S2 E2: Bilingual Birds, Kittiwakes That Love 3D Prints of Themselves, and The Most Dangerous Chicks In The World Have Hatched!

Welcome to The Bird Brief, this is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist giving you the rundown on the most recent happenings in birds, both in popular news and published research throughout the world. Today, we’ll explore everything from bilingual parrots to chicks of the most dangerous birds in existence to increasing nesting occupancy using 3D printing. Let’s get started!

Stories:
 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czdpe7n7l50o 

https://www.sciencealert.com/something-strange-is-happening-to-the-calls-of-amazon-parrots and https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.0659 

https://www.voxelmatters.com/3d-printing-encourages-bird-repopulation-in-suffolk/

https://phys.org/news/2024-09-pirate-birds-seabirds-regurgitate-fish.html#google_vignette and https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.13052 

Bird Sound:
Southern Cassowary. Marc Anderson, XC132934. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/132934.
Yellow-naped Amazon.Albert Lastukhin, XC371393. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/371393.
Black-legged Kittiwake. Paul Lynch, XC930790. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/930790.
Great Frigatebird. Paul Lynch, XC930790. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/930790. 
Chilean Skua. Bernabe Lopez-Lanus, XC45193. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/45193. 

Music: The Weeknd from wish by Lundstroem is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lundstroem/songs-i-regard-terrible/the-weeknd-from-wish/ 

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