This week we are talking about the Northern Flicker. We talk about the red-shafted and yellow-shafted flickers in different parts of the continent, and how they can hybridize. We also talk about whether or not woodpeckers get CTE from banging their heads while pecking. We answer a mailbag question on the white throated sparrow changing its call. Join John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart discussing the Northern Flicker!

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to podcast.birdsofafeather@gmail.com

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This week’s episode is about the Giant Hummingbird. A recent study led by Jessie Williamson led to some groundbreaking discoveries about the Giant Hummingbird, including that there are actually two different species, one which has the longest migration of any hummingbird in the world. This amazing study, which included putting tiny backpacks on hummingbirds to track their movement, changed what we knew about Giant Hummingbirds.

Jack Turner AKA Jack Wildlife joins us to talk about Ospreys. Jack lives near the Chesapeake Bay, home to the most Osprey in the world. If you aren’t familiar with Jack Wildlife, he runs a popular birding meme account, and he’s also an accomplished wildlife photographer, tour guide, and Environmental Scientist.

This episode is a ton of fun. We also talk about Jack's trip to Austin, Texas to see the endangered golden-cheeked warbler.

Jack joined John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for another episode of Birds of a Feather Talk Together.

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to podcast.birdsofafeather@gmail.com

Make sure to follow us on instagram and tik tok as well!!

We'll be down this week for the Fourth of July - but back next week. Upcoming episodes on Osprey, Giant Hummingbird, and Northern Flicker.

We have a few asks to spread the joy of birding over the Fourth of July. Listen to hear more.

Also here is a link to when John was on Ologies with Alie Ward: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/oology-eggs-with-john-bates/id1278815517?i=1000417763781

We talk about the endangered Light-footed Ridgway's Rail this week with guest Aiyana Reissman. Aiyana is the Animal Care Manager at the Living Coast Discovery Center in San Diego, California. She oversees the care for 25+ species of rescued bird native to the area along with the propagation programs for the endangered Light Footed Ridgway’s Rails.

Living Coast Discovery Center is the only facility in the world where the Light-footed Ridgway's Rail can be viewed and have had great success with the release program to boost the populations in Southern California over the last few years.

Aiyana joined John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for another episode of Birds of a Feather Talk Together.

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to podcast.birdsofafeather@gmail.com

Make sure to follow us on instagram and tik tok as well!!

This week is a little different as we aren't discussing a bird, but rather the cicada phenomenon happening in Illinois right now. Maureen Turcatel of the Field Museum joins us to talk about the two different broods of cicadas both happening at the same time (the 13 year cicada and the 17 year cicada). We talk about how this is impacting birds, the rare blue-eyed cicada, and also the fungus that is making cicadas hyper-sexual.

Maureen is an insect taxonomist and systematist, especially interested in the diversity and phylogeny of horse flies. Her research focuses on using museum specimens to perform revisionary work on horse flies. She is the collections manager of all insects at the Field Museum, so she was happy to jump on and answer all of our cicada questions, as well as talk about horseflies.

Maureen joined John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart for another episode of Birds of a Feather Talk Together.

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to podcast.birdsofafeather@gmail.com

Make sure to follow us on instagram and tik tok as well!!

Somehow it has taken us 45 episodes to get to our first hummingbird - but it's finally here! We have a ton of fun talking about the ruby-throated hummingbird today. John Bates, Shannon Hackett, RJ Pole, and Amanda Marquart are all here for our hummingbird discussion. Enjoy!

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to podcast.birdsofafeather@gmail.com

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This week we talk about the house wren, but first we talk a little bit about the newest addition to the Field Museum: The Archaeopteryx. A fossil called Archaeopteryx, with feathers, hollow bones, clawed wings, fifty tiny teeth, and a long bony tail, is the earliest known dinosaur that also qualifies as a bird.

The Chicago Archaeopteryx has the most complete skull of any Archaeopteryx fossil in the world.

We then talk about the House Wren - it's a super fun episode that you'll enjoy. House Wren are so amazing, it was so much fun to learn all about them.

Please send us your questions for us to answer as well! You can send them to podcast.birdsofafeather@gmail.com