Okay, But... Birds

Okay, but why does that bird look so rough?

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 15:30:00 -0000

E39. Every August the questions start: there is a cardinal at the feeder with no head feathers, and it looks terrible. Nothing is wrong with it. It is molting, which every bird does at least every year. Dr. Ryan Terrill of the San Diego Natural History Museum studies what a feather endures over a year and what it takes to replace one, and he makes the case that the few weeks a bird spends looking its worst may be the most consequential weeks it has.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

Why the cardinal at your feeder in late summer looks like it lost a fight
What a bird quietly gives up during the weeks it is growing new feathers
The hundreds of miles some birds fly for the sake of a new set of feathers

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:

Northern Cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191165
American Goldfinch audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94457
Blue Jay audio contributed by Gaetan Dupont, ML173749
Herring Gull audio contributed by Sarah MacLean, ML165927
American Herring Gull video contributed by Steve Kelling, ML540908261
Snow Bunting audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML130973
Red-tailed hawk audio contributed by David McCartt, ML229578
White-throated Sparrow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219799
Great Hornbill audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML111527
Flightless Cormorant audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML237486

Okay, but what's up with feathers?

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 09:00:00 -0000

E38. You have pulled one out of a jacket sleeve at a bad angle, picked one up on a walk, and you are almost certainly within arm's reach of a few thousand of them right now. Dr. Cody Limber, who recently finished his PhD at Yale, spent it taking growing feathers apart one cell at a time to find out what they are actually made of. A feather is not a fancy scale, it does not grow the way you would guess, and after all this time nobody can say what the first ones were for.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

The strangest things growing out of birds, and which of them actually count as feathers
What a feather is actually made of, once you smash one into individual cells and read what every cell was doing
What a feather actually is, whether it is alive or dead, how it is put together, and the coordination that color and pattern demand

Eastern Whip-poor-will audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195774
Red-bellied Woodpecker audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML306064
Indian Peafowl audio contributed by Rounak choudhary, ML621021542
Common Raven audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML132161
Mallard audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136504
Double-crested Cormorant audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML233274
Zebra Finch (Australian) audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML226233
American Herring Gull video contributed by Steve Kelling, ML540908261
Golden-winged Warbler video contributed by Benjamin Clock, ML476422
Great Argus audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML71122
Horned Screamer audio contributed by Paul A. Schwartz, ML58925
Wild Turkey audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML73964601

Okay, but does age bring Wisdom?

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E37. A bird called Wisdom was banded on Midway Atoll in 1956 and is still laying eggs today, which makes her at least 75 and the oldest known wild bird on the planet. She has also outlived the man who banded her, and most of the scientists who tracked her since. Dr. Etienne Rouby studies long-lived seabirds at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at CU Boulder, working with data from the French sub-Antarctic islands where wandering albatross have been followed for more than half a century. Scott asks him what you can learn from a bird that will outlast your career, your funding, and possibly your field station.

In this episode you'll hear about:

What a fledgling albatross does for the first five years of its life, and why nobody really knows
The fishing gear change that pulled a colony back from the brink, and how long it took to see it working
Why a very good year for female albatross is a very bad year for the males

Snowy Albatross audio contributed by Ted Parker, ML42306
Black-browed Albatross audio contributed by Jan Hansen, ML650026815

Okay, but do hummingbirds ever chill?

Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E36. Hummingbirds run one of the fastest metabolisms of any animal with a backbone, which is why we picture them as permanently buzzing. Scott sits down with Dr. Anusha Shankar, assistant professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who studies how hummingbirds budget energy in a world that keeps moving the goalposts. It turns out the blur at your feeder is the exception, not the rule.

In this episode you'll hear about:

Why the same bird might spend three hours a day flying, or thirteen, depending entirely on what the flowers are doing
What happens overnight when a hummingbird lets itself go cold, and how long it takes to come back
Seven months in the Ecuadorian cloud forest, and the hummingbirds that sat on the nets and waited

Plus: the doubly labeled water method, a sugar concentration threshold you can taste-test at your own feeder at your own risk, and the reason Anusha gets called the hummingbird pee person.

The "snoring" hummingbird video Scott and Anusha discuss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uEfmQt34Nc

Ruby-throated Hummingbird audio contributed by Trenton Voytko, ML604314061
Black Metaltail audio contributed by Pedro Allasi Condo, ML663268821
Violet-tailed Sylph audio contributed by Paul Coopmans, ML58045
White-booted Racket-tail audio contributed by Daniel Cadena, ML256331
Bee Hummingbird video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML440270

Black Metaltail photograph by Thibaud Aronson, via iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Okay, but what's the deal with Darwin's finches?

