Bird Sense

Who hasn’t watched a bird soaring on high, swooping through the sky, and wondered what it would feel like to fly on feathered wings? In his book Bird Sense, the behavioral ecologist Tim Birkhead takes an inside look at the life of birds. He details the extraordinary senses, emotions and abilities of robins, finches, ducks, chickens and other avian friends. Birkhead joins Doug on Thursday to examine what it’s like to be a bird and what it's like to share a planet with such utterly different and yet recognizably similar creatures.

Guest

Tim Birkhead is a professor of behavior and evolution at the University of Sheffield. He has written for New Scientist, BBC Wildlife, Natural History magazine and The Independent (UK) and the Times Higher Education. His books include The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology and Bird Sense: What It's Like to Be a Bird.

Music

• Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines, "Weather Bird"
• Oasis, "Songbird"
• Stevie Ray Vaugh and Double Trouble, "Little Wing"