Bird of the Week

I recently visited New Zealand, and I had a great chance to see some of their unique birds and travel the country a little. And I came away from the trip with a few impressions about their birds and the environment that I wanted to share. So slightly different, more personal account than the usual, but hopefully will still be of some interests and entertainment. To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: w...

This will be a different episode. I have also had a strong association between my grandmother and Budgerigars, she owned one and gifted me one of my own for my sixth birthday. So this episode will be part memoir, part eulogy, part ... Budgerigar discussion...? Maybe not one for everyone, but let's give it a spin.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in your inbo...

The Night Parrot is known as one of the most elusive birds in the world. Between 1912 and 1990 there was no evidence that they lived, and even then it would be another 23 before a living one was even seen. But then in 2013, the Night Parrot was re-discovered to much fanfare. However, it later emerged that much subsequent evidence for their existence was falsified. Just what happened and why is a wild tale, so joy me as we tell the story of the Night Parrot.To support Bird of the Week and gain...

There is a famous Swiss case from 1474 of a rooster that was put on trial for the unnatural crime of laying an egg. It is a silly story of human folly, as is so often the case. But this strange tale does lead to a deeper and more interesting point about avian gender, how it is radically different to mammals, and how in some rare cases a hen can maybe turn into a rooster. How is that possible? Tune in to find out and we even have a little surprise at the start of the show as well.To support Bi...

The Egg War is the rather bizarre story of how a colony of Common Murres on the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco sparked conflict during the American Gold Rush in the 1850-60s. It is a wild tale of murder, piracy, lighthouse keepers with delusions of grandeur and an awful lot of people wearing hats. Join me for a silly story.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/bi...

Because sleep is something we all do it is understandable that we might think the experience would be similar for other animals. And birds have developed a whole range of unique sleep tactics to help them get through their day. In this special episode I am joined by a guest, clinical psychologist Lucienne Shenfield. Join us on a discussion about how people sleep, how birds sleep, and the difference and similarities between the two.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podc...

Maybe you've heard of the Great Emu War, popularly known as that time Australia declared war on a bird, and lost. But what is the real story? Was in a war, or was it a tokenistic pest control operation ... with machine guns? This week we dive into the misguided story. We learn some fun facts about Emus and meet the mysterious Major G. P. W. Meredith, the officer placed in command of the operation.*Correction, I say the men were armed with Maxim Machine guns, they were actually Lewis Machine g...

There are few Australian birds as famous as the Magpie. They are famous/infamous for exactly two things: their beautiful song and their murderous nature. Most people love them, some people loath them. Today I am joined by our old friend Bradly, an avid Magpie hater, as we try to learn something more about this famous bird and see if we can't spread the bird love.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patr...

One summer night in June 2009, Edwin Rist broke into the Tring natural history museum and stole nearly 300 preserved birds worth some quarter of a million pounds. Join us for the second part of our story as we go through the details of how Edwin committed his heist, was eventually caught and then how the court case shook out. It is one wild ride, so strap yourself in.This story was brought to public attention by Kirk Wallace Johnson in his amazing book, The Feather Thief: https://www.penguin....

One summer night in June 2009, Edwin Rist broke into the Tring natural history museum and stole nearly 300 preserved birds worth some quarter of a million pounds. How he pulled off this crime, what motivated him, and how he was caught is one wild story. Join us for part one of this story as we lay the ground work and explain how some quirks of history lead to this crime.This story was brought to public attention by Kirk Wallace Johnson in his amazing book, The Feather Thief: https://www.pengu...

There is maybe no bird more polarising than the pigeon. While some people (me) look at these city-dwelling birds and see perfection in avian form, other (wrong) people see disgusting sky rats. Today, I've invited two friends to join me in conversation to see if I can turn a pigeon hater into a pigeon lover.NotesOur friend the Rock DoveSquabPigeons can identify cancerPigeons can (sorta) readPigeons and sea search and rescueProject PigeonB. F. Skinner and gamblingOther B. F. Skinner experiments...

Flying is basically the most defining thing about what birds do, and yet I've never really spoken about it. Well no more, today we begin the mission to figure out how exactly birds fly. We will begin in the long past and look at the evolutionary journey from lizard to bird, as I refuse to answer the question: how do birds fly. But then I guess that's Part 2 will be for?To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Pat...

Wow, does this podcast even release episodes anymore? Yes it does, and we are back with Albatross, renown as some of the biggest birds in the world. Majestic birds of the open ocean, clumsy buffoons on land. What is it that makes them special? We find out in this episode. To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at weekly.bird@outlook....

I'm sure we've all heard some fun facts about birds, a duck's quack won't echo, an Ostrich sticks its head in the sand when threatened. But is there any truth to these statements, or are they straight up lies?Well on this episode we dive into 5 famous bird myths, break them do and see if there is any truth to the rumours.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in ...

Who among us hasn't thrown a chip at a seagull or a slice of bread at a duck? Feeding birds is a wonderful way to interact with our feathered friends. Except, if we do it wrong we could literally kill them with kindness. So what are the dos and don'ts of feeding birds? Well good news, we look at the worse consequences that can occur, and how to do it right so everyone is happy.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on throug...

Eagles are majestic animals, fearsome apex predators that hunt large prey. But then their is that one Kite that only eats snails, the Snail Kite. Today we meet an odd ball bird, and find out how they're adapting to survive in a changing world.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at weekly.bird@outlook.com and I'll hook you up with ...

Flamingos are kinda freaky. They are a pink, stork-like bird that eats algae and feeds its chicks blood red milk. What is going on with that? Luckily we will be digging into these questions in this episode, to join me as find out a couple of fun facts about Flamingos.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at weekly.bird@outlook.com a...

We interrupt our usual format to bring you a slightly different episode. It's an Australian bird quiz, pretty straight forward, play along at home and see how you go.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at weekly.bird@outlook.com and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.Links:Eastern Rosella: https://ebird.org/species/easr...

In the last episode we said there were no parrots in the United States of America. But that was only a half truth. A better truth would have been to say that once upon a time there was a parrot, the Carolina Parakeet that went extinct about 100 years. And in its place today there is an invasive species, the Monk Parakeet. So what is the story of these two birds, why did one die while the other has thrived? Today we are going to try and find out.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to o...

Have you been hankering for a cracker, well has polly got one for you today as we look at Parrots. This is a big old family of birds, so join me as we do a speed run of parrots and find out what these birds are all about.To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweekWant birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at weekly.bird@outlook.com and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.Not...