All birds respond in many different–and sometimes–unique ways. Humans and other predators are typically evaded by birds through flight, but in very rare cases they can be poisoned. In a few living birds today such as the hooded pitohui and common quail, toxicity and poisonous traits can be seen and are an extreme example of […]

This podcast was focused mainly on the infusion of bird songs and their likeness into the arts that we appreciate today. It is set to highlight the nuances seen in poetry, music, stories, and social activism that provoke and answer critical questions about the evolution of birds as the worlds’ greatest singers and freedom symbols. […]

Birds have been found to imprint on other birds, humans, and even inanimate objects. There is a specific mechanism that birds go through in order for them to gain a sense of species identification and realize what they actually are. The intermediate and medial mesopallium (IMM) in the forebrain of birds is the site of […]

Listeners to Birds in Distress will learn about the consequences birds face by losing flock mates and how such loss influences the social and biological behavior of the remaining birds. The will understand how, fitness, as a result of losing flock mates, will be impacted which in turn affects birds ability to survive. Along with […]

Caroline and Courtney dive into a discussion focused on how urban birds in cities are adapting to the global pandemic. Urban birds rely on human interactions, such as food waste, as their primary food source. With more people staying at home and avoiding large crowds and busy sidewalks, how are these urban birds adapting?

Navigational superpowers! How can birds travel such long distances so accurately? What senses do they use to allow them to do this? Do they have a super sense? These questions and more will be answered on this episode of Winging it!

Like humans in a club, birds acquire mates in many different ways; from the song of a chickadee to the display of a peacock. This podcast episode dives deep into three vastly different examples of such, including the male dance of the twelve-wired bird of paradise, the male coalitions of wild turkey leks, and the […]

There are so many similarities seen between swifts and swallows that they were originally classified as the same family. But what makes them so similar? Convergent Evolution! These birds are shaped by their environment. Since they live in the same area and do the same things, eating the same food/insects, they are seen to be […]

Vultures are like zombies — they love eating rotting flesh! Unlike the dead, they are the living whose diet consists of pathogenic and dangerous microbes. How are vultures able to feed on the decayed, which are taboo to other organisms, yet fly away without dropping dead itself? Although vultures may look like death, step into […]

Some bird species are able to find their prey without using their main sensory systems like their olfactory or auditory senses but rather through vibrational analysis of movements under the ground. By interviewing experts in this field we will explore what this hidden skill is, the structures that enable them. We will also discover why […]