Bird Podcast

  This episode is about striated caracaras, or rather, one man's obsession with them.  The man in question is Jonathan Meiburg who is a musician, author and bird lover.  In 1833, a young Charles Darwin was astonished by a strange animal he met in the Falkland Islands: a handsome, social, and oddly crow-like falcon that was “tame and inquisitive,” “quarrelsome and passionate,” and so insatiably curious that it stole hats, compasses, and other valuables from the crew of the Beagle. Darwin met many unusual creatures in his five-year voyage, but no others showed an interest in studying him—and he wondered why these birds were confined to islands at the tip of South America, sensing a larger story. But he set this mystery aside, and never returned to it. Almost two hundred years later, Meiburg picks up where Darwin left off. These rare and unusual birds—now called striated caracaras—still exist, and A Most Remarkable Creature reveals the wild and fascinating story of their history, origins, and possible

Visit the home of Shubha Bhat and you will find many birds enjoying birdbaths in her garden and its surroundings. An avid birder, Shubha has spoken about backyard birding in many forums including the Bangalore Bird Day, Manipal Bird Day and others. Her work has been videotaped and photographed in many publications, including Bird Count India. Today we talk about how to make your gardens and balconies a haven for birds. Episode Timeline 1:00 Basic steps of how to attract birds.   3:00 Use of big pots and coconut shells to create an ecosystem.   5:00 Shubha lists her resident birds. 6:00 Kashmir Flycatcher sighting. 8:00 Poetic description of birds enjoying her garden. Do listen to this part. 9:00 Bird behavior. How do they bathe and drink water? Shubha gives beautiful descriptions. 11:00 Why did the kingfishers stop coming? 11:30 About warblers.  How do they bathe? 12:00 Persuading others to keep bird baths. 14:00 Migratory birds and birds breeding in her garden. 15:00 The pleasur

JN Prasad has been a keen naturalist and birdwatcher for the last 4 decades. Associated closely with the WWF-India Nature Clubs of India movement since its inception, he went on to co-found Merlin Nature Club, which became the cradle of learning for many of Bangalore’s most enthusiastic naturalists. A post-graduate in International Marketing and also in Ecology and Environment, he has over 50 papers and notes to his credits in leading national & international publications. More recently, continuing the passion Dr. George had for nest boxes, especially for cavity nesters like Magpie-Robins, that are facing a huge challenge to find space to breed, he has started the Gubbi Goodu network of volunteers who build nest boxes for sparrows and other birds. For all this and more, he has been recognized and awarded by the Rotary Club for Outstanding Service and contribution to the community.

Do you want to become a reviewer for ebird? Which bird is the logo of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology? Do you think sparrow populations are declining? What abour vireos? Can you “rent” land from farmers to help shorebirds?  In this fascinating episode, we talk to Christopher Wood, who heads ebird at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Ashwin Viswanathan who is part of Bird Count India and NCF. Over one billion birders use ebird.  How did it become this global behemoth? Hint, it wasn’t driven by America.  How does ebird track and help avian populations, migration and mapping birds. How do different countries use it, and is India really the “global custodian” of so many species including the Common Rosefinch, Bar-headed Geese, or Blythe’s Reed Warbler? Christopher Wood is the Managing Director, Center for Avian Population Studies and Director, eBird. Full bio here at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Chris was fascinated by dinosaurs as a child. Now, he says, he has moved to their closest living relatives

To research books, films and articles, Sy Montgomery has been chased by an angry silverback gorilla in Zaire and bitten by a vampire bat in Costa Rica, worked in a pit crawling with 18,000 snakes in Manitoba and handled a wild tarantula in French Guiana. She has been deftly undressed by an orangutan in Borneo, hunted by a tiger in India, and swum with piranhas, electric eels and dolphins in the Amazon. She has searched the Altai Mountains of Mongolia’s Gobi for snow leopards, hiked into the trackless cloud forest of Papua New Guinea to radiocollar tree kangaroos, and learned to SCUBA dive in order to commune with octopuses. In this episode, she talks about a variety of birds including California Condors, Hummingbirds, Hawks, Cockatoos and many others. Sy’s 28 books for both adults and children have garnered many honors. The Soul of an Octopus was a 2015 Finalist for the National Book Awards. The Good Good Pig, her memoir of life with her pig, Christopher Hogwood, is an international bestseller. She is

