BirdNote Daily

Quail and Their Fancy Feathers

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Gambel’s Quail and California Quail are both well known for the comma-shaped tuft of inky black feathers poised atop the crown of their heads. For b...

Male Mallards Disappear

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

By late summer, the male Mallard’s need for fancy feathers to attract the females has passed. These birds have molted, and their bright feathers are...

Parakeets Underground

16 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Burrowing Parakeets excavate deep nest tunnels in sandstone and limestone cliffs in Argentina and Chile. The colony’s many tunnels zigzag and interc...

Ultraviolet Vision

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Most birds possess the ability to see color. But birds can also see in the ultraviolet spectrum! Hummingbirds — like this Violet-crowned Hummingbird...

The Birdsong Chameleon

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Found in Australian forests, male Superb Lyrebirds can mimic calls well enough to convince the bird they’re imitating that the lyrebird is one of th...

Grassland Birds Thrive in Battlefield Parks

13 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

National Battlefield Parks are grassland habitats worth writing home about. Tall grassy fields aren’t typically considered beautiful, much less valu...

Brooklyn's Blue Jays

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Brooklyn’s Prospect Park covers more than 500 acres — many of them covered in trees. One bird species that calls the park home is the strikingly b...

Birding 101: Don’t Forget to Look Down!

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re trying to spot a bird, you should look up — right? While it’s true that there are many beautiful birds to see in the sky, plenty of sp...

Which Jay Was That?

10 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Steller's Jay is a jay... and it's blue. But it's not a true Blue Jay with a capital "B." The bona fide Blue Jay is primarily a bird of eastern No...

Night Voices of Summer

09 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At the close of a summer day, the songbirds go silent. As if on cue, the birds of the night make their voices known. In an Eastern woodland, the eerie...

Ross’s Gull: An Arctic Wonder

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Ross’s Gull is a dainty seabird that’s rarely found south of the High Arctic. Though their bodies are mostly gray, their breast feathers and u...

August Molt

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

By August, many birds have just completed the intense rigors of nesting and raising young and now undergo a complete molt. Molt is a cyclic process of...

Birds Can Eat Toxic Berries

06 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many bird species can eat the fruits of plants that are toxic to humans — even the white berries found on poison ivy. These birds just aren’t sens...

Voices and Vocabularies – Exquisite Thrush Songs

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some believe the song of the Wood Thrush to be the most beautiful bird song in North America. Others select the song of the Hermit Thrush. Still other...

Delhi’s Jain Bird Hospital is Free

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At Charity Birds Hospital, a small staff takes care of approximately 2,600 birds at a time, providing antibiotics, medicine, food, and a safe place to...

Canyon Spectacle – Swakane Canyon

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Canyons, whether large or small, can host a spectacular variety of birds! Consider Swakane Canyon, in central Washington State. It cuts west from the ...

A Drive Along a Bar Ditch

02 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the rural Southeast, roadside ditches – known as “bar ditches” – carry on for miles. The term bar ditch probably comes from their construct...

Biomimicry with Billy Almon

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For as long as humans have been solving problems, we’ve looked to nature for inspiration. In some cases we’ve even imitated other organisms in our...

Dreading the Terns

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In June of 2022, Adé Ben-Salahuddin worked as a volunteer research assistant on a tiny island off the coast of Maine at a Common Tern breeding colony...

Birds, Nests, and Camouflage

30 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 hap...

The White-crowned Pigeon

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Florida Keys extend from the state's peninsula like a string of pearls, and pearls they are, in their uniqueness and value. Stands of hardwood tre...

Breeding Birds of the Northern Great Plains

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Migratory birds connect the Northern Plains with many parts of the Western Hemisphere. Lark Buntings, Baird’s Sparrows, Upland Sandpipers, and many ...

The Secretarybird: Eagle on Stilts

27 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Secretarybird of sub-Saharan Africa looks like a slim eagle set on the long, slender legs of a crane. Secretarybirds can fly but prefer to hunt on...

On the Trail of the Bobwhite

26 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Northern Bobwhite — many call it just the Bobwhite — has an unmistakable call, which is also the source of its name. The species is native to ...

