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When Amanda Gallinat went looking for an avian-themed Spotify playlist, she came up empty. So the biologist made her own. 

Gallinat studies ecological and evolutionary drivers of species assembly—where plants and animals live now, why, and where are they likely to be in the future. During a long stretch of computer-based work, she found herself missing the connection to birds she’d previously had as a graduate student, when she spent countless hours outside observing interactions between birds and fruit trees in New England. Now, stuck inside, she realized that she could get her bird fix in a different way, by immersing herself in music inspired by the animals. 

“There are a lot of different ways to connect with birds,” she says. “As someone who is not a musician, it was nice to tap into some of the enthusiasm that artists have for birds.” 

Gallinat’s penchant for organization influenced the eclectic she created: She scoured the musical landscape for tunes to arrange in phylogenetic order. Take “Snow Grouse,” by Swedish Sami artist . “It’s maybe my favorite song on the playlist and I would never have found if I wasn’t looking for something to fill the grouse section,” she says. 

Peruse Gallinat’s birdy playlist below. Got one of your own? Share it in the comments.