Podcast appearances and mentions of tim birkhead

Adventure to Australia's southern island. This episode is about the joy of being a birdwatching tour guide, the fun of pelagics and the wilds of Tasmania.Ramit Singal has been interested in natural history ever since he was a kid. He is passionate about citizen science and enabling people to observe and love nature. Ramit also works as a nature tour guide in Tasmania. This allows him to share his love of birds and animals, as well as the places they live in, with others.Links:* Hobart Meet-up 2025 - weekendbirder.com/meet-ups/hobart-2025* Ramit's website - ramitsingal.com* Ramit's entries on xeno-canto - xeno-canto.org/contributor/FPDBIILGCX* Ramit on Instagram - @ramitsingal* The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird's Egg is a book by Tim Birkhead - nokomis.com.au/product/new-books/birds/perfect-thing-inside-outside-birds-egg/* Birding Pal - birdingpal.orgWeekend Birder online:* Website - weekendbirder.com* Instagram - @weekend.birder* Facebook - @weekend.birder* YouTube - @WeekendBirder Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary: How do Screamers make more Screamers? Join Kiersten to find out about Screamer reproduction.    For my hearing impaired followers, a complete transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean   Show Notes:  Screamers: https://animaldiversity.org Ornithology 3rd Edition by Frank B. Gill The Most Perfect Thing: Inside (and Outside) a Bird's Egg by Tim Birkhead Music written and performed by Katherine Camp   Transcript (Piano music plays) Kiersten - This is Ten Things I Like About…a ten minute, ten episode podcast about unknown or misunderstood wildlife. (Piano music stops) Welcome to Ten Things I Like About… I'm Kiersten, your host, and this is a podcast about misunderstood or unknown creatures in nature. Some we'll find right out side our doors and some are continents away but all are fascinating.  This podcast will focus ten, ten minute episodes on different animals and their amazing characteristics. Please join me on this extraordinary journey, you won't regret it. Welcome to the third episode of Screamers. The third thing I like about Screamers is how they make new Screamers. Let's talk about reproduction. Since this is the first bird we've discussed, I'm going to start off with a very basic introduction to bird egg anatomy and overall bird reproduction. Then we'll look at individual Screamers.  Basic egg anatomy explains how chicks can actually survive inside what looks like a solid capsule. I know I used to wonder how baby birds could live and grow inside a hard shelled egg. What I'm going to walk you through next is a basic egg anatomy lesson. To learn more in depth, I recommend Tim Birkhead's book The Most Perfect Thing. He describes the avian egg masterfully and it is an enjoyable read.  The avian egg consists of three main layers, the hard outer shell, the albumen (egg whites), and the yolk (the yellow center). In a fertilized egg, not the ones we eat for breakfast, the embryo will start off in a pocket in the yolk. As the embryo grows the yolk decreases. There are other layers, capillaries, and veins throughout the the egg connecting the chick to food (the yolk), removing its waste, and exchanging gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide.  The albumen is the chick's water supply and consists of water and proteins. It also acts as a shock absorber protecting the embryo from movement aa well as protecting it from drastic temperature changes. Sounds cozy! Sounds like nature at its most amazing.  The outer shell protects the chick from getting squished when mom and dad incubate, it is permeable to allow exchange of gases. There are teeny-tiny holes that allow oxygen in and carbon dioxide out. That is the key to a chicks survival, a sturdy out protective shell that is flexible enough to let thing in and out. Seriously, bird eggs really are the most perfect thing nature has ever created. Where do bird eggs come from? Well, from inside the female. It begins in the ovary where a ovum waits to be released into the oviduct. As it travels through this structure, it gathers all the layers it needs around the ovum or fertilized embryo to result in a successfully laid egg. There are ‘pitstops' along the journey through the oviduct where the egg gathers each layer, approximately three until the eggs arrives at the cloaca ready to be laid. This process can take as little as 24 hours or up to a week. Birds lay only one egg at a time. They can lay one to several eggs in a clutch and this depends on the species of bird and the resources available to them during breeding season.  Now that we have a very rudimentary understanding of egg production let's take a trip out to the field and find out how Screamers reproduce. Horned Screamers, Anhima cornuta, pair for life or at least for several years. The male gets the female's attention with a variety of courtship behaviors. Now, males will fight each other for the right to court a female and they use the spurs on their wings as weapons. Once the males has won the right to court the female, one courtship behavior consists of head-bobbing. Both partners will participate in this activity. One partner will approach the other and they will both stretch their necks out and bob their heads up and down one to three times. To confirm their pair bond, preening of each other's head and neck feathers will commence and this behavior will continue throughout the year and throughout their relationship.  Before copulation, the male walks around the female with his beak pressed down against his inflated crop. His neck is retracted and his dorsal feathers are standing up. After he circles her, he will bow his head 1 to 3 times in front of the female. If she accepts copulation will occur and take only about ten seconds. Seems like a lot of work for just ten seconds but I applaud him for his courteous behavior.  Horned Screamers breed year round with no clearly defined breeding season that we are aware of at this time. They nest on the ground with both partners helping build the nest. It is typically located in or near marshy vegetation by shallow water. It will be 8 to 10 cm deep and made of reeds and sticks. A female will lay 2 to 8 smooth yellowish-white eggs and both parents will share in the incubation duties. Females will typically sit on the eggs during the day and males at night. Young are precocial and can walk as soon as they hatch. They will follow their parents fro 60 to 75 days learning what to eat and how to navigate the world. Southern Screamers, Chauna torquata, also create long term pair bonds. Males will fight each other for the opportunity to attract mates using their wing spurs like the Horned Screamer. Once pair bonds are created, the partners will duet together solidifying their pair bond. They will continue these duets reaffirming their bond throughout their relationship. Southern Screamers will mate from July to December. They create nests similar to Horned Screamers and both parents share all the parental duties until the chicks are on their own. Chicks are precocial after hatching and are running around following the parents until about 13 weeks.  Northern Screamers, Chauna chavaria, also maintain long lived pair bonds. During the breeding season males will call loudly to proclaim territory and these territories will be protected against other animals all year long. Males and females will duet together to establish their pair bond. They will also preen each other. During courtship displays, Northern Screamers walk side by side with their heads almost touching their backs. They produce low, coarse sounds as they walk.  Copulation occurs on the ground. Nests are similar to the other two species of screamer and is often in shallow water or next to the water. Peak egg laying season is October through November but breeding may happen year round. Females will lay 3 to 5 yellow-white eggs with a granulated shell. Both parents incubate the eggs and watch after the young once they hatch. Northern Screamer chicks are also precocial. They spend a lot of time in the water just after hatching to protect the chicks. The chicks will fledge from the protection of their parents at about 14 to 15 weeks.  Northern Screamers are solitary nesters but will form loose groups outside of breeding season. Screamers have very similar reproductive behaviors with slight differences that make each species unique. I hope you enjoyed this episode because my third favorite thing about Screamers is how they make baby Screamers. If you're enjoying this podcast please recommend me to friends and family and take a moment to give me a rating on whatever platform your listening. It will help me reach more listeners and give the animals I talk about an even better chance at change.  Join me next we for another exciting episode about Screamers.        (Piano Music plays)  This has been an episode of Ten Things I like About with Kiersten and Company. Original music written and performed by Katherine Camp, piano extraordinaire.

