The Birds Keep Chirping

Some birds just can’t resist a midnight serenade…. But why? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Light pollution currently affects nearly a QUARTER of the Earth. And that might be the reason our feathered friends are staying up! Brent Pease and Neil Gilbert from Southern

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Predators and Prey-tend

What if your snack… talked back? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Birds often copy each other, but some even mimic their predators. Why? Enter Trinity Harvey and team at Cal Poly Humboldt. They tracked forty-nine Steller’s Jays in California. For a year, researchers followed

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Polar Pioneers

Ice ice birdy! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Arctic birds are ecosystem all-stars. But when did they first take on the poles? Enter Patrick S. Druckenmiller and team from University of Alaska’s Museum of the North! They discovered Arctic bird fossils from seventy million

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An Unlikely Source

Those wild birds eat WHAT? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Alice Dunbar and team from the University of South Australia studied the role of foraging on wild birds’ gut health. Okay, we mean coprophagy: eatin’ poop. Ew. But wait! Synthesizing previous studies on birds’

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Friendly Fowl

  Is what’s good for the goose… good for the farmer? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. We’ve been raising chickens for over four thousand years. But were they our first feathered friends? Masaki Eda from the University of Hokkaido and team went on a

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Babbling Birds

Wait, what did you SQUAWK? I didn’t quite catch that! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. For humans speaking different languages, Google translate is a lifesaver! But for the many voices of the animal kingdom, does a natural translator exist? Enter Claire Spottiswoode and Brian

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Pole Positioning

Help, Siri! I need directions to my house – AGAIN!! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. How did we ever navigate without our GPS friends? But birds ALWAYS find their way home! What’s their secret? Enter Joe Wynn and colleagues at Oxford and University of

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Feather Weather

Flying off to a beach vacation? Pack sunscreen, bathing suits, and…feathers?!   This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Birds also migrate thousands of miles to warmer climates! But while we humans fly in air-conditioned comfort, how do these birds of a feather stay cool?  Kasper Delhey

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Birdie Breakups

Do seabirds sign prenups? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. All aboard for Love Island! For the albatross seabird, that’s The Falklands. Albatrosses are monogamous, generally mating with one partner for life. Or at least, for a while —  like us, they can divorce and

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