Hey there, friends, and welcome to episode 292 of Just the Zoo of Us. This week, I'm joined by an acclaimed

naturalist from the field of scientific research to round up his top three weirdest birds. We are

going to discuss what makes a bird truly weird, the distinct silhouette of a style icon, never

letting a perfectly good placenta go to waste, birds getting tipsy

on fermented berries, and so much more. I'm not going to spoil too much right now, but more than

once this episode, you get to hear me find out about the existence of entire families of birds

in real time. Just the Zoo of Us presents Ivan Philipson's three weirdest birds. Hey there, everybody. This is Ellen Weatherford. And welcome to Just the Zoo of Us, your favorite animal review podcast, where we rate your favorite animals out of 10. This week, I am joined by a friend who is familiar to the podcast. If you've listened for a long time or if you listen to a lot of other

podcasts about animals, not an unfamiliar voice. This is Ivan Philipson. Hi, how's it going?

Ivan, what are your pronouns real quick? He him. Thank you so much. And you have been on our

podcast before. It was quite a few years ago. You came to talk about the joy of loons, which was really, really fun. For people

who maybe are new to your voice, could you let our friends listen know, what got you into the

work you do with birds? Sure, thanks, Ellen. Yeah, it was really fun to be on the podcast the last time.

So I have a background in biology. I went to grad school for a bunch of years, getting a master's and a PhD, ironically not

studying birds, studying other cool critters like frogs.

And I kind of fell into the world of being a birding guide.

I started off as being a naturalist guide. I left academia, bought a van,

started leading local tours around Portland, Oregon where I live. Portland activities, typical,

typical, typical, average Portland behavior. Yep, totally. Just buy a van, you know, go do stuff,

go look at nature. So, you know, yeah, I got around talking about everything from birds to

plants to geology. And the birds were just always so compelling and so exciting. And one thing

led to another, and I eventually started leading multi-day trips for my local Audubon group,

which is now the Bird Alliance of Oregon. And then I started a business doing just

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