make birds in the Paridae family great subjects for scientists who want to study bird behavior and ecology.

So chickadees, tits, and titmice are among the most well-studied songbirds on the planet. Lucky for us here on The Science of Birds podcast, that means there’s a lot we can learn about them
 

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This is Episode 90 and it’s all about the importance of birds as plant pollinators.

If I had to use only one word for the topic of this episode, it would be ornithophily. The definition of ornithophily is “the pollination of flowers by birds.”

Today, I’ll be focusing mostly on the ecological relationships between plants and the birds that pollinate them. Another way to look at all of this would be through the lens of evolution—the fascinating ways that plants and birds have co-evolved with respect to pollination.

I’ll make another podcast episode, at some point, about bird and plant co-evolution. We’ll touch on it today, but the main focus is ecology. 

Pollination ecology is actually an entire subdiscipline that many scientists have dedicated their careers to studying. It’s really interesting stuff!

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This is Episode 89. I’m publishing it right at the beginning of 2024, and it's a review of some fascinating things that happened in the world of ornithology and bird conservation over the last 12 months, in 2023.

Naturally, this isn’t an exhaustive review of every scientific discovery about birds in 2023. That would be too much. An exhaustive review would be, well, exhausting. Maybe not for you, but definitely for me.

Instead, I’ll tell you about a handful of studies and projects that I think you’ll find interesting. These gems were hand-selected by me for your educational pleasure.

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This episode—which is number 88—is all about owls. Owls are fascinating birds that have captured our imaginations since the dawn of humankind. They have amazing camouflage that allows them to blend in with their surroundings, and they have several other avian superpowers that set them apart from all other birds.

Owls are divided into two families—Tytonidae and Strigidae—and we'll be discussing both of them today.

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This episode—which is Number 87—is all about some big news in the birding world. The common names for about 150 North American bird species are going to change in the not-too-distant future.

This comes from an announcement made by the American Ornithological Society just a few weeks ago, on November 1st.

I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk about this. It’s a hot topic among birders right now. People have been asking me what I think about all these birds getting renamed. And so here we are.

If you’re hearing about this for the first time, and you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry—I’ll explain.

Yes, this is primarily relevant to birds and the humans who love them in the Western Hemisphere. Mostly North America for now.

But similar changes may be on the horizon for your local birds, wherever you live. So I think you’ll find this interesting, even if you don’t live in the US or Canada.
 

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This episode—which is Number 86—is all about bird beaks.

This will be an overview of beak anatomy, function, evolution, and diversity.

The head of every bird on Earth is adorned with a beak. A bill. And to the delight of us all, those beaks come in a wild variety of shapes and colors.

Just picture the mugs of toucans, vultures, ducks, parrots, flamingos, and pelicans.

The diversity of beak shapes like these is one of the fascinating things about birds.

Birds use their beaks for all sorts of tasks. These appendages are vital tools, used for getting food, for grooming, for communication, and more.

 
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This episode—which is Number 85—is about the Meadowlarks of the world.

And it’s not just those three North American species: the Western, Eastern, and Chihuahuan.

There are actually 8 bird species we call meadowlarks. The other five are found primarily in South America. We’ll be talking about them today, too.

Meadowlarks belong to the New World Blackbird family, Icteridae. This family includes birds like Red-winged Blackbird, Baltimore Oriole, and the Great-tailed Grackle.

There’s a lot to admire about meadowlarks. The 3 yellow-breasted and 5 red-breasted meadowlark species bring color and music to the windswept grasslands of the Americas.

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This is Episode 84. Our topic today is the challenge of saving bird species that are very close to extinction. Species like the Spix’s Macaw, which have tiny global populations—whether in the wild, or in captivity.

Other familiar examples are the California Condor and the Whooping Crane, whose populations bottomed out at 22 and 23, respectively. Rigorous conservation programs have since given these two North American species a fighting chance at long-term survival.

This episode is about species that we almost lost forever, but with great effort we’ve kept them from disappearing.

Many of these species, like the California Condor, aren’t out of the woods yet. They may be in better shape now than they were a couple of decades ago, but they still need lots of help.

In this episode, we’re first going to look at some of the biggest challenges faced by conservationists as they try to save species on the brink.

Second, we’ll talk about the tools and methods used to save birds.

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This is Episode 83. It’s all about birds in the family Odontophoridae. These are the New World quails.

Why is this the family of "New World" quails?

Because there’s a whole mess of birds we call quails that live in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. But those birds all belong to the pheasant family, Phasianidae.

New World quails are shy birds ground-dwelling birds that walk or run around in the daytime, looking for tidbits of food in the leaf litter.

If they sense any kind of stranger danger, they hunker down and hide in bushes or other vegetation. Their first instinct is to sit still and rely on their camouflage, rather than to fly away.

These birds may be shy around strangers, but they’re generally very social with members of their own kind. They’re gregarious little buggers.

In this episode, I go into detail about what New World quails look and sound like, about their diversity, and about the ways they live their lives.

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This is Episode 82. It's all about the ways that scientists track the movements of individual birds.

The focus of today’s episode is not so much about the behaviors of birds, but about the technologies used by researchers to study bird behavior—the methods used to reveal the movements of birds.

And our focus will be on the tracking of individual birds. There are other methods scientists use to record the mass movements of birds, like using radar to track flocks of migrants. 

But today we’re looking at techniques that can reveal the unique paths taken by an individual bird—a sandpiper, a hawk, albatross, pheasant, penguin, or whoever.

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This is Episode 81. It’s all about birds in the family Nectariniidae. These are the sunbirds and the spiderhunters.