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E35. Eighteen species of small brown bird on a pile of volcanic rock have taught us more about how evolution actually works than almost anything else on Earth. Not because Darwin figured them out. He didn't. Because a handful of scientists went back, banded every bird on one island, and watched it happen in real time. Scott heads to the Galapagos with Dr. Erik Enbody, Assistant Professor of Computational Biology at Cornell University, to find out how one ancestor became eighteen, why the beak is the only thing worth looking at, and what happens when species that aren't supposed to interbreed start swapping genes anyway.

In this episode you'll hear about:

The island so small you can band every bird on it, and the drought that killed almost all of them
One gene that explains 40% of beak size, when nothing in human height explains even 1%
The finch that does something mind-blowingly villainous and what it says about how far evolution will go

Large Ground-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85965
Common Cactus-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML86715
Small Tree-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85464
Vegetarian Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML82506
Galapagos Mockingbird audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML45963
Española Mockingbird audio contributed by Herb Elliott, ML638777433
Floreana Mockingbird audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85455
San Cristobal Mockingbird audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML28656
Palm Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML88937
Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906
Vampire Ground-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML86756
Woodpecker Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML82522
Paradise Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML127399
Galápagos Sea Lion audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML125020

Okay, but what's the deal with nests?

Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E34. Not all birds build one, but for the ones that do, a nest has a single job and a shockingly wide range of ways to get it done. Dr. Vanya Rohwer, Curator of Birds and Mammals at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, joins Scott to walk the far end of that spectrum, from nests made entirely of spit to a colony structure heavy enough to snap the tree it sits in.

In this episode you'll hear about:

The complete and comical inventory of one hamerkop nest, read aloud, contents included
What a bird does when you hand it a nest somebody else already built
Why a shed snakeskin in a tree cavity is a calculated decoration

New episodes every Thursday. If the show is doing it for you, leave a rating or hit follow.

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But… Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:

American Robin audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206448
Baltimore Oriole audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219606
Black-legged Kittiwake audio contributed by Roger Charters, ML202491
White-nest Swiftlet audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML36421
Cliff Swallow audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML92053871
Chimney Swift audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML107413
Hamerkop audio contributed by Anonymous, ML97562
Eastern Whip-poor-will audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195774
Montezuma Oropendola audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML215446
Western Grebe audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195029
Rufous Hornero audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML132447
Northern Yellow Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516692
Sociable Weaver audio contributed by Jacob Henry, ML637193738
Great Crested Flycatcher audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94314
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML534430
White-breasted Nuthatch audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML306062

Okay, but how do birds handle a heatwave?

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E33. When the air temperature climbs past a bird's own body temperature, staying cool stops being free and starts to cost them water they may not have. Dr. Blair Wolf, University of New Mexico, has spent his career studying how desert birds survive heat that should kill them, and what happens when it finally gets too hot.

In this episode you'll hear about:

Why some backyard birds can shrug off oven-like temperatures while others just a few feet away don't make it
The strange, water-saving trick birds use to dump heat without a single drop of sweat
What the birds dying in these heatwaves are trying to tell us about what's coming

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:

White-winged Dove audio contributed by Raphaël Nussbaumer, ML571978241
Verdin audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML197163
Black-throated Sparrow audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML573935831
Black-throated Sparrow video contributed by Benjamin Clock, ML483211
Mourning Dove audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML583603101
Mourning Dove audio contributed by Anonymous, ML658417476
Palm Cockatoo audio contributed by Emma Greig, ML201266
Rosy-faced Lovebird audio contributed by Derek Solomon, ML168222
Common Eider audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235534

Okay, but how does wildfire smoke impact birds?

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E32. Wildfire smoke is blanketing more of the map every year, and it turns out a smoky sky changes everything for birds, from how they breathe to whether we can find them at all. Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot, Research Scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is back to walk Scott through what all that haze is doing to the birds living in it.

In this episode:

Birds don't breathe the way we do, and that single fact shapes everything about how smoke hits them
Stay, shift, or go: the framework for what a bird actually does when the air turns toxic
When the birds go quiet, it isn't always because they left

Data collection for Project Phoenix is open now through the end of November. If you're on the West Coast, you can sign up at projectphoenix.study and log a 10-minute count from wherever you are, even your own window.

Northern Yellow Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516692
Black-Crowned Night Heron audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML225814
Tufted Titmouse audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100712
Cooper’s Hawk audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94518
Bornean Orangutan audio contributed by John MacKinnon, ML82019
American Robin audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206448

Okay, but did birds invent music?

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E31. If a bird sings a phrase worthy of Beethoven, is that music, or just biology in a nice outfit? Dr. Hollis Taylor, a violinist, composer, and ornithologist, has spent more than two decades recording and transcribing the songs of the Pied Butcherbird, an Australian songbird whose vocal life keeps blurring that line.

