Birds of a Feather Talk Together cover art

All Episodes

Birds of a Feather Talk Together — 147 episodes

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1

143: Pink-headed Fruit Dove: One of the Most Beautiful Doves in the World 🐦

2

142: Costa's Hummingbird - Is Their Range Expanding? A Listener Request!

3

141: Black-backed Woodpeckers with Ryan Shostack And Making Birding More Inclusive

4

140: Round Robin Championship, also Rusty Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds, and The Reiser Brothers Visit The Field Museum

5

139: Green Heron Explained: The Bird That Uses Tools to Catch Fish 🐦

6

138: Why Long-Eared Owls Roost in HUGE Groups 🦉 | Bird Behavior Explained

7

137: A Rare Arctic Duck Appeared in Europe?! Spectacled Eider Explained

8

136: Horned Larks with Nick Mason

9

135: Can Birdwatching Slow Aging? The Science Behind Birding & Brain Health

10

134: Eastern Wood Pewee - So Exciting That We Had A Malfunction :)

11

133: Are Magpies Smarter Than You Think? 🐦 Black-Billed Magpie Explained

12

132: Why Acorn Woodpeckers Store Thousands of Acorns (Wild Bird Behavior)

13

131: Calfbird - Bald Blue Heads - Sounds Like A Chainsaw?

14

130: Cedar Waxwing

15

129: Top Science Stories of 2025

16

128: Wood Ducks: The Colorful Duck That Made an Incredible Comeback 🦆

17

127: Harlequin Ducks: The Stunning Duck Built for Wild Rivers & Ocean Waves 🦆

18

126: Mallards: The World’s Most Familiar Duck Is More Fascinating Than You Think 🦆

19

125: LISTERS Review: The Funniest Birding Movie Every Birder Needs to Watch 🎬🐦

20

124: Snowy Owl - Chicago Sightings, Irruption, and Lemmings

21

123: White-Throated Sparrow Explained: Songs, Behavior & the “Two Types” Mystery

22

122: Flamingos with Ellen Weatherford

23

121: Varied Thrush - The Lone Forest Dweller AND The Occasional Vagrant

24

120: Why Mourning Doves Are EVERYWHERE (And What Makes Them So Unique) | Birding Explained

25

119: Spoon-billed Sandpiper - One Of The Rarest Birds On Earth - Story of Convergence

26

118: Golden Eagle Explained: One of the Fastest & Most Powerful Birds of Prey

27

117: Palm-nut Vulture - A Vulture Unlike Any Other!

28

116: Common Loon - An Eerie and Beautiful Call - Listener Request!

29

115: Downy Woodpecker and Hairy Woodpecker

30

114: The Feather Thief with Kirk Wallace Johnson - Revisited

31

113: Kirtland’s Warbler Explained: The Rare Bird That Came Back From the Brink

32

112: Brown-Headed Cowbird Explained: The Bird That Lays Eggs in Other Birds’ Nests

33

111: Project Phoenix with Olivia Sanderfoot and Allison Shultz - How Wildfires Are Impacting Birds

34

110: Red-headed Woodpecker - Catching Bugs Out Of The Sky + Paddleboard Sightings

35

109: Olive-sided Flycatcher - John Makes His Case For His Favorite Bird!

36

108: Blue-gray Gnatcatchers: The Tiny Songbird Birders Love to Hear Before They See 🐦

37

107: Club-winged Manakin - Making Robot Noises with its Feathers

38

106: Kingfishers Around The World with Jenna Mccullough

39

105: Why Are Birds Gathering in Florida Roadside Water? 🐦 Mailbag Episode

40

104: Guam Kingfishers: The Bird That Went Extinct in the Wild — And May Come Back 🐦 with Jenna Mccullough

41

103: Inca Tern - Plus we talk about John's trip to Peru!