If you live in or have gone birding in places like Africa, India, Southeast Asia, or Indonesia, you’re probably familiar with sunbirds. Consider yourself lucky.

But if you have no idea what a sunbird or a spiderhunter is, or if you have only a vague idea, I’m excited to introduce you to this group of wonderful birds today.

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This is Episode 80. It's all about flightless birds, and about the evolutionary processes that lead to flightlessness.

Flightlessness in birds is, in my opinion, a fascinating scientific topic. And so here we are with this episode.

Alive on the planet today, there are about 60 bird species that can’t fly. That’s only about 0.54 percent of the world’s approximately 11,000 species.

It turns out there were way more flightless bird species out there before humans started exploring and colonizing every corner of the Earth. It wasn’t just the Dodo that was killed off by people.

In today’s episode, we’ll look at the wonderful diversity of flightless bird species—in both the present and the past. 

We’ll also talk about conservation and—perhaps the most interesting thing—the evolutionary process that leads to flightlessness. How does this weird thing happen in nature? What causes a bird species to give up its greatest superpower?

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This is Episode 79. It's all about the Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).

This is one of North America’s most common raptors. We find these birds from sea to shining sea across the continent.

The Redtail is a generalist predator. It can eat many kinds of prey and thrive in a broad range of habitats. Besides seeing these birds along the highway, you’re likely to spot a Red-tailed Hawk circling in the sky over a field, soaring or flapping slowly.

In this episode, I cover the key traits of the Red-tailed Hawk, it's diet, and its breeding behaviors.

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This is Episode 78 and today we’re doing an overview of parental care in birds. How do birds raise their babies?

Parent birds feeding their chicks in a nest is an iconic image. It’s a symbol of the spring and summer seasons and of the annual rejuvenation of nature.

To the casual observer, birds generally come across as caring, attentive parents. Similar to the way mammals demonstrate good parenting behavior. We humans approve of this sort of thing. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I mean, the behavior of birds and mammals is way better than what amphibians and reptiles do, right? Those cold-blooded critters just crank out a bunch of babies and then leave them to fend for themselves. No parental care to speak of. Despicable!

But to be fair, birds aren’t always the paragons of parental love that we might think they are. They sometimes do pretty messed up things when it comes to raising their offspring.

And this highlights the fact that humans like to project our own cultural values onto animals. 

If, for example, we see a pair of adult geese dutifully tending to their adorable, fuzzy chicks, we might think, “Aww… What a cute little family. They all love each other.”

And when we hear about a female Blue-footed Booby that did nothing and just sat there indifferently while the older of her two chicks murdered its younger sibling… Well, in that case, we’d probably think that booby is a bad mommy. She should be locked up in bird prison, if there were such a thing.

I’ll admit I’m often guilty of this sort of thinking. I like to think that birds love their babies. I’m a total sucker for heartwarming scenes of parental care in birds.

But I also know it’s not really fair for us to judge birds based on human ideas of right and wrong. Birds are just being birds. They do whatever it takes to survive and reproduce in a challenging and mostly unpredictable world.

This is Episode 77. It's an overview of seabirds. Some might call them Oceanic birds or Marine Birds.

How do we define what is or isn’t a sea bird?

Well, it depends on who you ask. There’s no one definition, since “seabird” is an informal term, rather than a scientific one. It doesn’t correspond to a single taxonomic category, or to a single evolutionary lineage.

Here’s what the authors of the book Oceanic Birds of the World have to say about it:

“To our mind, true seabirds are birds of the ocean, birds you generally go on a boat to see. Yes, some of these species can be seen from shore (and almost all come  ashore somewhere to breed), but the birds we include here are species that make  their living from the ocean for all or most of the year, and often not from coastal waters.”

Oceanic Birds of the World is a field guide, and it includes about 270 species. Other authorities might say there are between 300 and 350 seabird species.

In this episode, we'll talk about the various types of seabirds and what taxonomic groups they belong to.

We'll look at how seabirds face the challenges of live on the ocean, how and where they breed, and how they find food.

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In this episode—which is Number 76—I’ll be answering some interesting questions sent to me by my listeners. Questions about birds, of course.

The questions in today’s episode came from not just any old listeners, but from my supporters on Patreon. At the two higher tiers of support, one perk for my patrons is the chance to send me questions for these “Ask Me Anything” episodes. So if you’d like to ask your own question for a future episode, consider becoming a supporter of this show on Patreon.

This is Episode 75. It’s all about shrikes—birds in the family Laniidae.

These are true songbirds—members of the avian suborder Passeri within the order Passeriformes—even though they act (and sort of look like) tiny falcons or hawks.

Shrikes are sit and wait predators. They typically sit upright on an exposed, conspicuous perch and then wait for something tasty to come along. Some small animal, like a Vesper Sparrow, a rodent, lizard, grasshopper, and so on.

Shrikes are such cool birds that they have many fans among ornithologists. In fact, there’s a subdiscipline of ornithology called shrikeology. For real. And those who study these fascinating birds are known as shrikeologists.

So for today, at least, let’s all be honorary shrikeologists. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty details of shrike biology.

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This episode—which is Number 74—is all about edible bird’s nests and Bird’s Nest Soup.

Edible bird nests are a traditional delicacy in east Asia. Especially in China. For centuries, wealthy Chinese people have consumed edible bird nests. Usually in the form of bird’s nest soup.

Throughout much of recent history, this dish has been one of the most expensive foods in the world.

No wonder people have called edible bird nests the “caviar of the east,” or “white gold.”

Perhaps the primary reason people spend ungodly amounts of money on bird’s nest soup is because of its medicinal properties. Well… It’s supposed medicinal properties, anyway.

