In this special episode of The Science of Birds, host Ivan Phillipsen reflects on the journey of the podcast, shares personal insights, and highlights three favorite bird species.

Enter the world of cormorants and shags, members of the avian family Phalacrocoracidae. These sleek, hook-billed birds are known for their distinctive silhouettes, often seen drying their wings on seaside cliffs or wetland trees.

Dive into the unique anatomy of avian brains, to learn how their specialized structures support complex behaviors. Birds' brains are marvels of nature's engineering, evolved for efficiency and adaptability.

Bluebirds are celebrated cultural icons, and they’ve also become valuable study subjects for scientists in the fields of ornithology and general biology.

In this episode, I answer questions sent by my listeners. So this is another “Ask Me Anything” episode.

There are six spoonbill species in the world, all of which belong to the genus Platalea. The unique beak of spoonbills sets them apart from pretty much all other birds.

What happens to food that a bird swallows? Find out on this journey into the avian alimentary canal.

Get to know one of the world’s best known and most abundant birds— it what looks and sounds like, where it lives, its behavior, its breeding biology, and more.

Bird species from many disparate families have managed to carve out an existence in the world’s driest places.

This episode is all about birds in the family Paridae. These are the chickadees, tits, and titmice—cute little forest-dwelling songbirds known and loved by many people around the world.