BirdNote Daily

Golden Eagle: From Aztec Legend to the Steppes of Kazakhstan

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Golden Eagle is a bird of epic proportions not only for their impressive size but also for the many legends they’ve inspired across human histor...

Ivory Gull and Conservation

29 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Polar Bears symbolize the icy landscapes of the far north like no other animal. The bear's way of life — its very survival — is inseparable from t...

From the Start, Daffy Duck Has Been a Cartoon Original

28 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From his start in 1937, the gangly, black-feathered Daffy Duck was a cartoon original: wildly outspoken, volatile, and confrontational — a truly daf...

Lewis's Woodpeckers and Pine Forests

27 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A century of logging and fire control has taken its toll on the mature pine forests of the West, the preferred nest site for this Lewis's Woodpecker. ...

When ‘Terror Birds’ Ruled the Earth

26 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A bird known as Titanis walleri made its home in Florida just a few million years ago. Titanis, as its name suggests, was titanic indeed — a flightl...

What Makes an Efficient Flying Bird?

25 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every bird species uses its wings a little differently, and some are specialized for highly efficient flight. But that means going without other abili...

Birds Move from Fresh to Salt Water

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To hear a Common Loon in the wild during summer, you’ll need to find a northern, freshwater lake where a pair is nesting. But to find that same Comm...

Birdsong and Solitude

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Wall of Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a towering mural showing nearly 250 life-sized birds across a map of the world. To complete the...

Letter to a Dark-eyed Junco

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Writer and ornithologist J. Drew Lanham shares a note he has written to a Dark-eyed Junco, which he fondly nicknames “snowbird.”More info and tran...

Why Birds Eat Snow

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the depths of winter, when open water is frozen over, it can be challenging for birds to stay hydrated. Some birds eat the frozen water all around ...

Building Birds with LEGO

20 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Poulsom is a hobbyist LEGO builder best known for his models of birds. But making birds out of bricks isn't easy. That’s why he uses special ...

Painting Birdsong with Jane Kim

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At the visitor center of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, artist and scientific illustrator Jane Kim painted the Wall of Birds to celebrate the evoluti...

Dining with Sanderlings

18 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While many shorebirds have gone south, tiny sandpipers called Sanderlings are easy to find on winter shores. They follow the waves as they lap in and ...

Kittiwake, Kittiwake

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Named for its rhythmic calls, the Black-legged Kittiwake is a dapper, oceanic gull. As described by Roger Tory Peterson, the tips of its pale gray win...

Andean Condors Sail the Wind

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Andean Condor is one of the largest flying birds in the world. With a wingspan that can stretch over 10 feet across, the condor doesn’t flap so ...

Sandhill Crane Families Stick Together

15 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sandhill Crane families form a close bond. A pair of adults might travel north with their young from the previous summer, along with grown-up offsprin...

Seabirds, Trees and Coral

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Palmyra Atoll is a ring-shaped island encircling a lagoon in the South Pacific. The atoll lost many native trees due to U.S. military activity during ...

Museum Eggs Help Solve Mysteries

13 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 bird...

Kiwikiu

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kiwikiu, also known as Maui Parrotbill, used to be found all over Maui and Molokaʻi. Now, fewer than 150 individuals exist and kiwikiu are currently ...

Altitudinal Migration

11 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Yellow-eyed Juncos sometimes make a migration of sorts — not from north to south, but from the high mountains to the lowlands or the other way aroun...

How Art Inspired a Young Birder

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Isaiah Scott was in middle school when his family took him to visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He remembers seeing a huge mural showing hundreds ...

A Song That Has Survived for Thousands of Years

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes, a species’ song changes over the course of a few decades. But a bird that lives in the mountains of eastern Africa, the Forest Double-col...

What Do Woodpeckers Do on Smoky Days?

08 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When the air is thick with wildfire smoke, people are advised to stay home. At Hastings Natural History Preserve in California, Acorn Woodpeckers do t...

Paradise-Whydah

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A few times each year, the Eastern Paradise-Whydah puts on his party clothes. This small finch is found in East Africa, and males and females generall...

In Winter, Puffins Lead Very Different Lives

06 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every summer, puffins — like this Horned Puffin — grow blazingly colorful layers over the bases of their huge beaks. But in the winter, puffins le...

