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

• Smithsonian Bird Friendly Coffee
• Bird Friendly Coffee [VIDEO]
• Coffee and Conservation

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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

• Loon scenes in the movie On Golden Pond [VIDEO]
• Why Hollywood Loves this creepy bird call [VIDEO]
• Loon Kills Bald Eagle
• Animation of Common Loon abundance across the seasons.

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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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Links of Interest

• VIDEO: A snoozing fox meets a plucky little black-crested titmouse
• VIDEO: Tapaculos Hunt for Truffles

References

• Bird neurocranial and body mass evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: The avian brain shape left other dinosaurs behind
• Shape-shifting: changing animal morphologies as a response to climatic warming
• Facultative Parthenogenesis in California Condors
• Lifetime reproductive benefits of cooperative polygamy vary for males and females in the acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus)
• Global abundance estimates for 9,700 bird species
• Drones and deep learning produce accurate and efficient monitoring of large-scale seabird colonies
• A supergene underlies linked variation in color and morphology in a Holarctic songbird
• A new genus and species of tanager (Passeriformes, Thraupidae) from the lower Yungas of western Bolivia and southern Peru
• Discovering the Role of Patagonian Birds in the Dispersal of Truffles and Other Mycorrhizal Fungi
• What the pluck? The theft of mammal hair by birds is an overlooked but common behavior with fitness implications

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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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Links of Interest

• Old Flames: The Tangled History of Forest Fires, Wildlife, and People
• Bringing Back the Red-cockaded Woodpecker: Are Prescribed Fire and Artificial Nests Enough?
• New Study Is First to Explore How Wildfire Smoke Derails Bird Migration
• These Birds of Prey Are Deliberately Setting Forests on Fire

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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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Links of Interest

• Woodpeckers and Brain Injury Prevention 
• Bird song could hold clues for human disorders

References

• The role of ecologic diversification in sibling speciation of Empidonax flycatchers (Tyrannidae): multigene evidence from mtDNA [PDF]
• The Evolution of Stomach Acidity and Its Relevance to the Human Microbiome
• A Systematic Review of Carrion Eaters' Adaptations to Avoid Sickness
• Features of owl wings that promote silent flight
• Upwash exploitation and downwash avoidance by flap phasing in ibis formation flight

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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

• Bird Flight [Wikipedia]
• Why do birds fly in a V? Endangered ibis reveals its amazing secret
• The amazing muscles and bones that make birds fly

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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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Links of Interest

• Extinct mega penguin was tallest and heaviest ever
• Melting Antarctic Ice Causing Penguins to Starve
• Nice illustration showing the relative sizes and appearances of every penguin species.
• Scientists Discover “Super-Colony” of 1.5 Million Adélie Penguins in Images From Space

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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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Links of Interest

• Wetlands International
• Where Are The World’s Wetlands? [Map]

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