Okay, But... Birds

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

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

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.

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.”

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.