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

Okay, But... Birds is a weekly science-meets-storytelling podcast hosted by evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Taylor. Each episode dives into one weird-but-true bird question through smart, funny storytelling and lively interviews with ornithologists, ecologists, artists, and unexpected experts.

Follow Okay, But... Birds wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop weekly, and yes, we will talk birdie to you.

E1. Birds “mate for life”… or do they? In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor and Dr. Carrie Branch, Assistant Professor at Western University, pull back the curtain on avian relationships and sort out what’s romance, what’s strategy, and what’s just really good PR.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• The difference between social and genetic monogamy in birds
• Why “monogamous” birds engage in extra-pair copulations (a.k.a. extra-curricular behavior)
• How males try to avoid cuckoldry with mate-guarding and other tactics
• Whether birds “cheat” in secret or right out in the open
• How researchers use DNA and multiple-paternity tests to see who really fathered which chicks

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who still thinks swans are relationship goals.

E4. Bird flu used to sound like a “poultry industry problem.” Now it’s showing up everywhere and rewriting the rules for wild birds, ecosystems, and what “outbreak” even means. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Nichola Hill, disease ecologist and Assistant Professor at UMass Boston, to unpack what’s different about the current H5N1 wave.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• How today’s H5N1 differs from past avian flu strains and why this version has scientists so alarmed
• What changed in the virus (and the world) to make outbreaks more frequent, widespread, and severe
• Why we’re seeing such intense impacts in wild bird populations right now, not just on farms
• The cautious good news: what vaccines, immunity, resistance, and adaptation might look like and what’s still unknown

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks bird flu is only a chicken story.

E3. One day you’re proudly sitting at 312 species… and the next day your list is missing a bird (or two). What happened? In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor is joined by Dr. Dave Toews, Assistant Professor at Penn State, to pull back the curtain on bird taxonomy: what a “species” even is, who decides when birds get split or lumped, and why those decisions ripple out into birding, field guides, and conservation.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• What “species” means (and why it’s messier than it sounds)
• The split vs. lump process—and why your life list isn’t safe
• Who actually makes the call (committees, checklists, and gatekeepers)
• The kinds of evidence that move the needle (DNA, song, plumage, etc.)

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who keeps receipts for every rare bird they’ve ever seen.

E2. Bird populations are vanishing—quietly, and fast. In this episode, host Dr. Scott Taylor and Dr. John Fitzpatrick, Director Emeritus of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, unpack the landmark “3 Billion Birds” study: what it actually showed, how scientists figured it out, and what it means for the birds we thought were common and safe.

In this episode, you’ll hear about:

• What the 2019 “3 Billion Birds” study really revealed, and how researchers combined decades of data to detect the losses
• Which bird groups and regions have been hit hardest and why some familiar species are suddenly in trouble
• How policymakers and the public have responded so far, and which conservation actions actually move the needle
• The genesis of eBird and how a simple idea became a global tool for tracking birds (and helped make this science possible)

If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who thinks “common” birds will always be here.

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.”

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

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

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