BirdNote Daily
Episodes
The Crafty American Crow
10 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Crows. Large, black, noisy. The raucous birds of the neighborhood. Some people love them; others aren't so sure. American Crows are crafty and resourc...
Searching for Trogons in the Sycamore Trees
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just an hour south of Tucson, Arizona, Madera Canyon is a nature-lover’s dream. Among the more than 250 bird species found in this region throughout...
Bringing Condor Home
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tiana Williams-Claussen is a member of the Yurok Nation and Director of the Yurok Tribe Wildlife Department. In this episode, she shares the story of ...
Ruffed Grouse: Splendid Drummer
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The male Ruffed Grouse stands on a resonant fallen log in the shelter of a brushy thicket, thumping the air with his wings. He raises them and, cuppin...
A Sailor Finds Companionship with Birds II
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sailor and artist, Brechin Morgan, circumnavigated the globe solo. Alone on the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, he welcomed the companionship of a ...
Bobolinks: Birds of Grasslands
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Male Bobolinks are first to arrive on their breeding grounds in the grasslands. Why are there fewer Bobolinks than in decades past? Probably because t...
A Marsh With More Than One Purpose
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary in Northwest California is an important stop along the Pacific Flyway, one of the four main routes for bird mi...
International Dawn Chorus Day
03 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The first Sunday of May is International Dawn Chorus Day, a day to appreciate the beauty of birds’ dawn songs. Dawn Chorus Day began as a small even...
There’s Something About Penguins
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There’s just something about penguins. Pleasantly plump, they stand upright and teeter like toddlers. Although often depicted in black and white, mo...
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are the only hummingbirds that nest in the Eastern states. Most Ruby-throats spend the winter in Central America. By March,...
Puffin Bills Glow
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Puffins are known for their flashy bills, striped like a giant piece of candy-corn. New research has found that the bills of Atlantic Puffins glow bri...
Limpkin - Bird of the Swamp
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's dawn on a spring day in the Big Cypress Swamp of Florida. Mist rises from quiet water into Spanish moss hanging from the cypress branches. A Limp...
Bird Songs of April
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The month of April inspires poets, sometimes with contradictory results. Poet TS Eliot describes April as "the cruelest month." Shakespeare strikes an...
Soaring with Redtails
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Red-tailed Hawk soars on broad, rounded wings, the epitome of effortless flight. Without flapping, it traces a leisurely, rising circle. The hawk is...
Burrowing Owls: Howdy Birds
26 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Burrowing Owl is about as big as a can of beans on stilts. Between the long legs, bright yellow eyes, and signature bobbing salute, these little bir...
A Lost Hummingbird is Found Again
25 Apr 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,...
A Kettle of Vultures
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the daytime, hot air rises as the sun heats the ground. The rising column of air is called a thermal, and it’s the perfect way for a Turkey Vultu...
Raising the World’s Deadliest Bird
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You might think the first bird species that humans raised in captivity would be a relatively small one, like a chicken. But evidence suggests that peo...
Poetry in the Parks
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For her signature project You Are Here, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón sought to connect people and nature through poetry. In addition to curating a bo...
Great-tailed Grackle
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Great-tailed Grackles live up to their name. The glossy black males trail their long, V-shaped tails behind them as they fly, almost like a plane towi...
The Legendary Phoenix
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The ancient Greeks and Egyptians described a mythical bird called the Phoenix, a magnificent creature that was a symbol of renewal and rebirth. Accord...
Recycle Your Eggshells to Help Nesting Birds
19 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Female birds need to eat calcium to have enough of the mineral to lay their eggs. But it can be hard to find enough of it to eat in nature. We can hel...
Kinglet Fireworks
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most of the time, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet is neither ruby nor regal. A tiny songbird washed in faded olive-green, the male shows a hint of crimson atop...
Brewer's Sparrow, Sageland Singer
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most musical and complex bird songs in the U.S. is that of the Brewer's Sparrow. It's a veritable aria, ringing forth from the sagebrush of...
Pablo Neruda’s Celebrated Birds
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Pablo Neruda is considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. Though the Chilean poet is best known for his writings about love, birds wer...
