BirdNote Daily

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...

Southern Lapwings Defend Their Nest

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nature educator Johanne Ryan shares her observations of Southern Lapwings, shorebirds that make their nests on the ground in open areas and vigorously...

T and Dart

20 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Author Kira Jane Buxton loves crows — so much that she’s written two novels about a crow named S.T. navigating the extinction of humanity. When sh...

Williamson's Sapsucker

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Williamson's Sapsuckers nest in western mountain forests. The radically different plumages of the male and female so confounded 19th-century naturalis...

A Lost Hummingbird is Found Again

18 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Santa Marta Sabrewing is a hummingbird species so rare, they’ve only been documented twice in recent years. Native to the mountains of Colombia,...

Thick-billed Euphonia – Deceitful Mimic

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Northern Mockingbirds can learn to mimic the sounds of just about any bird. They mimic to show off, not to deceive. But this Thick-billed Euphonia, a ...

Bicknell's Thrush

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Bicknell’s Thrush is known for scarcity… and promiscuity. Unlike most songbirds, the female thrush establishes a territory and then mates with...

The Delightfully Odd Magellanic Plover

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Magellanic Plover is known for being a bit of an oddball. These shorebirds have a round body like a dove and even feed their young with milk produ...

Where Birds Sleep

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

All birds need to sleep — or at least snooze — sometime during each 24-hour period. And most sleep at night. A bird, like a Mallard Duckling, may ...

The Music of Birds Migrating in the Night

13 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ornithologist Bill Evans has helped us better understand the sounds that birds make as they migrate at night. Known as nocturnal flight calls, many sp...

There's a BirdNote for that!

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have a question about birds? BirdNote’s Content Director Jonese Franklin says that when people bring her bird queries, she often finds the an...

Helping BirdNote Continue Its Journey

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When you provide places for migratory birds to rest and refuel, you’re helping them complete their long journeys and reach their destination safely....

Bird Books with BirdNote

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For many of us nature nerds, books and birds go hand in hand. That’s why BirdNote brings you conversations with award-winning writers about how bird...

BirdNote Helps You Get to Know Your Neighborhood

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you know your neighborhood inside-out or you just moved and are getting to know the area, BirdNote adds another dimension to how you understan...