Hi there and Hej! (hello in Swedish).

I've been doing a bit of travel recently - I've been in Washington, Toronto, Stockholm and I'm on my way to Copenhagn today. What makes cities round the world really feel like foreign places to me is not the architecture, the language on the street, or the different flavoured kiosk snacks... It's the amazing range of bird life. As a Melbournian I got very excited at seeing a gaggle (love that word) of geese out the bus window on the freeway in Toronto and yelled "look everybody - geese!". I got that quick bemused smile from my fellow travellers. In Sweden I keep seeing an unusual (well unusal for me as a Melbournian) grey brown bird (it could be the same one that is following me).

Anyway, what is even more extraordinary is that the ancestors of all this bird life around our planet were therapod dinosuars. Now that is exciting to all of us on the bus!

Cheers and chirps, and enjoy this month's episode - Dr Andi

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Archaeopteryx, A bird's eye view of the dinosaurs at Melbourne Museum, Chef Sean serves up a tasty dish at the cafe. (all images by Dr Andi)

 

Show notes

 

More information

Find out more about Museum Victoria's vertebrate palaeontology collection.
Feathered Dinosaurs: The Origin of Birds by John Long - available from CSIRO Publishing.
The Melbourne Museum Cafe is run by Peter Rowland Catering - drop in and check out the dinosaur chicken special!
Don't forget to visit the special Melbourne Museum exhibition Hatching the Past: Dinosaur Eggs and Babies - it's on until 24 August 2008.

Credits

 

Voices

Dr Tom Rich - Senior Curator, Vertebrate Palaeontology
Dr John Long - Head, Sciences
Tony Biggs - guest "feathered dinosaur"
David Pickering - Collection Manager, Vertebrate Palaeontology
Priscilla Gaff - Program Co-ordinator, Science
Brian Choo - PhD student and vertebrate palaeontologist
Sean Flynn - Chef

Technical

Mr Archie Cuthbertson, Podcast Recording Services

Music

'While the Birds are Singing to me' Edison Cylinder Recording, 1905 from the Museum Victoria collection.