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Okay, But... Birds: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Dr. Scott Taylor
Hosted by evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Taylor, Okay, But... Birds explores the drama, brilliance, and science behind bird life. Each snackable 30-minute episode blends smart storytelling, expert interviews, and a touch of humor to reveal how birds shape our world. No jargon. No binoculars required. Just real science, quirky insights, and bird-brained drama you’ll want to share at brunch. Because birds aren’t background. Birds are cool.
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- 3 days ago32 min
Okay, but... cranes!
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 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: 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
- 1 weeks ago31 min
Okay, but why does that bird look so rough?
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 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: 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
- 2 weeks ago32 min
Okay, but what's up with feathers?
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 feathersWhat a feather is actually made of, once you smash one into individual cells and read what every cell was doingWhat a feather actually is, whether it is alive or dead, how it is put together, and the coordination that color and pattern demandAll 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:Eastern Whip-poor-will audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195774Red-bellied Woodpecker audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML306064Indian Peafowl audio contributed by Rounak choudhary, ML621021542Common Raven audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML132161Mallard audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136504Double-crested Cormorant audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML233274Zebra Finch (Australian) audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML226233American Herring Gull video contributed by Steve Kelling, ML540908261Golden-winged Warbler video contributed by Benjamin Clock, ML476422Great Argus audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML71122Horned Screamer audio contributed by Paul A. Schwartz, ML58925Wild Turkey audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML73964601
- 3 weeks ago30 min
Okay, but does age bring wisdom?
E37. A bird called Wisdom was banded on Midway Atoll in 1956 and is still laying eggs today, which makes her at least 75 and the oldest known wild bird on the planet. She has also outlived the man who banded her, and most of the scientists who tracked her since. Dr. Etienne Rouby studies long-lived seabirds at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at CU Boulder, working with data from the French sub-Antarctic islands where wandering albatross have been followed for more than half a century. Scott asks him what you can learn from a bird that will outlast your career, your funding, and possibly your field station.In this episode you'll hear about:What a fledgling albatross does for the first five years of its life, and why nobody really knowsThe fishing gear change that pulled a colony back from the brink, and how long it took to see it workingWhy a very good year for female albatross is a very bad year for the malesAll 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:Snowy Albatross audio contributed by Ted Parker, ML42306Black-browed Albatross audio contributed by Jan Hansen, ML650026815
- Aug 20, 202631 min
Okay, but do hummingbirds ever chill?
E36. Hummingbirds run one of the fastest metabolisms of any animal with a backbone, which is why we picture them as permanently buzzing. Scott sits down with Dr. Anusha Shankar, assistant professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, who studies how hummingbirds budget energy in a world that keeps moving the goalposts. It turns out the blur at your feeder is the exception, not the rule.In this episode you'll hear about:Why the same bird might spend three hours a day flying, or thirteen, depending entirely on what the flowers are doingWhat happens overnight when a hummingbird lets itself go cold, and how long it takes to come backSeven months in the Ecuadorian cloud forest, and the hummingbirds that sat on the nets and waitedPlus: the doubly labeled water method, a sugar concentration threshold you can taste-test at your own feeder at your own risk, and the reason Anusha gets called the hummingbird pee person.The "snoring" hummingbird video Scott and Anusha discuss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uEfmQt34NcAll 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:Ruby-throated Hummingbird audio contributed by Trenton Voytko, ML604314061Black Metaltail audio contributed by Pedro Allasi Condo, ML663268821Violet-tailed Sylph audio contributed by Paul Coopmans, ML58045White-booted Racket-tail audio contributed by Daniel Cadena, ML256331Bee Hummingbird video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML440270Black Metaltail photograph by Thibaud Aronson, via iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Aug 13, 202636 min
Okay, but what's the deal with Darwin's finches?
E35. Eighteen species of small brown bird on a pile of volcanic rock have taught us more about how evolution actually works than almost anything else on Earth. Not because Darwin figured them out. He didn't. Because a handful of scientists went back, banded every bird on one island, and watched it happen in real time. Scott heads to the Galapagos with Dr. Erik Enbody, Assistant Professor of Computational Biology at Cornell University, to find out how one ancestor became eighteen, why the beak is the only thing worth looking at, and what happens when species that aren't supposed to interbreed start swapping genes anyway.In this episode you'll hear about:The island so small you can band every bird on it, and the drought that killed almost all of themOne gene that explains 40% of beak size, when nothing in human height explains even 1%The finch that does something mind-blowingly villainous and what it says about how far evolution will goAll 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:Large Ground-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85965Common Cactus-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML86715Small Tree-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85464Vegetarian Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML82506Galapagos Mockingbird audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML45963Española Mockingbird audio contributed by Herb Elliott, ML638777433Floreana Mockingbird audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85455San Cristobal Mockingbird audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML28656Palm Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML88937Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906Vampire Ground-Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML86756Woodpecker Finch audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML82522Paradise Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML127399Galápagos Sea Lion audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML125020
- Aug 6, 202629 min
Okay, but what's the deal with nests?
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 includedWhat a bird does when you hand it a nest somebody else already builtWhy a shed snakeskin in a tree cavity is a calculated decorationNew 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, ML206448Baltimore Oriole audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219606Black-legged Kittiwake audio contributed by Roger Charters, ML202491White-nest Swiftlet audio contributed by Arnoud B. van den Berg, ML36421Cliff Swallow audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML92053871Chimney Swift audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML107413Hamerkop audio contributed by Anonymous, ML97562Eastern Whip-poor-will audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195774Montezuma Oropendola audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML215446Western Grebe audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML195029Rufous Hornero audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML132447Northern Yellow Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516692Sociable Weaver audio contributed by Jacob Henry, ML637193738Great Crested Flycatcher audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94314Blue-gray Gnatcatcher audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML534430White-breasted Nuthatch audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML306062
- Jul 30, 202626 min
Okay, but how do birds handle a heatwave?
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 itThe strange, water-saving trick birds use to dump heat without a single drop of sweatWhat the birds dying in these heatwaves are trying to tell us about what's comingAll 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, ML571978241Verdin audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML197163Black-throated Sparrow audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML573935831Black-throated Sparrow video contributed by Benjamin Clock, ML483211Mourning Dove audio contributed by James (Jim) Holmes, ML583603101Mourning Dove audio contributed by Anonymous, ML658417476Palm Cockatoo audio contributed by Emma Greig, ML201266Rosy-faced Lovebird audio contributed by Derek Solomon, ML168222Common Eider audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235534
About Okay, But... Birds
Hosted by evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Taylor, Okay, But... Birds explores the drama, brilliance, and science behind bird life. Each snackable 30-minute episode blends smart storytelling, expert interviews, and a touch of humor to reveal how birds shape our world. No jargon. No binoculars required. Just real science, quirky insights, and bird-brained drama you’ll want to share at brunch. Because birds aren’t background. Birds are cool.
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