In traditional Chinese medicine, it’s believed that the benefits you can get from eating these nests include: a prolonged life, increased attractiveness, increased libido, brain health, bone strength, no more diabetes, no more cancer, a stronger immune system, more energy, better looking skin, and better circulation.

Wow.  So basically, it sounds like an edible bird’s nest is a cure-all—a panacea. That’s pretty impressive! 

But is it true?

And where do these nests come from? What do they look like?

In today's episode, we'll get into all of that. We’ll talk about which birds make these amazing nests, and how they do it.

We’ll also look at the way people harvest edible bird’s nests, the global industry for this product, and some ethical concerns.
 

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This is Episode 73. It’s all about birds in the avian family Gruidae… the cranes.

These tall birds are charismatic and super interesting. It’s going to be fun to do a deep dive into all things crane today.

Humans around the world have celebrated cranes for thousands of years, for their graceful beauty and their exuberant courtship dances. 

Across many cultures, cranes have inspired paintings, songs, dances, legends, martial arts, heavy construction machinery apparently, and the most iconic animal design in the fine art of origami.

It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere right now, and that means that in many parts of the world, cranes are on the move. They’re migrating north. Along the way, they stop to rest and refuel at certain staging areas. Hundreds or thousands of cranes can end up at a single staging area or stopover and this can be a wonderful sight to see for birders and other nature lovers.

There are a bunch of crane festivals around this time every year. It’s a rare thing for any kind of bird to get so much attention and adoration like this. Cranes are just that special.

So how about we have our own little crane festival today. Let’s get to know these amazing birds.
 

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This episode—which is Number 72—is about what happens to birds, not just in bad weather, but in really bad weather. We’re talking hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, tornadoes, maybe even the occasional sharknado, and so on.

How do birds deal with all these natural disasters? We’ll get into that.

We'll be talking mostly about the more immediate effects of storms and other extreme weather on the survival of individual birds and their populations.

Birds are tough little buggers. They’re tougher than they might look. Many of them live long lives in the face of continual challenges like predators, aggressive rivals, wild temperature swings, strong wind, and heavy precipitation. 

But an extreme weather event can often be the ultimate test of survival for a bird.

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This episode—which is Number 71—is about one particular scientific article.  An article that’s near and dear to my heart.

This study was published in 2020, in the Scientific Journal of Research and Reviews. You already know the title of the study itself. It’s the same as the title of this podcast episode… "What’s the Deal With Birds?"

The study's author is Doctor Daniel T. Baldassarre.

Listen to the episode to find out why  I love this paper...

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This episode—which is Number 70—is all about the Great Blue Heron.

The scientific name for the Great Blue Heron is Ardea herodias.

This species is one of the most familiar large birds in North America. So it was inevitable that I’d make a podcast episode about it.

The Great Blue Heron is a beautiful, fascinating, and ecologically important bird.

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This episode—which is Number 69—is all about the avian skeleton. Bird bones.

So this is an episode about some basic anatomy of birds.

Bird bones and the avian skeleton are elegant, strong, and rigid. 

Let’s put on our x-ray goggles, and peer inside the body of a bird, to see what’s going on with all those beautiful bones...


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Today’s episode is number 68. It’s all about the family of birds called Bucerotidae. These are the hornbills.

Maybe you’ve heard about hornbills and know a few facts about them. Or maybe you’ve never even heard about these birds. Either way, I think you’ll enjoy today’s podcast episode. Hornbills are just so cool!

The family Bucerotidae includes several dozen hornbill species. But there’s a second, much smaller avian family that contains birds we also call hornbills. The name of that family is Bucorvidae, the ‘ground-hornbills.’ There are only 2 species of ground-hornbills. I’ll be including them in our conversation today too. Besides, until recently, scientists grouped ground-hornbills into the larger Bucerotidae family.

Hornbill are key players in the tropical ecosystems of both Africa and Asia. There are many fascinating things for us to learn about them.

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This is Episode Number 67. It’s the last episode of 2022, so that means it’s the Annual Review!

We’re going to look back at 2022, at some of the most interesting scientific studies of birds that were published this year. 

Will this be a painstakingly thorough review of everything that scientists learned about birds in 2022? 

No. Not so much. The studies I’m telling you about today—while they did make it into the newsfeed—are just the ones that I found most exciting. Or at least interesting. I decided they’re worth yapping about.

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This episode—which is Number 66—is all about the ways you can help birds. How you can make a difference in their conservation.

It’s one thing to enjoy learning about birds in an objective, scientific way. They’re fascinating organisms.

But does our interest in the biology of birds also come bundled with a care and concern for them? With warm and fuzzy feelings? 

I’d say heck yes, it does! For most of us, anyway, including yours truly.

We want birds out there in the wide world to survive and thrive. For their own intrinsic worth as living beings. 

But also because of our selfish desire to have them around for us—so we can enjoy them, and take Instagram-worthy photos of them, and write their names down on our lifelists.
 

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This is Episode 65, and it’s all about waxwings—birds in the family Bombycillidae.

The Cedar Waxwing is one species, and there are two others that we’ll talk about.

These beautiful, elegant songbirds are loved by people across the Northern Hemisphere.

Waxwings are easy on the eyes, for sure, and that’s great. I mean, personally, I think they’re just about the most gorgeous songbirds we have in North America.

But their biology is also really interesting. So much of how waxwings live and behave is dictated by what they eat… By their specialized diet.

What is that special diet? Is it maybe something like scorpions, psychedelic mushrooms, or the blood of their enemies?
 
Listen and find out!

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This episode—which is Number 64—is all about the importance of temperate grasslands as habitat for birds.

