Welcome back to the Bird Brief, this is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist. Today let’s dive into what’s driving bird strikes at airports, hummingbirds and their psychic torpor, and black vultures creating literal doomsday for high schoolers.

Again I want to give a shout out to my preschool son for asking the hard questions on this episode – Thanks man!

Stories:

https://www.noaa.gov/news/2024-was-nations-warmest-year-on-record#:~:text=by%20the%20numbers-,2024,NOAA's%20130%2Dyear%20climate%20record.

https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-science/2024/12/30/LSH6MUFMCRF7ZI5UBLUVQQ3MPQ/

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-hummingbird-torpor-day-survival-uncertain.html

https://www.fauquier.com/news/vulture-problem-fauquier-high-might-try-effigies/article_dca0467a-d3bb-11ef-8217-1f9b73406415.html

Bird Sound:

*Tundra Bean Goose. Grzegorz Lorek, XC819951. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/819951

Black Vulture. Call, grunt, wing noise. Brice de la Croix, XC495189. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/495189.

Black Vulture. Call. Paul Marvin, XC451477. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/451477

Calliope Hummingbird. Bruce Lagerquist, XC764433. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/764433.

Rufous Hummingbird. Ian Cruickshank, XC183578. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/183578.

*Occurs in the immediate vicinity of Muan International Airport. News reports do not include the species involved in the aircraft strike.

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.