BirdNote

The eerie sound of the Great Tinamou can be heard in the lowland jungle throughout much of Central and South America. Secretive — and almost impossible to see — Great Tinamous call early and ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/great-tinamou-eerie-voice-jungle

Un grupo de vencejos acollarados, unos enormes vencejos del tamaño de pequeños halcones, hacen su camino aleteando hacia una pequeña cascada en el sur de México. Volando a velocidades de hast...

https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-en-espanol/cascadas-cuevas-y-vencejos-acollarados

With invasive species and climate change, Hawai‘i has experienced so much loss and extinction since Western colonists arrived. But Sam ‘Ohu Gon, the Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor for ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/hawaii-model-conservation

When Cliff Swallows arrive on the breeding grounds in North America, the dirty work begins. The swallows scoop up mud in their beaks and carefully build a gourd-shaped nest with a tapered opening...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/how-cliff-swallows-build-nest

One of the biggest threats to birds is the decline in biodiversity due to habitat loss — and the traditional, manicured lawn isn’t helping. Growing native plants in your yard allows you to pr...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/creating-bird-habitat-home

Northern Cardinals have vocal abilities that surpass even the most accomplished human singers. When cardinals sing, they sweep their voices from the high to low end of their ranges many times in ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/secret-singing-cardinal

Loons are built for life in the water – so much so that their legs don’t work well on land. During migration, loons sometimes mistake wet pavement for the reflective surface of deep water and...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/recognizing-stranded-loon

Aplomado Falcons were once widespread residents of the American Southwest, but by the 1950s, they'd disappeared entirely from the region. Loss of habitat, loss of prey, and pesticides all played ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/aplomado-falcon

El cucarachero ruiseñor sureño vive en Centro y Sudamérica y tiene una largo canto de notas silbadas separadas por pausas. Al analizar las grabaciones de sus cantos, los investigadores encontr...

https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-en-espanol/los-pajaros-que-pueden-mantener-el-ritmo

When writer Lee Ann Roripaugh visited the annual staging grounds of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska, she was in awe of the birds. During their spring migration, hundreds of thousands of cranes roost ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/lee-ann-roripaugh-string-beads

A hummingbird's brilliant throat feathers are called a "gorget," a term applied in past centuries to the metallic swatch protecting the throat of a knight-in-armor. Light waves reflect and refrac...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-gorget-glitters

The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago wreaked worldwide ecological damage, spelling the end for most dinosaurs and destroying the world’s forests. Yet a few bird-like dinos...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/how-birds-survived-asteroid

The White-tailed Hawk thrives in the grassy plains of the Texas Coastal Plain, where many tropical species reach the northern limit of their ranges. White-tailed Hawks often hunt by kiting: hover...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/white-tailed-hawks-texas-coastal-plain

John Kessler served as BirdNote’s senior producer for over 18 years. But before BirdNote existed, he was recording the sounds of Seattle for public radio station KPLU, now called KNKX. After ca...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/spark-bird-john-kessler-and-music-birds

The Belted Kingfisher dashes through the air, warning intruders with its rapid-fire, rattling call. In spring, the best places to see Belted Kingfishers are along sandy banks -- they are busy dig...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/burrowing-belted-kingfisher

In this episode featuring Aviary — the shapeshifting bird superhero — the surprising abilities of birds come in handy when a student gets lost exploring a cave with his class. Aviary remember...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/aviary-bird-echolocation-rescue

It's spring! And for many birds, a time to look their best to attract a new mate. This American Goldfinch has recently molted. Its old, worn-down feathers have fallen out, and new ones have grown...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birds-dress-spring

Beavers are well known as ecosystem engineers in North America. In Australia, lyrebirds play a big role in shaping their environment when they use their toes to dig in the ground for food. A sing...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/lyrebirds-shift-earth

House Wrens dart from perch to perch and sing almost nonstop. They’re one of the most thoroughly studied songbird species. House Wrens nest in cavities, including backyard nest boxes. Most migr...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/house-wren-little-brown-dynamo

The avian world is full of mimicry artists, but Northern Mockingbirds take it to a new level. Not only can they imitate other birds, they can mimic frogs and toads! Their performances are so conv...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/mockingbirds-mimic-frogs

Each spring, millions of songbirds migrate north from the tropics to nest in North America. It takes 15 hours on average to cross the roughly 500 miles of the Gulf of Mexico. If wind or rain slow...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/high-island-texas

For National Poetry Month, we’re sharing contemporary writers’ work about birds. Poet Susan Nguyen got a hummingbird feeder from her neighbor in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. She began taki...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/poetry-month-susan-nguyen

Most raptors are solitary birds, but Harris’s Hawks of the southwestern U.S. live and hunt in groups of two to six. After spotting a prey animal, the hawks swoop in from various directions to c...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/hawk-hunts-packs

The Wilson's Snipe lives in marshes and muddy areas, where it probes for worms and other squirmy delights. But when spring comes, it takes to the air. The male Wilson's Snipe circles high above i...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/two-wings-and-tail

In this April Fool’s Day quiz from BirdNote, we play the sounds of three birds — only one of which is real. See if you can tell which one! Click here to find out the correct answer.

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/april-fools-birdsong-quiz

Bats and birds have evolved very different ways of flying. Birds have stiff feathers projecting from lightweight, fused arm and hand bones; bats have flexible wings of membranes stretched between...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/flying-birds-and-bats

The Pine Warbler is one of the few warblers that make appearances at bird feeders. They live year round in pine forests of the southeast U.S. and several Caribbean islands. Early spring is a good...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/warbler-loves-pines

Woodpeckers are our most familiar bird carpenters, but other birds also chip out nests in trees and wood structures. Nuthatches — like this Red-breasted Nuthatch — are exceptional wood carver...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/listen-tapping

Rails are secretive marsh birds, and they’re on the decline. But a researcher playing their recorded calls over a loudspeaker could help bring them back – by tricking them.

