Birds on Birds

Following up on our Guardians of Ga'Hoole episode with the real bird behind the Pure Ones: the American Barn Owl. Ghost-white heart face, a scream that could headline a horror movie, hearing good enough to hunt in total darkness, and an 18-egg clutch that horrified us personally. Plus Hannah's 6-year unsolicited owl-gift saga and our celebrity doppelganger picks. Build a nest box. Skip the rodenti...

Another feathered flick is up to bat! The long awaited and strangely good Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. Join Hannah + Cleo as they go bar for bar on this gorgeous film and talk about an unsettling, yet timely, story of good versus evil. Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://guardiansofgahoole.fandom.com/wiki/Legend_of_the_Guardians:_The_Owls_of_Ga%27Hoole Legends of the Guardians: Owls...

Not Sandra Bullock's bird. Never was. We checked. It's named after a father-son duo who weirdly share the exact same name (no Junior's here). This Oriole also spent 22 years having a full identity crisis with the Baltimore Oriole before science sorted it out. Also: grape jelly feeders, cottonwood "socks," and a very serious debate about whether Nicole Kidman's hair counts as Bullock's Oriole orang...

Unworldly aerial beagles, seadogs, scissor-bill, cutwater cuties... Join Hannah + Cleo this week as they discuss the black skimmer! Laterally compressed feathered friends that are chock full of exciting evolutionary traits. Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Black_Skimmer/id https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/blkski/cur/introduction?login&continue https://ecos.fw...

Hannah's birthday week means one thing: ducks. This time it's the Harlequin Duck, dressed to impress, squeaking instead of quacking, and living in whitewater rapids on purpose. September 21st is International Day of Peace. Hannah has donated to Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a UK charity providing emergency medical care, nutrition support, and mental health services to Palestinians in Gaza, t...

Another Wednesday, another new bird, and this one loves to break the fourth wall! Join Hannah + Cleo this week as they learn all about the tawny frogmouth, the supposed "burly brutes of the caprimulgiforms."  Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/tawny-frogmouth/ https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/tawny-frogmouth-podargus-strigoides?gad_source=1&ga...

Join Hannah + Cleo with an "ear-full" of Cedar Waxwings: the bird that looks like it was dipped in silk, courts with a berry-passing dance, and occasionally gets flat-out drunk on fermented fruit. We get into the wax, the mask, and the invasive honeysuckle problem nobody's talking about. Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/id https://www.allaboutbirds.org/gui...

The highest flying bird in the world! Join Hannah + Cleo this week for their first vulture (griffon?) in honor of Cleo's birthday and favorite group of birds. Learn about these vital and, if i may say, handsome, birds and if you feel so inclined, head to 4vultures.org to donate to vulture conservation and research. Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://peregrinefund.org/explore-raptors-species/vultures...

A stunning silk-and-feathers hunter who almost paid for her looks with her life... Join Hannah + Cleo this week as they talk through this golden-footed showstopper, THE SNOWY EGRET. Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Egret/overview https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Egret/lifehistory https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/snowy-egret Stephen Moss, Ten Birds...

The cutest little fruity bird, with a strangely mysterious wingspan... Join Hannah + Cleo this week as they talk through this color changing cutie, THE STRAWBERRY FINCH *Government Name: Red Avadavat . Music by Fknsyd Sources: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/redava/cur/introduction?login https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red_Avadavat/overview https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Amandava...

Two grassland birds, one unique state bird. This week, Hannah and Cleo dig into the Lark Sparrow and the Lark Bunting, who are both summer regulars at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Plus: the true story of how Colorado picked its state bird in 1931, what birds so many states are stuck sharing, and how one very passionate Fort Collins educator won a multi-year lobbying campaign for a bird "unknown to...

Pied-Billed Grebe vs. Ruddy Duck. A duck with a bright blue bill spends breeding season fully absorbed in his own bubble show. A smaller bird with a horror-movie nickname has other plans. We break down both fighters, then get into who's playing god. Music by fknsyd Epic Duel Begins at 16:30 Sources All About Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) — Ruddy Duck: Overview , ID , Life History All About Bi...

Not just fast but THE fastest animal on earth... other than some this one mite... Join Hannah + Cleo this week as they talk through Jeffrey Lendrum's most trafficked bird, an legend among icons, the peregrine falcon. Music by fknsyd Peregrine Falcon chat starts at 19:00 Sources https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/perfal/cur/introduction https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Peregrine_Falcon/over...

