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This is Episode 105. It’s all about a small group of birds called mergansers. These are diving ducks known for their skill at catching fish. They have long, slender bills with serrated edges, earning them the nickname "sawbills."
Maybe you’re familiar with these birds. Maybe you’re already a big fan. Or maybe you didn’t know they existed until just now. Either way, our goal today is to learn a lot more about Common Mergansers and their close relatives.
There are five species that we call mergansers. And there’s another species in this group that’s called the Smew. The Smew is sort of an honorary merganser.
The six species we’re looking at today are divided among 3 genera.
Of all the ducks in the world, mergansers are the species that depend the most on fish. So not surprisingly, they’re excellent divers and swimmers.
Links of Interest
Merganser Duckling Swimming at High Speed [VIDEO]Red-breasted Merganser Courtship Display [VIDEO]Hooded Merganser Courtship Display [VIDEO]Hooded Merganser Chicks Jumping Out of Nest [VIDEO]Red-breasted and Common Mergansers herding fish [VIDEO]
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This episode—which is Number 104—is all about rocky shores and sandy beaches as bird habitat. These environments offer birds very different resources and challenges. We explore the geology behind these habitats—how high-energy waves shape rocky cliffs and headlands, while the deposition of sediment builds up sandy beaches. Alongside this, we discuss the dynamic interaction between birds and their coastal homes, and how species like gulls, shorebirds, and seabirds have adapted to thrive in these unique settings.
The episode highlights the incredible diversity of bird species found along coastlines worldwide. From puffins nesting on rocky sea cliffs to plovers skittering across sandy beaches, coastal birds have developed specialized feeding and breeding behaviors to survive in their often harsh environments. We also examine how tides and wave energy shape the coastal ecosystem and offer rich feeding opportunities for birds during migration and in their non-breeding seasons.
Finally, we touch on the many challenges coastal birds face from human activity—habitat destruction, disturbance, pollution, and climate change—all of which threaten these delicate ecosystems. But amidst the challenges, coastal environments remain awe-inspiring places for birdwatching, providing opportunities to witness some of the most dramatic bird spectacles on Earth.
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In this episode—which is Number 103—we enter the fascinating world of parrots, focusing on species in the family Psittacidae, which includes New World parrots and some African species. We look at key parrot traits like their zygodactyl feet, strong beaks, plumage, and vocalizations.
We'll also learn about the remarkable intelligence and social behaviors of parrots, their diversity, and their evolutionary history, tracing their origins back to Gondwana and their eventual spread to South America and Africa.
Finally, we look at what psittacid parrots eat and how they breed.~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~
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In this episode—which is Number 102—we dive into the fascinating world of the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), a small but mighty bird known for its striking blue and orange plumage and remarkable fish-hunting skills. We'll look at this species' behavior, from its iconic plunges into water to catch prey, to how it breeds, including courtship rituals, nest-building, and the challenges of raising chicks.
Kingfisher Diving in Slow Motion [VIDEO]Kingfisher Coughing up a Pellet [VIDEO]Two male kingfishers fighting [VIDEO]Kingfisher family in the nest cavity [VIDEO]
Learn about the kingfisher's diet and foraging strategies, including how it deals with challenges like refraction at the water’s surface to accurately target its prey. Additionally, I touch on the habitat and global distribution of the Common Kingfisher.
This episode offers a fun exploration of one of the most beloved birds in Eurasia. Tune in to learn more about the "Prince of Piscivory."
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This is Episode 101. Today, we trace the origins of feathers back millions of years, exploring how they evolved from simple filaments to the complex structures we see in modern birds. We delve into the discovery of feathered dinosaurs like Archaeopteryx and the numerous fossil finds in northeastern China during the 1990s. These discoveries revealed that many non-avian dinosaurs sported feathers of various types and complexities, indicating that feathers were not unique to birds but were a common feature among many dinosaur lineages.
The evolutionary journey of feathers showcases their initial roles in insulation, display, and possibly tactile sensation, long before they were adapted for flight.
Join me as we walk through the Five-Stage Model of feather evolution, which parallels feather development in modern birds. This episode is a deep dive into the intricate and mesmerizing story of how feathers came to be.
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Welcome to the 100th episode of The Science of Birds Podcast! I'm thrilled to celebrate this milestone with you. In this special episode, I reflect on the journey of creating this podcast, sharing some insights and gratitude for all of you, my listeners.
I also highlight three of my favorite bird species: the vibrant Green Jay, the Torrent Duck, and Egyptian Vulture.
Looking ahead, I'm excited to share my plans for the future of The Science of Birds. Thank you for being part of this journey, and here's to many more episodes to come!
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In this episode—which is Number 99—we dive into the fascinating world of cormorants and shags, members of the avian family Phalacrocoracidae. These sleek, hook-billed birds are known for their distinctive silhouettes, often seen drying their wings on seaside cliffs or wetland trees. Cormorants and shags have a long history of varied human interactions, from being vilified and hunted to being revered and even trained to catch fish.