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/using-sound-bring-rails-back-wetlands

In this episode of BirdNoir, Private Eye Michael Stein gets a call from his friend Billy, a mail carrier. Billy says he hasn’t seen a single bird on his route since the storm came into town, ev...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birdnoir-dark-and-stormy-night

As thousands of army ants march through a rainforest in Panama looking for food, countless insects try to escape. Antbirds follow the ants, waiting for flying insects to leave their hiding spots ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birds-march-army-ants

Boreal Owls are highly adapted to hunt in long hours of winter darkness. Uniquely, one ear opening in the skull is set high and the other much lower, an asymmetry that helps to pinpoint the sound...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/dark-boreal-owls

Humboldt Penguins living along the Pacific Coast of Chile and Peru are adapted to cold. But on land, temperatures rise to 100+ degrees, and penguins need to cool off. So these penguins have pink ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/do-penguins-blush

To our ear, the haunting song of this Hermit Thrush is musical, even ethereal. To another Hermit Thrush, the song signals that a male is laying claim to a territory and seeking a mate. These thru...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/songs-and-calls-theyre-not-same

With their bare heads, long legs and massive bills, Wood Storks seem to have flown out of a fairytale — but in the American South they’re a real-life part of the ecosystem. Developers drained...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/keeping-wood-storks-road-recovery

Mallards are found virtually everywhere there is open water, from city parks and subalpine lakes to sheltered bays and estuaries along the coasts. In their breeding plumage, male Mallards are avi...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/everybody-knows-mallard

When Janet Ng was a kid, there was a very specific moment when she realized what she wanted to be as a grown-up: seeing a wildlife biologist being interviewed in a documentary and realizing that ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/janet-ng-becoming-wildlife-biologist

Geese migrate north between February and April, making stopovers along the way to rest and eat. Most are bound for their breeding grounds in the far north. But we’ll hear them again soon, on th...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/geese-aloft-flock-voices-march

For years, scientists debated whether the first flying dinosaurs, the ancestors of modern birds, began by running and making little hops off the ground, or leapt off a tree branch to glide. It’...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/flying-dinosaurs-leaping-and-gliding

When buying seed for your feeders, it’s tempting to get the biggest, cheapest bag. But not all bird seed is the same. Figure out the nutritional value of the seeds and whether your local birds ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/bird-seed

By March in the East, cardinals and other songbirds that don't migrate are already singing heartily to attract mates. Many other birds – including Yellow Warblers – will return north from the...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/tune-your-ears-east

The strange wading birds known as jacanas are nick-named "lily-trotters" for their ability to walk on lily pads. In Jamaica, they're known as "Jesus birds," because they appear to be walking on w...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/jacana-aka-lily-trotter

Birds have lost many habitats they’ve called home for millions of years, but people can help create bird habitats wherever they live. It all begins with native plants. If you have a yard, or ev...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/create-bird-habitat-home-native-plants

The Reddish Egret, a particularly glamorous heron, is best known for its startling antics in capturing fish. When fishing, the egret sprints across the lagoon, weaving left and right, simultaneou...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/reddish-egret-lagoon-dancer

When you go birding, sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time and there are more species than you can count. Other times, not so lucky. Striking out when looking for birds is frust...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birding-101-learning-how-strike-out

For 20,000 years, spring rains and melting snow have filled the playas of the Rainwater Basin of south-central Nebraska. As winter ends, 10 million waterfowl rest and feed there before continuing...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/rainwater-basin

Sandgrouse live in some of the most parched environments on earth. To satisfy the thirst of their chicks, male sandgrouse carry water back to the nest in a surprising but effective way: by carryi...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/sandgrouse-desert-water-carriers

The harsh caws of American Crows are one of the most familiar bird calls in North America. Fish Crows sometimes join flocks of American Crows as they forage for food. The two crow species look si...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/nasally-fish-crow

In this episode, we meet Aviary: the superhero alter-ego of a mild-mannered birder bitten by a radioactive feather mite. Aviary became able to shapeshift into any of the birds they've seen in the...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/introducing-aviary-shapeshifting-bird-superhero

Most swallow species that nest in North America eat almost nothing except flying insects. When the bugs die off in the fall, the swallows head south to winter in the tropical zones of Central and...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/tree-swallows-spend-winter

John Zaktansky leads the Middle Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association, which is using recording devices to identify birds by sound on different parts of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. John�...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/using-birdsong-check-rivers-health

When Great Horned Owl eggs hatch, the downy owlets are the size of newborn chickens. Their mother broods them day and night. A few weeks later, the owlets can be left alone while both adults resu...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/great-horned-owls-nest-ii

Las fragatas son aves marinas, pero nunca verás una de ellas flotando en el océano. En cambio, las fragatas son especialistas para mantenerse en las alturas. Estas aves planean sobre el océano...

https://www.birdnote.org/podcasts/birdnote-en-espanol/fragatas-aves-marinas-que-no-se-mojan

Before chimneys existed, Chimney Swifts relied on old hollow trees for nesting and roosting. They can’t perch, they can only cling to a rough vertical surface. As developers cleared old growth ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/giving-chimney-swifts-place-live

Does the image of a frozen birdbath bring to mind a small yellow bird with ice skates? Birds need water in all seasons, for drinking and for bathing. When the water is frozen, you can thaw it wit...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birdbaths-winter