In two papers recently published with our collaborator, Dr Christine Cooper from Curtin University, we have looked at the physiological mechanisms through which zebra finches can cope with the extreme conditions that occur regularly at our field site, and specifically air temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. The papers, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology and Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A, help us to understand how birds adjust their physiology to cope with such challenging conditions. Zebra finches were better able to cope with heat waves when they were primed by similar conditions, and reduced their metabolic rate, thus lowering the amount of heat being generated internally. Individuals also showed great plasticity in their use of water and their body temperature, enduring short periods with elevated body temperature when required. It is not surprising that these desert adapted birds can cope so well with these hot and arid conditions, but understanding the mechanisms that they can use, and the flexibility that they have helps us to understand likely responses to climate change in desert birds, and the reasons that mortality events have been reported in these and other desert specialists. It is likely that those heat induced deaths have been caused by unpredictable bursts of high temperature, which the birds were not able to prepare for.