Episodes

  • A Flamboyance: American Flamingos
    Jun 17 2026

    A true Pride Parade, an LGBTQIA+ episode, and even the star of our podcast cover art: The iconic American Flamingo! Hannah + Cleo continue their Pride Month celebration by diving into the world of this hot pink bird. Join us as we explore the colorful history and science of American flamingos in this fabulously flamboyant episode.

    Music by fknsyd

    19:30 American flamingos discussion starts

    Sources:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEgACdOetEc&t=457s

    https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/grefla2/cur/introduction?login

    https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Flamingo/overview

    https://ielc.libguides.com/sdzg/factsheets/americanflamingo/characteristics

    https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Phoenicopterus_ruber/

    https://krdo.com/news/2024/08/21/same-sex-flamingo-pair-successfully-hatches-an-egg-together-at-a-uk-zoo/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

    https://nypost.com/2024/08/21/science/same-sex-flamingo-pair-hatch-chick-the-parents-are-doing-a-great-job/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

    https://www.southhams-today.co.uk/news/same-sex-flamingo-couple-successfully-hatch-a-chick-712705?utm_source=chatgpt.com

    https://people.com/same-sex-chilean-flamingo-couple-hatch-and-care-for-chick-8696536?utm_source=chatgpt.com

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/21/science/same-sex-flamingos-hatch-egg

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0376635719303377#:~:text=Bothmale-male and female,irrespective of enclosure size differences).

    https://bi.org/en/resource/bi-and-pretty-in-pink-bisexuality-in-flamingos/

    https://otterlieffe.com/queer-flamingos/

    Documentary: Queer Planet

    https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/why-are-flamingos-pink-and-other-flamingo-facts

    https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-one-mans-pink-plastic-flamingo-landed-lawns

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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • Lesbian Seabirds: The Laysan Albatross
    Jun 10 2026

    They mate for life, they dance for years to get there, and at least thirty percent of them are female-female pairs. Hannah + Cleo celebrate Pride Month with the Laysan albatross! The seabird that quietly dismantled assumptions about pair bonding, raising chicks together, and currently adapting to survive in our inhospitable oceans. Lindsay Young's 2008 discovery at Kaena Point changed the game.

    28:48 Albatross conversation starts

    Music by fknsyd

    Sources

    All About Birds / Cornell Lab of Ornithology — Laysan Albatross

    Discover Wildlife (Lucy Cooke) — "Hawaii's Lesbian Albatrosses"

    National Geographic (Carl Zimmer) — "Same-Sex Mothers: Letting Albatrosses Be Albatrosses" / Young & VanderWerf, Proceedings of the Royal Society, 2013

    Wikipedia — Albatross (metaphor), Laysan Albatross, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

    Audubon Society — field guide, courtship, Wisdom

    U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Midway Atoll NWR, Wisdom updates

    Earth Sky — Wisdom 2025–2026 season

    Oceana — conservation profile

    Taylor Swift — The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology (2024)

    Samuel Taylor Coleridge — The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798)

    Seafood watch “app”

    Ecobricking Info

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    2 hrs and 4 mins
  • BoB IRL: Bird Banding
    Jun 3 2026

    A century of science packed into a single feather. Hannah + Cleo visit a 20-year-old banding station at Chatfield State Park, where four organizations, a lot of whisper nets, and one very informed bird bander are quietly building the data that keeps birds alive. From Hans Christian Mortensen's aluminum rings to hemisphere-spanning genomic maps, it turns out the oldest trick in ornithology is still the backbone of everything.

    26:58 Bird Banding conversation starts

    Sources

    Bird Conservancy of the Rockies — Bird Banding: https://www.birdconservancy.org/what-we-do/education/bird-banding/

    Denver Audubon — Bird Banding: https://www.denveraudubon.org/bird-banding

    Audubon Rockies — Bird Banding Start to Finish: https://www.audubon.org/rockies/news/bird-banding-start-finish

    USGS — Why We Band Birds: https://www.usgs.gov/labs/bird-banding-laboratory/science/why-we-band-birds

    USGS — How to obtain a federal bird banding permit: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-do-i-obtain-a-federal-bird-banding-permit

    Bird Genoscape Project: https://www.birdgenoscape.org

    Bird Genoscape Project - How To Make A Genoscape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NmCI6z9vYM

    Audubon Bird Migration Explorer: https://explorer.audubon.org

    Motus Wildlife Tracking System: https://motus.org

    U.S. Fish & Wildlife — Motus Stations: https://www.fws.gov/story/2023-05/motus-stations

    NA Banding Network — Training resources: https://nabanding.net/passerines/training/

    History of bird banding: https://www.raptorresource.org/2020/06/10/banding-birds-a-brief-history/

    USGS Bird Banding Lab — Banding records: https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBL/Bander_Portal/login/howmany.php

    EURING Databank (Europe): https://euring.org/data-and-codes/euring-databank

    SAFRING (Africa): https://safring.ringing.africa/

    Flight Paths by Rebecca Heisman

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    1 hr and 45 mins
  • She Walks on Water: The Jacana
    May 27 2026

    She walks on water, runs the territory, and leaves dad holding the babies. Hannah + Cleo dive into the Jacana: the Jesus bird of the wetlands who breaks every rule nature supposedly wrote and somehow ended up tied to the oldest conservation treaty in history. And honestly? She's just getting started.


