I don't know if there's been anything on BF about this, but apparently not. It's an episode of Radio 4's The Life Scientific. The BBC blurb: "Professor Tim Birkhead talks to Jim Al Khalili about his 40 years of research on promiscuity in birds, his love of Skomer Island and its guillemots, and the extraordinary musical talent of the male bullfinch.
Tim Birkhead is an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist at the University of Sheffield. The primary focus of his research has been reproduction in birds. He pioneered the study of promiscuity or extra-pair mating in birds, and one of its evolutionary consequences - sperm competition".
The podcast is available (in the UK at least) here.
I haven't listened to all of it properly yet, despite it being only 30 mins, but it caused rather a stir among radio listeners, not just birders. This was because of a remarkable Bullfinch vocalisation. I attach a short extract which IMO is well worth a listen (hopefully there won't be copyright issues). Edit: sorry, the mp3 attachment isn't showing up. Go to about 18 mins [oops, that was in the original broadcast, in the podcast go to 30 mins] for the Bullfinch bit.
Tim Birkhead is an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist at the University of Sheffield. The primary focus of his research has been reproduction in birds. He pioneered the study of promiscuity or extra-pair mating in birds, and one of its evolutionary consequences - sperm competition".
The podcast is available (in the UK at least) here.
I haven't listened to all of it properly yet, despite it being only 30 mins, but it caused rather a stir among radio listeners, not just birders. This was because of a remarkable Bullfinch vocalisation. I attach a short extract which IMO is well worth a listen (hopefully there won't be copyright issues). Edit: sorry, the mp3 attachment isn't showing up. Go to about 18 mins [oops, that was in the original broadcast, in the podcast go to 30 mins] for the Bullfinch bit.
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