The Science of Birds

This is Episode 77. It's an overview of seabirds. Some might call them Oceanic birds or Marine Birds. How do we define what is or isn’t a sea bird? Well, it depends on who you ask. There’s no one de...

In this episode—which is Number 76—I’ll be answering some interesting questions sent to me by my listeners. Questions about birds, of course. The questions in today’s episode came from not just any o...

This is Episode 75. It’s all about shrikes—birds in the family Laniidae. These are true songbirds—members of the avian suborder Passeri within the order Passeriformes—even though they act (and sort o...

This episode—which is Number 74—is all about edible bird’s nests and Bird’s Nest Soup. Edible bird nests are a traditional delicacy in east Asia. Especially in China. For centuries, wealthy Chinese p...

This is Episode 73. It’s all about birds in the avian family Gruidae… the cranes. These tall birds are charismatic and super interesting. It’s going to be fun to do a deep dive into all things crane ...

This episode—which is Number 72—is about what happens to birds, not just in bad weather, but in really bad weather. We’re talking hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, tornadoes, maybe even the oc...

This episode—which is Number 71—is about one particular scientific article.  An article that’s near and dear to my heart. This study was published in 2020, in the Scientific Journal of Research and R...

This episode—which is Number 70—is all about the Great Blue Heron. The scientific name for the Great Blue Heron is Ardea herodias. This species is one of the most familiar large birds in North Amer...

This episode—which is Number 69—is all about the avian skeleton. Bird bones. So this is an episode about some basic anatomy of birds. Bird bones and the avian skeleton are elegant, strong, and rigid...

Today’s episode is number 68. It’s all about the family of birds called Bucerotidae. These are the hornbills. Maybe you’ve heard about hornbills and know a few facts about them. Or maybe you’ve never...