Double-jointed Hawks and Convergent Evolution

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Crane Hawks of Central and South America and African Harrier-Hawks both have legs that bend forward and backward. Each bird’s wonderfully peculiar l...

Protecting the Madagascar Fish-Eagle

04 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Biodiversity conservationist Lily-Arison Rene de Roland works with some of the rarest birds in the world. He’s the Madagascar program director for t...

Common Potoo: Branch or Bird?

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Common Potoos are champions of camouflage. In the daytime these nocturnal creatures perch perfectly still on branches: heads pointed upward, bodies ou...

The Gyrfalcon – A Circumpolar Raptor

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gyrfalcons are circumpolar, nesting in the far north of Asia, North America, and Europe, including Iceland and Greenland. They evolved as a distinct s...

Jane Kim and the Wall of Birds

01 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Walk into the visitor center at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and you’ll be greeted by a massive mural called the Wall of Birds. About the size of ...

Costa Rica Pulses with Life

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s early morning in Costa Rica. Tiny bats nestle in a tree after a night on the wing. A Great Kiskadee calls. Gray-capped Flycatchers sally forth ...

The Birds of Yoga

29 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pigeon Pose. Crow Pose. Eagle pose. Bird of paradise. Writer Trisha Mukherjee, who is also a yoga teacher, discusses the connections these bird-inspir...

Sparrow Loves Birds

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From an early age, urban ornithologist Murry Burgess loved to draw and tell stories – and that passion stayed with her as her love for birds grew as...

A Grandchild’s Song for Robins

27 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ray Young Bear is a writer, musician and a member of Meskwaki Nation. He considers himself a word collector, writing poetry in both English and Meskwa...

Why Do Birds Flick Their Tails?

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The way that some birds flick, wag, or flare their tails can be distinctive. A flicking or flashing tail might suggest to a predator that a bird is pa...

Whooping Cranes: A Song That Was Nearly Silenced

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Whooping Crane is the tallest flying bird in North America. These huge white cranes with a black mask and a splash of red on the crown came perilo...

The Music of Black Scoters

24 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Black Scoters are sea ducks that spend the winter on saltwater bays. They are large, strong ducks and buoyant swimmers with a habit of cocking their t...

Pulling Rank at the Bird Feeder

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bird feeders full of seeds or suet can spark nonstop action. Chickadees flitter in and out. Finches expertly crack one seed after another, while jays,...

Left Foot or Right? Handedness in Birds

22 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A parrot’s eyes are located on the sides of its head. So, if it wants to look at something — say, a delicious piece of fruit — it has to cock it...

Yellow Warblers in a Changing World

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In spring and summer, Yellow Warblers sing from treetops to stream sides. While their beauty and songs commonly light up our most vibrant months, they...

Birdsong Mnemonics with Christian Cooper

20 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Birder and author Christian Cooper says learning to identify bird calls feels like unlocking a sixth sense. Birding by ear is a skill that takes time ...

Play and Brain Size

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many birds that play do it alone by swinging, sliding, or rolling around. Some species interact with objects, like dropping a stone and picking it up ...

The Eagle, the Cactus, and the City on the Lake

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In one of the most iconic founding legends of the Americas, a Golden Eagle devouring a serpent atop a cactus marked the spot where the Mexicas would b...

The Joy of Robins with J. Drew Lanham

17 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

J. Drew Lanham is a poet and ornithologist whose work intertwines his lived experience as a Black man in the American south and his love of wilderness...

A Library of Feathers

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Esha Munshi co-founded the Feather Library, a digital library that collects and documents the feathers of Indian birds. Launched in 2021, the library ...

Red-throated Loons of Deception Pass

15 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The word “loon” comes from the Old Norse word for “lame.” Because their feet are so far back on their bodies, loons cannot walk on land. But i...

Chestnut-collared Longspur

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The cheerful-voiced Chestnut-collared Longspur shares their northern prairie breeding range with grazing cattle. Although heavy grazing can have adver...

Great Black-backed Gull

13 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Great Black-backed Gulls have a reputation as serious predators of other birds like puffins, grebes, and songbirds as big as a grackle. Just over a ce...

Spark Bird: Thomas Poulsom and the LEGO Robin

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As he trained to be an arborist, Thomas Poulsom started developing two new interests: birds and building with LEGO bricks. After first building a Euro...

Red Knots Refuel in the Delaware Bay

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Red Knot is a true marathon traveler, flying up to 9,000 miles between the Arctic tundra and Tierra del Fuego. But their journey depends on a crit...