When we say “temperate grasslands,” we mean those generally occurring in the middle latitudes.

Temperate grasslands exist in several parts of the world. Some of them cover vast areas. Here in North America, we have the Great Plains as a “great” example.

The steppes of Mongolia and the Pampas of South America are similarly vast temperate grasslands.

Many, many bird species around the world depend on such grasslands for food and breeding habitat. Among them are raptors, sparrows, blackbirds, larks, pipits, a bunch of South American species in the ovenbird family, Furnariidae… and the list goes on.

But, unfortunately, temperate grasslands are also among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Many of the bird species that call them home are, not surprisingly, also in trouble.

Today, we’re going to dive into what makes temperate grasslands special, and why they’re so important to birds. I’ll give you several examples of bird species that depend on grassland habitats.

And we’ll also talk a bit about grassland conservation. Because you know we can’t get through this without a little gloom and doom.

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This episode—which is Number 63—is about the Common Raven,Corvus corax. This species is also known as the Northern Raven.

Few bird species in the world are as geographically widespread as the Common Raven. And few are as familiar and iconic. This is a really amazing bird.

Ornithologists and other scientists have studied ravens extensively, so we know quite a lot about this species.

Today, we’ll look at the basic traits of the Common Raven as well as its behavior, habitats, diet, reproduction, and more.

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This episode—which is Number 62—is all about the major geographic divisions among birds across the planet.

Why are bowerbirds found only in Australia and on the islands of New Guinea? Why are the birds you see in India so different from those in China? Does North America have any unique, endemic bird families?

Questions like these fall within the domain of biogeography. Biogeography is the study of where living things are found and why they’re found there—both in the present and the past.

Today, we’ll be sketching out the big picture of what types of birds are found where across the world map.

By learning the basics of bird biogeography, you can get a deeper appreciation for the uniqueness of bird communities in different parts of the world.

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This is Episode 61, and it’s all about Ostriches. These are the birds in the avian family Struthionidae.

Ostriches are among the most recognizable and charismatic birds. No living bird is bigger than an ostrich. If you’ve ever seen one up close, you know how impressive these giants can be. They’re amazing.

So I’m excited to dig into their biology with you today. You probably know a thing or two about Ostriches already, but let’s see if we can get a deeper understanding of them. We’ll look at their basic traits, their distribution, habitat, diet, and more.

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This episode—which is Number 60—is about Feeding Wild Birds. As in, humans providing supplemental food for wild birds.

This typically involves a contraption called a birdfeeder. When you or I hang up a birdfeeder, we’re feeding wild birds intentionally. This intentional feeding is what today’s episode is about.

Millions and millions of people all around the world feed wild birds intentionally. At such a massive scale, you have to imagine this would affect birds significantly, and in many ways. And it absolutely does.

Which brings us to the big question: should we or shouldn’t we feed wild birds? This is still being debated. By scientists, conservation organizations, and bird lovers everywhere.

Today, I’ll do my best to give you objective, scientific information about feeding birds. We’ll look at the pros and cons. Then, we’ll see if there’s any sort of conclusion we can come to at the end of the episode.

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This episode—which is Number 59—is a bit different. Today, I’m going to be answering questions from my listeners. More specifically, these questions come from my supporters on Patreon.

I have several “tiers” or “membership levels” on my Patreon page. Each level comes with perks. One perk for the “Helpful Hornbill” and “Awesome Osprey” tiers is getting to submit questions for episodes like this.

So, today, we’ve got a fun grab-bag of questions to ponder.

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Today’s episode—which is Episode 58—is all about birds in the family Troglodytidae. These are the wrens.

Wrens are small, perky songbirds, most of which are some shade of brown.

All the species in this family of birds are found in the New World—In North, Central, and South America. All of them, that is, except for one species found in the Old World.

In this episode, we'll cover many aspects of wren biology: their behavior, voices, diversity, evolution, conservation, and breeding.

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This episode—which is Number 57— is all about the flocking behavior of birds.

Birds of many species spend at least part of their yearly cycle hanging out in groups. This could be just a handful of individuals or it could be a gathering of millions of birds.

Today, we’ll look at some explanations for why—as the saying goes—birds of a feather flock together. What benefits do birds get from forming groups like this?

We’ll also look at how flocks work. As in, their mechanics. For example, how do birds communicate and coordinate their movements in a flock?

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This episode—which is Number 56— is all about the colors of birds.

The diversity of color in bird plumages is one of the things we love most about these animals.

But bird plumages are impressive not only when they display vibrant colors plucked from the rainbow. Thousands of species aren’t what we’d call colorful, but they do have gorgeous, intricately patterned feathers in combinations of black, brown, and white.

Today, we’re looking at how feathers get their colors, from white to subtle earth tones to scintillating displays of wild iridescence.

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This is Episode 55. It’s all about birds in the avian family Phoenicopteridae. These are the flamingos.

No doubt you already know a fun fact or two about flamingos. These birds are crowd pleasers that get a lot of attention. But today we’re doing a deep dive into their biology. I’m hoping that along the way, you’ll pick up some new flamingo trivia that you can impress your friends with.

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This episode—which is Number 54—is all about bird eggs.

This is an important topic. Eggs are a fundamental aspect of bird biology. Recently, in Episode 49 of the podcast, I covered the topic of nests. So it seems like a logical next step for us to get the lowdown on eggs.

Oology is the science of studying bird eggs. So today, we are all honorary oologists. We’re egg-heads on a mission to better understand how baby birds come into the world.

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Book Recommendations

Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 53—is all about Avian Influenza. Or colloquially what we call the Avian Flu or Bird Flu.

