The Science of Birds

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 …

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 …

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.

…

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 …

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 bird…

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 …

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 …

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…

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 thi…

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 ind…

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 on…

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…

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…

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 month…

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 …

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 th…

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 sur…

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 …

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 with…

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 …