In this episode:

How a single pied butcherbird can sing for seven hours through the night, almost never repeating itself, then return the next spring with a brand new repertoire
What a violin can and can't reproduce when it tries to follow a butcherbird, from steep glissandos to rattles a human instrument simply cannot make
The case for birdsong as music

Winter Wren audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML136183
Hermit Thrush audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML169025
Wood Thrush audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML168331
White-throated Sparrow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219799
Australian Magpie audio contributed by Emma Greig, ML218159
Willie-wagtail audio contributed by Cedar Mathers-Winn, ML188954
Humpback Whale audio contributed by Flip Harrington, ML123414

Pied Butcherbird song and composition excerpts courtesy of Dr. Hollis Taylor (piedbutcherbird.net, piedbutcherbird.com).

Okay, but is the dawn chorus getting quieter?

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E30. That wall of birdsong outside your window at sunrise has a name, a structure, and a surprising amount of drama. This week Scott talks with Dr. Dan Mennill, a professor at the University of Windsor who wires whole forests with microphones to eavesdrop on the entire neighborhood at once, about what the dawn chorus is actually for, and what it means when it starts to thin out.

In this episode:

Why dawn, why so loud, and who gets to sing first (hint: it's not about who's the best singer)
What 16 microphones and kilometers of cable revealed about birds negotiating in real time
What happened when one field site went quiet, and why that quiet is louder than it sounds

Listen now, then tell us what your morning chorus sounds like.

Soundscape contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516838
Black-throated Green Warbler contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML79475
American Redstart contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100804
Tufted Titmouse contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100712
Northern Cardinal contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191165
Northern Flicker contributed by William V. Ward, ML3
Black-capped Chickadee contributed by Bob McGuire, ML197114
American Robin contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206448
Alder Flycatcher contributed by Mike Andersen, ML132247
Savannah Sparrow contributed by Gerritt Vyn, ML137843
Chipping Sparrow contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML534466
White-crowned Sparrow contributed by Bob McGuire, ML207181
Red-tailed Hawk contributed by David McCartt, ML229578

Okay, but what's it like as a bird at the top of the world?

Thu, 02 Jul 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E29. Standing at 11,000 feet, lungs burning, Scott watched birds go about their afternoon in the exact thin air that had nearly taken him out. This week he sits down with Dr. Chris Witt, evolutionary biologist at the University of New Mexico and curator of birds at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, who has spent his career figuring out how birds make a living in the thinnest air on Earth. From the hummingbird blood that rewrites itself to match a mountainside to a five-pound coot that has no business existing, this one is about the birds thriving where our bodies would quit.

In this episode:

Why a single Andean slope can stack dozens of hummingbird species right on top of each other, each locked to its own band of elevation
How the same oxygen-grabbing protein keeps evolving the same way, over and over, in a pattern so predictable it runs in reverse
The record-holders pulling off things up high that sound like they shouldn't be possible

Chris doesn't just tell us about these birds, he shows us, so you may want to watch this one.

House Finch audio contributed by William R. Fish, ML12932
Giant Coot audio contributed by Steven L. Hilty, ML56377

Okay, but does easy living make birds dumber?

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E28. A bird's brain is the most expensive thing it owns, and evolution doesn't hand one out for free. Dr. Carlos Botero, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent a decade tracing what variable, unforgiving environments actually do to bird cognition, and the answer flips a lot of conventional wisdom on its head.

In this episode:

Why the harshest places on Earth produce two kinds of birds: the puzzle-solving geniuses and the brute-force survivors, with almost nothing in between
How big brains might not have evolved for the reasons we always assumed
Why being one of the smartest birds in the sky can come with a hidden cost

Willow Ptarmigan audio contributed by Leonard J. Peyton, ML50031
American Crow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML229089
Blue Jay audio contributed by Gaetan Dupont, ML173749
Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239
Snowy Owl audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML138288

Okay, but... pigeons!

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E27. They’ve been called "rats with wings," but pigeons are actually elite athletes, historical icons, and evolutionary marvels. Scott chats with Dr. Elizabeth Carlen, a postdoc at the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis, to look past the common stereotypes and uncover the remarkable biology of the Rock Pigeon.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

The deep historical bond between humans and pigeons and how domestic birds successfully transitioned back into the wild.
How pigeons navigate the constant threat of specialized hunters like Peregrine Falcons and Red-tailed Hawks.
How mapping the DNA of feral pigeons across the Northeastern US revealed that their population structure surprisingly mirrors human geography, and what flight distances can tell us about their urban evolution.

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who needs to give pigeons a second look.

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows:

Blue Jay audio contributed by Gaetan Dupont, ML173749
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) audio contributed by James Kimball, ML3891
Peregrine Falcon audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136378
Red-tailed Hawk audio contributed by David McCartt, ML229578

Okay, but did birds originate the open relationship?

