Okay, But... Birds – Details, episodes & analysis

E22. Folklore says birds know a storm is coming before we do. Scott talks with Dr. Gunnar Kramer, Iowa State University, about what's actually happening when a tiny warbler decides it's time to fly, or time to bail.

In this episode:

• Why the question itself might be slightly wrong, and what's really going on inside that bird
• A storm, some missing warblers, and a discovery nobody set out to make
• What 300 birds falling out of the sky over Texas can tell you about how much fuel is in the tank

Listen, follow, and tell a friend who’s a little superstitious.

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:

• Yellow-billed cuckoo audio, Wil Hershberger, ML94446
• Barnacle goose audio, Bob McGuire, ML235525
• Golden-winged warbler video, Benjamin Clock, ML476422
• Blue-winged warbler video, Eric Liner, ML469433
• Yellow-billed cuckoo video, Larry Arbanas, ML466566
• Eastern kingbird audio, Wil Hershberger, ML534398
• Tennessee warbler audio, Wil Hershberger, ML85236
• Tennessee warbler video, Eric Liner, ML466381
• Wood thrush video, Benjamin Clock, ML471755

E21. We're talking sense and scents with Dr. Danielle Whittaker, Oregon State, and author of The Secret Perfume of Birds, who spent a decade unraveling a 200-year-old myth that started with John James Audubon and a dead pig under a bush.

In this episode:

• The bird that smells like a fresh-baked sugar cookie
• Why preen oil is a dating profile written in chemistry, and how seabirds use the same chemical cue that's now leading albatross parents to feed their chicks plastic
• The bonus myth Danielle wants gone

New here? Listen, follow, and tell a friend who still thinks birds can't smell.

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:

• Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94262
• Dark-eyed Junco audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94361
• Red Knot audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML516895
• Crested Auklet audio contributed by Sampath Seneviratne, ML132014
• Laysan Albatross audio contributed by Ted Miller, ML117679

E12. Winter isn’t just “cold” for a bird, it’s a nightly survival math problem: generate enough heat, lose as little as possible, and don’t get eaten while you’re fueling up. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Maria Stager, UMass Amherst, to break down the clever physiology and weird little behaviors that let birds ride out freezing temps, from icy duck feet to “feather puffball” mode to energy-saving torpor.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How birds keep their feet from freezing
• How feathers and shivering muscles act like a built-in winter jacket
• How birds manage energy overnight, including fat, roosting, and torpor

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:

• Dark-eyed Junco audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94361
• Purple Martin audio contributed by Arthur A. Allen, ML8086
• Willow Ptarmigan audio contributed by Leonard J. Peyton, ML50031
• Common Poorwill audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191125
• Snowy Owl audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML138288
• Ruffed Grouse audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML216783
• Mallard audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136504
• Tree Swallow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML233306
• Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239
• Redpoll (Common) audio contributed by William V. Ward, ML12745

E11. Bird vision isn’t just “better than ours,” It’s operating in a different color space, including ultraviolet. In Host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Allison Shultz, Associate Curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, to break down what birds can actually see, how scientists measure color in the real world, and why feather color is one of evolution’s most powerful (and misunderstood) tools.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How birds see a whole extra dimension of color (including UV) and why we can’t truly experience “bird vision” without the biology to match
• How feathers make color through pigments and nano-structures
• How studying bird color is changing fast, from spectrophotometers to UV-capable cameras, plus why female coloration and “dirty birds” are reshaping what we think we know

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:

• Northern Cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249823
• House Finch audio contributed by William R. Fish, ML12932
• Guinea Turaco audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML140992
• Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224
• Common Eider audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235534
• Mountain Bluebird audio contributed by Dave Herr, ML47592
• Palm Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML88937
• Greater Bird-of-Paradise video contributed by Tim Laman, ML465370
• King Bird-of-Paradise video contributed by Tim Laman, ML455252
• Paradise Tanager audio contributed by Curtis Marantz, ML127399

Additional media used with permission under Creative Commons:

• Plum-throated Cotinga (Cotinga maynana) in Peru image contributed by Harsha Jayaramaiah, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• Lovely Cotinga (Cotinga amabilis) image contributed by desertnaturalist, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

E10. Seasons used to feel predictable. Winter showed up, spring arrived on cue, and birds could run their annual schedules like clockwork. But now the timing is weird: early heat, late snow, shifting green-up, and food peaks that don’t always line up. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Morgan Tingley, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, to unpack what “keeping up” with climate change actually means for birds, how scientists measure it, and what gives birds a fighting chance on a rapidly warming planet.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How birds “keep up” by shifting their ranges to cooler places, and the clearest real-world examples of birds already moving north
• Why the story is more complicated than “north and uphill,” including microclimates, precipitation shifts, and the messy reality of predicting habitat changes
• The full bird toolkit for coping with climate change: movement, timing (phenology), and even shrinking body size over generations, plus what we can do right now that actually helps birds

