Episode 3: Avian espionage and tracking spring migration from your doorstep

 Welcome to Episode 3 of the Bird Brief. This is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist and former intelligence analyst for the Department of Defense giving you the rundown on the most recent happenings in birds, both in popular news and published research throughout the world. Today’s episode will range from a bird suspected of espionage, bird flu in Antarctica, wind turbine innovation, and how you can use weather data to track this year’s spring bird migration from your doorstep… in your slippers. You will be up to date in just five minutes. Let’s get started.

See below for links to all the articles we talked about on the show:

News: 

 https://www.wsj.com/world/india-accused-chinese-spy-racing-pigeon-08516191 

.https://www.yahoo.com/tech/company-makes-incredible-bladeless-wind-103000921.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/02/27/bird-flu-antarctica-first-cases/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2024/01/15/bird-calls-pay-phone-maryland/

Research Articles:

Beaman Julian E., White Craig R., Clairbaux Manon, Perret Samuel, Fort Jérôme and Grémillet David 2024 Cold adaptation does not handicap warm tolerance in the most abundant Arctic seabird Proc. R. Soc. B.2912023188720231887 http://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1887 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2023.1887 

Correction to fact in podcast: The Arctic is warming around 3 times faster than the rest of the globe, not just compared to temperate regions as stated in the podcast.  AMAP. Arctic climate change update 2021: key trends and impacts. Summary for policy-makers. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, Norway (2021). 

BirdCast Info:

https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/migration-dashboard/ 

https://birdcast.info/migration-tools/local-migration-alerts/

Hearing Protection Tips:

Okay, as your birder friend, I want you to hear your birds today, but also in five years. Make sure you have the basics, get some inexpensive foam earplugs at your local drugstore and put them in your bag or car for those random times you are heading to a show and its going to be way too loud. Also grab some earmuffs and have them handy for when you use the blender or mow the lawn.

Here's a few that I like that are inexpensive and won't break the bank:

-Mack’s Ultra Soft Foam Earplugs, 7 Pair + Case – (NRR 33 dB Highest NRR). https://amzn.to/3Xn2xrN .

-3M PELTOR Ear Muffs, X1, (NRR 22) https://amzn.to/41aMcbU. Most comfortable muff in my opinion. Nicely slim for a muff while providing good ear protection. Fantastic to bring to fireworks shows and air shows, so you can take them off to chat with your friends. Bonus -- even comfortable and lightweight enough that your kid will wear them!

-3M PELTOR X3 Earmuffs, (NRR 25-28) https://amzn.to/40XXVZN. Great protection, but can get heavy.

*Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) is the number of decibels that the ear pro can reduce ambient noise levels – NRR 33 is the maximum. I’ve found that NRR 33 is pretty bulky/heavy in muffs so I opt for NRR 22 or NRR 25.

@THE.BIRD.BRIEF