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E26. We borrowed a phrase from human dating and tried to pin it on birds. Turns out they never needed the rulebook. Dr. Wenfei Tong, biologist and author of Bird Love, joins Scott to unpack what bird partnerships actually look like once you stop projecting our scripts onto them, from females who run the territory to males who guard their paternity in deeply weird ways.

In this episode you'll hear about:

Why the drabbest little brown bird in the garden has one of the wildest sex lives in the animal kingdom
How a female calls the shots when she holds the better real estate, and what the males do about it
The cloacal pecking payoff you have to hear to believe

Laysan Albatross audio contributed by Ted Miller, ML117679
Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239
Spotted Sandpiper audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML516963
Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224
Red-necked Phalarope audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235440
Black Coucal audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML3084
Papuan Eclectus audio contributed by Thane Pratt, ML169808
Red-winged Blackbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249827
Red-winged Blackbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94215
Red-capped Manakin audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML57360
Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906
Greater Flamingo audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML2443
Dunnock audio contributed by Niels Krabbe, ML249162

Okay, but... boobies!

Thu, 04 Jun 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E25. The blue-footed booby has become an internet personality: cartoon feet, a goofy strut, a name that practically begs to be a punchline. But Scott sat down with Dr. Carlos Zavalaga, Universidad Científica del Sur, and one of the people who first taught him how to study seabirds in Peru, and the "fool" reputation falls apart fast. Get a booby in the air or underwater and you're watching one of the most specialized hunters in the bird family tree.

In this episode you'll hear about:

How six-plus booby species carve up the same ocean without starving each other out
What 20 years of GPS loggers, depth tags, and bags of fresh fish revealed about who eats what
Why El Niño, avian flu, and overfishing keep stacking the deck against these birds

Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906
Red-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85911
Brown Booby audio contributed by Gerritt Vyn, ML136211
Masked Booby audio contributed by Chandler Robbins, ML32604
Nazca Booby audio contributed by Oliver H. Hewitt, ML31543
Peruvian Booby audio contributed by Ted Parker, ML29399

Okay, but what about birds that can't fly?

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E24. Flight is the thing we associate most with birds, so what does it mean when a lineage gives it up? Dr. Scott Edwards, Harvard, joins Scott to unpack how flightlessness evolves, why it keeps happening across the bird family tree, and what the genome reveals about how a bird loses the ability to fly.

In this episode you'll hear about:

How losing flight reshapes a bird's body, from feathers to forelimbs to that one famously enormous egg
Why the answer wasn't where geneticists expected to find it
What an extinct giant and a tiny tropical relative can tell us about where moa actually came from

Falkland Steamer-Duck audio contributed by Maurice A. E. Rumboll, ML4114
Great Tinamou audio contributed by David L. Ross, Jr., ML57320

Okay, but can a bird really cooperate with humans?

Thu, 21 May 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E23. Across sub-Saharan Africa, wild birds and people work together to find honey. No taming, no breeding, no domestication… just a partnership thousands of years in the making. Behavioral ecologist Dr. Jessica van der Wal, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, joins Scott to unpack what's actually happening when a honey hunter calls and a greater honeyguide answers.

In this episode you'll hear about:

What each side gets out of one of the only known mutualisms between humans and a wild animal, and why this bird in particular evolved to seek us out
The remarkable signal the honeyguide uses to communicate with people, and what playback experiments revealed when researchers tested it across very different communities
What happens to a partnership built over generations when one side starts buying honey at the store

Greater Honeyguide audio contributed by Jennifer F. M. Horne, ML55972

Additional media courtesy of Dr. Claire Spottiswoode and Dr. Jessica van der Wal

Okay, but can birds predict the weather?

Thu, 14 May 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E22. Folklore says birds know a storm is coming before we do. Scott talks with Dr. Gunnar Kramer, Iowa State University, about what's actually happening when a tiny warbler decides it's time to fly, or time to bail.

In this episode:

Why the question itself might be slightly wrong, and what's really going on inside that bird
A storm, some missing warblers, and a discovery nobody set out to make
What 300 birds falling out of the sky over Texas can tell you about how much fuel is in the tank

Listen, follow, and tell a friend who’s a little superstitious.

Yellow-billed cuckoo audio, Wil Hershberger, ML94446
Barnacle goose audio, Bob McGuire, ML235525
Golden-winged warbler video, Benjamin Clock, ML476422
Blue-winged warbler video, Eric Liner, ML469433
Yellow-billed cuckoo video, Larry Arbanas, ML466566
Eastern kingbird audio, Wil Hershberger, ML534398
Tennessee warbler audio, Wil Hershberger, ML85236
Tennessee warbler video, Eric Liner, ML466381
Wood thrush video, Benjamin Clock, ML471755

Okay, but can birds smell?

