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

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

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 [https://bsky.app/profile/msbbirds.bsky.social], 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. 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: * 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?

E28. A bird's brain is the most expensive thing it owns, and evolution doesn't hand one out for free. Dr. Carlos Botero [https://boterolab.weebly.com], 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 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: * 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!

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 [http://elizabethcarlen.com], 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?

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 [wenfeitong.com], 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 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: * 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!

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 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-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