blurbs

Come on a time travelling journey with me to somewhere I wish I could go for a day! Pre-human New Zealand, when birds ruled the land.
Follow me on instagram: matt.rossella
Support my dream of turning this podcast into a part time job by contributing on patreon: patreon.com/blurbs439
Books used for research:

Birdstories - Geoff Norman

References:

Brathwaite, D. H. (1992). Notes on the weight, flying ability, habitat, and prey of Haast’s Eagle (Harpagornis moorei). Notornis, 39(4), 239-247.
Carpenter, J. K., Innes, J. G., Wood, J. R., & Lyver, P. O’B. (2021). Good predators: the roles of weka (Gallirallus australis) in New Zealand’s past and present ecosystems. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 45(1), 1-14.
Gill, B. J. (2003). Osteometry and systematics of the extinct New Zealand ravens (Aves: Corvidae: Corvus). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, 1(1), 43-58.
Gill, B. J., Furey, L., & Ash, E. (2020). The Moa Fauna (Aves: Dinornithiformes) of the Auckland and Coromandel Regions, New Zealand. Records of the Auckland Museum, 55, 85-100.
Holdaway, R. N. (1989). New Zealand's pre-human avifauna and its vulnerability. New Zealand journal of ecology, 11-25.
Holdaway, R. N., Worthy, T. H., & Tennyson, A. J. (2001). A working list of breeding bird species of the New Zealand region at first human contact. New Zealand journal of zoology, 28(2), 119-187.
McGlone, M. S. (1989). The Polynesian settlement of New Zealand in relation to environmental and biotic changes. New Zealand journal of ecology, 115-129.
Wood, J. R., Richardson, S. J., McGlone, M. S., & Wilmshurst, J. M. (2020). The diets of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes). New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 44(1), 1-21.
Wood, J. R., Scofield, R. P., Hamel, J., Lalas, C., & Wilmshurst, J. M. (2017). Bone stable isotopes indicate a high trophic position for New Zealand’s extinct South Island adzebill (Aptornis defossor)(Gruiformes: Aptornithidae). New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 41(2), 240-244.
Worthy, T. H. (1990). An analysis of the distribution and relative abundance of moa species (Aves: Dinornithiformes). New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 17(2), 213-241.
Worthy, T. H., & Scofield, R. P. (2012). Twenty-first century advances in knowledge of the biology of moa (Aves: Dinornithiformes): a new morphological analysis and moa diagnoses revised. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 39(2), 87-153.

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What mental health benefits does birding provide? What are the important factors to birding that facilitate this? listen to find out!
Support the podcast: patreon.com/blurbs439
Follow me on instagram: matt.rossella
References:
Bonta, M. (2008). Valorizing the relationships between people and birds: Experiences and lessons from Honduras. Ornitologia Neotropical, 19(Suppl), 595-604.
Cox, D. T., & Gaston, K. J. (2015). Likeability of garden birds: Importance of species knowledge & richness in connecting people to nature. PloS one, 10(11), e0141505.
Cox, D. T., Shanahan, D. F., Hudson, H. L., Plummer, K. E., Siriwardena, G. M., Fuller, R. A., ... & Gaston, K. J. (2017). Doses of neighborhood nature: the benefits for mental health of living with nature. AIBS Bulletin, 67(2), 147-155.
Hammoud, R., Tognin, S., Burgess, L., Bergou, N., Smythe, M., Gibbons, J., ... & Mechelli, A. (2022). Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife. Scientific reports, 12(1), 17589.
Lee, S., McMahan, K., & Scott, D. (2015). The gendered nature of serious birdwatching. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 20(1), 47-64.
Marselle, M. R., Martens, D., Dallimer, M., & Irvine, K. N. (2019). Review of the mental health and well-being benefits of biodiversity. Biodiversity and health in the face of climate change, 175-211.
Randler, C., Murawiec, S., & Tryjanowski, P. (2022). Committed bird-watchers gain greater psychological restorative benefits compared to those less committed regardless of expertise. Ecopsychology, 14(2), 101-110.
Wolf, L. J., Zu Ermgassen, S., Balmford, A., White, M., & Weinstein, N. (2017). Is variety the spice of life? An experimental investigation into the effects of species richness on self-reported mental well-being. PloS one, 12(1), e0170225.