Thu, 07 May 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E21. We're talking sense and scents with Dr. Danielle Whittaker, Oregon State, and author of The Secret Perfume of Birds, who spent a decade unraveling a 200-year-old myth that started with John James Audubon and a dead pig under a bush.

In this episode:

The bird that smells like a fresh-baked sugar cookie
Why preen oil is a dating profile written in chemistry, and how seabirds use the same chemical cue that's now leading albatross parents to feed their chicks plastic
The bonus myth Danielle wants gone

New here? Listen, follow, and tell a friend who still thinks birds can't smell.

Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94262
Dark-eyed Junco audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94361
Red Knot audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML516895
Crested Auklet audio contributed by Sampath Seneviratne, ML132014
Laysan Albatross audio contributed by Ted Miller, ML117679

Okay, but what can we learn from a drawer of birds?

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E20. Less than 1% of what's in a museum is actually on display. So what's happening with the other 99%? Scott talks with Dr. Sushma Reddy, Breckenridge Chair of Ornithology at the Bell Museum and Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota, about the extraordinary scientific afterlife of a specimen in a drawer.

In this episode:

How birds collected 150 years ago are answering questions their collectors never imagined, from air pollution to insect decline
Why falcons turned out to be closer to parrots than hawks, and what other surprises fell out of the bird family tree
The case for making museum collections more open, especially to scientists from the places these specimens originally came from

If you have a few seconds, please follow, rate, and leave a review for the show. It makes a huge difference in helping others discover it. Thanks for listening!

Bald eagle sound contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML 200943
Red-tailed hawk sound contributed by David McCartt, ML 229578
Gyrfalcon sound contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML 516973
Kea sound contributed by William V. Ward, ML 8523
Small ground finch sound contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML 86711
Iiwi sound contributed by Doug Pratt, ML 5888
Sickle-billed vanga sound contributed by Anonymous, ML 100013

Okay, but are bird feeders helping or hurting?

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E19. More than 55 million Americans feed birds, and it's not exactly clear the birds asked us to. Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot, Research Scientist and Project Leader of FeederWatch at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, joins Scott to unpack what four decades of data tell us about whether feeding birds helps them, hurts them, or is really just for us.

In this episode you'll hear about:

Why bird feeding is mostly for us, and the handful of moments when it actually tips the scales for birds
What forty years of FeederWatch data reveal about shifting ranges, feeder dominance, and the bird that definitely should not be bossing everyone around
How to keep your yard from becoming an ecological trap, plus the best way to feed birds that doesn't involve a feeder at all

Ready to join the longest-running winter bird monitoring program in North America? Sign up for Project FeederWatch's 40th season at feederwatch.org. You don't even need a feeder.

Want more exclusive clips from this and future episodes. Signup for our newsletter, Bird Droppings, at okaybutbirds.com to get bonus content not available anywhere else!

European robin audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML140049
Cooper's hawk audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94518
American crow video contributed by Jay McGowan, ML472843

Okay, but what's in a bird's toolbox?

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E18. Turns out "bird brain" is less of an insult and more of a compliment. Scott sits down with Dr. Alex Kacelnik, Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford, to dig into one of the most mind-bending questions in animal behavior: are birds actually building and using tools, or are we just projecting?

In this episode you'll hear about:

The experiment that left researchers completely flabbergasted and rewrote what we thought we knew about animal intelligence
Why flexibility, not raw smarts, is the real test of a thinking mind
Whether the drive to use tools is something birds are born with, learn, or some surprising combination of both

Woodpecker Finch audio contributed by Robert Bowman, ML82522
New Caledonian Crow audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML188764
Hawaiian Crow audio contributed by Tim Burr, ML218670
Hawaiian Crow video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML425081
Kea audio contributed by William V. Ward, ML8523

Okay, but do birds have culture?

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E17. From sparrow songs that go viral across a continent to cockatoos that watch each other to learn how to open bins, Dr. Lucy Aplin, Australian National University / University of Zurich, studies how birds learn from each other and why it matters. Doing it for the culture? Yep. Birds are that impressive!

In this episode you'll hear about:

How a new white-throated sparrow song spread over 3,000 kilometers in just two decades, replacing a tune that had been stable since the 1950s
The experiment that proved wild great tits can establish lasting cultural traditions through their social networks
Why losing a population of birds might also mean losing knowledge that took generations to build

White-throated Sparrow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219799
White-throated Sparrow audio contributed by Jocelyn Lauzon, ML121581051
Great Tit audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML36198
Eurasian Sparrowhawk audio contributed by Ben F. King, ML335224
Regent Honeyeater audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML223277
Pink-footed Goose audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235508

Okay, but why put eggs in another bird’s basket?

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 10:15:00 -0000

E16. What if the secret to raising more babies was to never raise a single one yourself? Dr. Chris Balakrishnan, Associate Adjunct Professor of Biology at East Carolina University and co-founder of Nerd Nite, has spent his career studying the strangest birds on the planet: the ones that outsource parenthood entirely.

