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

• The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird’s Egg [affiliate link]

Links of Interest

• How are Eggs Made (BBC/Attenborough clip) [VIDEO]
• Chicken embryo development animation [VIDEO]
• Bird Eggs Warn Each Other About Danger [VIDEO]

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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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Links of Interest

• Current U.S. Bird Flu Situation in Humans

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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This is Episode 52.

Today, we’re talking about bird species that are way, way bigger 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

• The Time Terror Birds Invaded [Video]
• Takahe - Return to the Wild [Video]
• Island Gigantism

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Earlham College - A fantastic place to get an education, especially if you love birds

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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

Earlham College - A fantastic place to get an education, especially if you love birds

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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

• The Forgotten Female: How a Generation of Women Scientists Changed Our View of Evolution
• Female Bird Song Project
• Video of Superb Fairy Wren female Singing
• Singing female Cerulean Warblers [Video]

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Earlham College - A fantastic place to get an education, especially if you love birds

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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

• Why a Hawk Is a Hummingbird’s Best Friend
• Time Lapse Video of Blue Tit Building a Nest
• BBC Video of Baya Weaver Nest Construction

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Earlham College - A fantastic place to get an education, especially if you love birds

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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. Meaning within species.

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Links of Interest

• Pukeko video
• Pukeko fighting video

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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

• Shoplifting gull stealing Doritos.

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

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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

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This episode is all about forensic 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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Links of Interest

• Chuparosa article
• The Remarkable Life of Roxie Laybourne
• US Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab
• Forensic Ornithologist: Pepper Trail
• Forensic Ornithologist: Ariel M. Gaffney
• Podcast Episode: Ariel Gaffney, "Bird Crime Fighter"
• The Feather Atlas
• Feather Identification Lab at Smithsonian
• [VIDEO] It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's SNARGE!

Errors and Corrections

• 10:32 - I said " Law enforcement offers..." when I meant "officers."
• 32:55 - I said "Yellow-billed Cockatoos," when I meant Yellow-crested Cockatoos

Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website

Earlham College - A fantastic place to get an education, especially if you love birds

Bird Merch - See the NEW shirt designs!

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