Brandt's Cormorants [VIDEO]
These birds are exceptional divers, utilizing their streamlined bodies and webbed feet to hunt underwater. Their feathers are less waterproof than those of other aquatic birds, which aids in diving but necessitates their iconic wing-drying behavior. Cormorants can be found across the world, thriving in diverse habitats from coastal cliffs to freshwater lakes.
They face significant conservation challenges. Human persecution and disturbances, habitat destruction, and climate change threaten several species, some of which are critically endangered.
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This episode—which is Number 98—delves into the fascinating world of the avian brain. Despite the long-standing misconception that "bird brain" equates to being unintelligent, recent scientific research reveals that birds possess remarkably sophisticated brains, rivaling the intelligence of primates and even humans in some respects. By tracing the evolutionary paths of both mammals and birds from a common ancestor, I explain how birds have developed unique brain structures that enable complex thought processes, decision-making, and problem-solving.
We'll explore the anatomical intricacies of a bird's brain, breaking down its basic architecture into the forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. I highlight the critical role of structures like the hyperpallium and the dorsal ventricular ridge in enabling advanced cognitive abilities. Additionally, the discussion touches on brain plasticity, neuron density, and the specific regions involved in vocalization and memory.
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This is Episode 97. It’s all about bluebirds: the three North American species in the genus Sialia: The Eastern Bluebird, Western Bluebird, and Mountain Bluebird.
North American Bluebird Society
For centuries, these beloved birds have been celebrated in paintings, poems, songs, and Disney cartoons.
The Eastern Bluebird is the state bird of Missouri and New York, while the Mountain Bluebird is the state bird of Idaho and Nevada.
And, apparently, the Mountain Bluebird was the inspiration for the original Twitter logo.
But bluebirds aren’t just cultural icons. They’ve also become valuable study subjects for scientists in the fields of ornithology and general biology. Research on these little birds has led to insights about the way the natural world works—from evolution, to ecology, behavior, diseases, and genetics.
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In this episode—which is Number 96—I’ll be answering questions sent by my listeners. So this is what we call an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode.
I enjoy doing these, and it’s so interesting to see what sorts of questions people have about birds.
The listeners who get to contribute questions for these Ask Me Anything episodes are members of my community on Patreon. There are several tiers of support that people can join, and at the Helpful Hornbill and Awesome Osprey level, one perks is getting to ask questions for episodes like this one.
So if you’d like to have me answer your bird questions in a future episode, consider signing up on my Patreon page, and become a Helpful Hornbill or an Awesome Osprey.
I got lots of participation this time and some great questions. Many of the questions submitted are about things I hadn’t thought about before. Some of them are sort of out of left field… Which is so cool. The curiosity and unique perspectives of my listeners—you guys—drive me to expand my own understanding of birds. And I love that!
Links of Interest
Male Montezuma Oropendola song and bow display [VIDEO]
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This episode—which is number 95—is all about spoonbills.
There are six spoonbill species in the world, all of which belong to the genus Platalea. The unique beak of spoonbills sets them apart from pretty much all other birds. What is the advantage of having a bill shaped like that? We'll answer that question in this episode.
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This episode—which is Number 94— is all about the Avian Digestive System. That’s right, kids, we’re looking at bird guts today!
If you’ve ever wondered what happens to a fish swallowed by a kingfisher or what happened to that piece of bacon swiped off your lunch plate by a cheeky Ring-billed Gull... Well, you're about to find out.
I’ll do my best to describe in words the anatomical features we encounter today. But I’ve also drawn a diagram for you. You can check that out on the show notes for this episode on the Science of Birds website.
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This episode—which is number 93—is all about the the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), one of the world’s best known and most abundant birds. It expanded across the planet along with humans over the last 10,000 years, with the spread of agriculture. Today, this plucky little bird is a model organism for the study of basic bird biology. Over 7,000 scientific studies of the House Sparrow have been published.
World Sparrow Day
In this episode, we’ll get into what this species looks and sounds like, where it lives, its behavior, its breeding biology, and more.
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This episode—which is Number 92—is all about the value of desert ecosystems as habitats for birds.
Deserts are important for the birds that are adapted to live in them—birds that can handle the harsh conditions.
Deserts are home to relatively few bird species. Only the polar regions and maybe some parts of the open ocean have less bird diversity.
Even if a bird species can handle the extremes of heat and cold in a desert, the desiccating winds, and the lack of water, that bird may not find much food.
Because where there are few plants, there are few invertebrates. So a bird in the desert can have a hard time finding any leaves, seeds, fruit, or bugs to eat.
