Okay, But... Birds - TopPodcast.com

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Okay, but how bad are cats for birds? Nov 05, 2026

Show notes

E47. Cats kill billions of birds every year, but where does that number come from, and does the cat on your couch count? Dr. Pete Marra, dean of the Earth Commons at Georgetown University and co-author of Cat Wars, unpacks the science behind one of the most heated fights in bird conservation. Want to go deeper? Pick up Pete’s book, Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer, co-written with Chris Santella.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

How one lighthouse keeper's cat and her offspring caused the extinction of a bird almost as soon as it was discovered
Whether that little bell on a cat's collar actually does anything
Why New Zealand and Australia are making some of the toughest calls in conservation

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:

Galapagos Petrel audio contributed by Robert J. Tomkins, ML20313
Floreana Mockingbird audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85455

Okay, but why are we obsessed with crows and ravens? Oct 29, 2026

Show notes

E46. Crows and ravens fill our oldest stories, and plenty of us want one as a friend. Dr. Claudia Wascher, professor of behavioral biology at Anglia Ruskin University, explains what makes corvids seem so clever, when clever turns out to be something simpler, and why befriending them is a bad idea.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

The crow named Hugo, and what his flock started saying once he was gone
Why a walnut dropped at a red light may be less clever than it looks
What a goose's heartbeat reveals about how birds feel

American Crow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML229089
Common Raven audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML132161
Steller's Jay audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML539738
Hawaiian Crow video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML425081
Rook audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML635593051
Eurasian Jay audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML32278971
Carrion Crow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML231022
Australian Magpie audio contributed by Emma Greig, ML218159
House Crow video contributed by Raphaël Nussbaumer, ML241917321
Red-tailed Hawk audio contributed by David McCartt, ML229578
Graylag Goose audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML233387

Okay, but is the lyrebird a liar? Oct 22, 2026

Show notes

E45. Lyrebirds can copy a chainsaw, a car alarm and a camera shutter, so it is easy to call them liars. Dr. Anastasia Dalziell of Western Sydney University has spent years recording them in the wild, and she explains what the famous Attenborough clip left out and some of the most surprising evolutionary reasons for mimicry.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

Why a female lyrebird starts sounding like an eagle when you get too close to her nest
What a male does when the female he has been courting tries to walk away
The other lyrebird, and the hooked rainforest vine it plays like an instrument

Red-tailed Hawk audio contributed by David McCartt, ML229578
Killdeer audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML129054
Superb Lyrebird audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML229691
Albert's Lyrebird audio contributed by Robert C. Stein, ML309505
Gray Shrikethrush video contributed by Ramit Singal, ML641225345
Gray Shrikethrush audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML229649
Golden Whistler video contributed by Ramit Singal, ML641948342
Golden Whistler audio contributed by Ramit Singal, ML272346391
Wedge-tailed Eagle audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML223274
Gray Goshawk audio contributed by Ramit Singal, ML246142551
Albert's Lyrebird video contributed by Fiona Backhouse, ML615390207
Albert's Lyrebird audio contributed by Ramit Singal, ML141465291
Albert's Lyrebird video contributed by Fiona Backhouse, ML615390194
Albert's Lyrebird video contributed by Fiona Backhouse, ML615390209
Satin Bowerbird audio contributed by Newton Hobbs, ML16236
Albert's Lyrebird video contributed by Fiona Backhouse, ML615390211
Superb Lyrebird audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML463586881

Superb Lyrebird recordings (2024 films): Justin Welbergen, Jaden Thompson, Elle Heiser, Yoon Lee, Fiona Backhouse and Anastasia Dalziell, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Australia, and Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, USA.