42

102: Laughing Kookaburras & the Science Behind Australia’s Most Famous Bird | Jenna McCullough

43

101: Extremely Accurate Bird Songs with Tommy Siegel and Billy Libby

44

100: Kingfishers with Jenna Mccullough

45

99: Marcel Rochon Interview: How Birding Helped a Brain Injury Survivor Find Peace & Recovery 🐦

46

98: Peter Kaestner: The First Birder to See 10,000 Bird Species in the Wild 🐦

47

97: Orange-tufted Spiderhunter

48

96: Black-Capped Chickadees: The Tiny Bird With an Incredible Memory 🐦

49

95: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Explained: Migration, Speed & Incredible Flight

50

94: Blackpoll Warbler Revisited - Epic Migration and More About Warblers

51

93: Great Potoos: The Strangest Night Bird You’ve Never Heard Of 🌙🐦

52

92: Wood Ducks: Nesting Behavior, Baby Ducklings & a Surprise Owl Sighting

53

91: How NSF Budget Cuts Are Threatening U.S. Science – A Deep Dive with Ornithologists

54

90: American Dipper - Bird that Walks Under Water

55

89: Red-Ruffed Fruitcrow

56

88: Spotted Towhee - Bright Red Eyes!

57

87: Gambel’s Quail: The Desert Bird With the Incredible Topknot 🐦

58

86: Hoatzin Revisited with Jacob Drucker - You've Seen It On 'The Americas' on NBC

59

85: Purple Martins: The Bird That Depends on Humans to Survive 🐦

60

84: Mourning Dove

61

83: Harlequin Duck - Fascinating Waterfowl with Stunning Plumage

62

82: Kirk Wallace Johnson Interview - The Feather Thief - The Shocking True-Crime Tale of a Museum Heist & Rare Bird Feathers

63

81: The Feather Thief Part 6: Obsession, A Possible Accomplice, Final Thoughts

64

80: The Feather Thief Part 5: The Crime, The Importance of Museum Collections, also a discussion on Canada and also precious metals

65

79: The Feather Thief Part 4: The Argus Pheasant and Jason Weckstein Joins Us Again!!

66

78: The Feather Thief Part 3: Fly-tying with guest Jason Weckstein

67

77: The Feather Thief Part 2: Walter Rothschild, Feather Fever, and the start of the Audubon Society

68

76: The Feather Thief Part 1 - Alfred Russel Wallace, also the horrific crime that occurred at the museum

69

75: The Feather Thief Prologue - Quick Listen Prior to Starting The Mini-Series :)

70

74: Gentoo Penguins: Inside a Research Trip to the Falkland Islands 🐧 John's Trip!

71

73: Willard's Sooty Boubou Revisited - A New Species Described

72

72: The Archaeopteryx at the Field Museum + An Exciting Announcement

73

71: Christmas Bird Count, The Feather Thief Question, An Exciting Announcement!

74

70: Holiday Wrap-Up - What We've Learned

75

69: John's Trip to the Falkland Islands, also we talk about Bird Flu

76

68: The Rusty Blackbird - Dramatic population decline, also a question on 'The Big Year'

77

67: Wild Turkey Revisited - with Jacob Drucker

78

66: White-throated Sparrow

79

65: Wrentits with Kevin Burns

80

64: Inti Tanager with Kevin Burns - The Mysterious Bird Hidden in Peru for 20 Years 🐦

81

63: Kagus: The Strange Island Bird With an Impossible Relative 🐦

82

62: Unlock the Secrets of Mindful Birdwatching with Joan E. Strassmann | New Book 'The Slow Birding Journal'

83

61: Roseate Spoonbills: The Bright Pink Bird With the Strangest Bill in Nature 🦩

84

60: Double-Crested Cormorants: The Underwater Fishing Birds Most People Misunderstand 🐦

85

59: Darwin's Finches (they're tanagers!) with Kevin Burns

86

58: Tanagers with Kevin Burns

87

Teaser: We Are Down This Week - Exciting Episodes On The Horizon!

88

57: Medley - Warblers, European Goldfinches, Cassowaries, Horse Flies, Oh my!

89

56: Alpine Accentor - Let's talk about bird sex high in the mountains

90

55: Peg-billed Finch - Elusive bird from Costa Rica, Shannon and John's experience with them

91

54: Black-billed Magpie - Fighting cats, bird funerals, and interactions with humans

92

53: Greater Roadrunners: The Real Desert Bird Behind the “Beep Beep” 🏜️🐦

93

52: Burrowing Owls with Aiyana Reissman from Living Coast Discovery Center

94

51: Multiple Topics: Belted Kingfisher Family, CT Scanning Birds, Bird Dialect, and A Movie About Cowbirds?

95

50: Northern Flicker - Hybridization, CTE From Banging Head?

96

49: Giant Hummingbird - New Study!

