So you may have heard me announce pretty recently that I started a new side project called BirdMurch.

So I just want to thank everyone who's already gone over to the BirdMurch website and checked it out and who's purchased T-shirts.

Bird merch is my new online store where I sell original bird and birding themed t-shirts. This has been such a

fun creative outlet for me. It turns out combining my love of birds with my obsession for graphic

t-shirts is totally my jam. All the designs are 100% hand-drawn or handcrafted by me. There's no

artificial intelligence, no AI, just a good old-fashioned,

imagination, my iPad, and some digital ink. Some of my shirt designs are nerdy, some are, dare

say, stylish, and some are sort of birder inside jokes. Whether you're into birding slang like that

or something more scientific, there's hopefully

a shirt or two right up your alley. And I'll keep adding more shirt designs whenever I'm not off

running a birding tour. So even if you already checked out the shop, be sure to check in every

so often to see what's new. Better yet, if you join the bird merch email list, you'll get updates whenever

I release a new batch of shirt designs. Bird merch is open to customers in the U.S. only right now,

but hopefully other countries soon. If you haven't already checked it out, head over to birdmerch.com

or just click the link in the show notes. Thank you as always for supporting the show in all of the ways that you do

and for letting me share my bird art with you.

All right, let's get on with the episode.

Hello and welcome. This is the Science of Birds.

I am your host, Ivan Philipson. The Science of Birds podcast is a lighthearted exploration of bird biology for lifelong learners. This is episode number 118. And if it sounds a little different right now, that's because I'm recording this in a hotel room in Sichuan, China.

I'm here leading a birding tour, and it is about day 12 of the tour. Everything is

going really well. We've seen some incredible birds, birds like the monotypic Percivalski's

pink tail, as well as some really great pheasants like the Chinese monol and Tibetan snowcock,

...