Art and Environmental Activism

10 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mustafa Santiago Ali has been an environmental activist and policymaker for nearly three decades. The work has taught him that everyone has a story to...

The Elusive Virginia Rail

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Virginia Rail is a secretive bird, a relative of coots and cranes. And it's a bird you'll more often hear than spy. The rail takes its name from i...

Clever Nuthatches

08 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Of the four nuthatch species living in the United States, the most common are the Red-breasted Nuthatch and the White-breasted Nuthatch. The nuthatch'...

The Unmistakable Ruddy Turnstone

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Ruddy Turnstone stands out among sandpipers. On taking flight, the turnstone flashes a vivid and unmistakable pattern of dark and light striping a...

Two Rare Wrens Serenade Southern Mexico

06 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sumichrast’s Wren and Nava’s Wren are both sooty-brown songbirds of southern Mexico. They both live in tropical forests where limestone outcrops p...

Vocal Learning is for the Birds

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Humans and songbirds are among a small group of animals that can learn to imitate the sounds we hear. It’s an ability called vocal learning that mak...

Swans Come Calling

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Trumpeter Swans are among the world's largest flying waterfowl. They can weight up to 25 pounds and have a wingspan of nearly seven feet! These swans ...

Volunteer for Project FeederWatch

03 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Project FeederWatch is a community science project studying over 100 species of birds that spend their winters in North America. From November through...

State Birds

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have official birds. To become a state bird, it helped to be familiar, colorful, and have a punchy song. Th...

The Mississippi Sandhill Crane Makes a Comeback

01 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While most Sandhill Cranes migrate, the Mississippi population lives year-round in wet pine savanna near the Gulf Coast. Their dependence on this uniq...

Jynx!

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A birder may have a target bird so elusive that the bird becomes a kind of "jinx bird." But there was a real bird by that name! The bird once called t...

Owl Sounds with Becca Rowland

30 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When author and illustrator Becca Rowland first started learning to identify bird calls, they were delighted to discover that owls say more than just ...

American Bittern: Thunder-Pumper

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

American Bitterns nest in marshes across the northern half of the United States and throughout much of Canada, and they winter along both US coasts so...

Hummingbirds Caught in a Dark World of Love Spells

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hummingbirds are celebrated for their beauty and grace, but in some places, they are trapped in a dark and deadly tradition. In parts of Mexico, hummi...

Annakacygna – The Ultimate Bird

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Like today’s swans, the extinct species Annakacygna hajimei and Annakacygna yoshiiensis were quite large. But unlike their modern relatives, these b...

Towhees' Distractive Plumage

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Both this Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee of the West sport a black or dark brown hood and back. And when they fly, their tails flash white. Whe...

The Endangered 'Akiapōlā'au

25 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The 'Akiapōlā'au is a bright yellow bird with a black eye mask, found only in the upper elevations on the Big Island of Hawai'i. But its most distin...

Quirky Words for Patterned Birds

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Descriptive names can be a great help when you’re getting to know a new bird. Some species have common names that put their plumage pattern front an...

The Elegant Black Tern

23 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Elegant Black Terns breed in summer on secluded wetlands across the northern states and Canada. Because of major losses of wetlands in their breeding ...

Dave Mull and the Courage of Steller’s Jays

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Skateboarder and birder Dave Mull remembers the first time he heard a Steller’s Jay imitating a Red-tailed Hawk. “These Steller's Jays were preten...

Nature’s Alarm Clock: Which Rooster Crows First?

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Roosters don’t need to set an alarm to tell them when it’s time to crow — their internal circadian clock lets them anticipate sunrise with remar...

Hudsonian Godwit

20 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Hudsonian Godwits are tough birds to find, and they were once thought extinct due to overhunting. After nesting at sites scattered in the High Arctic,...

Seabirds Thriving on Volcanic Slopes

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In August 2008, Kasatochi Island erupted in the middle of auklet breeding season, burying tens of thousands of chicks in hot ash. At first, the auklet...

Beaks and Grosbeaks

18 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Beaks suited for opening tough, hard seeds — thick, conical beaks — evolved in more than one lineage of birds. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are related...

Seeing the Rainbow in a Bird’s Feathers

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We make it a habit to detail the broad and beautiful spectrum of bird colors, but iridescent feathers are undoubtedly among the most mesmerizing. When...