What’s a Field of Grass to a Bird?
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Although a field of grass might not seem like valuable habitat at first, many birds have adapted to nest in grassland habitats and nowhere else. In No...
From Bobwhite Coveys to Pairs
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout winter, Northern Bobwhites gather in groups called coveys to search for food during the day and share warmth at night. These small quail ar...
The Eagle Eye
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ever heard the term “eagle eye?” An eagle’s vision is incredibly sharp, and its eyes can weigh more than its brain. The secret to the bird’s e...
Nest Building
12 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Want to try building a nest? Consider this... an average American Robin weighs less than three ounces. An average person weighs 170 pounds, or 1,000 t...
Music to Our Ears
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of Jessica Rugh Frantz’s favorite things about being the director of development at BirdNote is getting to hear from listeners about how much th...
Hearing From BirdNote Listeners
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We know for many listeners, BirdNote is part of your everyday routine. But don’t take our word for it. Let Michael and Mary Ann tell you what BirdNo...
Support the Things You Love
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At BirdNote, we believe that the more that people learn about birds, the more likely they are to take steps to protect them. Listeners like you have s...
BirdNoir: The Mystery of Public Media Funding
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of BirdNoir, the Private Eye gets a call from his pal Roy asking to know how BirdNote stays on the air. His wife says the show is fund...
Short and Sweet!
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We know you’ve got a busy schedule, which is why our team at BirdNote produces fun, sound-rich episodes about the natural world in less than two min...
Adopt a Tree to Save the Birds
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many birds depend on caterpillars often found on trees lining city sidewalks. But few insects spend their whole lives on the tree: the next stage is i...
How Much Birds Sing
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A typical songbird belts out its song between 1,000 and 2,500 times per day. Even though most bird songs last only a few seconds, that's a lot of warb...
Poet Holly J. Hughes Honors the Birds We've Lost
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Poet Holly J. Hughes’ book Passings is a collection of poems about 15 species of birds that we have lost, or presume to be extinct. For National Poe...
The Cool, Rugged Life of a Snow Bunting
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Arctic is still wintry when male Snow Buntings return to nesting areas in April. There's a big benefit to arriving early enough to claim a prime n...
White-crowned Sparrow
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The White-crowned Sparrow pours out its song over and over on spring and summer days-and even on moonlit nights-often up to 15 times a minute. Now her...
Secret Messages in Birdsong?
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Birds convey many types of messages through their songs and calls, but some may have ulterior motives. It may seem a bit foolish, but when BirdNote’...
Birds Expanding the Human Imagination
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Albrecht grew up in a “bird lover’s paradise” in western Australia. But when he saw how coal mining displaced communities, polluted the ai...
Robins and Earthworms: The Backstory
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When glaciers pushed south into what is now the U.S. around 20,000 years ago, they scraped off the soil layer and spelled the end of native earthworms...
Have You Ever Seen a Tom Turkey's Beard?
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With his brilliantly colored plumage fanned out in display, a tom (male) Wild Turkey is a handsome sight to behold. He has a bright red head, long spu...
Common Yellowthroat
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Common Yellowthroats are one of the most abundant warblers in North America. They’re adaptable birds, thriving in places that pickier warblers pass ...
Melanin Makes Feathers Stronger
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many species have black feathers on the trailing edge of their wings, regardless of what color most of their feathers are. Birds as different as gulls...
Thirsty Hummingbirds
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Here they come! Rufous Hummingbirds, Black-chins, Broad-bills, Ruby-throats, and others are migrating north after a hot, dry winter in sunny Mexico or...
Spark Bird: Jerome Gaw at the Aquarium
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Jerome Gaw got the chance to volunteer at the Aquarium of the Pacific, he was stoked. He'd loved sharks and marine life since he was a kid. But f...
Meet the Tiniest Owl in the World
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Standing less than six inches tall, with gray feathers and big yellow eyes, the Elf Owl weighs less than an ounce and a half — that’s a bit less t...
