Rockin' Robin: The Movement and Song of Birds

presented by taste of science festival 2021!

Birds are beloved worldwide. Humans have long been fascinated by these creatures of skies and song, and that curiosity benefits from powerful modern technologies.

Join us to hear from two speakers who study what birds can teach us about evolution and learning. Jacob Edwards records neurons in the brains of birds to investigate how individuals come to find their own songs. Dr. Julia Zichello studies the population dynamics of starlings to reveal the unique history of this incredibly successful species. You'll leave seeing your wild, feathered neighbors in a whole new light!

Dr. Julia Zichello - The Evolution of Starlings in North America: from New York City and beyond
European Starlings are medium-sized passerine birds that were introduced to New York City from England in 1890. Since then, they have rapidly expanded to cover almost all of North America. Starlings are highly adaptable, curious birds with an extensive vocal repertoire that fly in large picturesque flocks called murmurations. In this talk, Julia Zichello will discuss their invasion and evolution over the last 130 years - and their day-to-day lives in New York City today.

Jacob Edwards - Landscapes of learning: what birds hear and what they sing
For songbirds, singing is a complex skill that requires time, practice, and a keen ear. But with so many diverse songs out in nature, how do you ensure you learn the right one? We’ll discuss prior and ongoing work from the lab linking the sense of hearing in the brain to early-life experience and song production in adulthood, and we’ll ponder the forces that set boundaries on what is possible to learn at all.

Our speakers include:

Jacob Edwards
(he/him/his)

Landscapes of learning: what birds hear and what they sing

Jacob is most fascinated by how the tiny bundles of water, fat, and electricity inside each of our heads (i.e. neurons) unite to produce a thinking, feeling, and expressive “self.”

As a PhD student in Dr. Sarah Woolley’s lab at Columbia University Psychology, Jacob studies songbirds to understand how the sounds they hear growing up shape the songs they sing as adults.

When he’s not listening to bird songs, you can find him producing human music at his makeshift home studio, gaming in virtual reality, or searching the streets for NYC’s next greatest pizza joint.

Dr. Julia Zichello
(she/her/hers)

@Julia_Zichello

The Evolution of Starlings in North America: from New York City and beyond

Julia is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the Bronx, and a Research Associate at the American Museum of Natural History.

She has been studying starlings since 2016, and is interested in their evolution and adaptation over the last 130 years in North America, in addition to their ecological and behavioral habits in the streetscapes of New York City.