In this episode my four students Abby, Danny, Kaleb, and Pieter talk about their recordings of the Dawn Chorus, and what we dug up from the scientific primary literature. The bottom line is very little is understood about why birds around the world sing together at dawn. We explore several hypotheses, and explore why science matters.

We also have Danny on site at Lytle Nature Preserve studying birds. A report from the field is always fun. 

Violin opening by Becky Roesler 

Join my students Kaleb (and experinced birder) and Samatha (a beginner) and your host Steven L. Peck in the first episode of a new season of Winging it! From Curiosity to a Scientific Fact, as we explore some of joys of birding. Owl picture by Student Kaleb Anderson

Join me, Steve Peck, a biology professor, and my students, Sara Evans and Courtney Roos, interviewer Austin Lambert, and under the direction of Katy Knight from the Life Sciences Museum. Here we talk about some of our experiences podcasting about birds and exploring the world of sound. Join us and don't forget to listen the the Y Life Science Podcast which is chock full of great content stories and experiences. 

BYU-I Music Professor Becky Roesler goes into the field to talk about birds, music, and brain science. Join us as we explore how the birds and people engage with the world's sounds and the music we create as humans. This is a special bonus episode to pause and think about the music of humans and birds. As a special treat, Dr. Roesler will play the violin part of a choir piece, Savior, Redeemer of My Soul, at the end of the episode. 

Join me and my Research Assistants, Sara, Jessica, Vibalia, and Courtney as they recount their summer activities with birds from Japan, Western US, and Southern India. We also explore a paper on migration and look at how migrating birds engage with the environment in novel and  exciting ways! 

Join professor of biology Steven Peck and two new students discovering the sounds of the world. Vibalia is from India, and Courtney is from the USA. Listen as they explore Rock Canyon for birds and their interaction with each other, the noise of rivers, and the sound pollution of humans. How do birds adapt to a world where the soundscape becomes a resource needed for survival?

As promised in the podcast, here is a video of Tropical Manikins Dancing! 

Join us as we explore noise and its effect on ecosystem health and stability. In this episode we visit Utah Lake State Park, which is next to an airport, and ponder how noise affects bird life. 

We’re going to be a different kind of science podcast. Most science podcasts are about finished science—refined, cleaned up, and previously published in peer-reviewed literature. In this one, we will start with curiosity and work towards scientific discovery and publication at the end. Darwin began his discoveries with a voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle. He observed. He reported his observations. And born out of his unrelenting curiosity made THE most important discovery in the last two centuries—Evolution through natural selection (move over Einstein, you were bested). 

This is also about birds. About listening to birds. About finding how birds live. So join us. Let’s get curious, and then let’s get full-on sciency. We are going to have fun.