Okay, but what's threatening the apex predators of the sky? Oct 15, 2026

Show notes

E44. An adult eagle has no natural predators, so why are birds of prey declining? Dr. Todd Katzner, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, explains the surprising dangers facing golden eagles and their kin, from spinning wind turbines to a threat small enough to fit on a grain of rice.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

Why an eagle that can clearly see a wind turbine still flies into one
How a hunter's choice of bullet ends up inside an eagle
The flap count that tells a vulture whether to risk crossing the sea

Bald Eagle audio contributed by Darrell Peterson, ML145265541
Golden Eagle audio contributed by W. Douglas Robinson, ML612942188
Golden Eagle audio contributed by Kathy Groschupf, ML57165
American Goshawk video contributed by Dan J. MacNeal, ML297994251
Harpy Eagle audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML81101
Ruby-throated Hummingbird audio contributed by Trenton Voytko, ML604314061
Ferruginous Hawk audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML172487

Okay, but how terrifying were terror birds? Oct 08, 2026

Show notes

E43. For millions of years, South America’s top predators weren’t cats or bears. They were birds, some taller than a person. Paleontologist Dr. Federico "Dino" Degrange of the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba joins us to ask whether terror birds really earned their name.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

The surprising weapon a terror bird actually used to bring down its prey
What left bite marks on one of the biggest terror birds ever found
Why the last terror bird standing was one of the smallest

Black-legged Seriema video contributed by Pablo Hernan Capovilla, ML662237304
Red-legged Seriema audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML189557
Black-legged Seriema audio contributed by Steven L. Hilty, ML83854

Okay, but what happens when a bird gets sick? Oct 01, 2026

Show notes

E42. Birds get sick too, and a lot of what happens next looks surprisingly familiar. Dr. Andrea Townsend of Hamilton College has spent two decades following American crows through outbreaks, and she walks Scott through what illness really does to a bird, from the family it belongs to down to the clever brain it depends on.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

The surprising way crows choose their partners, and what it costs them when disease comes around
What a stomach bug does to one of the cleverest birds you'll ever meet
Why going it alone can be the riskier move while a virus is spreading

American Crow video contributed by Jay McGowan, ML472843
Common Raven audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML137574
Burrowing Owl audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML188805

Okay, but griffins, and ligers, and birds, oh my! Sep 24, 2026

Show notes

E41. Centaurs, mermaids, minotaurs: we have been inventing creatures that are two things at once for as long as we have told stories. Birds do it for real. Dr. Glaucia Del-Rio of the Florida Museum of Natural History studies two Amazonian antbirds that meet where a river runs out, and what their offspring say about where one species ends.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

Why a river can be an impossible barrier for a bird with perfectly good wings, and what researchers found when they carried birds out into the middle of one and let go
How to spot a hybrid antbird at a glance, once you know which colors belong to which parent
The German-Brazilian ornithologist an all-women expedition was named for, and the injury she dealt with herself, a long way from any hospital

Red-capped Manakin audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML57360
Streak-headed Woodcreeper audio contributed by Ted Parker, ML21543
American Flamingo audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML172484
Lawrence's Warbler (hybrid) audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML113786
Brewster's Warbler (hybrid) audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML76906

Additional photos and video courtesy of Glaucia Del-Rio: Marco Rego, Fabio Schunck, Luis Morais, and Angela Prochilo. Harlequin Antbird photo by Hector Bottai, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Okay, but... cranes! Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

E40. There are only 15 crane species on the planet, and 11 of them are in trouble. Dr. Andy Caven, Director of Central Flyway Programs for the International Crane Foundation, has spent his career on two of them: the sandhill cranes that pour into one stretch of Nebraska's Platte River every spring, and the whooping crane, which came back from the edge and is still nowhere near safe. Scott asks him what it actually takes to keep a bird like that on the landscape, and the answer runs through soggy grassland, private ranches, and one river worth fighting over.

In this episode, you'll hear about:

The number Andy gives for how many cranes stand on that stretch of river, which Scott makes him say twice
How a bird that was down to a couple of dozen individuals ended up stopping a dam
What a wet meadow is, and why one is so much easier to lose than to build back

Mallard audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136504
Wilson's Phalarope audio contributed by W. Douglas Robinson, ML474658841
Swamp Sparrow audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94352

Okay, but why does that bird look so rough? Sep 10, 2026

Show notes

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

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? Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

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

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