The Great Auk: Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife is the subject of Tim Birkhead's new book. This goose-sized seabird became the favoured food of hungry sailors and hunters, and the last two were killed in 1844. But then the bird became an obsession for collectors who vied for the last skins, eggs and skeletons. Victorian hunters, explorers and collectors feature strongly in the story of the Great Auk. The writer Kaliane Bradley places the 19th century polar explorer Commander Graham Gore at the heart of her time-travelling novel, The Ministry of Time. The book is being made into a television series on BBC1 – to be aired later in the Spring. Human activity has had, and continues to have, a big impact on bird populations. While several species have gone extinct, more are classified as threatened. But a joint conservation project between farmers and wildlife organisations is looking at restoring ‘zombie' ponds, in an effort to increase pockets of wildlife. The RSPB's Mark Nowers helps to organise the Lost Ponds Project and is involved in the protection of turtle doves, whose numbers are vulnerable.Producer: Katy Hickman

Staying with the avian theme, the Christmas recommendation of Richard Collins is a book about one of the most impressive and captivating aspects of ornithology. Written by Tim Birkhead, it is the perfect one-stop-shop for everything you have ever wanted to know about avian reproduction.

This week we're traveling back to the 1930s with Amsterdam! Join us as we learn about Smedley Butler, birding, the Harlem Hellfighters, that story about Mussolini running a kid over with a car, and more! Sources: The Press: Vanderbilt Truth (1931) available at https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,930365,00.html Pete Vack, "A Mussolini Alfa Romeo Mystery," available at https://velocetoday.com/a-mussolini-mystery/ Smedley Butler Mussolini 1931, WWII Editorial Cartoon Project, available at https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/ww2/1931-2/ Jonathan M. Katz, Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America's Empire (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2021), 304-334. Dietrich, Christopher R. W., ed. Diplomacy and Capitalism: The Political Economy of U.S. Foreign Relations. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1sjwpfz. Erick Trickey, "One Hundred Years Ago, the Harlem Hellfighters Bravely Led the U.S. Into WWI," Smithsonian Magazine (14 May 2018), https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/one-hundred-years-ago-harlem-hellfighters-bravely-led-us-wwi-180968977/   "Remembering the Harlem Hellfighters," National Museum of African-American History and Culture Stephen Barker, "Amsterdam: 10 Behind the Scenes Facts About the Star-Studded Movie," Screen Rant, available at https://screenrant.com/amsterdam-behind-the-scenes-facts-star-studded-movie/ Amsterdam, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_(2022_film) Christy Lemire review, Rogerebert.com: https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/amsterdam-movie-review-2022 Tim Birkhead, "How Bird-Collecting Evolved into Bird-Watching," Smithsonian Magazine, available at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-bird-collecting-evolved-into-bird-watching-180980506/

