Bird of the Week

Pelicans! Giant, big beaked birds of the water. Urban legends surrounded these critters, like the fact that they will sometimes eat dogs. Fact or myth? Who can say for sure? But one thing we can say is that they're fascinating birds, so let's get to know them.

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Notes:

• Pelican eats Pigeon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phUs2kIGY9M
• Australian Pelican: https://ebird.org/species/auspel1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Pink-Backed Pelican: https://ebird.org/species/pibpel1
• Spot-Billed Pelican: https://ebird.org/species/spbpel1
• Dalmatian Pelican: https://ebird.org/species/dalpel1
• Peruvian Pelican: https://ebird.org/species/perpel1
• Brown Pelican: https://ebird.org/species/brnpel
• Pelican finds water: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-19/curious-central-west-why-pelicans-prefer-some-places/9054518
• hunting practices: https://asknature.org/strategy/cooperative-herding-catches-more-food/
• Dalmatian Pelican conservation: https://rewildingeurope.com/blog/turning-the-tide-for-the-dalmatian-pelican/
• Peruvian Pelican conservation: https://discover.silversea.com/destinations/south-america/how-the-peruvian-pelican-reflects-changes-in-the-environment/

Many birds mimic the calls of other birds. But there is no bird that has the repertoire of the Lyrebird, renown for being some of the greatest mimics in the avian world. So, what's they're deal? Let's find out. 

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Notes:

• Superb Lyrebird: https://ebird.org/species/suplyr1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Albert's Lyrebird: https://ebird.org/species/alblyr1
• 10 cents: https://www.ramint.gov.au/ten-cents
• Lyrebirds are losing their voice: https://westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/more_news_stories/lyrebirds_are_losing_their_voice_due_to_continued_habitat_loss
• Bird Life: https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/superb-lyrebird/?srsltid=AfmBOoqwY7ME7qaHqkOv23B2VUUFpxZ_VlL4BIEGim8z85fHyydXH7ax
• World Wildlife Fund: https://wwf.org.au/blogs/the-superb-lyrebird-helping-these-amazing-mimickers-recover-from-the-2019-20-bushfires/

You know what film doesn't get talked about enough? Charlie's Angels (2000). But wait, this show isn't about middling films from two decades ago, it's about amazing birds, so how is that film connected to birds? Well, let's find out. I promise it's ridiculous. 

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

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Notes:

• Charlie's Angels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie%27s_Angels_(2000_film)
• The Scene in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-mbJhVl2Xc
• Pygmy Nuthatch: https://ebird.org/species/pygnut
• Venezuelan Troupial: https://ebird.org/species/ventro1
• Troupials are nest pirates: https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Icterus_icterus%20-%20Troupial.pdf
• Fox Sparrow: https://ebird.org/species/foxspa
• Slate's podcast on the issue: https://slate.com/podcasts/decoder-ring/2024/10/how-did-the-big-budget-charlies-angels-movie-get-this-bird-so-wrong

The Kookaburra has to be one of Australia's most famous birds, with a call so iconic and strange that it has been used in a whole swarth of Hollywood films to evoke a feeling of the topics and the exotic, despite the fact that they do not live in that type of environment. But they're a bird of far greater interest than their call alone, so in this episode we'll see what else they have to offer.

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

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Notes:

• Laughing Kookaburra: https://ebird.org/species/laukoo1
• Blue-Winged Kookaburra: https://ebird.org/species/blwkoo1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Spangled Kookaburra: https://ebird.org/species/spakoo1
• Rufous-Bellied Kookaburra: https://ebird.org/species/rubkoo1
• Shovel-Billed Kookaburra: https://ebird.org/species/shbkoo1
• Kookaburra was Flipper: https://bioacoustics.stackexchange.com/questions/746/is-this-sound-made-by-flipper-dolphin-tv-series-real
• Kookaburra in film: https://soundandthefoley.com/2013/05/30/that-jungle-sound/#:~:text=THE%20KOOKABURRA%20IN%20OTHER%20FILMS,on%20their%20way%20to%20Australia.
• Kookaburra chicks kill their siblings: https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2000/10/23/201846.htm 

The Bird is back, and we are back looking at a bird with a reputation for being the world's most dangerous. Maybe in a shock twist the bird with the badass reputation is a giant fruit eater from Papua New Guinea, the Cassowary. But is this reputation deserving? Well in this episode we will find out just how dangerous they are, but also what else makes them especially cool. 

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

Want birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.

