BirdNote

Wherever you live, chances are a sweet-singing, cavity-nesting bird would be happy to perform in your yard — and it might stick around if you offer it a cozy nest box, like the one this Carolin...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/nest-boxes-help-bring-birds-back

Here and there along winter shorelines, little flocks of pale, silvery shorebirds probe at the water's edge, keeping pace with each wave's ebb and flow. These are Sanderlings, small sandpipers th...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/sanderlings

A pair of Bald Eagles will reuse their nest each year and repair it with new tree branches. But recently in British Columbia, scientists came across an eagle nest made largely out of dried kelp. ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/kelp-eagles-nest

Long-eared Owls aren’t rare, and they don’t live in remote locations. But their plumage and habits make them incredibly elusive. The mixture of warm browns and cool, bark-like grays lends the...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/long-eared-owl-you-dont-see-me

Elegant Black Terns breed in summer on secluded wetlands across the northern states and Canada. Because of major losses of wetlands in their breeding range — especially in Canada's prairie prov...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/elegant-black-tern

It was only in 1939 that this Altamira Oriole was first found north of the Rio Grande River. Now it happily visits residents on the Texas side of the river, especially where a juicy orange half w...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/altamira-oriole

There are five million bird eggs stowed away in museums across the world — and the study of eggs, called oology, can give us great insight into birds. The link between DDT and the decline of Pe...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/museum-eggs-help-solve-mysteries

What bird laid the largest eggs ever known? To date, the record holder is the now-extinct Elephant Bird, a relative of the present-day Ostrich and other large, flightless birds, including rheas, ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/elephant-birds-laid-really-big-eggs

When illustrator Diana Sudyka was in second grade, she was given a Peterson’s Bird Field Guide. She still remembers making her first bird ID — a Brown-headed Cowbird. Even years later, Sudyka...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/spark-bird-diana-sudykas-first-bird-id

The idea of the "swan song" recurs from Aesop to Ovid to Plato to Tennyson. Ovid described it, "There, she poured out her words of grief, tearfully, in faint tones, in harmony with sadness, just ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/swan-song

Like the American Robin, the European Robin is a bird of yards and gardens. But it’s not much bigger than a chickadee. The robin’s likeness turns up everywhere from Mother Goose rhymes, Peter...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/robins-namesake

Birds have many ways of showing affection for their partners. One way is allopreening, where a bird uses its bill to groom a mate, twirling each individual feather in its beak (like these Macaws....

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/tokens-affection

In the grips of winter, when most songbirds are months away from the breeding season, crossbills are already warming up. It’s all about the food. When the evergreens hang heavy with snow and co...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/crossbills-nest-winter

You'll find the Black-capped Chickadee across the northern US into Canada. The Carolina Chickadee holds sway in the Southeast. Hear the husky voice of a Mountain Chickadee in the Rockies. Travel ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/chickadee-line

House Finches are familiar birds all across North America. Researchers have shown that the red coloration of males is produced from carotenoid pigments in the birds' diet. Male House Finches deve...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/you-are-what-you-eat

What is it that draws us to a romantic partner? Birds have lots of ways to catch the attention of a mate. Most cranes duet with prospective partners for years before they begin breeding. Crested ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/seeds-attraction

In some years, great numbers of Snowy Owls come south from the Arctic to reside in fields, farmlands, and shorelines. In the past, it was believed that population crashes of lemmings on the breed...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/snowy-owls-are-here

Pigeons — and other birds with eyes on the sides of their heads — have a different view of the world from that of creatures with forward-facing eyes. The images from a pigeon’s eyes overlap...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/pigeon-eyed-view-world

Birds (including Western Gulls, like this one) and people share San Diego Bay -- a deep-water port, navy ships, pleasure boats, and salt-evaporation ponds. Even so, it’s one of the best bird ha...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/san-diego-bay-winter

The Rock Pigeon is the quintessential urban bird. Early European settlers at Jamestown and Plymouth introduced it to North America in the 1600s, and it is now found across the entire country. Flo...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/rock-pigeon-urban-bird

The flightless Ostrich is a bird of superlatives. It's the largest and tallest bird on the planet, growing to maybe eight feet tall, and weighing 250 pounds! It's also the fastest creature on two...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/consider-ostrich

Birds are ideal hosts for various viruses: they gather in large flocks, often carry viruses without any symptoms, and their migrations connect all parts of the world. But as far as SARS-CoV-2, th...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/can-birds-spread-covid-19

On a snow-covered field in northern Japan, two majestic Red-crowned Cranes face one another, raise their heads toward the sky, and call in unison. As they call, the pair begins to dance. They bow...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/red-crowned-cranes-dance-hokkaido

The Belted Kingfisher is the one species of kingfisher found throughout most of North America north of Mexico. You'll have to go to Texas to see two other kingfishers. The quiet call of the Green...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/three-kingfishers

In an ornithology class in college, Corina Newsome was introduced to the Blue Jay. After this, Newsome was determined to learn about the world of birds she had never noticed before. Now she’s a...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/spark-bird-corina-newsome-meets-blue-jay

Some swifts and frigatebirds stay aloft for months. But for a long time, scientists did not know if the birds might be sleeping on the wing. A 2016 study provided answers. Tiny devices attached t...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/sleeping-wing

Looking for a project this winter? Consider giving screech-owls a helping hand. Eastern and Western Screech-Owls span the wooded areas of the continent, nesting in tree cavities left vacant by la...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/screech-owls-are-looking-home

