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:

1. The evolutionary arms race between brood parasites and their hosts, from mimetic eggs to alien-looking chick mouth patterns
2. How the "password hypothesis" explains how brown-headed cowbirds avoid imprinting on the wrong species
3. 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:

1. Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94262
2. Brown-headed Cowbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML516718
3. Redhead audio contributed by Jessie Berry, ML139672
4. Canvasback audio contributed by Arthur A. Allen, ML3537
5. Greater Honeyguide audio contributed by Mike Andersen, ML140981
6. Pin-tailed Whydah audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14489
7. Village Indigobird audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML14484
8. Zebra Finch (Australian) audio contributed by Vicki Powys, ML226233
9. Prothonotary Warbler audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML85158
10. Kirtland's Warbler audio contributed by Rudolph Little, ML13982

Most people picture a bird-friendly yard and imagine feeder, birdbath, maybe a decorative birdhouse with mortgage vibes. And feeders are great. But a feeder can give you the illusion of helping birds without creating the thing birds need most: habitat.

In this episode, Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, joins Scott to explain why your yard is conservation infrastructure in disguise, and what it actually takes to turn it into a place birds can live, breed, and thrive.

In this episode you'll hear about:

1. Why "plant natives" is just the beginning, and which keystone plants actually move the needle for birds
2. The surprising reason a beautiful all-native garden can still function like a food desert
3. What Homegrown National Park is, and how your yard fits into a continent-wide conservation strategy

Ready to do more than feed birds? Join the Homegrown National Park pledge at homegrownnationalpark.org and start shifting your patch of earth.

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:

1. Chestnut-sided warbler audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML191085
2. Northern parula audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML79471
3. Carolina chickadee audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML100756
4. Oriental pied-hornbill audio contributed by Warren Y. Brockelman, ML170843
5. Northern cardinal audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249823
6. Black-capped chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239

What do feathers, toothless beaks, and a 66-million-year-old asteroid have in common? Paleontologist Dr. Daniel Field, University of Cambridge, joins Scott to unpack how birds evolved from dinosaurs, and why defining "bird" is trickier than you think.

In this episode you'll hear about:

1. Why Archaeopteryx had half the features of a modern bird and lacked the other half, and what that tells us about 150 million years of evolution
2. The "Wonderchicken," a tiny fossil from the border of Belgium and the Netherlands that rewrote what we know about birds surviving the asteroid impact
3. How micro CT scanning lets scientists digitally peer inside rocks to study fossils at micron scale without ever touching them

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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:

1. Great Spotted Kiwi, William V. Ward, ML810
2. Southern Cassowary, Linda Macaulay, ML57219
3. Elegant Trogon, David L. Ross, Jr., ML199536
4. Green Heron,, Bob McGuire, ML229117

Asteriornis imagery and video courtesy of Dr. Daniel Field, University of Cambridge.