Hummingbirds Help Mites Hitch a Ride

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mites are tiny critters related to spiders and ticks. Because they are typically no larger than a grain of salt, many mite species rely on larger anim...

Sleeping on the Wing

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 st...

House Sparrow Pool Party

23 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Social, chatty, ubiquitous, the House Sparrow has adapted to living in cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Like most birds, these sparrows enjoy a daily...

Lilli Holden on the Ecology of Vacant Lots

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In her grandmother’s neighborhood in Chicago, Lilli Holden made an early connection with the outdoors by playing in a vacant lot with a large old tr...

River Rapids, Dippers and Ducks

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Powerful currents and rocky terrain make for a dangerous place to swim. But for birds like the American Dipper and Harlequin Duck, whitewater rapids a...

Insects Are Essential

20 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Insects sustain our ecosystems, as a food source and pollinators of 90% of all plants. But their numbers have dropped by half in the last 50 years, so...

The Eyes of an Owl

19 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Peer into an owl's face – there is something almost human about its large, forward-facing eyes. The Great Gray Owl, which stands two feet tall and w...

Bird Scent: It's All About the Bacteria

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many birds have an excellent sense of smell. And the odors that birds make can act as mating signals for some species. The source for many of these sc...

Bird Emoji

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

July 17th is World Emoji Day — because that’s the date on the little calendar emoji. These cartoon graphics can show everything from smiley faces ...

Seasonal Flooding of the Amazon

16 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When it’s predictable and wildlife is well adapted, natural flooding can create a biological bonanza. In the Amazon River Basin, which holds one-fif...

Whistling Birdsong with Andrew Bird

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Musician Andrew Bird is known as a songwriter, violinist, and, like his namesake, a virtuoso whistler. He showcases all of these skills in the song Ra...

Rufous-collared Sparrow: Tico-Tico

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The song Tico-Tico no Fuba, like Carmen Miranda, came to us from Brazil. Believe it or not, the song is about a bird. The Portuguese lyrics tell the s...

Beaks and Bills

13 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A bird’s bill is an incredible multi-tool — good for preening feathers, building a nest, self-defense, scratching, displaying, building a nest, an...

Song Neighborhoods

12 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Birds of the same species don’t always sing exactly the same as each other. But those that live near each other sometimes have similar songs. Scient...

Montezuma Oropendola's High-Security Nesting

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A male Montezuma Oropendola holds forth in a tree bedecked with twenty or more hanging nests. The nests are intricately woven sacks hanging three feet...

Altamira Oriole

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Thick-billed Longspur

09 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It can feel like there’s nowhere to hide in the shortgrass prairie. But the Thick-billed Longspur calls this place home. The bird’s burbling song ...

The Firebird’s Bright Outfit

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

You might have heard of the Phoenix, the legendary bird who bursts into flames and is reborn from its ashes. Well, its literary cousin is the Slavic m...

Least Auklets: Seabirds in Miniature

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The family of seabirds called alcids is an eclectic bunch that includes puffins and murres. The largest alcids are about the size of a duck, but the s...

Help eBird Fill in the Gaps

06 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

eBird, an online tool for submitting bird observations, allows scientists to keep track of birds around the world. eBird now has over one billion bird...

What Are Birds Saying with Their Crests?

05 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A bird’s crest is made up of a slender array of feathers on top of their head. These feathers are a bit longer and can be spiked up or slicked back,...

Sizing Up Sharp-shinned Hawks

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sharp-shinned Hawks are swift, bird-catching predators. The male is jay-sized. The female stands a head taller and weighs almost twice as much. Female...

'What is a birder?' with Rosemary Mosco

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rosemary Moscoe’s latest book is a tongue-in-cheek guide that defines many of the terms that you might hear on a bird outing, like calling a particu...

Shorebirds Watch Their Feet

02 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Greater Yellowlegs — not surprisingly — have bright yellow legs and feet. And why? While foraging through shallow water, a yellowlegs can keep tra...

Canada Jays Save Food for Later

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

While camping in the mountains, you might see this Canada Jay (formerly known as the Gray Jay — but before that, as the Canada Jay!), boldly swoopin...

How Writer Amy Tan Helps Backyard Birds

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Writer Amy Tan’s work is known all over the world. And thanks to her latest best-seller, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, she’s now also known for he...