Sister Species: Snow Goose and Ross’s Goose

16 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ross’s Geese and Snow Geese are both white-bodied waterfowl with black wingtips that can be difficult to tell apart. The pair are a great example of...

Arizona Woodpecker and the Sierra Madre

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Found in the Sierra Madre, the Arizona Woodpecker has a special connection to the mountain range. Sharing mid-elevation pine and oaks with fellow bord...

The 'Grasshopper' Hawk's High-Stakes Migration

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Swainson’s Hawks make an incredible journey every year, migrating 12,000 miles round-trip from North America’s prairies to Argentina’s pampas. W...

Silly Willow Ptarmigan

13 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some bird songs leave us in admiration of their beauty, some with a sense of wonder at their complexity—and others are downright comical. As a maker...

Birds Crossing the Pacific

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Over 12,000 miles across at its widest point, you might think the Pacific Ocean is a barrier that even high-flying birds can’t cross. Think again –...

Migration Routes Evolve

11 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why do birds consistently follow certain routes in their migrations? Pathways of migration evolved, shaped by the wind. During the height of the last ...

Stand-still Birding

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While full-speed-ahead birding can mean spotting a large number of species, there's quiet joy in stand-still birding. Pick a place-forest, field, or m...

A Closer Look at Sparrows

09 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At first glance, many of the sparrows in North America look pretty much the same: like small, drab-colored songbirds hanging out on the ground. But th...

Migrations: The Triumphant Comeback of the Aleutian Cackling Goose

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Aleutian Cackling Geese, which have a slighter build and shorter beak than Canada Geese, build their nests on a chain of islands off the western coast...

Migrations: Veeries Predict Hurricanes

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In some years, tawny-colored thrushes called Veeries cut their breeding season short. Researchers discovered that Veeries tend to stop breeding early ...

Nineteen Owls

06 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Owls have a reputation for hooting and hunting at night. But when you take a look – and listen – to the 19 species that live in the U.S. and Canad...

Creating an Inviting Habitat

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bird feeders and birdbaths are great ways to attract birds to your yard, but they aren’t the only ways to entice our feathered friends. Planting an ...

The First North American Wildlife Refuge

04 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the center of Oakland, California, is Lake Merritt. People row in it, picnic and jog around it, and it's a place of respite within the city. And it...

Waterfowl heritage with Kelsey Leonard

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kelsey Leonard is a leading scholar in Indigenous water governance, climate justice, and Earth law. In the latest season of Bring Birds Back, Kelsey e...

Júlia d’Oliveira on Recreating Extinct Animals

02 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Júlia d’Oliveira is a paleoartist who brings extinct species to life in artwork. For each species she illustrates, she learns everything she can ab...

Snowy Albatross Molt

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most birds molt and regrow their flight or wing feathers — one at a time along each wing — to stay in prime condition for flying. But for a Wander...

Why Are There Flightless Birds?

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The ability to fly seems to define birds. But there are more than 50 species of flightless birds throughout the world — from the Ostrich and Kiwi to...

Spark Bird: Birding from the Bus

29 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kelsen Caldwell drives a bus in and around Seattle for King County Metro. As a bus driver, sometimes there’s downtime if your bus is moving too fast...

Chickadee Line-up

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chickadees are tiny songbirds named for their characteristic song and there are seven species found in North America. You'll find the Black-capped Chi...

Sapsuckers

27 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sapsuckers drill small holes in the bark of favored trees, then return again and again to eat the sap that flows out. And hummingbirds, kinglets, and ...

An Ever-Growing Library of Bird Sounds

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most of the bird sounds you hear on BirdNote come from the Macaulay Library, a vast collection of over one million bird calls and songs curated by the...

Moon-Watching for Migrating Birds

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Before the high-tech gadgets used to track bird migration today, there was moon-watching: a technique dreamed up in the 1940s by ornithologist George ...

How Jays Helped Restore an Oak Forest

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Corvids, like crows and jays, are known for caching seeds instead of eating them immediately. Sometimes, those seeds take root before the birds return...

Migrations: Indigo Bunting, Master Stargazer

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The stars appear to rotate in the sky, raising the question of how birds can use stars to navigate during migration. Ornithologist Stephen Emlen broug...

Lee Ann Roripaugh: Utsuroi

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of approximately equal length across the globe. In her poem ‘U...