Notes:

• Southern Cassowary: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/soucas1/cur/introduction
• Northern Cassowary: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/norcas1/cur/introduction?lang=es
• Dwarf Cassowary: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/dwacas1/cur/introduction?lang=es
• Kiwi: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/13777746-kiwis-fruit-people-birds
• Emu: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/11406903-the-great-emu-war
• Cassowary 1926 fatality: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175730542
• Ostrich lethality: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4323753/#:~:text=When%20attacking%20a%20person%2C%20ostriches,wild%20ostrich%20populations%20%5B2%5D.
• Keystone species: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb1bbIyF9OU
• Casque: https://tetzoo.com/blog/2022/4/9/inside-the-cassowarys-casque-updated

Today we welcome back friend of The Bird, Mr David Clay, as we discuss that one time China tried to eliminate all the sparrows in their nation. Did the plan work, were there unforeseen consequences, is this another tale of human folly? Almost certainly. Join us as we look at another strange avian story from history.

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

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Notes

Sorry I meant to have notes, but I'm not as organised this time. The story is quite well documented though in numerous online sources.

Bird of the Week special announcement: there is a baby on the way so there's no better time to talk about Storks and what they have to do with baby delivery. Where did that myth of the Stork bringing babies to expectant parents come from? Well, today we are going to find out.

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

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Notes

• Storks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stork
• Saddle-Billed Stork: https://ebird.org/species/sabsto1
• Marabou: https://ebird.org/species/marsto1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• White Stork: https://ebird.org/species/whisto1?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Black Stork: https://ebird.org/species/blasto1
• Migration: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/9912409-migration-part-ii 
• Speared Stork: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfeilstorch
• Hera: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230119-the-weird-history-of-baby-myths
• Hans Christian Andersen: http://hca.gilead.org.il/storks.html
• Work Without Hope: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43999/work-without-hope

In our follow up episode on avian flight we dive deeper into the question of how birds get into the air. In part two we look at the machinery birds have and the physiological attributes they needed to make a flapping wing work. But do we answer the question, 'how do birds fly?', almost certainly not.

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

Want birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.
 
Notes

• Part 1: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/16146149-power-of-flight-part-1
• Feather episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/8438286-the-heck-s-a-feather 
• Keel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keel_(bird_anatomy)#:~:text=A%20keel%20or%20carina%20(%20pl,the%20plane%20of%20the%20ribs.
• hollow bones: https://www.esc.cam.ac.uk/news/some-birds-have-hollow-bones-and-new-research-helps-us-understand-why
• lungs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXuWi_ODAgo
• feathers: https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/feathers-article/
• wing design: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/k12/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Bird-Wing-Types-Handout.pdf 

Flying is basically the most defining thing about what birds do, and yet I've never really spoken about it. Well no more, today we begin the mission to figure out how exactly birds fly. We will begin in the long past and look at the evolutionary journey from lizard to bird, as I refuse to answer the question: how do birds fly. But then I guess that's Part 2 will be for?

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

Want birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.

Flightless bird episodes

• Kiwis: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/13777746-kiwis-fruit-people-birds
• Emu: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/11406903-the-great-emu-war
• Flightless birds: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/11317493-flightless-birds
• The Great Auk: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/10605634-the-great-auk
• Penguins: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/10464354-penguin-extravaganza

Notes

• Flying Snake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopelea
• Archaeopteryx: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeopteryx
• Huxley's Near Bird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchiornis
• Holy Confucius Bird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confuciusornis
• Opposite Birds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enantiornithes

Wow, does this podcast even release episodes anymore? Yes it does, and we are back with Albatross, renown as some of the biggest birds in the world. Majestic birds of the open ocean, clumsy buffoons on land. What is it that makes them special? We find out in this episode.

To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek

Want birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.

Notes

• Pelagic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagic_zone
• Procellariiformes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procellariiformes
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834
• Wandering Albatross: https://ebird.org/species/wanalb1
• Tube nose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRTRRMwXuEg
• Waved Albatross: https://ebird.org/species/wavalb?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Laysan Albatross: https://ebird.org/species/layalb?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Short-tailed Albatross: https://ebird.org/species/shtalb?siteLanguage=en_AU
• Smell: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0709047105#:~:text=Wandering%20albatrosses%20(Diomedea%20exulans)%20forage,role%20in%20natural%20foraging%20behavior.
• Waved Albatross moves egg: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/cd6b/5ba04ee23bec2f62f223216ef97be0d307d8.pdf
• Mating dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYNazaodHg
• Proventriculus: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/proventriculus#:~:text=The%20proventriculus%20is%20a%20glandular,a%20koilin%20layer%20(cuticle).
• Wisdom: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/wisdom-laysan-albatross-super-mom-is-73-and-still-going-strong/
• Plight of the Tristan Albatross: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1733312/episodes/8788007-the-tristan-albatross