Dumb Stupid Birds is a short daily podcast covering one bird per episode. Real ornithology, wildlife science, and natural history with no filler and no nonsense. Birds are among the most bizarre, resilient, and quietly astonishing animals on the planet, and almost none of what you think you know about them is the full story.
You'll finish every episode looking at the sky differently.
Subscribe now, and if a bird has ever made you feel something, leave a rating.

]]>dumbstupidbirds.replit.appRiverside.fm (https://riverside.com)Fri, 10 Apr 2026 08:28:07 GMTTue, 07 Apr 2026 17:13:07 GMT60f5099cd0-33ae-11f1-a340-eb6b217fc656Christopher Kliebenstein<p>Dumb Stupid Birds is a short daily podcast covering one bird per episode. Real ornithology, wildlife science, and natural history with no filler and no nonsense. Birds are among the most bizarre, resilient, and quietly astonishing animals on the planet, and almost none of what you think you know about them is the full story. <br />You'll finish every episode looking at the sky differently. <br />Subscribe now, and if a bird has ever made you feel something, leave a rating.</p>episodicChristopher Kliebensteinchristopherkliebenstein@gmail.comnoThe ostrich is the largest bird alive, the fastest two-legged animal on Earth, and the only bird whose eyes are literally bigger than its brain. It does not bury its head in the sand. What it actually does is considerably more interesting and considerably more violent.

]]>17d3ad6d-b63a-4832-9337-7895d14db9b8Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:53:13 GMT<p>The ostrich is the largest bird alive, the fastest two-legged animal on Earth, and the only bird whose eyes are literally bigger than its brain. It does not bury its head in the sand. What it actually does is considerably more interesting and considerably more violent.</p>no00:06:06Ostrich | Eyes Bigger Than Its Brain | Dumb Stupid Birds #6fullThe greater sage grouse is the largest grouse in North America, eats almost nothing but a single shrub, and every spring performs a dawn courtship ritual so elaborate it has its own name, its own ancestral venue, and its own sound that no other animal on Earth makes. It has also lost 80% of its population since 1965 and nobody outside the American West knows it exists.

]]>c91ad435-2ed9-4709-a2fb-fbb3f11c6405Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:16:58 GMT<p>The greater sage grouse is the largest grouse in North America, eats almost nothing but a single shrub, and every spring performs a dawn courtship ritual so elaborate it has its own name, its own ancestral venue, and its own sound that no other animal on Earth makes. It has also lost 80% of its population since 1965 and nobody outside the American West knows it exists.</p>no00:07:0915Greater Sage Grouse | The Most Dramatic Bird in America | Dumb Stupid Birds #5fullThe greater roadrunner does not go beep beep, cannot outrun a coyote, and is not fast. What it can do is kill a rattlesnake with coordinated ambush tactics, survive a desert on almost no water, and leave footprints specifically designed - by accident - to confuse evil spirits.

]]>3e6b6695-42af-4aa9-a67f-55e46eea7d92Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:00:20 GMT<p>The greater roadrunner does not go beep beep, cannot outrun a coyote, and is not fast. What it can do is kill a rattlesnake with coordinated ambush tactics, survive a desert on almost no water, and leave footprints specifically designed - by accident - to confuse evil spirits.</p>no00:05:5314Greater Roadrunner | Lied To Your Whole Life | Dumb Stupid Birds #4fullThe peregrine falcon: two hundred miles per hour, thirty-six ounces, extinct east of the Mississippi in 1965, nesting on your office building today. The greatest conservation comeback in the history of American wildlife.

]]>37504973-38d2-4516-9e02-50a6ae66edceTue, 07 Apr 2026 17:22:30 GMT<p>The peregrine falcon: two hundred miles per hour, thirty-six ounces, extinct east of the Mississippi in 1965, nesting on your office building today. The greatest conservation comeback in the history of American wildlife.</p>no00:06:37Peregrine Falcon | The Fastest Thing Alive | Dumb Stupid Birds #3fullThe American woodcock is a round, leaf-colored forest bird with its ears on its face, currently shutting down Bryant Park with a dance that isn't actually a dance.

]]>92f32442-37d2-405d-b688-49517db6fb5fTue, 07 Apr 2026 17:21:58 GMT<p>The American woodcock is a round, leaf-colored forest bird with its ears on its face, currently shutting down Bryant Park with a dance that isn't actually a dance.</p>no00:06:15American Woodcock | The Emperor of Bryant Park | Dumb Stupid Birds #2fullThe mallard is the most successful waterfowl on Earth, ancestor of nearly every domestic duck alive, and the one bird that decided to colonize human civilization from the inside.

]]>53acbbde-a9cb-4a7c-b11f-d15058672a4bTue, 07 Apr 2026 17:20:51 GMT<p>The mallard is the most successful waterfowl on Earth, ancestor of nearly every domestic duck alive, and the one bird that decided to colonize human civilization from the inside.</p>no00:08:2511Mallard Duck | The Bird That Ran the World | Dumb Stupid Birds #1full