Sources Cited in ‘The Thing with Feathers’

Ackerman, Jennifer. The Bird Way: A New Look at How Birds Talk, Work, Play, Parent, and Think. Melbourne: Scribe, 2020.

Artribune Tv. ‘Allora & Calzadilla (in collaboration with Ted Chiang), The Great Silence’. Vimeo. December 14, 2016.

Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. ‘The brains of birds synchronize when they sing duets. Max Planck Neuroscience’. June 12, 2019.

Seki, Yoshimasa. ‘Cockatiels sing human music in synchrony with a playback of the melody’. PLOS ONE, 16, e0256613.

Troup, Christina. ‘Small forest birds: Honeyeaters—Bellbirds and tūī. Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand’. Retrieved August 1, 2025,

Visit Zealandia. ‘Tūī. Visit Zealandia – Wildlife – Birds’. Retrieved August 14, 2025.

Whaanga, Hēmi and Priscilla Wehi. ‘Māori Oral Tradition: Ancestral Sayings and Indigenous Knowledge’. Terralingua, Langscape Magazine. Originally published March 7, 2017. Last updated June 17, 2025.