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

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

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 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: * 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?

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 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: * 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?

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. 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: * 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?

E21. We're talking sense and scents with Dr. Danielle Whittaker, Oregon State, and author of The Secret Perfume of Birds [https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Perfume-Birds-Uncovering-Science/dp/1421443473], 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. 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: * 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?

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! 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: * 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