In this episode you'll hear about:

The evolutionary arms race between brood parasites and their hosts, from mimetic eggs to alien-looking chick mouth patterns
How the "password hypothesis" explains how brown-headed cowbirds avoid imprinting on the wrong species
Why host-switching in African parasitic finches can drive the rapid formation of new species

Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94262
Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516718
Redhead audio contributed by Jessie Berry, ML139672
Canvasback audio contributed by Arthur A. Allen, ML3537
Greater Honeyguide audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML140981
Pin-tailed Whydah audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14489
Village Indigobird audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14484
Zebra Finch (Australian) audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML226233
Prothonotary Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML85158
Kirtland's Warbler audio contributed by Rudolph Little, ML13982

Okay, but what makes a yard a bird paradise?

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E15. Most people picture a bird-friendly yard and imagine feeder, birdbath, maybe a decorative birdhouse with mortgage vibes. And feeders are great. But a feeder can give you the illusion of helping birds without creating the thing birds need most: habitat.

In this episode, Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, joins Scott to explain why your yard is conservation infrastructure in disguise, and what it actually takes to turn it into a place birds can live, breed, and thrive.

In this episode you'll hear about:

Why "plant natives" is just the beginning, and which keystone plants actually move the needle for birds
The surprising reason a beautiful all-native garden can still function like a food desert
What Homegrown National Park is, and how your yard fits into a continent-wide conservation strategy

Ready to do more than feed birds? Join the Homegrown National Park pledge at homegrownnationalpark.org and start shifting your patch of earth.

Chestnut-sided warbler audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML191085
Northern parula audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML79471
Carolina chickadee audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100756
Oriental pied-hornbill audio contributed by Warren Y. Brockelman, ML170843
Northern cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249823
Black-capped chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239

Okay, but what makes a bird… a bird? Hint: Dinosaurs!

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E14. What do feathers, toothless beaks, and a 66-million-year-old asteroid have in common. Paleontologist Dr. Daniel Field, University of Cambridge, joins Scott to unpack how birds evolved from dinosaurs, and why defining "bird" is trickier than you think.

In this episode you'll hear about:

Why Archaeopteryx had half the features of a modern bird and lacked the other half, and what that tells us about 150 million years of evolution
The "Wonderchicken," a tiny fossil from the border of Belgium and the Netherlands that rewrote what we know about birds surviving the asteroid impact
How micro CT scanning lets scientists digitally peer inside rocks to study fossils at micron scale without ever touching them

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Great Spotted Kiwi, William V. Ward, ML810
Southern Cassowary, Linda Macaulay, ML57219
Elegant Trogon, David L. Ross, Jr., ML199536
Green Heron,, Bob McGuire, ML229117

Asteriornis imagery and video courtesy of Dr. Daniel Field, University of Cambridge.

Okay, but why do some birds babysit?

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E13. Some birds skip having their own families and spend years helping raise their siblings instead. It sounds like altruism, but it's probably more complicated than that. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Nancy Chen, UCLA, to unpack the notion that it takes a village to raise a ~~child~~ chick.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

Why some birds spend years as unpaid helpers before starting families of their own
What the Florida Scrub-Jay's 50-year study at Archbold Biological Station revealed about cooperative breeding
Whether helping your siblings is really altruism or just evolution doing it’s thing

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But... Birds and share it with a friend who thinks family is complicated.

Florida Scrub-Jay audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML229211
American Crow video contributed by Jay McGowan, ML472843
Superb Fairywren audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML233810
Superb Starling audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14855
Red-necked Phalarope audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235440
Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224

Okay, but how do birds stay warm?

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E12. Winter isn’t just “cold” for a bird, it’s a nightly survival math problem: generate enough heat, lose as little as possible, and don’t get eaten while you’re fueling up. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Maria Stager, UMass Amherst, to break down the clever physiology and weird little behaviors that let birds ride out freezing temps, from icy duck feet to “feather puffball” mode to energy-saving torpor.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How birds keep their feet from freezing
How feathers and shivering muscles act like a built-in winter jacket
How birds manage energy overnight, including fat, roosting, and torpor

Dark-eyed Junco audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94361
Purple Martin audio contributed by Arthur A. Allen, ML8086
Willow Ptarmigan audio contributed by Leonard J. Peyton, ML50031
Common Poorwill audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191125
Snowy Owl audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML138288
Ruffed Grouse audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML216783
Mallard audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136504
Tree Swallow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML233306
Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239
Redpoll (Common) audio contributed by William V. Ward, ML12745

Okay, but why is a bird’s world more colorful?

