Hello, friends, and welcome to episode 171 of Just the Zoo of Us. This week I'm talking to a science communicator, birder, and self-proclaimed professional nerd about a little bird with the loftiest ambitions. We talk about competitive birding, planetariums, and what it's like to eat, sleep, and bathe entirely mid-air.

Just the Zoo of Us presents Chimney Swifts with Ralph Crew.

Music I'm. I'm here with Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast. And this week, I'm very excited to speak with a brand new friend. This is Ralph Cruz. Say hi Ralph. Hi, Ralph. Oh, geez. I'm sorry. I feel, am I? That's not good. I feel betrayed. Yeah, no. You come onto my podcast. You speak to me in this manner. Yes, I'm sorry. Yes, hello. I'm Ralph. Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. Ralph, what are your pronouns real quick? Him, he, yes. Thank you so much. Yes, you're welcome. Today we're talking about a fascinating, peculiar little bird that I, you, listening, we've all probably seen and just didn't necessarily notice, but we should

because there's a lot of really interesting stuff going on with them. But before we get into

this cool bird, I'd love to get to know you a little bit. Ralph, can you let our friends

listening know what got you into birds? Oh, well, that's a great question. So I am, I often just characterize myself as a professional nerd.

I have a day job at a software company, but I spent about 10 years working at a science center,

among other things, helped around a planetarium there.

I'm also a competitive bird watcher.

And this is interesting to me because this does not at all strike me as an activity that can be

competitiveized.

Oh, it is deeply competitive.

I'm not that good at it, but I'm getting there.

I got into it.

Years ago, I was a student.

I was a biology student at the University of Pittsburgh, which is where I live.

And I did some field work actually studying herpetology, so reptiles and amphibians.

Not a terribly far cry away from birds. No. And actually, really, birds are reptiles when you think

about it. Derived reptiles. Yeah, that's right. Reptiles are only a clade if you include the birds.

But yeah, so I got really into

this sort of idea of going around in the wilderness, in my area, and identifying all these things.

I could identify all the amphibians and reptiles of the state, which was really exciting.

...