Zazie and Kristi are joined by zoologist Dr. Jo Wimpenny to talk about her book, Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables, which is out now in paperback.In this episode of The Pawsitive Post in Conversation, Zazie and Kristi are joined by zoologist and writer Dr. Jo Wimpenny to talk about her book Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables. We talk about the history of Aesop's fables and the role they still play in society today, before moving on to wonder whether there is a grain of truth in them when it comes to animal behaviour.We consider some of the most popular fables. Are crows really as clever as Aesop suggested? Why are wolves always the villain? Do dogs recognize their shadow? And what is the yellow snow test all about?We also talk about the difference between what the fable says on the surface, and what happens when you really dig deep into the question—the ant and the grasshopper is the fable that comes to mind here.In Wimpenny's book, the animals are the characters in their own stories. We talk about writing about animals and the importance of discussing myths.And, of course, we talk about the books we're reading. This episode, we recommend:Bitch: On the Female of the Species by Lucy Cooke.Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman.Surfacing by Kathleen Jamie.Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande.Before and After the Book Deal: A Writer's Guide to Finishing, Publishing, Promoting, and Surviving Your First Book by Courtney Maum. About Dr. Jo Wimpenny:Dr. Jo Wimpenny is a zoologist and writer, with a research background in animal behaviour and the history of science. She studied Zoology at the University of Bristol, and went on to research problem-solving in crows for her DPhil at Oxford University. After postdoctoral research on the history of ornithology at Sheffield, she co-authored the book Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology Since Darwin with Tim Birkhead and Bob Montgomerie, which won the 2015 PROSE award for History of Science, Medicine and Technology. And she's the author of the wonderful book, Aesop's Animals: The Science Behind the Fables, which is out now in paperback.Follow Dr. Jo Wimpenny:Substack: https://jowimpenny.substack.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoWimpenny

Een gaai op het bijenbalkon. Aan het begin van het gesprek wordt natuurjournalist Caspar Janssen even afgeleid door ornithologisch bezoek op zijn balkon. Anthonie spreekt met Caspar over zijn jarenlange ervaring als natuurjournalist voor de Volkskrant. Hoe kijkt hij naar het debat over natuur? Welke rol ziet hij daarin weggelegd voor de journalistiek? Zelf schreef hij talloze verhalen over natuur, landbouw en landschap. Wat drijft Caspar daarbij? En hoe gaat hij te werk? We ontdekken dat Caspar in het landschap van de harde scheidingen de schaarse plekken met zachte overgangen opzoekt. Daar waar de symfonie van een geelgors klinkt of het blauw van een korenbloem schittert is hij graag. En onvermijdelijk komt het gesprek dan op landbouw, de stilstand, verlammende polarisatie en een onmachtige overheid. We bespreken verschillende dilemma's waar natuurjournalisten tegenaan lopen en hoe je daarmee om kunt gaan. En bij welke schrijvers doet Caspar zijn inspiratie op? Caspar tipt ‘De uitvinder van de natuur' van Andrea Wulf, over het avontuurlijke leven van Alexander Von Humboldt. De inspiratiebronnen die Caspar noemt zijn Koos van Zomeren, Konstantin Paustovski, Jonathan Franzen, Dave Goulson en Tim Birkhead. Wil je reageren op deze aflevering? Dat vinden we leuk. Je kunt ons bereiken via onze sociale media, @toekomstnatuur op X en @toekomstvoornatuur op Instagram of door een mailtje te sturen naar toekomstvoornatuur@vlinderstichting.nl.

Tim Birkhead is een Brits ornitholoog die al verschillende interessante boeken schreef over vogels. Zijn laatste worp is 'Vogels en wij', een boek dat gaat over de '12.000 jaar gemeenschappelijke geschiedenis' tussen vogels en de mens. Natuur en historie gecombineerd: dat vonden wij zeer interessant om voor te proeven. We vroegen bioloog Hans Van Dyck om het boek te lezen.

Ornithologist Tim Birkhead talks to Neil about his latest book Birds and Us: A 12,000 Year History, from Cave Art to Conservation. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tim Birkhead describes the wonder of bird song. Tenebrae perform Parry's "My Soul". Kenneth Steven introduces Edwin Muir's poem "The Horses". MUSIC 1. Chester Cathedral Choir - How great thou art. 2. Cambridge Singers - For the beauty of the earth. 3. Commonwealth Song - Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee celebration.

