Welcome back to the Bird Brief, this is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist. We are starting 2025 off right with stories of a raptor police squad in India, the oldest living bird, and how the Bald Eagle just become the US national bird (what?!).

Before we get started, I wanted to give a shoutout to my preschool son for absolutely rocking the intro on this episode. Thanks man!

Stories:

https://indianexpress.com/article/long-reads/telangana-birds-hunt-rogue-drones-garuda-squad-9749501/

https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/05/us/74-years-old-wisdom-albatross-laid-egg-intl-hnk/index.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/12/26/bald-eagle-extinct-official-bird-history/77231324007/

Bird Sound:

*Black Kite. Marc Anderson, XC585971. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/585971.

*Bonelli's Eagle. Peter Boesman, XC781530. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/781530.

Layan albatross. Alán Palacios, XC730154. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/730154.

Bald eagle. Anthony Gliozzo, XC698517. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/698517.

*I do not know if the Garuda squad contains either Black Kites or Bonelli’s Eagles. Officials purposefully did not release the specific species within their squad. Although the Black Kite and Bonelli’s Eagle do occur in India, my use of their calls are simply for human interest in the story.

Music: The Weeknd from wish by Lundstroem is licensed under a Attribution 4.0 International License. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/lundstroem/songs-i-regard-terrible/the-weeknd-from-wish/

This is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, thanks for listening. If a particular story piqued your interest, be sure to check out the show notes for more details. If you have a story that you would like to spread the awareness of, I would love to highlight it in my podcast. Just let me know in the comments or send a note to thebirdbrief@gmail.com. Please tune in next time for The Bird Brief - your rundown, or should I say featherdown, of the birds we love.