And yet, an assortment of bird species from many disparate families have managed to carve out an existence in the world’s most arid lands. There may be nowhere near as many of them as in, say, a tropical rainforest or a temperate woodland…
BUT, the birds we do find in the desert are, I think, a particularly fascinating and admirable bunch. They’re tough little buggers. They’re resilient. Desert birds have interesting adaptations and behaviors that allow them to survive in places that would kill most other birds in a day.
CORRECTIONS: I realized after I recorded this episode that I mispronounced the names of the Namib and Thar deserts. Namib should be pronounced "NAH-mib." Thar is pronounced "Tar."
Links of Interest
Grayish Miner in the Atacama Desert [VIDEO]~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~
Link to this episode on the Science of Birds website
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This is Episode 91. It’s all about birds in the family Paridae. These are the chickadees, tits, and titmice—cute little forest-dwelling songbirds known and loved by many people around the world.
I’ve had a lot of requests to make a podcast episode about chickadees and their kind. Some species in this family are familiar visitors to backyard bird feeders. They’re highly active, vocal, bold, and sometimes quite confiding with people. It’s possible to gain the trust of tits and chickadees of some species by feeding them seeds out of the palm of your hand.
These birds not only visit bird feeders regularly, at least in winter, but they’ll also happily lay eggs in artificial nest boxes. All of these traits make birds in the Paridae family great subjects for scientists who want to study bird behavior and ecology.
So chickadees, tits, and titmice are among the most well-studied songbirds on the planet. Lucky for us here on The Science of Birds podcast, that means there’s a lot we can learn about them
Links of Interest
Ground Tit [VIDEO]
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This is Episode 90 and it’s all about the importance of birds as plant pollinators.
If I had to use only one word for the topic of this episode, it would be ornithophily. The definition of ornithophily is “the pollination of flowers by birds.”
Today, I’ll be focusing mostly on the ecological relationships between plants and the birds that pollinate them. Another way to look at all of this would be through the lens of evolution—the fascinating ways that plants and birds have co-evolved with respect to pollination.
I’ll make another podcast episode, at some point, about bird and plant co-evolution. We’ll touch on it today, but the main focus is ecology.
Pollination ecology is actually an entire subdiscipline that many scientists have dedicated their careers to studying. It’s really interesting stuff!~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~
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This is Episode 89. I’m publishing it right at the beginning of 2024, and it's a review of some fascinating things that happened in the world of ornithology and bird conservation over the last 12 months, in 2023.
Colossal BiosciencesBirds, Not MosquitoesHow Wolbachia Can Save Forest Birds [VIDEO]Puzzle-solving caracaras [VIDEO]
Naturally, this isn’t an exhaustive review of every scientific discovery about birds in 2023. That would be too much. An exhaustive review would be, well, exhausting. Maybe not for you, but definitely for me.
Instead, I’ll tell you about a handful of studies and projects that I think you’ll find interesting. These gems were hand-selected by me for your educational pleasure.
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This episode—which is number 88—is all about owls. Owls are fascinating birds that have captured our imaginations since the dawn of humankind. They have amazing camouflage that allows them to blend in with their surroundings, and they have several other avian superpowers that set them apart from all other birds.
Owl Notes–Denver Holt Shares the Short eared Owl's Courtship Flight [VIDEO]Long-whiskered Owlet (Xenoglaux loweryi) [VIDEO]The silent flight of an owl [VIDEO]Pellet.comWhat an Owl Knows [BOOK]
Owls are divided into two families—Tytonidae and Strigidae—and we'll be discussing both of them today.
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This episode—which is Number 87—is all about some big news in the birding world. The common names for about 150 North American bird species are going to change in the not-too-distant future.
This comes from an announcement made by the American Ornithological Society just a few weeks ago, on November 1st.
I couldn’t pass up the chance to talk about this. It’s a hot topic among birders right now. People have been asking me what I think about all these birds getting renamed. And so here we are.
If you’re hearing about this for the first time, and you don’t know what I’m talking about, don’t worry—I’ll explain.
Yes, this is primarily relevant to birds and the humans who love them in the Western Hemisphere. Mostly North America for now.
But similar changes may be on the horizon for your local birds, wherever you live. So I think you’ll find this interesting, even if you don’t live in the US or Canada.
Links of Interest
American Ornithological Society (AOS) Council Statement on English Bird NamesAOS Community Congress on English Bird Names [VIDEO]~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~
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This episode—which is Number 86—is all about bird beaks.
The Mark My Bird Project
This will be an overview of beak anatomy, function, evolution, and diversity.
The head of every bird on Earth is adorned with a beak. A bill. And to the delight of us all, those beaks come in a wild variety of shapes and colors.
Just picture the mugs of toucans, vultures, ducks, parrots, flamingos, and pelicans.
The diversity of beak shapes like these is one of the fascinating things about birds.
Birds use their beaks for all sorts of tasks. These appendages are vital tools, used for getting food, for grooming, for communication, and more.
Links of Interest~~ Leave me a review using Podchaser ~~
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