Bird researcher, Prof. Jane Reid, never set out to become an academic, in fact, she tried her very best not to. Having developed an interest in birds from a young age, her great ambition was to work for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). But, she figured to work there she would probably need a PhD. Yet, once she got her teeth into research during her PhD at the University of Glasgow, there was no looking back.

In this week’s podcast Jane joins Laurie Baker (@llbaker1707) to talk about her career path, catching birds in the field, and her exciting research into the complex causes and consequences driving who mates and has affairs with whom in the song sparrow population on Mandarte island, British Columbia.

Episode 36: What’s in it for the bird? Extra-pair mating and inbreeding in Song Sparrows

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]