Emily Williams has traveled the world in search of birds. As a biologist, she’s worked in Kansas, Argentina, Australia, and Denali, and studied loons, flycatchers, kingbirds, and more. And even with all these experiences and diverse species interactions, she’s now landed (ha, get it?!) on studying the common robin. But before you dismiss it, Emily makes a compelling case for this backyard bird. We talked with her about unseen pitfalls of catching birds in cities, protecting your food from monkeys in Peru, and what we can learn about the under-appreciated robin.