Episode 16: Bad Eggs, First Crack: Jeffrey Lendrum A former Rhodesian ornithology nerd gets caught in an airport shower with fourteen peregrine falcon eggs strapped to his chest. This week we cover one of the biggest cases in the history of oology. Hannah & Cleo discuss Joshua Hammer's The Falcon Thief, from helicopter raids on remote cliffs to eggs incubated in socks. Music by fknsyd   16:26...

Birds + BoBs - we have officially entered the book-o-sphere. Join Hannah + Cleo this week as they talk through the first installment of Bird-ish Book Club: Birding With Benefits and BONUS: The travesty that is the Hallmark movie adaptation. We talk signature scents, biceps, adult hide and seek...? and also, BIRDS! Music by Fknsyd Sources: Book - Birding With Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb Movie - Adven...

Hannah and Cleo attended a talk by Dr. Lauryn Benedict of the University of Northern Colorado, and they have thoughts. This episode covers what bird vocalizations actually communicate whether it's territorial aggression or pair bonding. They cover Benedict's research on California Towhees, Rock Wrens, Canyon Wrens, and even your pet parrots. Along the way, they get into the long-overlooked reality...

Hannah and Cleo are finally tackling one of the hummers: the gorgeous, chaotic, and unbelievably tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbird! Join us as we explore the incredible adaptations that make these birds so freakin' cool. From their unique flying ability, insane heart rates and surprisingly fierce territorial behavior, this episode is pure sugar fueled chaos... just as god intended.   Music by fknsyd...

She won the Pulitzer. She spent forty years loving a woman named Molly. She wrote more poems about birds than almost anything else. Hannah + Cleo celebrate Pride Month with Mary Oliver. A quiet queer icon, nature's poet, and the writer who convinced a generation that paying attention is a radical act. 32:10 Mary Oliver conversation starts Music by fknsyd Please listen to this Sources Primary Sourc...

A true Pride Parade, an LGBTQIA+ episode, and even the star of our podcast cover art: The iconic American Flamingo! Hannah + Cleo continue their Pride Month celebration by diving into the world of this hot pink bird. Join us as we explore the colorful history and science of American flamingos in this fabulously flamboyant episode. Music by fknsyd 19:30 American flamingos discussion starts Sources:...

They mate for life, they dance for years to get there, and at least thirty percent of them are female-female pairs. Hannah + Cleo celebrate Pride Month with the Laysan albatross! The seabird that quietly dismantled assumptions about pair bonding, raising chicks together, and currently adapting to survive in our inhospitable oceans. Lindsay Young's 2008 discovery at Kaena Point changed the game. 28...

A century of science packed into a single feather. Hannah + Cleo visit a 20-year-old banding station at Chatfield State Park, where four organizations, a lot of whisper nets, and one very informed bird bander are quietly building the data that keeps birds alive. From Hans Christian Mortensen's aluminum rings to hemisphere-spanning genomic maps, it turns out the oldest trick in ornithology is still...

She walks on water, runs the territory, and leaves dad holding the babies. Hannah + Cleo dive into the Jacana: the Jesus bird of the wetlands who breaks every rule nature supposedly wrote and somehow ended up tied to the oldest conservation treaty in history. And honestly? She's just getting started. 18:18 Jacana conversation starts Sources: Wikipedia: Jacanidae Wikipedia: Northern Jacana Wikipedi...

The stink bird! Hannah + Cleo finally get out of North America and take on the Hoatzin. The smelly punk rock pheasant of South America that may or may not be a pheasant... Tune in to hear about this and MUCH more. 20:10 Hoatzin conversation starts Sources: https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/hoatzi1/cur/introduction https://www.ourbreathingplanet.com/hoatzin/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=16...

Two birds. One marsh. Centuries of hate. Hannah + Cleo break down the red-winged blackbird, the marsh wren, and their extremely heated rivalry while drawing comparisons to Heated Rivalry™️. 19:30 Heated Rivalry Gets Hot Audubon Society. "Red-Winged Blackbird." Audubon Field Guide. audubon.org Audubon Society. "10 Fun Facts About the Red-Winged Blackbird." Audubon Magazine. audubon.org Audubon Soci...

BoB takes on their first conservationist! Join Hannah + Cleo this week for a semi-unexpected part 2 of Canada Geese and Fly Away Home as they deep dive into the man the movie is based on, the magical and wonderful Bill Lishman. 20:20 Discussion Bill Lishman Begins   Remembering artist Bill Lishman, the man who flew with Canadian geese | CBC Radio https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/11/harris_li...