Depending on where you live, you might have noticed news headlines in recent months about the frightening spread of Avian Flu among both domestic and wild birds. I thought you might have some questions about this emerging disease, and so here we are with an entire podcast episode on the subject.

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This is Episode 52.

Today, we’re talking about bird species that are way, waybigger than your average chickadee or finch.

Our focus will be on evolutionary lineages that spawned some very large bird species. Species whose ancestors had been much smaller, millions of years earlier.

We’ll look at a bunch of interesting giant birds throughout history. Then we’ll talk about some scientific explanations for why these critters got so big in the first place.

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Links of Interest

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This is Episode 51. Our bird of interest today is the Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis.

This species is widespread across the eastern and southern US. It’s so well-known and loved that it’s the state bird for 7 states—more than any other species.

Northern Cardinals are among the most abundant birds in North America. They’re familiar denizens of backyards that visit feeders all year long. So it shouldn’t be surprising to hear that ornithologists have done a lot of research on this abundant and conspicuous species.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 50— is all about Female Birdsong.

Songs are one of the things we love most about birds. They define the soundscapes of the natural world.

Even though humans have been surrounded by singing birds for millions of years, we still have some misconceptions about birdsong. Today’s episode is about a misconception of sex differences in birds… Of who sings and who doesn’t.

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Links of Interest

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This episode—which is Number 49—is all about bird nests.

There are tons of fun facts fun facts here, since nests are one of the more impressive aspects of bird behavior and breeding biology.

We’ll go over the functions of nests, the challenges that nesting birds face, nest site selection, the many types of nests, and nest construction.

That’s a lot to cover, but I’ll try to keep this at more of an overview level. This is sort of Bird Nests 101.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 48—is about the “Pecking Order” in birds. Or, to use the more technical term, dominance hierarchy.

Our focus will be on dominance hierarchies that we see among birds within a single species. White-crowned Sparrows beating up on other White-crowned Sparrows, for example, as opposed to White-crowned Sparrows beating up on another species, like Lincoln’s Sparrow. The latter would be an example of interspecies dominance. But today, we’re talking about intraspecies dominance. Meaningwithin species.

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Links of Interest

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This is Episode 47. It’s all about birds in the family Laridae. This is an ancient evolutionary lineage that originated over 70 million years ago, when the world was still ruled by dinosaurs.

Besides gulls and terns, the family Laridae also includes the skimmers and the noddies.

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Links of Interest

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This episode—which is Number 46—is about  a special place in the Malay Archipelago where two bird worlds collide. This region lies between Southeast Asia and Australia, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. And it’s crowded with about 25,000 islands, of all sizes.

Specifically, we’ll be looking at a geographic feature called Wallace’s Line. More generally, today’s episode will touch on the topic of biogeography.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode is all aboutforensic ornithology. This is a field where specialists use scientific techniques to identify bird species from trace evidence. Evidence like maybe a bit of feather, a bone fragment, or a smear of blood.

Forensic ornithology is used to solve intriguing wildlife crimes like smuggling and illegal hunting. But it’s also helpful in other situations that don’t involve criminal activity. We’ll get into that side of things too.

Like a murder mystery novel, today’s subject is, pretty much by definition, morbid. I’ll be talking a lot about dead birds. Blood and guts and all that. I prefer my birds very much alive, thank you, and I’m sure you do too. But, despite the gore, I think you’ll find that forensic ornithology is a fascinating topic. It’s worth learning about, to better appreciate the ways people fight to protect birds.

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Errors and Corrections

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode—which is Number 44—is about the relationship between coffee production and bird conservation. 

We'll get into how do different types of coffee cultivation affect birds, and the conservation benefits of Bird Friendly Coffee.

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Links of Interest

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This episode—which is Number 43—is all about the Common Loon, Gavia immer. People in Europe may know it as the Great Northern Diver.

This bird is a symbol of the northern wilderness in North America. It’s closely associated with lakes and ponds in the boreal forests of the northern US and Canada.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

2021 is over, yo! So it's time for the Annual Review Episode! 

We’ll be looking back at some highlights of bird science in the year 2021. What fascinating things did ornithologists and other biologists discover about birds this year?

I’ve picked 5 studies to highlight for you. These are stories that, in most cases, were interesting enough to make the news.

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References

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode is all about birds in the family Hirundinidae. These are the swallows and martins.

Other than when they’re nesting, swallows are in the air almost all day long. This aerial lifestyle and that high-speed, erratic flight pattern can make it hard for us earthbound primates to get close looks at swallows.

But these flappy little birds definitely deserve our attention. They have many charms and talents that—with a little patience—we can learn about and see for ourselves.

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Ecologists and ornithologists have been studying the effects of wildfire on bird populations all over the world. Their research has resulted in many fascinating discoveries about the relationships between fire and birds.

Wildfires have been in the news a lot in recent years. In the western US where I live, enormous fires have been sweeping across California, Oregon, Idaho, and other states with increasing frequency and severity.

And who can forget the 2019-2020 bushfire season in Australia, which came to be known as the “Black Summer?” Then there were the thousands of fires that broke out in the rainforests and wetlands of Brazil in 2020.

This is all pretty bad news, no doubt. It can be gut-wrenching to watch beautiful wilderness go up in flames, not to mention towns and people’s homes. 

But if we temporarily set aside our emotions, we can take a more scientific, objective viewpoint to ask the question: 

Are wildfires harmful to birds and other wildlife, in general? 

It turns out there’s no simple “yes or no” answer to that question.

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This is a special episode, and the first of its kind. I answer questions from my listeners. It’s a fun, mixed bag of bird factoids.

Who were these lucky people who got to contribute to this episode? The specific listeners who submitted questions were my supporters on Patreon.