For Easter Day, Private Passions celebrates Spring and the music of birdsong with one of the world's leading experts on birds, Professor Tim Birkhead. An award-winning scientist, author and university lecturer, Tim Birkhead is Emeritus Professor of Zoology at the University of Sheffield, and the author of many books that communicate his life-long passion, including “What it's like to be a bird” and most recently “Birds and Us”, a 12,000-year history of our relationship with birds, from cave art to conservation. His choices include music that Mozart taught to a starling, and the old Catalan “Song of the Birds”, played by Pablo Casals. There will also be the music of birdsong itself, from the Dawn Chorus to the song of the bullfinch, which Tim Birkhead regards as the ultimate songbird. The programme includes the famous 1924 recording of Beatrice Harrison playing her cello to a nightingale with the nightingale answering back. Or so the story goes… Tim Birkhead explores the true story of the recording and considers the enduring impact of Beatrice's duet. Produced by Elizabeth Burke A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 3

Humans have been fascinated with birdlife since the first cave drawings 12,000 years ago. In Birds and Us, Tim Birkhead explores how birds have captured our imaginations and inspired both art and science. He looks back to the mummified ibises of Ancient Egypt and the Victorian obsessions with egg collecting, to today's bustling guillemot colonies on the Faroe Islands and the fight to save endangered species. Around 1820 John James Audubon declared his intention to paint every bird species in North America. The result was the hugely ambitious Birds of America featuring 435 life-size, hand-coloured prints. The National Museum of Scotland is currently exhibiting several of his original unbound prints, and the curator Mark Glancy tells the story of this controversial figure who shot thousands of birds in his pursuit of the perfect pose and specimen, but also had a unique eye for their beauty. Alison Richard has spent five decades investigating one of the most extraordinarily diverse places on earth – Madagascar. She recreates the island of the past with its towering flightless Elephant birds and giant tortoises. Her latest book, The Sloth Lemur's Song captures the magic and mystery of Madagascar today, but also serves as a warning at what could lie ahead for its unique wildlife. Producer: Katy Hickman Image Credit: Detail from a print depicting Carolina Pigeons or Turtle Doves from Birds of America by John James Audubon © National Museums Scotland.jpg

Last time we learned about how birds preform their great feats of migration. This week we learn about the long scientific history and the many experiments ornithologists conducted to discover the truth of how they do. From birds on the moon and sleeping under frozen ponds to satellite tracking, we've come a long way with our science. Join me as we retrace the theories.Also see if you can spot the places that were re-recorded...NOTESBirds on the Moon: https://www.wired.com/2014/10/fantastically-wrong-scientist-thought-birds-migrate-moon/Ain't no air in space: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160419-the-victorians-who-flew-as-high-as-jetsHibernating Swallows: https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n5194/html/11_green.xhtml?referer=&page=15 Common Poorwill: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_poorwillZugunruhe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZugunruhePfeilstorch: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PfeilstorchHans Mortensen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Cornelius_MortensenHerodotus and crocodiles: https://books.google.com.au/books?id=_whgJIh_u9gC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA4&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=falseFor a detailed history on the history of the science around avian hibernation I recommend Tim Birkhead's study The Wisdom of Birds.

"Before there were books there were stories". Salman Rushdie's opening words in his collected Essays from 2003-2020. In one of them he reveals that Alice in Wonderland made such an impression on him as a child that he can still recite Jabberwocky. So Free Thinking brought him together with the literary historian Lucy Powell and with Mark Blacklock, who has studied literature about the fourth dimension, for a conversation about the power of dreams, the place of logic and irrationality and the truth of maths - inspired by the new exhibition about Alice in Wonderland on at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Matthew Sweet hosts the discussion. Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser runs at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London from 22nd May 2021 Salman Rushdie's Essay Collection is called Languages of Truth. You can find him discussing Uncertainty and his novel The Golden House in a previous Free Thinking. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09784ld Lucy Powell is a New Generation Thinker whose research has included looking at birds in fiction. You can find her discussing birds with Helen MacDonald and Professor Tim Birkhead in a Proms Plus discussion https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06fw7db Mark Blacklock is the author of a novel called Hinton which explores the thinking of Charles Hinton about the fourth dimension. You can find him discussing that in a Free Thinking episode called Alternative Realities https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hftd He also shares his knowledge about HG Wells in a programme called Wells' Women https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04b4r1x Late Junction on BBC Radio 3 has been asking people to send in their dreams to the artist Sam Potter. He's created an AI programme dream machine which morphs these into texts which composers have then worked on. If you tune into Late Junction on Friday nights BBC Radio 3 11pm throughout June you can hear the dreamlike results https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tp52 Producer: Luke Mulhall