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E11. Bird vision isn’t just “better than ours,” It’s operating in a different color space, including ultraviolet. In Host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Allison Shultz, Associate Curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to break down what birds can actually see, how scientists measure color in the real world, and why feather color is one of evolution’s most powerful (and misunderstood) tools.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How birds see a whole extra dimension of color (including UV) and why we can’t truly experience “bird vision” without the biology to match
How feathers make color through pigments and nano-structures
How studying bird color is changing fast, from spectrophotometers to UV-capable cameras, plus why female coloration and “dirty birds” are reshaping what we think we know

Northern Cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249823
House Finch audio contributed by William R. Fish, ML12932
Guinea Turaco audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML140992
Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224
Common Eider audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235534
Mountain Bluebird audio contributed by Dave Herr, ML47592
Palm Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML88937
Greater Bird-of-Paradise video contributed by Tim Laman, ML465370
King Bird-of-Paradise video contributed by Tim Laman, ML455252
Paradise Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML127399

Additional media used with permission under Creative Commons:

Plum-throated Cotinga (Cotinga maynana) in Peru image contributed by Harsha Jayaramaiah, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Lovely Cotinga (Cotinga amabilis) image contributed by desertnaturalist, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Okay, but can birds keep up with climate change?

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E10. Seasons used to feel predictable. Winter showed up, spring arrived on cue, and birds could run their annual schedules like clockwork. But now the timing is weird: early heat, late snow, shifting green-up, and food peaks that don’t always line up. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Morgan Tingley, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, to unpack what “keeping up” with climate change actually means for birds, how scientists measure it, and what gives birds a fighting chance on a rapidly warming planet.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How birds “keep up” by shifting their ranges to cooler places, and the clearest real-world examples of birds already moving north
Why the story is more complicated than “north and uphill,” including microclimates, precipitation shifts, and the messy reality of predicting habitat changes
The full bird toolkit for coping with climate change: movement, timing (phenology), and even shrinking body size over generations, plus what we can do right now that actually helps birds

Northern Cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249823
Carolina Wren audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191224
Red-bellied Woodpecker audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML306064
Orange-crowned Warbler audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206459
Orange-crowned Warbler video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML402530
House Finch audio contributed by William R. Fish, ML12932

Okay, but is birdwatching the original Pokémon?

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E9. Birdwatching, birding, twitching… whatever you call it, it’s got everything: quests, rare finds, elaborate gear, a sprawling universe of characters, and a deeply committed fandom. Sound familiar? In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by NYT best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ed Yong to explore how modern birding became more accessible than ever (hello, Merlin and eBird), why it can feel like an open-world RPG, and what the Pokémon comparison misses.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How Ed Yong fell into birding after moving to Oakland, and why the “virtuous cycle” of noticing more makes you want to keep looking
Why Merlin is more than an ID tool, and how eBird functions like “the last good social network” without clout-chasing
The ethics and culture of birding today, from playback debates to the weird social dynamics of rare sightings, plus why birding is such a powerful way to connect to place, community, and change

Oak Titmouse audio contributed by Thomas G. Sander, ML110924
Oak Titmouse video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML406704
Northern Pygmy-Owl (Rocky Mts.) audio contributed by Rob Faucett, ML25653
Pine Siskin audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML163369
Northern Shrike (American) audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML515306
Surf Scoter video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML402125

Okay, but why do some birds thrive in cities?

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E8. Cities can look like a concrete nightmare for wildlife… yet some birds are absolutely crushing it, while others vanish. In this episode of Okay, But... Birds, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Fran Bonier, Professor at Queen’s University, to unpack what “urban birds” really are, why cities create winners and losers, and what it actually costs a bird to live the high-rise life.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

Which birds tend to become “city birds,” and why some species thrive in urban spaces while others disappear
The concrete benefits and hidden costs of city living, plus the traits that predict an urban “winner”
How scientists test whether birds are adapting and learning fast vs. being filtered by city conditions, and what the biology says about stress in urban birds

House Sparrow audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML539706
Peregrine Falcon audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136378
Rosy-faced Lovebird audio contributed by Derek Solomon, ML168222
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo audio contributed by Mark Robbins, ML529861
White-crowned Sparrow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML207181
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Northern) audio contributed by David McCartt, ML137605
Chimney Swift audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML107413
Chimney Swift video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML440546

E7: Okay, but who helped build the world’s bird soundtrack? The inside scoop on Merlin!

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E7. Every bird song you’ve ever heard on a hike, through an open window, or sampled in a nature documentary has a story behind it. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Linda Macaulay, Chairman of the Board of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to explore how bird sounds get recorded, preserved, and shared with the world, and why audio might be one of the most powerful tools we have for understanding and protecting birds. And yes, it’s THAT Macaulay; the one with the library named after her. Casual.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How Linda helped build the world’s bird sound library and why it matters
What it takes to record a clean bird vocalization in the wild and the even wilder stories behind the scenes
The role of the Macaulay Library and what’s next for apps like Merlin

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks bird songs are just background noise.

