E26. We borrowed a phrase from human dating and tried to pin it on birds. Turns out they never needed the rulebook. Dr. Wenfei Tong, biologist and author of Bird Love, joins Scott to unpack what bird partnerships actually look like once you stop projecting our scripts onto them, from females who run the territory to males who guard their paternity in deeply weird ways.In this episode you'll hear about:Why the drabbest little brown bird in the garden has one of the wildest sex lives in the animal kingdomHow a female calls the shots when she holds the better real estate, and what the males do about itThe cloacal pecking payoff you have to hear to believeAll 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:Laysan Albatross audio contributed by Ted Miller, ML117679Black-capped Chickadee audio contributed by Jay McGowan, ML202239Spotted Sandpiper audio contributed by Lucas DeCicco, ML516963Northern Jacana audio contributed by Gerrit Vyn, ML140224Red-necked Phalarope audio contributed by Bob McGuire, ML235440Black Coucal audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML3084Papuan Eclectus audio contributed by Thane Pratt, ML169808Red-winged Blackbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML249827Red-winged Blackbird audio contributed by Wil Hershberger, ML94215Red-capped Manakin audio contributed by David L. Ross Jr., ML57360Blue-footed Booby audio contributed by Robert I. Bowman, ML85906Greater Flamingo audio contributed by Myles E. W. North, ML2443Dunnock audio contributed by Niels Krabbe, ML249162

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related