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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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- 6 days ago31 min
Okay, but how does wildfire smoke impact birds?
E32. Wildfire smoke is blanketing more of the map every year, and it turns out a smoky sky changes everything for birds, from how they breathe to whether we can find them at all. Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot, Research Scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is back to walk Scott through what all that haze is doing to the birds living in it.In this episode:Birds don't breathe the way we do, and that single fact shapes everything about how smoke hits themStay, shift, or go: the framework for what a bird actually does when the air turns toxicWhen the birds go quiet, it isn't always because they leftData collection for Project Phoenix is open now through the end of November. If you're on the West Coast, you can sign up at projectphoenix.study and log a 10-minute count from wherever you are, even your own window.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 Yellow Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516692Tufted Titmouse audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100712Cooper’s Hawk audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94518Northern Cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191165Bornean Orangutan audio contributed by John MacKinnon, ML82019American Robin audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206448
- 1 weeks ago29 min
Okay, but did birds invent music?
E31. If a bird sings a phrase worthy of Beethoven, is that music, or just biology in a nice outfit? Dr. Hollis Taylor, a violinist, composer, and ornithologist, has spent more than two decades recording and transcribing the songs of the Pied Butcherbird, an Australian songbird whose vocal life keeps blurring that line.In this episode:Why a single pied butcherbird can sing for seven hours through the night, almost never repeating itself, then return the next spring with a brand new repertoireWhat a violin can and can't reproduce when it tries to follow a butcherbird, from steep glissandos to rattles a human instrument simply cannot makeWhy the case for birdsong as music leads Hollis to think of songbirds not as primitive ancestors, but as colleagues and contemporariesAll 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:Winter Wren audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML136183Hermit Thrush audio contributed by Matthew D. Medler, ML169025Wood Thrush audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML168331White-throated Sparrow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML219799Australian Magpie audio contributed by Emma Greig, ML218159Willie-wagtail audio contributed by Cedar Mathers-Winn, ML188954Humpback Whale audio contributed by Flip Harrington, ML123414Pied Butcherbird song and composition excerpts courtesy of Dr. Hollis Taylor (piedbutcherbird.net, piedbutcherbird.com).
- 2 weeks ago35 min
Okay, but is the dawn chorus getting quieter?
E30. That wall of birdsong outside your window at sunrise has a name, a structure, and a surprising amount of drama. This week Scott talks with Dr. Dan Mennill, a professor at the University of Windsor who wires whole forests with microphones to eavesdrop on the entire neighborhood at once, about what the dawn chorus is actually for, and what it means when it starts to thin out.In this episode:Why dawn, why so loud, and who gets to sing first (hint: it's not about who's the best singer)What 16 microphones and kilometers of cable revealed about birds negotiating in real timeWhat happened when one field site went quiet, and why that quiet is louder than it soundsListen now, then tell us what your morning chorus sounds like.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:Soundscape contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516838Black-throated Green Warbler contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML79475American Redstart contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100804Tufted Titmouse contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100712Northern Cardinal contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML191165Northern Flicker contributed by William V. Ward, ML3Black-capped Chickadee contributed by Bob McGuire, ML197114American Robin contributed by Bob McGuire, ML206448Alder Flycatcher contributed by Mike Andersen, ML132247Savannah Sparrow contributed by Gerritt Vyn, ML137843Chipping Sparrow contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML534466White-crowned Sparrow contributed by Bob McGuire, ML207181Red-tailed Hawk contributed by David McCartt, ML229578
- 3 weeks ago35 min
Okay, but what's it like as a bird at the top of the world?
E29. Standing at 11,000 feet, lungs burning, Scott watched birds go about their afternoon in the exact thin air that had nearly taken him out. This week he sits down with Dr. Chris Witt, evolutionary biologist at the University of New Mexico and curator of birds at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, who has spent his career figuring out how birds make a living in the thinnest air on Earth. From the hummingbird blood that rewrites itself to match a mountainside to a five-pound coot that has no business existing, this one is about the birds thriving where our bodies would quit.In this episode:Why a single Andean slope can stack dozens of hummingbird species right on top of each other, each locked to its own band of elevationHow the same oxygen-grabbing protein keeps evolving the same way, over and over, in a pattern so predictable it runs in reverseThe record-holders pulling off things up high that sound like they shouldn't be possibleChris doesn't just tell us about these birds, he shows us, so you may want to watch this one.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 Finch audio contributed by William R. Fish, ML12932Giant Coot audio contributed by Steven L. Hilty, ML56377
- Jun 25, 202632 min
Okay, but does easy living make birds dumber?
