Okay, but why put eggs in another bird’s basket?

E16. What if the secret to raising more babies was to never raise a single one yourself? Dr. Chris Balakrishnan, Associate Adjunct Professor of Biology at East Carolina University and co-founder of Nerd Nite, has spent his career studying the strangest birds on the planet: the ones that outsource parenthood entirely.

In this episode you'll hear about:

The evolutionary arms race between brood parasites and their hosts, from mimetic eggs to alien-looking chick mouth patterns
How the "password hypothesis" explains how brown-headed cowbirds avoid imprinting on the wrong species
Why host-switching in African parasitic finches can drive the rapid formation of new species

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
Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516718
Redhead audio contributed by Jessie Berry, ML139672
Canvasback audio contributed by Arthur A. Allen, ML3537
Greater Honeyguide audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML140981
Pin-tailed Whydah audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14489
Village Indigobird audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14484
Zebra Finch (Australian) audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML226233
Prothonotary Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML85158
Kirtland's Warbler audio contributed by Rudolph Little, ML13982

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Avsnitt(26)

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 Cie...

4 Juni 34min

Okay, but what about birds that can't fly?

E24. Flight is the thing we associate most with birds, so what does it mean when a lineage gives it up? Dr. Scott Edwards, Harvard, joins Scott to unpack how flightlessness evolves, why it keeps happe...

28 Maj 32min

Okay, but can a bird really cooperate with humans?

E23. Across sub-Saharan Africa, wild birds and people work together to find honey. No taming, no breeding, no domestication… just a partnership thousands of years in the making. Behavioral ecologist D...

21 Maj 33min

Okay, but can birds predict the weather?

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, o...

14 Maj 34min

Okay, but can birds smell?

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...

7 Maj 34min

Okay, but what can we learn from a drawer of birds?

E20. Less than 1% of what's in a museum is actually on display. So what's happening with the other 99%? Scott talks with Dr. Sushma Reddy, Breckenridge Chair of Ornithology at the Bell Museum and Asso...

23 Apr 35min

Okay, but are bird feeders helping or hurting?

E19. More than 55 million Americans feed birds, and it's not exactly clear the birds asked us to. Dr. Olivia Sanderfoot, Research Scientist and Project Leader of FeederWatch at the Cornell Lab of Orni...

16 Apr 32min

Okay, but what's in a bird's toolbox?

E18. Turns out "bird brain" is less of an insult and more of a compliment. Scott sits down with Dr. Alex Kacelnik, Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford, to dig into one of the most mind-bend...

9 Apr 32min