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Hear all about the chain of events that led to the evolution of one of New Zealand's endemic bird families!
Support me to make the show bigger and better at patreon.com/blurbs439
Follow along on instagram: matt.rossella
Books used for research:
Birdstories - Geoff Norman
Birds New Zealand (beauty like no other) 2nd ed. - Paul Gibson
Birds of New Zealand and Outlying Islands - M.F Soper
The Brilliance of Birds - Skye Wishart and Edin Whitehead

Research articles cited:
Aidala, Z., Chong, N., Anderson, M. G., Ortiz-Catedral, L., Jamieson, I. G., Briskie, J. V., ... & Hauber, M. E. (2013). Phylogenetic relationships of the genus Mohoua, endemic hosts of New Zealand’s obligate brood parasitic Long-tailed Cuckoo (Eudynamys taitensis). Journal of Ornithology, 154, 1127-1133.
Fidler, A. E., Aidala, Z., Anderson, M. G., Ortiz-Catedral, L., & Hauber, M. E. (2016). Pseudogenisation of the short-wavelength sensitive 1 (SWS1) opsin gene in two New Zealand endemic passerine species: the Yellowhead (Mohoua ochrocephala) and Brown creeper (M. novaeseelandiae). The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 128(1), 159-163.
McCullough, J. M., Oliveros, C. H., Benz, B. W., Zenil-Ferguson, R., Cracraft, J., Moyle, R. G., & Andersen, M. J. (2022). Wallacean and Melanesian islands promote higher rates of diversification within the global passerine radiation Corvides. Systematic Biology, 71(6), 1423-1439.
Oliveros, C. H., Field, D. J., Ksepka, D. T., Barker, F. K., Aleixo, A., Andersen, M. J., ... & Faircloth, B. C. (2019). Earth history and the passerine superradiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7916-7925.
Olson, S. L. (1990). Comments on the osteology and systematics of the New Zealand passerines of the genus Mohoua. Notornis.

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Thanks for listening! (also I meant to say "La" Niña not "El" Niña!)
Follow me on instagram: matt.rossella
Support the podcast: patreon.com/blurbs439
References:
Abzhanov, A. (2010). Darwin's Galapagos finches in modern biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365(1543), 1001-1007.
Beausoleil, M. O., Lorena Carrión-Avilés, P., Podos, J., Camacho, C., Rabadán-González, J., Richard, R., ... & Hendry, A. P. (2023). The fitness landscape of a community of Darwin’s finches. Evolution, qpad160.
Carrión, P. L., Raeymaekers, J. A., De León, L. F., Chaves, J. A., Sharpe, D. M., Huber, S. K., ... & Hendry, A. P. (2022). The terroir of the finch: How spatial and temporal variation shapes phenotypic traits in DARWIN'S finches. Ecology and Evolution, 12(10), e9399.
Carvajal‐Endara, S., Hendry, A. P., Emery, N. C., Neu, C. P., Carmona, D., Gotanda, K. M., ... & Johnson, M. T. (2020). The ecology and evolution of seed predation by Darwin's finches on Tribulus cistoides on the Galápagos Islands. Ecological monographs, 90(1), e01392.
De León, L. F., Sharpe, D. M., Gotanda, K. M., Raeymaekers, J. A., Chaves, J. A., Hendry, A. P., & Podos, J. (2019). Urbanization erodes niche segregation in Darwin's finches. Evolutionary Applications, 12(7), 1329-1343.
Enbody, E. D., Sendell-Price, A. T., Sprehn, C. G., Rubin, C. J., Visscher, P. M., Grant, B. R., ... & Andersson, L. (2022). Large effect loci have a prominent role in Darwin’s finch evolution. bioRxiv, 2022-10.
Funk, E. R., & Burns, K. J. (2018). Biogeographic origins of Darwin's finches (Thraupidae: Coerebinae). The Auk: Ornithological Advances, 135(3), 561-571.
Harvey, J. A., Chernicky, K., Simons, S. R., Verrett, T. B., Chaves, J. A., & Knutie, S. A. (2021). Urban living influences the nesting success of Darwin’s finches in the Galápagos Islands. Ecology and Evolution, 11(10), 5038-5048.
Hervías-Parejo, S., Olesen, J. M., Nogales, M., Traveset, A., & Heleno, R. (2019). Dispersal of fern spores by Galápagos finches. Journal of Ornithology, 160, 831-833.
Knutie, S. A., Chaves, J. A., & Gotanda, K. M. (2019). Human activity can influence the gut microbiota of Darwin's finches in the Galapagos Islands. Molecular ecology, 28(9), 2441-2450.
Lawson, L. P., Niedzwiecki, J., & Petren, K. (2019). Darwin's finches: a model of landscape effects on metacommunity dynamics in the Galápagos Archipelago. Ecography, 42(10), 1636-1647.
Long, K. L., Prothero, D. R., & Syverson, V. J. (2020). How do small birds evolve in response to climate change? Data from the long‐term record at La Brea tar pits. Integrative Zoology, 15(4), 249-261.
Ranganath, H. A. (2018). Darwin’s finches: a goldmine for evolutionary biologists. Journal of Genetics, 97(4), 807-809.
Reaney, A. M., Bouchenak‐Khelladi, Y., Tobias, J. A., & Abzhanov, A. (2020). Ecological and morphological determinants of evolutionary diversification in Darwin's finches and their relatives. Ecology and Evolution, 10(24), 14020-14032.
Román‐Palacios, C., & Wiens, J. J. (2018). The Tortoise and the Finch: Testing for island effects on diversification using two iconic Galápagos radiations. Journal of biogeography, 45(8), 1701-1712.
Rubin, C. J., Enbody, E. D., Dobreva, M. P., Abzhanov, A., Davis, B. W., Lamichhaney, S., ... & Andersson, L. (2022). Rapid adaptive radiation of Darwin’s finches depends on ancestral genetic modules. Science Advances, 8(27), eabm5982.
Tattersall, G. J., Chaves, J. A., & Danner, R. M. (2018). Thermoregulatory windows in Darwin's finches. Functional Ecology, 32(2), 358-368.

