Okay, But... Birds - TopPodcast.com

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Okay, but what's the deal with nests? Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

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? Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

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? Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

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? Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

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? Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

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? Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

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? Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

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! Jun 18, 2026

Show notes

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? Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

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! Jun 04, 2026

Show notes

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

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