The Bird Brief
A global rundown of newly published avian research and newsworthy bird stories in just 5 minutes.
The Bird Brief
S2 E8: Hummingbird Torpor, Airports as Bird Migration Hubs, and Vulture Doomsday
Welcome back to the Bird Brief, this is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist. Today let’s dive into what’s driving bird strikes at airports, hummingbirds and their psychic torpor, and black vultures creating literal doomsday for high schoolers.
Again I want to give a shout out to my preschool son for asking the hard questions on this episode – Thanks man!
Stories:
https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-science/2024/12/30/LSH6MUFMCRF7ZI5UBLUVQQ3MPQ/
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-hummingbird-torpor-day-survival-uncertain.html
Bird Sound:
*Tundra Bean Goose. Grzegorz Lorek, XC819951. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/819951
Black Vulture. Call, grunt, wing noise. Brice de la Croix, XC495189. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/495189.
Black Vulture. Call. Paul Marvin, XC451477. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/451477
Calliope Hummingbird. Bruce Lagerquist, XC764433. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/764433.
Rufous Hummingbird. Ian Cruickshank, XC183578. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/183578.
*Occurs in the immediate vicinity of Muan International Airport. News reports do not include the species involved in the aircraft strike.
Music: The Weeknd from wish by Lundstroem is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lundstroem/songs-i-regard-terr
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.
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