The Colors of Chicken Eggs

29 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Except around Easter, chicken eggs usually come in a predictable range of colors: white, brown, and sometimes pale blue or green. Chickens are descend...

The Plover and the Hurricane

28 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Piping Plovers are tiny, sand-colored shorebirds that nest on the beach. They’re threatened in much of their range. But plovers have gotten a boost ...

Pigeon Guillemots Have Fun

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Although many seabirds utter groans and croaks, the Pigeon Guillemot produces a lovely series of trills and whistles. As part of their courtship, they...

Why Are Blackbirds Black?

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why are blackbirds black? One possible answer is that black is conspicuous against just about all of Nature's backgrounds. Blackbirds, like this flock...

How Nestlings Leave the Nest

25 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Young birds leave their nests in different ways. Some shuffle tentatively along the nearest branch and practice flapping their wings, while others tak...

Crested Auklets Entice Their Mates with Scent

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Crested Auklets are small seabirds that nest on remote cliffs in the Northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. But it’s their smell that really sets thes...

Pelagic Birds by Boat

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Some birds spend most of their lives on the open ocean, only coming to land when it's time to breed. These high-sea specialists are called pelagic bir...

Advice to Beginning Birders from David Sibley

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David Sibley, creator and illustrator of The Sibley Guide to Birds, offers this advice for people learning to identify birds: “Spend time at home, p...

What’s in a Name? A Bird!

21 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Names are conventions, right? But some names contain something special: a bird! For example, the name Paloma comes from the colloquial name in Spanish...

Black-bellied Plover, Arctic Nester

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, June days offer almost continuous daylight to breeding birds, including this Black-bellied Plover. At this hig...

As the Crowe Flies

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Crows play many roles in human cultures, from ominous tricksters to sacred purveyors of wisdom. After exploring the stories behind her family surname,...

If You See a Bird with Leg Bands

18 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you see a wild bird with a small metal band around its leg, that means researchers have given the bird a unique ID to keep track of it over the cou...

The Chihuahuan Meadowlark

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 2022, ornithologists recognized the Chihuahuan Meadowlark as a separate species rather than a subspecies of the Eastern Meadowlark. Named after the...

Green Jay

16 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Adorned in shades of peridot green, sapphire blue, and onyx black, the Green Jay is a jewel-toned wonder with a voice as loud as its color palette. Th...

Father Birds

15 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The male hummingbird leaves the female to build the nest and raise the young alone, but other father birds are more involved. A Peregrine Falcon fathe...

Baby Bald Eagles

14 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Baby Bald Eagles have a lot to learn before they reach adulthood. While still in the nest, they practice fanning their wings and jumping into the air ...

The Oilbird's Lightless Life

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Nature has produced some exceptionally strange animals. One such creature is the Oilbird of northern South America. The Oilbird prefers a diet of wild...

The Kingfisher and the Halcyon Days

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The ancient Greeks believed the gods turned two distraught lovers into kingfishers — or “halcyon birds.” Thanks to divine assistance, these bird...

Celebrating City Birds

11 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pigeons, geese, and gulls often get a bad rap among city dwellers. But Nicole Jackson, an environmental educator and nature enthusiast, admires these ...

Black-headed Grosbeak Sings!

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The song of this male Black-headed Grosbeak has been described as that of a drunken or scat-singing robin. Compare the songs of both birds, and draw y...

Grackles Galore

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Grackles are notoriously loud and brazen birds. For all six species native to the Americas, males are iridescent black and females are sumptuous brown...

Hoatzin!

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Hoatzin is a strange bird, indeed! It looks like it was put together by a committee. But the way it looks isn't the only thing that sets this bird...

El Triunfo Cloud Forest Reserve

07 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

High in the mountains of Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico, a male Highland Guan is performing his territorial display. The Highland Guan perc...

Northern Parula Sings From on High

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Northern Parula is a tiny bird with a big personality. These colorful warblers spend their days in search of tasty insects high up in the forest c...

Bird in Flight, Strong but Light

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The feathers of a bird are, for their weight, among the strongest structures in the world. The bones of this Magnificent Frigatebird weigh less than i...