Spring is upon us and the birds are gettin' busy. And what does that mean? That's right: lots of little baby birds will soon be entering the world. Not all nests are created equal. Some birds lay eggs in giant piles of composting garbage that they continuously turn to keep the eggs at the perfect incubating temperature. Some birds nest in hanging woven nest sacks in massive colonies. Some birds build saliva nests that are considered rare edible delicacies. The same goes for bird eggs, which range not only in color but also in size and shape. Yes, that's right: SHAPE. As in, not a normal round sphere egg. WEIRD!We cover our favorite weird nests and eggs in this week's episode. Thanks for listening!USEFUL RESOURCESFrom now until June 14, all Bird Shi*t Podcast shirt proceeds will go to Black Lives Matter. Get your shirt here. Sarah is a big fan of Tim Birkhead’s book, “Bird Sense”BIRDS WE MENTION (in order)Herring GullWhite TernHamerkopBarn OwlWhite-nest SwiftletEuropean Bee-eaterCommon TailorbirdMalleefowlMontezuma OropendolaHouse SparrowNorthern FlickerCommon MurreHoopoeAmerican RobinKiwiCommon OstrichCassowarySupport the show (https://www.bonfire.com/talk-birdy-to-me-bird-shit-podcast/)

Tim Birkhead is the author of Wisdom of Birds. A professor at the University of Sheffield where he teaches animal behaviour and the history of science. He believes we can learn a lot from birds. Fortunately for us, he migrated west and shared his stories.He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and his research has taken him all over the world in the quest to understand the lives of birds.—Recorded live at the global event in Cardigan, west Wales in 2009.Watch Tim's full talk here: www.thedolectures.com/talks/tim-birkhead-the-wisdom-of-birds

PROGRAMA 47 - La Radio del Somormujo - Una vida entre los buitres. Nos hemos ido hasta Santa Cilia de Panzano, en la Sierra de Guara (Huesca) para hablar con Manuel Aguilera, del Fondo de Amigos del Buitre. Manuel conoce a los buitres como nadie, incluso a algunos les llama por su nombre, cuando se acercan a comer. - El Proyecto de Conservación del Aguilucho Cenizo en La Janda, con Miguel González. - "Los Sentidos de las Aves" de Tim Birkhead. Hablamos con Blanca Cambronero, editora de Capitán Swing, sobre esta novedad editorial.

Those Clever Creatures Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined on stage by comedian and author Danny Wallace, ornithologist Professor Tim Birkhead and marine biologist Helen Scales to look at animal intelligence. We have all heard about clever chimps that can count, and about how we can compare the intelligence of humans and the great apes - but have we underestimated many of the other animal species? It would seem so, with remarkable examples of cunning, smart behaviour from animals as diverse as birds, octopuses and even fish. So how do you test a guppies IQ and can a crow really outsmart a gorilla, or even a human...prepare to be amazed. Producer Alexandra Feachem

Lucy Cooke sets out to discover why honesty is almost certainly not the best policy, be you chicken, chimp or human being. It turns out that underhand behaviour is rife throughout the animal kingdom, and can be a winning evolutionary strategy. From sneaky squid, to cheating cuckoos, some species will resort to truly incredible levels of deception and deviousness to win that mate, or get more food. And when it comes to social animals like we humans, it turns out that lying, or at least those little white lies, may be the social glue that binds us all together. Lucy heads to the RSPB cliffs at Bempton, with Professor Tim Birkhead to discover why so many bird species appear to be such proficient deceivers, as well as visiting the very crafty ravens at The Tower of London. She speaks to psychologist Richard Wiseman about how to spot when someone is lying, and finds out whether she is any good at it. In fact, can we trust any of what she says in this documentary at all? Presenter Lucy Cooke Producer Alexandra Feachem Main image: Raven Credit: Dr Paul F Donald

Lucy Cooke sets out to discover why honesty is almost certainly not the best policy, be you chicken, chimp or human being. It turns out that underhand behaviour is rife throughout the animal kingdom, and can be a winning evolutionary strategy. From sneaky squid, to cheating cuckoos, some species will resort to truly incredible levels of deception and deviousness to win that mate, or get more food. And when it comes to social animals like we humans, it turns out that lying, or at least those little white lies, may be the social glue that binds us all together. Lucy heads to the RSPB cliffs at Bempton, with Professor Tim Birkhead to discover why so many bird species appear to be such proficient deceivers, as well as visiting the very crafty ravens at The Tower of London. She speaks to psychologist Richard Wiseman about how to spot when someone is lying, and finds out whether she is any good at it. In fact, can we trust any of what she says in this documentary at all? Presenter Lucy Cooke Producer Alexandra Feachem

Professor Tim Birkhead is ornitholoog. In dit boeiend interview heeft hij het o.a. over Goudvinken, Zeekoeten, de klimaatverandering, biodiversiteit en zijn nieuwe boek.