Of course, the idea is that our discussion today will be interesting and informative to all of my listeners.

This Q&A session covers things like bacterial diseases, bike helmets, lemon-scented juncos, and baby owls!

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References

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode is about the seven bird species in the family Cathartidae: the New World vultures and condors.

This group includes species like the Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, and Andean Condor.

Among these birds are some that people celebrate, or even revere. But others tend to get ignored, disparaged, or at worst, persecuted. I guess you could say our relationship with New World Vultures has been… complicated.

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Birds, probably more than any other aerial creatures, have amazed and inspired us with the grace and power of their flight. So just how do they do it?

In this episode, we'll look at the physics and anatomy of bird flight.

I’ll start off with the basics of aerodynamics as it relates to bird flight. That’s the meat and potatoes of our lesson today. But we’ll also consider the different ways that birds fly—their different modes of flight. Last, we’ll examine some additional adaptations birds have that make them high-octane flying machines.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode is all about penguins. All penguins belong to the family Spheniscidae.

Penguins are among the most bizarre and specialized birds in the world. Few other birds represent such a departure from what we think of as the standard avian model. The specializations of penguins—their adaptations—serve them very well for a life of diving deep into the ocean and of surviving in extreme cold.

These birds are wonderful examples of how “life finds a way”—how animals can evolve into radically different forms, adapt to incredibly harsh conditions, and still manage to look pretty darn cute.

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In this episode, we’re going to look at wetlands as habitats for birds.

We’ll start with how to recognize—how to define—a wetland ecosystem. Then, we’ll get into why these ecosystems are so important to birds. How do birds use wetlands as habitat? Next, I’ll highlight a few examples of bird species that depend on wetlands. Then we’ll talk about the conservation issues surrounding wetlands, and how their loss is affecting birds.

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This episode is all about the bird species in the genus Geococcyx. There are only two: the Greater Roadrunner and the Lesser Roadrunner. 

People in North America have revered the Greater Roadrunner for thousands of years. This bird features prominently in Native American and Mexican legends and lore. It’s usually depicted in a good light. Roadrunners are bold, clever, and fast—all admirable characteristics. 

They’re also large and conspicuous birds, so it’s not surprising that more than one culture has paid them some special attention.

Learn about the key traits of roadrunners and their habitats, diet, and breeding.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

eBird is a digital archive of bird observations. It’s a database of observations from across the planet. eBird users connect to the database via the Internet, to both contribute data and access data.

In this episode, we’ll start off by going over what exactly eBird is. Then, we’ll consider the characteristics of the scientific data that eBird users produce.

How do scientists make sure that data is of the highest quality? We’ll get into that too, as well as some useful tools that have been created using eBird data.

I’ll also give you some interesting examples of published studies on birds that used eBird data.

Links of Interest

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This episode is all about birds in the family Columbidae. These are all the world’s many species of pigeons and doves.

These birds are more exotic and interesting than many of us give them credit for. This is a widespread, diverse group that has been around for many millions of years. Pigeons and doves occupy many habitats across the planet, and they’ve colonized countless remote islands. Many of them are as richly colorful as parrots or songbirds.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Alaska is a truly amazing place that is still dominated by nature. It’s a wonderful region to explore for anyone who loves birds and charismatic megafauna. Many of Alaska’s vast natural areas are relatively intact. They offer endless opportunities for visitors to immerse themselves in raw nature.

I recently returned from leading a birding tour in Alaska and I was inspired to make a podcast episode about the Birds of Alaska. 

We’ll first get a sense of Alaska’s geography, then we’ll consider the major ecosystems of the region, and then we’ll get into some of the overall characteristics of the birdlife of Alaska.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Thanks to my newest Patrons for your pledges to support this podcast! I deeply appreciate your help and generosity. Cheers to: Michael R, Justin T, Anette S, David K, Jennifer, Henri-Claude B, Diana H, Jesse M, Pamela G, Carole P, Christine B, Teal, Vero, Emily R, Donna A, and Susan W!

The Shoebill is a tall, gray bird that appears more dinosaur-like than most members of the class Aves. You aren’t likely to confuse it with any other bird. It possesses a unique and impressive combination of size, color, and bill shape.

The Shoebill is a top predator in certain kinds of swamps and wetlands in Africa. It terrorizes not only large fish, but other small aquatic animals, like amphibians and reptiles.

This almost mythical beast of a bird is one of the most exciting species in all of Africa.

This episode is all about the Shoebill, Balaeniceps rex. What it looks like, where it lives, how it behaves, and its conservation status.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

We hear the terms ‘artificial intelligence’ and ‘AI’ all the time these days. Beyond the issue of evil robots taking over the world, AI technology is helping scientists do some pretty amazing things in the field of ornithology.

In this episode, we’ll talk about what artificial intelligence is and give some interesting examples of how it’s being used to study birds.

We’ll also touch on some tools that use artificial intelligence to help you in your quest to identify birds.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

New World Warblers are all the birds in the family Parulidae. You’ll sometimes hear these birds referred to as ‘Wood-Warblers.’

New World Warblers are among the most celebrated and sought after birds in North America. We love them here. They’re colorful, they’re energetic, and many of them have pleasant little songs.

These birds have also been the subjects of many scientific studies over the years. Which is great, because it means there’s a lot that ornithologists know about the biology of these magnificent little creatures.

{Special thanks to Sue Riffe for permission to use her Kirtland's Warbler recording}

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Links of Interest

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This episode is all about how birds choose their mates and the evolutionary outcomes of those choices.

A lot of what we’re talking about today has to do with sexual selection, which is a special form of natural selection. 

