Avian flu, better known as bird flu, has been in news headlines all of 2024. Still, many questions remain for the general public. What is it? What’s causing it? How is it spreading? And how serious should we be taking this public health matter? Our co-hosts Purbita Saha and Deja Perkins…

Since 1976, Project FeederWatch has been through many changes and iterations. But what has remained is the dedication to collecting data that undeniably improves bird science. In this episode, host Deja Perkins speaks with Emma Greig, the U.S. Project Leader for FeederWatch, about what…

In 2023, over 120 contributors published a study in the scientific journal, Ornithological Applications, about a long history of exclusion Latin American and Caribbean scientists have faced. In the world of ornithology, the Global North (or rich and powerful regions like the USA, Canada…

On October 5, 2023, thousands of migrating songbirds died after crashing into the McCormick Place Convention Center in downtown Chicago and surrounding buildings. Co-host Deja Perkins will speak with Douglas Stotz, a conservation ecologist at the Chicago-based Field Museum about that…

Historically, birding spaces aren’t known to show diverse faces, races and even genders. But for the Chicago BIPOC Birders group, co-founder Daniela Herrera proves that what has always been isn’t always right. In this episode, Herrera shares with our host Deja Perkins why spaces for Black…

How much do you know about the lives of female birds? And could you identify, say, a male Scarlet Tanager from a female? This episode’s host (and co-founder of the Galbatross Project), Purbita Saha, is here to explain why studying female birds is important. Joining her, ornithologist…

Join us every other Wednesday for a new episode of Bring Birds Back! Meet this season’s co-hosts Deja Perkins and Purbita Saha, and learn about a wide range of topics from community activism in BIPOC birding spaces to regional and socioeconomic biases in the field of ornithology. From the…

Have you ever worried you’d hit a wild animal while driving down a highway or country road? In this special season closer, we learn about a new and promising future for wildlife and battered cars: wildways. As technology and development continue to expand, infrastructure and fragmentation…

25 years ago, a mysterious cause of eagle and osprey deaths plagued a small town in Arkansas. And in this special episode, we get to the root of it all: small unassuming weeds, also known as invasive aquatic species. In conversation with aquatic plant experts Stacy Holt Jr. and Greg Bugbee…

In this special episode, we explore the critical effects of noise pollution on both humans and birds. Dr. Erica Walker offers an insightful view of how people are negatively impacted by loud disturbances, from everyday life to health complications. And Dr. Clinton Francis shares his…