The last banana you probably ate was a type called Cavendish. But this, our last commercially viable variety is under severe threat, as the fungus, called Tropical Race 4, is laying waste to swathes of Cavendish banana plants across China, Asia and Australia. Recently, scientists & horticulturalists gathered in Istanbul to discuss the best ways to fight the threat. Professor James Dale from the Institute of Future Environments at the University of Queensland has been conducting successful field trials in previously infected areas with impressive results. Could gene editing provide the solution? The extraordinary shape of the guillemot egg is one of ornithology’s great mysteries. This seabird lays something twice the size of a hen’s egg, which looks a bit like an obelisk, blue, speckled and weirdly elongated at one end, with almost flat sides. There have been a handful of theories to explain why it’s evolved. Professor of behaviour and evolution Tim Birkhead, at the University of Sheffield shows in his new research that the answer lies in allowing the birds to successfully breed on the steep slopes of cliff ledges. Marnie Chesterton meets the next in Inside Science’s series of writers shortlisted for the very prestigious Royal Society’s Book Prize : Lucy Cooke, zoologist, author and broadcaster discusses The Unexpected Truth About Animals which flies the flag for some of the lessons learnt from mistakes made in understanding animal behaviour. Could the Tambora volcanic eruption in April 1815 be responsible for Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo? A rain-soaked battlefield in June 1815, stopped Napoleon deploying his military might although many have questioned how a volcano could have such an effect on the weather so soon. How was it to blame for a Belgian rainstorm just several weeks after the end of the eruption? Dr Matt Genge from Imperial College, in a new paper out this week, says the answer lies in the phenomenon known as electrostatic levitation. Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Adrian Washbourne

Helen Macdonald, author of H Is For Hawk and Tim Birkhead, Professor of Behaviour and Evolution at the University of Sheffield and author of Bird Sense, share their experiences of observing birds closely and their pick of writing inspired by real and fictional birds. Professor Birkhead's recent research has been into the adaptive significance of egg shape in birds and Helen Macdonald won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book Award for her writing about the year she spent training a goshawk. Presenter: Lucy PowellProducer: Jacqueline Smith

The Secret Life of Birds Brian Cox and Robin Ince are joined by guests including Katy Brand, Steve Backshall and Professor Tim Birkhead to uncover the secret life of birds. They'll be looking at some of the extraordinary and cunning behaviour exhibited by many species of birds, both male and female, in an effort to attract a mate. They also get a special visit from Brann the Raven, who takes to the stage to demonstrate just how intelligent some species of birds can be. Producer: Alexandra Feachem.

Professor Tim Birkhead talks to Jim Al Khalili about his 40 years of research on promiscuity in birds, his love of Skomer Island and its guillemots, and the extraordinary musical talent of the male bullfinch. Tim Birkhead is an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist at the University of Sheffield. The primary focus of his research has been reproduction in birds. He pioneered the study of promiscuity or extra-pair mating in birds, and one of its evolutionary consequences - sperm competition. In the early 1970s Tim questioned and then exploded the assumption that female birds were always sexually monogamous - a zoological dogma originating with Charles Darwin. Tim first explored this in the guillemot colony on Skomer Island in Wales: a population of seabirds which he has studied continuously for more than 40 years in the cause of both evolutionary insights and conservation. Tim talks with passion about an ongoing funding crisis that hit this research programme recently and how the public response to it has been the most inspiring event in his career. A side branch of Tim's research includes the jaw-dropping musical mimicry of the male bullfinch. The programme includes a recording of a captive bird whistling a German folk tune with super-human skill. ADVISORY! There is a longer version of the conversation in the podcast of this edition. In this edit, Tim talks about the truly weird false penis of the male red-billed buffalo weaver: an extreme evolutionary product of sperm competition in this species and what amounts to an avian tickling stick. Tim also addresses the controversial topic of sperm competition in humans and the myth of 'kamikaze sperm'. Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker.

Professor Tim Birkhead of Sheffield University presents five stories of seabirds from his time spent leading a study of the guillemot population on the island of Skomer for more than 40 years. Guillemots crowd the cliff-sides in dense populations, which offers some protection from predators but it can stay be a dangerous place to rear young. Tim tells the story of the guillemot chicks attacked by greater black backed gulls, he also describes the ferocious ravorbill, remembers an intelligent ambush by ravens, the dull social lives of puffins and ends with a story that shows the incredible eyesight and recognition of the guillemot. This week's stories are introduced by natural history radio maker Andrew Dawes.

Seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead recalls the moment while on Skomer which changed his view on the old thought that the guillemot was a foolish bird for Tweet of the Day. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: George Hart.

Large numbers of visitors come to Skomer just to see puffins, however for seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead puffins are boring dull birds, in this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Sam Linton.

British zoologist Professor Tim Birkhead talks about the intelligence of egg stealing ravens while he is working on guillemot research on Skomer for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tom Bonnett.

British zoologist Professor Tim Birkhead recounts the sharp bill of the well named razorbill while going about his scientific work for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tom Bonnett.