In sexual selection, individuals compete for mates. This is when females and males choose their partners based on specific traits. Traits like plumage color or song, behavior, etc.

This choosiness has resulted in some spectacular features in birds. Many of the things we love most about birds are consequences of sexual selection.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Birds in the family Scolopacidae include all the world’s sandpipers and birds such as godwits, curlews, snipes, dowitchers, willets, stints, and more.

We know these as familiar ‘shorebirds.’ They haunt coastal habitats from autumn through spring (Oct to Apr, or so). But in summer most of them migrate long distances to breed in the highest temperate latitudes or in the Arctic.

Learn about sandpiper diversity, evolution, feeding, and more in this episode.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Our understanding of bird brains and intelligence has grown tremendously in the last couple decades.

Thanks to countless scientific studies, we now know that many bird species are highly intelligent. Some of them perform better than primates, dogs, and young children on certain cognitive tests.

In this episode, we look at how intelligence is defined and some evidence for it in birds. We have a look at the avian brain and consider how intelligence evolved in birds.

Which birds are the smartest? Which birds are numbskulls? Have a listen and find out!

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

The Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus) is a charming bird found in the arid southwest of the United States, as well as in Mexico and down to southern South America.

This bright red flycatcher is a favorite of birders and bird photographers. Join Ivan as he introduces you to the basic features of this species. 

We’ll also take a look at some interesting questions, like “Why are the Vermilion Flycatchers of Lima, Peru so dark and sooty-looking?”

Note: Some ornithological authorities have now split this species into several. Under this new classification, the birds found in the US, Mexico, and northern South American are Pyrocephalus obscurus, not P. rubinus.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Join Ivan as he wades into the conservation quagmire surrounding house cats and their effects on wild birds.

First, we’ll look at the status of house cat and feral cat populations around the world. How are all these free-ranging cats affecting our wild birds? 

Many scientific studies of this issue give us some answers. Research also provides guidance for how best to solve the problems that cats create for birds. Some approaches are more severe than others.

We’ll also go over a few ways that responsible cat owners can help protect their local birds as well as keep their kitty happy.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

All about the ‘true’ finches, the species belonging to the family Fringillidae. 

These small songbirds are found in many places around the world. Most of them specialize in eating seeds. 

Not every bird we commonly call ‘finch’ is a member of this family. And the family includes many birds that don’t have the word ‘finch’ in their common name. Confusing? Yes. We’ll try to clear some of this up for you.

Learn about the key features of finches as well as their global distribution, evolution, feeding, and more.

There’s lots of fun stuff to know about these charming birds!

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Winter can be a cold, dark time when food is scarce. Birds fight to stay alive during this season by using a variety of behavioral and physiological adaptations. Many of these are the same things you and I would do. But birds also have some amazing, unique adaptations to winter that we can only marvel at.

Learn how birds generate heat and conserve it, and about the challenges they face in the cold season.

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Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Kingfishers—all the birds in the family Alcedinidae—are the focus of this episode. There are many species of these charismatic birds living across the world.

Learn about their key features, global distribution, evolution, feeding, and more.

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Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Despite much of human civilization grinding to a halt in 2020, research on birds continued to be published in scientific journals.

Through this research, we learned many new things about our avian friends.

In this episode, let’s look at 5 interesting bird studies from 2020. If you want to learn more about them, check out the links below.

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At the end of the episode, I share a little personal note. :) Happy New Year!

A global analysis of song frequency in passerines provides no support for the acoustic adaptation hypothesis but suggests a role for sexual selectionDense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomicsThe evolution of a tropical biodiversity hotspotPhenological synchronization of seasonal bird migration with vegetation greenness across dietary guildsThe phantom chorus: birdsong boosts human well-being in protected areas

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode focuses on the biological family Anatidae. This family includes the over 150 species of ducks, geese, and swans in the world.

First, we highlight the key features shared by these birds, as well as some differences among them. We also discuss their diversity and distribution.

We continue by examining the duck’s bill and the various things these birds eat.

Breeding, migration, and conservation round out our look at this fascinating group of birds.

Along the way, we goof around and have some fun.

Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Sometimes birds of many feathers flock together. Mixed-species foraging flocks are seen in forests all across the world. Different combinations of species are found in each region.

First, we talk about what mixed-species flocks look and act like. Then we get into the major scientific hypotheses for why these flocks exist at all.

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

This episode is all about the Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus), of the family Falconidae.

Learn about this incredible bird's key features, its global diversity, feeding behavior, and more.

Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

The definition of ‘species’ isn’t as simple as you might think. In this episode, we look at the methods ornithologists use to identify and name bird species. And we discuss the challenges they face in this work.

We begin by highlighting the reasons that scientists need to classify birds as species.

Next, we get into several definitions of ‘species’ and the pros and cons of applying these.

We then look at several case studies of birds to see how they’ve been classified.

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Summary
Pelicans are large, peculiar waterbirds with a unique way of feeding. Using their long bills and throat pouches, they scoop up fish and other prey from water. Some pelican species plunge dive from the air, others work in cooperative groups to improve their chances of fishing success.

In this episode, we focus on the family Pelecanidae. We go through the characteristics of pelicans, with a focus on their bill and throat pouch.

We also discuss the feeding strategies of pelicans, how they breed, and their evolution.

Finally, we touch on some issues about the conservation of pelicans.

Along the way, we’ll do some myth-busting. There are several misconceptions about pelicans that we need to address.

Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Summary
The feather is one of the most iconic symbols of nature. Feathers are indispensable to birds, serving many critically important functions. 

In this episode, we explore those functions after looking closely at the anatomy—the structure—of a feather.