E28. A bird's brain is the most expensive thing it owns, and evolution doesn't hand one out for free. Dr. Carlos Botero, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has spent a decade tracing what variable, unforgiving environments actually do to bird cognition, and the answer flips a lot of conventional wisdom on its head.In this episode:Why the harshest places on Earth produce two kinds of birds: the puzzle-solving geniuses and the brute-force survivors, with almost nothing in betweenHow big brains might not have evolved for the reasons we always assumedWhy being one of the smartest birds in the sky can come with a hidden costAll 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:Willow Ptarmigan audio contributed by Leonard J. Peyton, ML50031American Crow audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML229089Blue Jay audio contributed by Gaetan Dupont, ML173749Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239Snowy Owl audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML138288
- Jun 18, 202633 min
Okay, but... pigeons!
E27. They’ve been called "rats with wings," but pigeons are actually elite athletes, historical icons, and evolutionary marvels. Scott chats with Dr. Elizabeth Carlen, a postdoc at the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis, to look past the common stereotypes and uncover the remarkable biology of the Rock Pigeon.In this episode, you’ll hear about:The deep historical bond between humans and pigeons and how domestic birds successfully transitioned back into the wild.How pigeons navigate the constant threat of specialized hunters like Peregrine Falcons and Red-tailed Hawks.How mapping the DNA of feral pigeons across the Northeastern US revealed that their population structure surprisingly mirrors human geography, and what flight distances can tell us about their urban evolution.If you enjoy this one, follow Okay, But… Birds and share it with a friend who needs to give pigeons a second look.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:Blue Jay audio contributed by Gaetan Dupont, ML173749Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon) audio contributed by James Kimball, ML3891Peregrine Falcon audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML136378Red-tailed Hawk audio contributed by David McCartt, ML229578
- Jun 11, 202635 min
Okay, but did birds originate the open relationship?
E26. We borrowed a phrase from human dating and tried to pin it on birds. Turns out they never needed the rulebook. Dr. Wenfei Tong, biologist and author of Bird Love, joins Scott to unpack what bird partnerships actually look like once you stop projecting our scripts onto them, from females who run the territory to males who guard their paternity in deeply weird ways.In this episode you'll hear about:Why the drabbest little brown bird in the garden has one of the wildest sex lives in the animal kingdomHow a female calls the shots when she holds the better real estate, and what the males do about itThe cloacal pecking payoff you have to hear to believeAll 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:Laysan Albatross audio contributed by Ted Miller, ML117679Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239Spotted Sandpiper audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML516963Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224Red-necked Phalarope audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235440Black Coucal audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML3084Papuan Eclectus audio contributed by Thane Pratt, ML169808Red-winged Blackbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249827Red-winged Blackbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94215Red-capped Manakin audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML57360Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906Greater Flamingo audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML2443Dunnock audio contributed by Niels Krabbe, ML249162
- Jun 4, 202634 min
Okay, but... boobies!
E25. The blue-footed booby has become an internet personality: cartoon feet, a goofy strut, a name that practically begs to be a punchline. But Scott sat down with Dr. Carlos Zavalaga, Universidad Científica del Sur, and one of the people who first taught him how to study seabirds in Peru, and the "fool" reputation falls apart fast. Get a booby in the air or underwater and you're watching one of the most specialized hunters in the bird family tree.In this episode you'll hear about:How six-plus booby species carve up the same ocean without starving each other outWhat 20 years of GPS loggers, depth tags, and bags of fresh fish revealed about who eats whatWhy El Niño, avian flu, and overfishing keep stacking the deck against these birdsAll 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:Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906Red-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85911Brown Booby audio contributed by Gerritt Vyn, ML136211Masked Booby audio contributed by Chandler Robbins, ML32604Nazca Booby audio contributed by Oliver H. Hewitt, ML31543Peruvian Booby audio contributed by Ted Parker, ML29399
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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