{"podcast":{"title":"Okay, But... Birds","slug":"okay-but-birds-7584311","podcast_index_feed_id":7584311,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/okaybutbirds/","website_url":"https://okaybutbirds.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/82139d43-3207-4d7f-937c-632349305d2e/OBB-Artwork-2026.png","author":"Dr. Scott Taylor","episode_count":30,"summary":"Hosted by evolutionary biologist Dr. Scott Taylor, Okay, But... Birds explores the drama, brilliance, and science behind bird life. Each snackable 30-minute episode blends smart storytelling, expert interviews, and a touch of humor to reveal how birds shape our world . No jargon. No binoculars required. Just real science, quirky insights, and bird-brained drama you’ll want to share at brunch. Because birds aren’t background. Birds are cool.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-02T22:17:10.381387+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311"},"episode":{"title":"Okay, but can a bird really cooperate with humans?","slug":"okay-but-can-a-bird-really-cooperate-with-humans-2","published_at":"2026-05-21T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311/okay-but-can-a-bird-really-cooperate-with-humans-2","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311","url":"https://okaybutbirds.com","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/70da36cc-121e-4ae8-9cea-b07e0fbf8395.mp3","summary":"E23. Across sub-Saharan Africa, wild birds and people work together to find honey. No taming, no breeding, no domestication… just a partnership thousands of years in the making. Behavioral ecologist Dr. Jessica van der Wal, FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, joins Scott to unpack what's actually happening when a honey hunter calls and a greater honeyguide answers. In this episode you'll hear about: What each side gets out of one of the only known mutualisms between humans and a wild animal, and why this bird in particular evolved to seek us out The remarkable signal the honeyguide uses to communicate with people, and what playback experiments revealed when researchers tested it across very different communities What happens to a partnership built over generations when one side starts buying honey at the store All audio, video, and images in this episode are either original to Okay, But... Birds (© Okay Media, LLC) or used under license/permission from the respective rights holders. Bird media from the Macaulay Library is used courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as follows: Greater Honeyguide audio contributed by Jennifer F. M. Horne, ML55972 Additional media courtesy of Dr. Claire Spottiswoode and Dr. Jessica van der Wal","meta_description":"E23. Across sub-Saharan Africa, wild birds and people work together to find honey. No taming, no breeding, no domestication… just a partnership thousands…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1981,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/okay-but-birds-7584311/episodes/okay-but-can-a-bird-really-cooperate-with-humans-2/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/okay-but-birds-7584311/okay-but-can-a-bird-really-cooperate-with-humans-2.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}