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:

• Northern Cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249823
• Carolina Wren audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191224
• Red-bellied Woodpecker audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML306064
• Orange-crowned Warbler audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206459
• Orange-crowned Warbler video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML402530
• House Finch audio contributed by William R. Fish, ML12932

E9. Birdwatching, birding, twitching… whatever you call it, it’s got everything: quests, rare finds, elaborate gear, a sprawling universe of characters, and a deeply committed fandom. Sound familiar? In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by NYT best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ed Yong to explore how modern birding became more accessible than ever (hello, Merlin and eBird), why it can feel like an open-world RPG, and what the Pokémon comparison misses.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How Ed Yong fell into birding after moving to Oakland, and why the “virtuous cycle” of noticing more makes you want to keep looking
• Why Merlin is more than an ID tool, and how eBird functions like “the last good social network” without clout-chasing
• The ethics and culture of birding today, from playback debates to the weird social dynamics of rare sightings, plus why birding is such a powerful way to connect to place, community, and change

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:

• Oak Titmouse audio contributed by Thomas G. Sander, ML110924
• Oak Titmouse video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML406704
• Northern Pygmy-Owl (Rocky Mts.) audio contributed by Rob Faucett, ML25653
• Pine Siskin audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML163369
• Northern Shrike (American) audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML515306
• Surf Scoter video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML402125

E8. Cities can look like a concrete nightmare for wildlife… yet some birds are absolutely crushing it, while others vanish. In this episode of Okay, But... Birds, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Fran Bonier, Professor at Queen’s University, to unpack what “urban birds” really are, why cities create winners and losers, and what it actually costs a bird to live the high-rise life.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Which birds tend to become “city birds,” and why some species thrive in urban spaces while others disappear
• The concrete benefits and hidden costs of city living, plus the traits that predict an urban “winner”
• How scientists test whether birds are adapting and learning fast vs. being filtered by city conditions, and what the biology says about stress in urban birds

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:

• House Sparrow audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML539706
• Peregrine Falcon audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136378
• Rosy-faced Lovebird audio contributed by Derek Solomon, ML168222
• Sulphur-crested Cockatoo audio contributed by Mark Robbins, ML529861
• White-crowned Sparrow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML207181
• Sharp-shinned Hawk (Northern) audio contributed by David McCartt, ML137605
• Chimney Swift audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML107413
• Chimney Swift video contributed by Timothy Barksdale, ML440546

E7. Every bird song you’ve ever heard on a hike, through an open window, or sampled in a nature documentary has a story behind it. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Linda Macaulay, Chairman of the Board of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, to explore how bird sounds get recorded, preserved, and shared with the world, and why audio might be one of the most powerful tools we have for understanding and protecting birds. And yes, it’s THAT Macaulay; the one with the library named after her. Casual.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How Linda helped build the world’s bird sound library and why it matters
• What it takes to record a clean bird vocalization in the wild and the even wilder stories behind the scenes
• The role of the Macaulay Library and what’s next for apps like Merlin

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks bird songs are just background noise.

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::

• Merlin (Taiga) audio contributed by George B. Reynard, ML4408
• Egyptian Plover audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML50441
• Whitehead’s Trogon audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML75416
• Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle) audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML85245
• Yellow-Rumped Warbler (Myrtle) video contributed by Eric Liner, ML472204
• Red-Backed Fairywren audio contributed by Tony Baylis, ML233591
• Superb Lyrebird audio contributed by Linda Macaulay, ML128376

E6. While chickadees look cute, they are also running one of the most impressive memory systems in the animal world. They hide food across the landscape, then somehow return to an insane number of individual spots later, even after snow, wind, and chaos try to erase the evidence. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Vladimir Pravosudov, Professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, to dig into how chickadee brains pull off this feat, what we know from decades of experiments.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How many caches chickadees actually make
• Why birds from harsher climates often have larger hippocampi
• How flexible brain structure really can be within an individual’s lifetime (we’re busting some myths here!)
• Studying these little geniuses in the lab vs. the wild

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks “bird brain” is an insult.

E5. Every spring and fall, billions of birds pull off the most ambitious commutes on Earth. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Nate Senner, Mass Audubon Bertrand Chair for Ornithology in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the UMass Amherst, to break down why birds migrate, how they navigate, and what happens when the world (or the bird) gets thrown off course.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• Why birds migrate
• How birds navigate long-distance routes, and what’s instinct vs. learned
• How scientists track migration across continents and the wildest journey Nate has followed
• What happens when birds drift off course, and how climate change is reshaping routes and timing

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks migration is as simple as just “flying south.”