The Loquacious Chat

04 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In summer, the thick tangles of streamside vegetation in many canyons echo with an uncanny sound — the Yellow-breasted Chat. You may find it in will...

Vivaldi's Goldfinch

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bird song caught the ear of Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi. And he even named a 1729 flute concerto for a bird — the goldfinch. The source of insp...

Quirky Words for Gray Birds

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many birds have common names that refer to their dominant body color, like the Gray Catbird. Yet some species of gray birds received more colorful des...

A Pigeon’s Eye View

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In 1907, a German pharmacist named Julius Neubronner invented the pigeon camera. It was a small camera strapped to a pigeon’s breast — like a phot...

Bonding with Mom Through Birding

31 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, environmental educator and nature enthusiast Nicole Jackson tells the story of an unexpected backyard birding experience when she vis...

Migration Stories: The House Sparrow

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Deja Perkins, an urban ecologist and co-organizer of Black Birders Week, remembers seeing House Sparrows all over Chicago as a kid. These little brown...

In Defense of Big Black Birds

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Grackles, vultures, and other big black birds are often disparaged by people who’d rather they stay out of sight. But Marcus Rosten, an environmenta...

The Robin Rescue

28 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Adé Ben-Salahuddin stopped to help a trapped young bird on his way home from work, he found an unexpected source of help: an older Black woman w...

Lessons From Mixed Flocks

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

There are many benefits for birds that form mixed flocks, from safety and survival to care and feeding. We can see the power of community through the ...

Witnessing Lifers While Honoring a Life Loss

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In June 2024, environmental educator and co-organizer of Black Birders Week Dara Miles Wilson traveled to Camden, South Carolina to attend her cousin’...

Miraculous Shades of Brown

25 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sparrows are remarkable birds that come in a wide range of brown hues. Just as sparrows are frequently dismissed in favor of more "charismatic" specie...

Make Your Cloud-watching More Like Bird-watching

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When we watch birds in flight, they’re often seen against a backdrop of clouds. Clouds have many different types and are listed in the International...

California Quail, Up and Running

23 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The most distinctive characteristic of the California Quail is the black, forward-facing topknot that juts out from its forehead like a small flag. Th...

The Skatebirder

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dave Mull is not your typical birder — he's a professional skateboarder, or a “skatebirder” as he puts it. He brings binoculars with him when he...

Rivers of Birds

21 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One of the world champions of long-distance migration is the Arctic Tern. Arctic Terns nest across the far northern reaches of the continent during ou...

Migrations: Watching Migration from the Empire State Building

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

As the sun sets over New York City, author Helen Macdonald takes in the wonders of spring migration from the top of the Empire State Building. She wat...

Orchard Orioles Band Together

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Orchard orioles are social birds that build their nests in large trees among streambanks and wetlands. The males have chestnut-colored breasts and bla...

Swainson's Warbler

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Swainson's Warbler is one of North America's shyest birds. These birds forage quietly on the ground, flipping over leaves to expose and capture in...

Robins Raise a Brood in a Hurry

17 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When it comes to raising a family, American Robins have got it down. Approximately eight days after the male and female mate, the female builds the ne...

Bird Song ID

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Roger Tory Peterson, the best known American figure of 20th Century birdwatching, offered help on birding by ear. Whenever he could, he provided a cat...

How to Be a Better Wildlife Photographer

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Conservation photographer Noppadol Paothong says that if you go out to take pictures of birds, you shouldn’t just aim to take an eye-catching photo....

High Island – Migration on the Gulf

14 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you're near High Island, Texas in the spring, you might witness a "fallout," one of the great spectacles of bird migration. Thousands of birds, inc...

Warbler Migration in Ohio with Kenn Kaufman

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Every spring in Northwest Ohio, the shores of Lake Erie transform into a birder’s paradise. Birder and author Kenn Kaufman, who lives in this area, ...

American Herring Gull

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With white and grey feathers, a piercing stare, and noisy screams, the American Herring Gull is a “seagull” that's well adapted to land-locked liv...

Mother Birds

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Avian motherhood is a mixed bag. Peregrine Falcon mothers share duties fairly equally with Peregrine dads. At the other end of the spectrum is the fem...