All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But… Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows::

Merlin (Taiga) audio contributed by George B. Reynard, ML4408
Egyptian Plover audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML50441
Whitehead’s Trogon audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML75416
Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle) audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML85245
Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle) video contributed by Eric Liner, ML472204
Red-Backed Fairywren audio contributed by Tony Baylis, ML233591
Superb Lyrebird audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML128376

Okay, but how do chickadees never forget?

Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E6. While chickadees look cute, they are also running one of the most impressive memory systems in the animal world. They hide food across the landscape, then somehow return to an insane number of individual spots later, even after snow, wind, and chaos try to erase the evidence. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Vladimir Pravosudov, Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, to dig into how chickadee brains pull off this feat, what we know from decades of experiments.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How many caches chickadees actually make
Why birds from harsher climates often have larger hippocampi
How flexible brain structure really can be within an individual’s lifetime (we’re busting some myths here!)
Studying these little geniuses in the lab vs. the wild

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks “bird brain” is an insult.

Okay, but why fly from the Arctic to Antarctica and back every year?

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E5. Every spring and fall, billions of birds pull off the most ambitious commutes on Earth. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Nate Senner, Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair for Ornithology in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the UMass Amherst, to break down why birds migrate, how they navigate, and what happens when the world (or the bird) gets thrown off course.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

Why birds migrate
How birds navigate long-distance routes, and what’s instinct vs. learned
How scientists track migration across continents and the wildest journey Nate has followed
What happens when birds drift off course, and how climate change is reshaping routes and timing

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks migration is as simple as just “flying south.”

Okay, but bird flu is really bad, right?

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 11:00:00 -0000

E4. Bird flu used to sound like a “poultry industry problem.” Now it’s showing up everywhere and rewriting the rules for wild birds, ecosystems, and what “outbreak” even means. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Nichola Hill, disease ecologist and Assistant Professor at UMass Boston, to unpack what’s different about the current H5N1 wave.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

How today’s H5N1 differs from past avian flu strains and why this version has scientists so alarmed
What changed in the virus (and the world) to make outbreaks more frequent, widespread, and severe
Why we’re seeing such intense impacts in wild bird populations right now, not just on farms
The cautious good news: what vaccines, immunity, resistance, and adaptation might look like and what’s still unknown

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks bird flu is only a chicken story.

Okay, but why did my life list just shrink?

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 13:00:00 -0000

E3. One day you’re proudly sitting at 312 species… and the next day your list is missing a bird (or two). What happened? In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Dave Toews, Assistant Professor at Penn State, to pull back the curtain on bird taxonomy: what a “species” even is, who decides when birds get split or lumped, and why those decisions ripple out into birding, field guides, and conservation.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

What “species” means (and why it’s messier than it sounds)
The split vs. lump process—and why your life list isn’t safe
Who actually makes the call (committees, checklists, and gatekeepers)
The kinds of evidence that move the needle (DNA, song, plumage, etc.)

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who keeps receipts for every rare bird they’ve ever seen.

Okay, but how do you lose 3 billion birds?

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 06:00:00 -0000

E2. Bird populations are vanishing—quietly, and fast. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor and Dr. John Fitzpatrick, Director Emeritus of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, unpack the landmark “3 Billion Birds” study: what it actually showed, how scientists figured it out, and what it means for the birds we thought were common and safe.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

What the 2019 “3 Billion Birds” study really revealed, and how researchers combined decades of data to detect the losses
Which bird groups and regions have been hit hardest and why some familiar species are suddenly in trouble
How policymakers and the public have responded so far, and which conservation actions actually move the needle
The genesis of eBird and how a simple idea became a global tool for tracking birds (and helped make this science possible)

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks “common” birds will always be here.

Okay, but is bird monogamy just PR?

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 08:30:00 -0000

E1. Birds “mate for life”… or do they? In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor and Dr. Carrie Branch, Assistant Professor at Western University, pull back the curtain on avian relationships and sort out what’s romance, what’s strategy, and what’s just really good PR.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

The difference between social and genetic monogamy in birds
Why “monogamous” birds engage in extra-pair copulations (a.k.a. extra-curricular behavior)
How males try to avoid cuckoldry with mate-guarding and other tactics
Whether birds “cheat” in secret or right out in the open
How researchers use DNA and multiple-paternity tests to see who really fathered which chicks

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who still thinks swans are relationship goals.

Trailer — Okay, But... Birds

Sat, 15 Nov 2025 06:00:00 -0000

Okay, But... Birds is a weekly science-meets-storytelling podcast hosted by evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Taylor. Each episode dives into one weird-but-true bird question through smart, funny storytelling and lively interviews with ornithologists, ecologists, artists, and unexpected experts.

Follow Okay, But... Birds wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop weekly, and yes, we will talk birdie to you.