In the first of a week of Tweet of the Day's by British zoologist professor Tim Birkhead, he recalls a guillemot chicks first, and ultimately last flight on Skomer. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Harry McBride.

Tim Birkhead and Phyllis Lee explore long-lived animal species and their survival strategies. If the modern world is obsessed with short term success, could animals offer a better understanding of the long term state of our planet? Want to sample the health of our oceans? Ask a migratory bird. Or the advantage of becoming a mother later in life? Ask an elephant. Free Thinking presenter Rana Mitter hears how their lives have shaped the minds and emotions of the field scientists who study them over decades. Professor Tim Birkhead is 45 years into his study of the guillemots of Skomer Island. He began his academic career at Newcastle University. A Fellow of the Royal Society he is now based at Sheffield University and specialises in researching the behaviour of birds. His books include Bird Sense: What it is like to Be a Bird and The Most Perfect Thing: the Inside (and Outside) of a Bird's Egg. Professor Phyllis Lee has worked for 35 years on the world's longest-running elephant study in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. An award-winning evolutionary psychologist, she is now based at the University of Stirling, and continues to work on a number of research projects on forest and Asian elephants as well as primates from around the world. She has published widely on this, on conservation attitudes as well as on human-wildlife interactions. Recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in front of an audience at Sage Gateshead. Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Sounds of the Birds is a unique, immersive and multi-sensory experience. Spellbinding animations from Sheffield-based design team Human are combined with Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux - an ambitious suite of music that reproduces the songs of different birds. Hear from Professor Tim Birkhead and Stewart Campbell as they tell the behind the scenes story of this adventure through nature, music and imagination. (Music Credit: TwilightGrandeur by Podington Bear CC BY-NC-3.0).

In the last talk of the evening, Professor Tim Birkhead speaks about the first wildlife radio broadcast of Beatrice Harrison and the Nightingale.

In the first talk of the evening, Professor Tim Birkhead speaks on how birds acquire songs.

In this talk, Professor Tim Birkhead explains the origins of ornithology.

In the 3rd talk of the evening, Professor Tim Birkhead speaks on the Guillemot bird and its fate in the wild.

Ford has just announced that by 2021 it's going to have a driverless car on the road with no steering wheel. It sounds ambitious, since it is the intermediate stop on the road to full autonomy that's raising some of the big research questions at the moment. How can drivers enjoy the reduced workload of automation whilst still being alert enough to take control if something goes wrong? For a drive of the future, Gareth Mitchell went to Southampton University's simulator facility for automated vehicles to meet Professor of Human Factors in Transport, Neville Stanton. Neonicotinoid pesticides have been used widely in protecting the UK's vast acreage of oil seed rape. Research out this week claims there is a link between 'neonics' as they're known, and waning numbers of bees - with the worst affected populations declining by a third. The study has grabbed the headlines because of its scope - 18 years' worth of observations in the countryside. But how much is the link a cause for concern? Researchers Ben Woodcock and Nick Isaac of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology discuss the results. Nestled in the Vale of Pewsey, Marden Henge is an artificial mound considered by archaeologists to be one of the best of the area's neolithic monuments. It represents the missing link between the stone circles at Stone Henge and Avebury. Teams from Reading, Historic England, and other volunteers, have been digging there this summer. Roland Pease has been along to meet them. And we've the next nomination in this year's Royal Society Science Book prize shortlist: Tim Birkhead's new book, The Most Perfect Thing, all about bird eggs. It covers how they are made, why they are the shape they are, where their patterns come from and much more. Producer Adrian Washbourne.

What should we be looking for when searching for life on other planets beyond our solar system? Scientists urgently need to come to a consensus on this as a new suite of telescopes soon begins detecting. The space agency NASA has put together a virtual institute called The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, and they've just met to work out how we should be looking for bio signatures - on the burgeoning catalogue of worlds beyond the Solar System. Adam Rutherford hears from Sarah Rugheimer, an astrobiologist from the University of St Andrews, on why the world's astrobiologists have decided to lay down the law. The Royal Society Insight Investment Book Prize celebrates some of the best science published each year. Today the judges announced their shortlist: The Cure by Jo Marchant; The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee; The Hunt for Vulcan by Thomas Levenson; The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf; The Most Perfect Thing by Tim Birkhead; The Planet Remade by Oliver Morton. We're talking to all the authors over the next 6 weeks before the winner is announced on the 19th of September. The first is Oliver Morton's The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World. Bee hives have evolved to have a complex, fascinating social hierarchy, and although we know about Royal Jelly and pheromones, how exactly does the queen bee control the fertility of the rest of the hive? A team of New Zealand geneticists, Peter Dearden and Elizabeth Duncan, has finally worked it out. This Saturday's evening BBC Prom is set in space. The National Youth Orchestra performs The Planets by Holst, and Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. But the concert begins with a piece inspired by this year's detection of Gravitational Waves by LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Gravitational Waves composer Iris Ter Schiphorst discusses how she went galactic. Producer: Adrian Washbourne.