97

48: Ospreys with Jack Wildlife (Jack Turner) - Memes, Photography, Also Golden-Cheeked Warbler

98

Happy Fourth of July! - Teaser for Upcoming Episodes + Spreading the joy of birds

99

47: Light-footed Ridgway's Rail with Aiyana Reissman from Living Coast Discovery Center

100

46: Billions of Cicadas Are Emerging… And It’s Affecting Birds, Fungus & More 🪲🐦

101

45: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird - Also a question on feather iridescence and/or mutation

102

44: House Wren, we also talk about The Archaeopteryx at the Field Museum

103

43: Kirtland's Warbler - Back From the Endangered Species List, Connection to Leopold and Loeb?

104

42: Brown-Headed Cowbird - Laying eggs in someone else's nest

105

41: Wes Larson of Tooth and Claw Talks Southern Cassowaries and His Epic Australia Adventure

106

40: Blackpoll Warbler - Impressive Migration, Also More About Warblers...

107

39: Bald Eagles - Massive Nests, Aerial Cartwheels, and Coming Back From DDT

108

38: Florida Trip - Osprey, Brown Pelican, Shorebirds, and we also talk about the Eclipse

109

37: European Roller - Migration Across the Sahara, Vomiting for Self-Defense

110

36: The Brown Creeper, How Animals Evolved to Fly, and Round 2 of Round Robin Voting!

111

35: European Starlings: The Invasive Bird Rapidly Evolving Across North America 🐦

112

34: European Goldfinches with Louise Bodt - European birds introduced in the U.S.

113

33: Tufted Puffins - Shannon's Favorite Puffin

114

32: Atlantic Puffins: The Incredible Seabird That Made a Comeback 🐧 - John's Favorite Puffin

115

31: Limpkins Interview Part 2 with Marky Mutchler

116

30: Limpkins Interview Part 1 with Marky Mutchler

117

29: Flame Bowerbird - Building A Bower and Attracting A Mate

118

28: Blue Jays - Acorns and Oak Trees

119

27: Birds of a Feather Talk Together Backstory - Our Origin Story

120

26: Mallard Duck - We Also Talk About Christmas Bird Count

121

25: Puteketeke or Great Crested Grebe - Thanks John Oliver for Making This 'Bird of the Century'

122

24: The Hoatzin - A Link To The Dinosaurs?

123

23: Rock Pigeons (Rock Doves) - You see them everywhere in the city, but did you know how amazing they are?

124

22: Hawaiian Honeycreepers with Jacob Drucker - Part 2

125

21: Hawaiian Honeycreepers with Jacob Drucker - Part 1

126

20: Wild Turkey - Conservation success, magnificent feathers, sexual dimorphism

127

Teaser: Sticker Giveaway + Update on New Episodes

128

19: Ravens - How Smart Are Birds? Using Tools and Imitating Calls

129

18: Shoebills: The Massive African Bird That Terrifies the Internet 🦤

130

17: Bloodsucking Birds! Vampire Finches, Oxpeckers, and Egyptian Plovers - Oh my!

131

16: Bird Collisions in Chicago - Nearly 1,000 Birds Die In A Single Night

132

15: Ring-Billed Gull - Not A Seagull! Also, That Diet is Trash...

133

14: Willard's Sooty Boubou - A New Species Discovered; John and The Field Museum's Involvement

134

13: Killdeer - The 'Broken Wing' Display, Also a Discussion on Wildfire Smoke Impacting Birds

135

12: Roseate Spoonbill - The Color Pink, Birds Going Bald

136

11: Oilbirds - Using Echolocation and Living in Caves

137

10: Why Are Northern Cardinals So Bright Red? 🐦 The Science Explained

138

9: Great Horned Owl - An Elusive Predator! Also, What Is A Species?

139

8: Purple Martin - Living in Man-Made Homes + A Killer Grackle

140

7: Mailbag + Teaser

141

6: Frigatebird, The Gular Pouch, and Flying High For Fun?

142

5: Sandhill Cranes - Migration, and Mating for Life (a myth?)

143

4: American Woodcock - Dancing and Peenting

144

Teaser: Upcoming Episodes!

145

3: Mailbag! Travel, Genetic Mutations and Color

146

2: Birds of Paradise

147

1: Ivory Billed Woodpecker