I am continually amazed by the diversity of birds.

As a bird watching tour leader, it's my job to travel the world to find as many bird species as possible.

Even so, I've seen less than half of them.

Thousands more are out there waiting to be admired.

The variety of shapes, colors, behaviors, and ecological roles of birds is mind-boggling.

Just when I think I've seen the most outlandish or beautiful species,

either in the flesh or in the pages of a guidebook,

I come across another one that's even more impressive.

They just keep coming.

Even hearing the names of birds can light up the imagination. Horned screamer, marbled frog

mouth, shining sunbeam, pearly-eyed thrasher, yellow-eared spider hunter, Tibetan snowfinch, rusty

laughing thrush, rock-loving sastikola, blue jewel babbler. Wow. Believe it or not, I don't actually want to see all

the bird species of the world. Sure, I'll keep traveling and leading tours to see new and wonderful

birds, and I'll be happy to see my list of species grow. But I really like the feeling that there

will always be more avian diversity out

there more than I can ever experience in my lifetime.

Hello and welcome. This is the Science of Birds. I'm your host, Ivan Philipson. The Science

of Birds podcast is a down-to-earth discussion

of fascinating topics in the wonderful world of bird biology. This is ornithology for

lifelong learners, bird nerds, and those who are simply bird curious. This episode is all

about the biodiversity of birds. The roadmap of where we're going today is, first we'll talk about when birds first started to diversify on the planet,

then we'll do an overview of their present-day diversity.

...