We discuss the 6 types of feathers: contour feathers, flight feathers, down, semiplumes, bristles, and filoplumes.

Some functions we explore are flight, insulation, and camouflage.

Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Errors and Clarifications

Attributions

Summary
Brood parasitism is a strange and fascinating behavior that we see (in one form or another) in several hundred bird species.

This is where a female lays an egg in the nest of another bird. The parasite female flies away and never sees her offspring. The host bird or birds are fooled into raising the foreign chick as their own.

Learn about which types of birds use this breeding strategy, including cuckoos and cowbirds.

We’ll discuss the various tactics used by both the parasites and their hosts in this evolutionary arms race. And we’ll get into some ins and outs of the evolutionary process in these birds.

Links of Interest

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Errors and Clarifications

Summary
Learn about the amazing birds in the family Picidae—the woodpeckers. These charismatic birds have a suite of adaptations that make them excellent at the job of excavating wood. 

In this episode, we first summarize the key features of woodpeckers.

Then we’ll look at the evolution and modern-day diversity of the family.

We discuss many of the special adaptations of woodpeckers, which they use as they go about their day, foraging.

How woodpeckers breed and communicate and a bit about their conservation status round out the episode.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Summary
When birds disappear at night, where do they go and what are they doing? Most of them are sleeping, of course. But sleep in birds differs greatly from what you and I do.

In this episode, we discuss the most important functions of sleep in birds. Then we get into the evolution of sleep in birds.

Along the way, we’ll talk about the similarities and differences of sleep between birds and mammals like us.

Last, we cover where and how birds sleep, regarding location, posture, etc.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Errors and Clarifications

Summary

Birds around the world are in trouble. Their populations have suffered major declines in the last 50 years.

What does the latest research tell us about the causes of these declines? What are the biggest threats to our most vulnerable bird species?

You can probably guess some of the answers, but you might be surprised by some of what you learn in this episode.

We’ll cover the top five major threats in some detail.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 8

Summary

The remarkable behavioral and anatomical features of hummingbirds are what make them so endearing to us. The way they fly, their colors, and their penchant for flowers have all made hummingbirds rock stars of the avian world.

In this episode, we focus entirely on the hummingbird family, Trochilidae. 

I’ll first give you an overview of hummingbird evolution. Then, we’ll discuss their present-day diversity and distribution.

Then we dive into an assortment of fun topics about hummingbirds, including flight, metabolism, and breeding.

At the end of the episode, I talk about feeding hummingbirds-- how to do it right and some of the interesting consequences.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Research Citations

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 7

Summary

It can be argued that, of all the animals, birds are the best at seeing stuff. Most species have an excellent sense of sight.

In this episode, I’ll first introduce you to the anatomy of a bird’s eye.

Then, we’ll look into (see what I did there?) how birds perceive color and their visual acuity.

And last we’ll talk about the difference between monocular and binocular vision in birds.

Research Citations

‍Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 6

Summary

This episode is Part 2 of 2 about Bird Songs. 

In the last episode, Part 1, we talked mostly about the “how” and the “who” of bird songs. We haven’t really talked about the “why,” the purpose of all these vocal sounds. This episode begins by looking at the functions of bird songs and calls.

Then we get into variation in bird songs, at several levels, including among species and among geographic regions.

You’ll also learn about some interesting subtopics like the dawn chorus and female songs.‍‍

Research Citations

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Attributions

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 5

Summary

This episode is Part 1 of 2 about Bird Songs. 

The voices of birds dominate nature’s soundscape. Bird songs and calls can be heard in almost every environment on the planet. 

In this episode, I’ll cover the characteristics of bird songs and how they are produced. We’ll also get into the question of whether bird songs are learned or instinctual.

Research Citations

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Attributions

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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Episode: 4

Summary

The annual long-distance movements of birds are amazing feats of endurance and navigation.

Learn about the various forms of migration and other annual movements in birds. We’ll cover many concepts related to migration, including timing and orientation, staging areas, and flyways.

Research Citations

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 3

Summary

Birds are an incredibly successful and diverse group of animals. 

In this episode, you’ll get an overview of the origin of avian species diversity and its present-day distribution across the planet.

I offer some definitions of ‘biodiversity’ with respect to birds. We’ll discuss why this diversity is important.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Research Citations‍

Errors and Clarifications
Clarification - 07:25 - I say that the Clements Checklist has 10,721 bird species. This is true. However, this number includes about 160 extinct species. So this means there are 10,561 extant (i.e. living, non-extinct) bird species on the planet today.

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 2

Summary

Learn about the ways that different bird species compete with each other over food and other resources.

I first talk about the concept of the ecological niche, since this is so important to this episode's topic.

Then, I get into the different forms of competition between bird species and present the possible outcomes of that competition. 

Lastly, I briefly touch on the general approaches that scientists take in studying interspecies competition in birds.

Links to Some Things Mentioned in this Episode

Research Citations

Errors and Clarifications

Error - 23:04 min: I say that the second type of competition between species is "exploitation interference". I meant to say exploitation competition. I make this error repeatedly in this section. My apologies!

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Episode: 1

Summary

Learn about the deep evolutionary origin of birds and follow their history up to the great extinction that happened 66 million years ago.

First, I discuss what we mean when we say “bird.”What characteristics separate modern birds from other animal groups?

Then I discuss the evidence—both historical and recent—that scientists have used to determine the evolutionary history of birds. 

Finally, we arrive at the answer of where birds fit on the tree of life.

Research Citations

Errors and Clarifications

Error - 05:39 min: I say that scientists have genome sequences for 'all living birds.' What I meant was that we have genome sequences for representative species within each of the living bird families.

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website