04-12: City Pigeons and Urban Evolution with Elizabeth Carlen

The American Birding Podcast

naswick

Science, Birding, Hobbies, Travel, Birdwatching, Leisure, Aba, Ornithology, Nature, Birds

4.7 • 632 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2020

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

More than ever, birders are turning their attention to the birds immediately outside their front door, and for millions of North Americans there is scarcely a more ubiquitous bird than the feral Rock Pigeon. But that humble Rock Pigeon can provide some interesting insights into how natural selection is impacted by the urban environment. In fact, that is the work of Elizabeth Carlen, a PhD candidate at Fordham University in New York City and the lead author of a recent article in Evolutionary Applications that looks at genetic connectivity of Rock Pigeons populations in various cities in the Northeast United States. She joins host Nate Swick to talk about the unique issues with studying urban Rock Pigeons.

Also, Nate sings the praises of his Fantasy Birding yard squad, and talks about the birding that has kept him sane in a COVID-19 world.

ABA members are eligible for a 15% discount to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Birds of the World subscription. Log into your ABA account to get the code.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think we all know the pedigree of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology when it comes to bird
0:04.1	resources. And we at the ABA are excited to partner with the Cornell Lab of O to offer an
0:08.9	amazing deal exclusive to ABA members. ABA members can now get a 15% discount to any new
0:14.4	subscription to Cornell's amazing new Birds of the World resource that is applicable for three
0:19.5	years. Birds of the World is a powerful resource that brings deep scholarly content from four celebrated
0:25.1	works of Ornithology into a single platform where birders can answer all their life history
0:29.6	questions for every species of bird they could want.
0:32.1	It is extraordinary.
0:33.2	You can get more information at birdsof the world.org.
0:41.1	Hello. You can get more information at birds of the world.org. Hello and welcome to the American Birding podcast from the American Birding Association.
0:45.9	I am your host, Nate Swick, and I am extremely sorry to report that the birding, at least in my part of the world, is starting to slow
0:56.4	down. I had my first walk the other day in which I had zero migrants, all local breeders. To be
1:06.1	honest, that realization was a little sad, as it always is, but I know that those of you to the north are still
1:12.9	seeing some birds moving through, know that I am jealous, but the bell, the bell tolls for
1:18.8	thee as well, folks. Now we get to see whether this birding thing, this pandemic-induced
1:24.4	extreme hobbying, is for real. Once the Gross Weeks and Orioles have moved on,
1:29.9	will we still see New York Times editors clamoring for 700-word essays about the eight tools you
1:36.2	need for backyard birding? Once all we have left are bald cardinals. Will we still see
1:42.8	the features on CBS this morning about backyard birding?
1:46.5	This is the real test for what it's worth.
1:50.3	Both of those things, both of those news items, those media attention, those are very exciting.
1:55.3	CBS even made the recent 3 billion birds lost news part of the feature that they did and truly you know the more
	...

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