"By the time a bar-tailed godwits dies, it would have flown to the moon and most of the way back," says ornithologist and author Scott Weidensaul.  A bar-tailed godwit flies 18,000 miles a year. By the time it dies, it will have flown closer to 500,000 miles. In this episode, Scott talks about the magnificent migrations of birds-- the songs they sing while in flight and how they undergo binge-eating before they take off on their epic journeys. Comparing a migratory bird to an elite athlete insults the bird, he says. Arctic terns, for instance, sometimes travels a staggering 57,000 miles a year, he says. Scott celebrates the natural world—particularly birds and bird migration—in his research, his writing and his public speaking. Weidensaul spearheads a number of major research projects focusing on bird migration. His latest book is “The World on the Wing: the global Odyssey of migratory birds.” He has written more than 30 books on natural history, including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere wit

"To be able to conserve and protect, you have to observe and love," says philanthropist Rohini Nilekani. "Being in nature, you get this sense of continuing renewing wonder," she says. In this episode, Rohini talks about her favourite birds and why conserving nature is an "enlightened self-interest" for humanity as a whole. Rohini Nilekani is a thoughtful and intuitive philanthropist, author, journalist, columnist, television anchor, punster, funster and a champion of wildlife. She combines a deep empathy for wildlife with a sharp, quick, and curious mind. She loves nature and the outdoors and is most comfortable in her beloved forests and mountains wearing her trademark cap and carrying her binoculars. Her enthusiasm for the world of wildlife is infectious. Her involvement with wildlife includes the following. She is a board member of ATREE, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, a board member of Science Gallery Bengaluru, on the Artificial Recharge of Ground Water Advisory Cou

Maitreya Sukumar, 18, who has been birding since he was 4, has seen 850 + bird species in the Indian subcontinent and around 2500 species overall . He was named Sanctuary Asia’s Young Naturalist of the year in 2018. Apart from birds, he is interested in frogs, conservation and evolutionary biology. Here is a video of Maitreya winning the Sanctuary Young Naturalist Award 2018. Here are some books he has co-authored, and birding clubs he co-founded. He writes regularly for Saevus magazine. In this conversation, we explore Maitreya's journey in birding all over the world. You can see the birds that Maitreya talks about in the below links. Wilson's bird of paradise, Lemon rumped warbler, Rufous mot mot, Five coloured barbet, Sapayoa, Apolinar's wren, Green-bearded helmet crest, Resplendent quetzal, Bowerbird, Black sicklebill, Sultan tit, Ward's trogon, Satyr's tragopan, Yellow-rumped honeyguide, Sikkim wedge-billed babbler, Beautiful nuthatch, White gorgeted flycatcher, Bird is Owls of the Easter

Dr. Krishna MB is an ecologist and ornithologist from Bangalore who has been interested in bird and habitat conservation and improvement. A legend in the Bangalore birding community, he has studied zoology and pursued his research on bird ecology. Krishna is a regular fixture at birding walks at the Lalbagh Botanical Garden and is a wealth of knowledge on ecology and bird identification. He has advised many corporate and individuals on modifying landscape garden plans to make them more urban-wildlife friendly. It is in this capacity that he has advised SAP Labs and Robert Bosch on making their campus gardens more functional. He has also advised other corporates like the Taj West End, Trans Indus, Fanuc India, Benson Company, TVS Motors and others, and the Karnataka State Forest Department on issues related to birds, bird habits and landscaping. He has helped a lot of students to get into ecology as a profession and amateur birders to get started with their interest in birds. He also is the founder of Bng