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Hey guys! Im Matt, bird enthusiast from New Zealand! This episode is all about the most ancient lineage of surviving New Zealand birds!
Follow me on instagram: matt.rossella
Become a blurb bro (a.k.a supporting the project) by contributing at https://www.patreon.com/blurbs439
If you want to know where I got my information, please see below!
References:

Ericson, P. G., Christidis, L., Cooper, A., Irestedt, M., Jackson, J., Johansson, U. S., & Norman, J. A. (2002). A Gondwanan origin of passerine birds supported by DNA sequences of the endemic New Zealand wrens. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 269(1488), 235-241.

Manegold, A. (2009). The early fossil record of perching birds (Passeriformes). Palaeont. Afr., 44, 103-107.

Mayr, G., & Manegold, A. (2006). New specimens of the earliest European passeriform bird. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 51(2).

Mitchell, K. J., Wood, J. R., Llamas, B., McLenachan, P. A., Kardailsky, O., Scofield, R. P., ... & Cooper, A. (2016). Ancient mitochondrial genomes clarify the evolutionary history of New Zealand’s enigmatic acanthisittid wrens. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 102, 295-304.

McNab, B. K., & Weston, K. A. (2020). Does the New Zealand rockwren (Xenicus gilviventris) hibernate?. Journal of Experimental Biology, 223(9), jeb212126.

Oliveros, C. H., Field, D. J., Ksepka, D. T., Barker, F. K., Aleixo, A., Andersen, M. J., ... & Faircloth, B. C. (2019). Earth history and the passerine superradiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(16), 7916-7925.

Sibley, C. G., Williams, G. R., & Ahlquist, J. E. (1982). The relationships of the New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) as indicated by DNA-DNA hybridization.

Worthy, T. H., Hand, S. J., Nguyen, J. M., Tennyson, A. J., Worthy, J. P., Scofield, R. P., ... & Archer, M. (2010). Biogeographical and phylogenetic implications of an early Miocene wren (Aves: Passeriformes: Acanthisittidae) from New Zealand. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 30(2), 479-498.

Verry, A. J., Scarsbrook, L., Scofield, R. P., Tennyson, A. J., Weston, K. A., Robertson, B. C., & Rawlence, N. J. (2019). Who, where, what, wren? Using ancient DNA to examine the veracity of museum specimen data: a case study of the New Zealand rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7, 496.

Books used for research:

A mini guide to the identification of New Zealand’s land birds - Andrew Crowe

Birdstories - Geoff Norman

Flight of the Huia - Kerry-Jayne Wilson

Know your New Zealand birds - Murdoch Riley

New Zealand native birds of bush and countryside - Penguin books

The Brilliance of Birds - Skye Wishart and Edin Whitehead

See you in the next episode! Thanks for listening!
- Matt

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