Presented by Aasmah Mir and Suzy Klein. Dexter Fletcher's big break came as a child actor when he was cast a BabyFace in Bugsby Malone. He talks about his acting career, move into directing and the technical challenges of making his latest film Eddie the Eagle. Shazia Mirza is an award winning stand-up comedian, a writer and columnist. Brought up in a strict Muslim household, she trained as a science teacher, while honing her stand-up act in secret. Toby Little and his mother Sabine talk about his mission to write a letter to every country in the world. JP Devlin meets Saturday Live listener Ann Ward, to hear how a letter about the great-great grandfather inspired her to volunteer for the lambing season in his home village. Tim Birkhead describes why a bird's egg is the most perfect thing. And businessman Theo Paphitis shares his Inheritance Tracks: Nobody Does it Better, sung by Carly Simon; and Over the Rainbow, performed by Eva Cassidy. Eddie the Eagle is out on 1 April. Shazia Mirza is on tour with her show The Kardsahians Made Me Do It. Dear World, How Are You? by Toby Little is out now. The Most Perfect Thing, by Tim Birkhead is published on 7 April. Producer: Louise Corley Editor: Karen Dalziel.

Professor Tim Birkhead explores sexual selection in the animal world. Tim Birkhead is Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Sheffield. An award-winning teacher and author, Tim has inspired generations of research scientists and wildlife experts.

What do elephants, snapping turtles and guillemots have in common? They are all examples of 'long-lived' animals with some species living longer than the careers of the scientists who study them. In this episode of Shared Planet Monty Don talks to Tim Birkhead and Phyllis Lee, both scientists who have studied the behaviour of long-lived species and both argue that you discover insights into long-lived animals can will help their conservation and our ability to share the planet with them. Presented by Monty Don. Produced by Mary Colwell.

Skomer Island lies off the south east coast of Wales and is home to thousands of seabird. In the early decades of the 20th Century there were 100,000 guillemots on Skomer, but numbers plummeted to just 2000 after the second world war, probably due to oil pollution in the sea. Now numbers are slowly recovering with the current estimated to be around 25,000; but the increase in storms may be a problem for them in the future. Professor Tim Birkhead from Sheffield University has led a 42 year study of the birds and reveals some of their secrets. Produced and presented by Mary Colwell.

In this introductory video, Professor Tim Birkhead provides an outline of the study of animal behaviour, with specific reference to Niko Tinbergen's s "four questions", by which animal behaviour is analysed. These are in terms of two "proximate" questions - how behaviour develops in an individual's life and the conditions that cause the behaviour to be exhibited, and two "ultimate" questions - how certain behaviours evolve in a species, and understanding their adaptive significance. Broad methodologies for researching these four questions are presented. The video, which is aimed primarily at students of course APS126 at The University of Sheffield, will be of benefit to students of animal behaviour on other degree courses or at A level, as well as of broader interest.

Anne McElvoy looks at the relationship between France and its former colonies, talking to David Bellos about his translation of a classic novel depicting the Algerian War, and to Andrew Hussey, whose new book is about "the Long War Between France and Its Arabs" and to Dr Karima Laachir from SOAS at the University of London. Professor Tim Birkhead talks to Anne about his new book and research into bird mating systems. And Charlotte Higgins discusses her new book and the lessons we can learn from the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus, who died in AD 14.

Professor Tim Birkhead provides a summary of lecture 1, looking at the work of the pioneering scholars of animal behaviour. In particular he summarises Tinbergen's "four questions" in studying animal behaviour.

In October's BEEPcast Tim Birkhead tells me what ignited his interest in ornithology and sexual selection. I explore why male barn swallows don't act their age when courting females. In the third of my interviews from the Behavior 2013 conference, I speak to Tom Smulders of Newcastle University who explains what Coal tits do with unpalatable seeds. Download the MP3Barn swallows coutesy of Jim Benson http://www.flickr.com/photos/j_benson/Quicklinks: Tom Smulder's webpageMasaru Hasegawa's paperTim Birkhead's webpage

Ep 16 of 24: This week Brett Westwood looks at the increasing alliance between the arts and conservation. We hear from two artists, one a painter and one a photographer who are using their talents to help raise awareness about highly endangered species. Professor Tim Birkhead tells Brett about a growing movement - New Networks for Nature - which brings many different artists and scientists together to inspire each other. Sarah Pitt brings a report on wildlife gardening, with suggestions for wildlife friendly Christmas presents. Also in the programme - News from around the world with our regular news reporter, Kelvin Boot. And we'll update you on the activities of the Open University's iSpot. Presenter: Brett Westwood Producer: Mary Colwell Editor: Julian Hector