In December 2019, Dr. Dominique Homberger visited Bangalore after a gap of ten years.  She gave a talk at NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences). When we reached out to her, she immediately agreed to speak to us.  Are you interested in how parrot species and their beaks evolved? How do parrots eat? What is the link between the length of parrot beaks and what they eat-- fruits versus nuts? Have feathers evolved to insulate the birds? Why do feathers fluff up? Why is the body of the bird spindle-shaped? How do vultures soar? Parrots and the connection to Gondwanaland. Why is it bad when parrots in a cage start to speak? Contact calls among flocks of birds, how birds land on trees, are some of the other things she talks about. Dr. Homberger is one of the world's foremost authorities on the order Psittaciformes (i.e., parrots and cockatoos) and their feeding behavior and ecology, which she has studied in her lab as well in their natural environment in Australia, India, and Southern Patagonia. An al

Click here to download A few years ago, I cold-emailed Jairam Ramesh, then minister of rural development, with one question: how could urban individuals contribute to rural India? He called me from Gumla, Jharkand. “Do you know where Gumla is?” he asked. Sheepishly, I said No. After some small talk—his mother lives in Bangalore— I asked how the average urban citizen could help rural India, should they desire to. What were his top five priorities? Ramesh laughed and said that his top priorities such as land reform, rural infrastructure and employment were not things the average citizen could contribute to. “Those initiatives are for well meaning bankrupt governments, not for well meaning rich individuals like (your readers),” he said. “The bulk of investments in rural areas will have to come from government. To expect the private sector to make these huge investments is unrealistic.” Since then, Ramesh moved on to become a charismatic Minister of Environment and Forests. Born in Chikkamagalur, Jairam

Click here to download Jennifer Ackerman has been writing about science and nature for 30 years. Her most recent book, The Genius of Birds (Penguin Press, April 2016), explores the intelligence of birds.   Her previous books include Ah-Choo! The Uncommon Life of Your Common Cold(Twelve Press, 2010), Sex Sleep Eat Drink Dream: A Day in the Life of Your Body(Houghton Mifflin, 2007), Chance in the House of Fate: A Natural History of Heredity(Houghton Mifflin 2001), and Notes from the Shore (Viking Penguin, 1995). A contributor to Scientific American, National Geographic Magazine, The New York Times, and many other publications, Jennifer is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including an NEA Literature Fellowship in Nonfiction, a Bunting Institute Fellowship, and a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Her articles and essays have been included in several anthologies, among them, Best American Science Writing, The Nature Reader, Best Nature Writing, Flights of Imagination: Extraordinary Writ

Click here to download Dr. Jerry Jackson is a legend in ornithology, for his life-long fascination with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. I met him on a windy even in Lakes Park, Fort Myers for a chat about the birds of Southwest Florida. Interview with Dr. Jerome Jackson, a noted ornithologist based in Florida.  And we are talking about Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary near Naples, Florida.  Located in the heart of the Everglades ecosystem of Southwest Florida, Corkscrew swamp is home to raptors, barred owls, songbirds—there were a ton of Northern Cardinals and Carolina Wrens when I visited in April.   And then there are waders—Spoonbills, Egrets, Herons, and most iconically, the Wood Stork.  Corkscrew is famous for that.  The website corkscrew.audobon.org has a list of all the birds along with some informational nuggets. Wetlands are different from other water bodies (lakes or rivers) and land forms in two ways.  Their water level should not exceed six meters according to the Ramsar Convention and the type of aquat

The Keoladeo Ghana National Park is arguably India's most famous national park for birds.  This episode offers you a bird's eye view of the park.

Click here to download Shashank Dalvi's Big Year of Birding all over India.    

Click here to download

This episode is about the peacock, not because it is the national bird of India, which it is. But because it gave rise to the second most important work in evolutionary biology. I speak of course of Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. Darwin has referred to the Peacock just three times in his magnum opus, the origin of species. But the bird gave him so much grief. In 1860, a year after he published the origin of species, Darwin wrote to his friend, the botanist, Asa Gray, and said that “the sight of the feather in a peacocks tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick.” It took him 11 years to come up, with the ‘theory of sexual selection’ to explain the beauty of a peacock’s tail, and other ‘seemingly useless’ male ornaments.  Darwin’s theory was that the male peacock’s spectacular feathers and fan-like tail evolved to attract peahens. Suitable mates. The more attractive the peacock is, the more its chances of mating and therefore passing on the genes to the next generation. There are all kinds of st