Knowing when to hunker down and when to move on is a matter of survival for the Red-headed Woodpecker. This noisy bird spends its summers taking insects from the sky in flashy, acrobatic flight. ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/oh-nuts-trials-red-headed-woodpecker

A chickadee comes in to the feeder, quickly grabs a seed, and flies away. It may return immediately, but it's more likely to wait its turn. When a whole flock of chickadees moves into the yard, i...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-do-chickadees-come-and-go

Why do birds consistently follow certain routes in their migrations? Pathways of migration evolved, shaped by the wind. During the height of the last ice age, ice-free breeding habitat for songbi...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/migration-routes-evolve

Have you ever seen a bird foraging in the rain and wondered why it isn't soaked to the bone? While every bird wears one feather coat, different kinds of feathers – and even different parts of t...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/what-happens-when-birds-get-wet

In addition to their scientific names, birds are also given "official" English names. Take the bird commonly known as the rain crow, for example, officially referred to as the Yellow-billed Cucko...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/yellow-billed-cuckoo-rain-crow

Who knew that this American Redstart’s feathers could reveal so much information about its life? For example, the more intense the color of a male American Redstart’s feathers, the better his...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/american-redstart-tale-tail

The treeswifts of India, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and beyond make their nests out of bits of plants and feathers and hold it all together with some very sticky saliva. A treeswift’s whole ne...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/treeswifts-exquisite-minimalists

Rhinoceros Hornbills are among the largest of the world’s 54 species of hornbills, which are spread across Africa and India to Asia and New Guinea. Some hornbills eat mostly fruit. Others are c...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/rhinoceros-hornbill

Unlike many shorebirds, Willets breed inland. When nesting is done, they migrate south to both Atlantic and Pacific coastlines in the U.S. and Central and South America. What they all have in com...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/noisy-willet

In winter, flocks of American Robins spend the night together. Typically, a few dozen to a few hundred birds roost communally in trees or an old barn, or under a bridge. But larger robin roosts c...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/61-tons-robins

When a Northern Flicker takes flight, a bold patch of white feathers flashes on its rump, in contrast to its brown body. This white rump likely evolved as an anti-predator adaptation. A hawk flyi...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/flickers-white-rump

It's winter, and apples litter the ground. A few still hang, frozen and thawed again and again. Suddenly a flock of hundreds of birds rises from the ground beneath the trees, swarming in tight fo...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/bohemian-waxwings-exquisite-winter-visitors

Developing eggshells requires a key ingredient — calcium — in larger quantities than the female typically has in her bloodstream. Just how different bird species supply or store calcium for e...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/secret-stash-eggshells

Hooded Mergansers, affectionately known as “Hoodies,” nest across most of the northern US and well into Canada. They’re especially prevalent around the Great Lakes, though some winter as fa...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/hooded-merganser

Eared Grebes eat brine shrimp and aquatic insects for sustenance, but rigid exoskeletons make them hard to digest. So these grebes -- along with their other grebe cousins -- evolved to use their ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-do-grebes-eat-their-feathers

The bill and legs of Arctic Terns are shorter than those of Common Terns. Because Arctic Terns breed in the Arctic and winter in the Antarctic, they are subject to much colder weather than are Co...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-arctic-terns-have-short-beaks

Nocturnal Long-eared Owls tuck up in dense stands of trees across North America and temperate Europe and Asia. They may form communal roosts up to a hundred in number in the winter. After dark, t...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/long-eared-owls-fly-night

When birds like these Dunlin form flocks, each individual is less likely to be captured by a predator. Some shorebirds that forage with their heads down, like godwits, will flock with birds that ...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-do-some-birds-flock

The Eurasian Hoopoe isn’t picky about where it nests. But whether it builds a home in a tree cavity, termite mound, or nest box, it’ll be stinky. Mother birds coat their eggs in an antimicrob...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/hoopoes-smelly-family

If you were to stand face to face with an owl, including this Great Gray Owl, it would eventually move its head, bobbing rhythmically from side to side, then forward, then back. Or almost complet...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/why-do-owls-bob-their-heads

Sooty Terns have long been called "wide-awakes" because of their calls. But it may describe their sleeping habits, too. When young terns leave their breeding grounds, they don't return for severa...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/sooty-tern

Bird nests can be hard to find, often hidden in plain sight. Is the clever camouflage simply the result of using building materials that the birds happen to find? A Scottish research team used bi...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birds-nests-and-camouflage

After carving a nest cavity in a living tree, which can take a year or more, Red-cockaded Woodpeckers peck holes around the nest, causing sap to flow downward. This creates a barrier to thwart hu...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/saving-red-cockaded-woodpecker

Many bird songs are rich and complex, difficult to remember, and nearly impossible to imitate. Some species' songs, however, sound as if they could have been whistled by a human. These simpler, p...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/birds-whistle

Monica Bryand, co-founder of the Urban Bird Collective, takes us along to capture an image of Sandhill Cranes. Audubon Minnesota asked her to capture some of the 166 climate-threatened and endang...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/outdoors-urban-bird-collective

In 1917, cars had only recently become common, and stepping out into traffic was dangerous. Back then, the term "jay" was slang for a hick, a country bumpkin. Bostonians with little tolerance for...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/jaywalking

Both the Willow Ptarmigan and these White-tailed Ptarmigan, feathered mostly brown in summer, are utterly transfigured by an autumn molt. As snow begins to mantle their world, both species, now a...

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

If you watch backyard birds, you will likely see some characteristic behaviors. One example is "foraging" styles — the behaviors that a bird uses to find food. Some birds, such as sparrows, are...

https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/sparrows-kick-robins-pick