    18:18 Jacana conversation starts

    Sources:

    Wikipedia: Jacanidae
    Wikipedia: Northern Jacana
    Wikipedia: Ramsar Convention
    Wikipedia: Wetland
    Wikipedia: Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
    San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants: Jacana
    https://ebird.org/species/norjac
    Animal Diversity Web: Jacanidae
    A-Z Animals: Jacana
    https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/jacani1/cur/introduction
    https://earthsky.org/earth/jacana-birds-long-toes-walk-on-lily-pads/
    https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-daily/jacana-aka-lily-trotter
    Dimensions.com: Northern Jacana
    https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/lucy-cooke-2/bitch/9781541674912/
    https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-70480-6
    U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service — Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
    UNESCO — Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
    Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust — Why the Ramsar Convention Matters More Than Ever
    Hoosier Environmental Council — The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
    Kayhan Life — Obituary: Eskandar Firouz
    https://www.ramsar.org/
    Colorado Wetland Information Center (CWIC)

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    1 hr and 25 mins
  • Stinky, Clumsy, Claws...? The Hoatzin
    May 20 2026

    The stink bird! Hannah + Cleo finally get out of North America and take on the Hoatzin. The smelly punk rock pheasant of South America that may or may not be a pheasant... Tune in to hear about this and MUCH more.

    20:10 Hoatzin conversation starts

    Sources:

    https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/hoatzi1/cur/introduction

    https://www.ourbreathingplanet.com/hoatzin/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1602607328&gbraid=0AAAAADL0VgAHYIovTdN6qkMJD-vfUiOze&gclid=Cj0KCQjw77bPBhC_ARIsAGAjjV-InO0SQfBrTnO_1vbmGGnlkZuEW_C9f9E8RNPesjLD2jA435JksfwaAqGSEALw_wcB

    https://critter.science/the-unusual-and-stinky-hoatzin/

    https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/common-tern-chicks/#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20stay%20warm,down%20feathers%20natal%20down%20nesting

    https://www.livescience.com/animals/birds/hoatzin-the-strange-stinkbird-born-with-clawed-wings-that-appears-to-be-an-evolutionary-orphan

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HytWfqWYUQ&t=88s

    https://a-z-animals.com/articles/meet-the-hoatzin-the-smelly-bird-with-claws-on-its-wings/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_(anatomy)

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    1 hr and 1 min
  • Heated Rivalry of the Wetlands: Marsh Wren vs Red-Winged Blackbird
    May 13 2026

    Two birds. One marsh. Centuries of hate. Hannah + Cleo break down the red-winged blackbird, the marsh wren, and their extremely heated rivalry while drawing comparisons to Heated Rivalry™️.

    19:30 Heated Rivalry Gets Hot

    Audubon Society. "Red-Winged Blackbird." Audubon Field Guide. audubon.org

    Audubon Society. "10 Fun Facts About the Red-Winged Blackbird." Audubon Magazine. audubon.org

    Audubon Society. "Marsh Wren." Audubon Field Guide. audubon.org

    Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Red-Winged Blackbird." All About Birds. allaboutbirds.org

    Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Marsh Wren." All About Birds. allaboutbirds.org

    Smithsonian's National Zoo. "Red-Winged Blackbird." nationalzoo.si.edu

    Wikipedia contributors. "Red-Winged Blackbird." Wikipedia. wikipedia.org

    Wikipedia contributors. "Marsh Wren." Wikipedia. wikipedia.org

    Picman, J. (1988). "Aggression by red-winged blackbirds towards marsh wrens." Canadian Journal of Zoology, 61(8), 1591–1595. springer.com

    Springer Nature. "Antipredator role of clumped nesting by marsh-nesting red-winged blackbirds." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. springer.com

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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Bill Lishman AKA Father Goose
    May 6 2026

    BoB takes on their first conservationist! Join Hannah + Cleo this week for a semi-unexpected part 2 of Canada Geese and Fly Away Home as they deep dive into the man the movie is based on, the magical and wonderful Bill Lishman.

    20:20 Discussion Bill Lishman Begins

    Remembering artist Bill Lishman, the man who flew with Canadian geese | CBC Radio


    https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/11/harris_lishman.php


    https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bill-lishman


    https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/operation-migration


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bOoDDro3Pw


    https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20231130-the-scientists-flying-with-rare-birds


    https://www.fws.gov/press-release/2025-06/2025-wintering-whooping-crane-count#:~:text=The%20latest%20survey%20results%20from,for%20the%202024%2D2025%20season.


    https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/women-and-education


    https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/canadian-honours/meritorious-service-decorations-civil-division


    https://www.divebombindustries.com/blogs/news/how-fast-can-geese-fly-facts-about-their-speed-and-endurance?srsltid=AfmBOoq4lBv_UdEOg0-yGfNQ8xgbwG7Fghvm_zfrXuimUZZuLBuV_gwt


    https://williamlishmanartist.com/underground-architecture/


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    59 mins
  • Feathered Flick! Fly Away Home: Canada Goose
    Apr 29 2026

    BoB recaps our first Feathered Flick! Join Hannah + Cleo as they talk about the 90's classic Fly Away Home. Where they learn alongside Anna Paquin and Jeff Daniels all about ultralight aircraft flying, family dynamics, Canada(kinda...), and Canada geese.

    10:40 Movie discussion begins

    Sources:
    http://audubon.org/magazine/10-fun-facts-about-canada-goose

    https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/migratory-bird-conservation/managing-conflicts/frequently-asked-questions.html

    https://arctic.noaa.gov/report-card/report-card-2022/arctic-geese-of-north-america/

    https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Canada_Goose/maps-range

    https://gogeesego.com/how-far-geese-winter/

    https://birdfact.com/articles/what-is-a-group-of-geese-called

    https://www.iflscience.com/fact-check-do-geese-have-teeth-heres-what-geese-teeth-really-are-62640

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116329/

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    1 hr and 21 mins