The Bird Brief
A global rundown of newly published avian research and newsworthy bird stories in just 5 minutes.
The Bird Brief
Episode 4: Owls, Chickadees, and do birds care about the Eclipse?
Welcome to Episode 4 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 include the plan to remove half a million barred owls from Pacific Northwest forests, the phenomenal memory of chickadees, and the impact of the recent solar eclipse on bird behavior. 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:
Barred Owl and Spotted Owl Controversy
https://www.fws.gov/project/barred-owl-management, https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2024/03/feds-plan-to-kill-half-a-million-barred-owls-in-west-coast-states-over-the-next-three-decades.html
Solar Eclipse
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/03/solar-eclipse-could-scramble-bird-behavior
Chickadees
Chettih SN, Mackevicius EL, Hale S, Aronov D. Barcoding of episodic memories in the hippocampus of a food-caching bird. bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2023 Jul 3:2023.05.27.542597. doi: 10.1101/2023.05.27.542597. Update in: Cell. 2024 Mar 22;: PMID: 37461442; PMCID: PMC10349996. https://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(24)00235-6
Music and Bird Sound:
Barred Owl (Strix varia); Recorded by Thomas G. Sander/Macaulay Library; May 1992; ML125364.
Spotted Owl (Northern) (Strix occidentalis caurina); Recorded by Thomas G. Sander/Macaulay Library; May 1992; ML125369.
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus); Recorded by Doug Hitchcox/Macaulay Library; Feb 2018; ML87282551.
Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus); Recorded by William W. H. Gunn/Macaulay Library; Feb 1977; ML58123.
This is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, thanks for listening. If a particular story piqued your interest, be sure to check out the show notes for more details. If you have a story that you would like to spread the awareness of, I would love to highlight it in my podcast. Just let me know in the comments or send a note to thebirdbrief@gmail.com. Please tune in next time for The Bird Brief - your rundown, or should I say featherdown, of the birds we love.