American Woodcock
23 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At sunset, the male American Woodcock – a plump, robin-sized bird – walks slowly on short legs from the cover of the forest to a nearby clearing. ...
Adaptations for Flight
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Birds evolved not only wings, but many other adaptations that make it possible to fly. Feathers provide insulation, waterproofing, and a lightweight m...
Zone-tailed Hawks Mimic Vultures
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Zone-tailed Hawks of the American Southwest look a lot like Turkey Vultures. And they often soar among groups of Turkey Vultures. By consorting with v...
Spring Bursts Forth
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
People often say that spring “bursts” forth. But this seasonal change isn’t like flipping a switch. It’s more like a series of waves breaking ...
Beautiful and Beneficial Gardening for Birds
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Buying enough birdseed to keep all your backyard birds satisfied can run up a big bill. Homegrown National Park co-founder Douglas Tallamy says growin...
Black Swifts Reach for the Moon
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tracking devices revealed that Black Swifts spent over 99% of their time in the air during the winter, almost never touching the ground for months. Wh...
Field Sparrow Nests Climb Higher and Higher
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Field Sparrows make use of all the warm months of the year by building multiple nests each breeding season. Females will build their first, cup-shaped...
Drumming with Woodpeckers
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Like a jazz player beating out a drum roll, a woodpecker uses its bill to rap out a brisk series of notes. Early spring resounds with the percussive h...
How Do Birds Brake from Flight?
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Birds are often admired for their ability to fly. But braking just in time to avoid a crash landing is amazing by itself. How does a robin go from ful...
Squirrel or Bird?
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Identifying birds by ear means getting familiar with each species’ unique voice. And that means learning the other voices in the ecosystem, too. Squ...
Spark Bird: The First Robin of Spring
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rasheena Fountain studied environmental science and worked at her local Audubon Society. Now she writes about nature and diversity in the outdoors. An...
Counting Ducks with Alison Vilag
12 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alison Vilag has worked for half a decade as a fall and spring waterbird counter at remote migration hotspots around Lake Superior. For weeks, every d...
Poisonous Birds
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The world is full of poisonous creatures. Some butterflies, beetles and frogs use bright colors to warn birds and other predators that they’re full ...
Glimpsing the Future Through Washington's Puffins
10 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the largest populations of Tufted Puffins are in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and other northern coastlines. But University of Puget Sound p...
Bushtits
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Weighing about as much as four paperclips, Bushtits are smaller than many hummingbirds. And they take full advantage of their diminutive size. While l...
Fastest Bird on Two Legs
08 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine an Ostrich, an Emu, a roadrunner, and the world’s fastest man and woman, all lined up for a race. Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt holds the men’...
Female Condors Have Offspring Without Males
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A captive breeding program has helped set California Condors on the path to recovery. But when biologists reviewed the family tree for the breeding pr...
The Auspicious Chime of the Bare-throated Bellbird
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The sight and sound of the Bare-throated Bellbird—the national bird of Paraguay—inspires wonder and delight. Its presence as an indicator species ...
Danielle Whittaker and the Mystery of Bird Scent
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When biologist Danielle Whittaker started studying bird odors, some scientists tried to discourage her, claiming that birds can’t smell. But that on...
Black-billed Magpie
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Black-billed Magpie is a familiar sight throughout much of the west. The magpie's bulky nest is a rough sphere of sticks nearly three feet across,...
Healing Trauma with Animals at the Kyiv Zoo
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, zookeepers at the Kyiv Zoo shared audio recordings from the animal enclosures with ...
Kingbirds Steal from Wasps
02 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kingbirds are robin-sized flycatchers that excel at plucking insects from the air. They’ll even tackle prey as big as cicadas. Finding naturally-cam...
Sage Thrasher and Sagebrush
01 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The glorious song of the male Sage Thrasher rings out every Spring from tracts of sagebrush throughout the west. Sagebrush was once widespread in the ...
You Are What You Eat
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
House Finches are familiar birds all across North America. Researchers have shown that the red coloration of males is produced from carotenoid pigment...
Long-lived Wisdom, the Albatross
27 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Laysan Albatross named Wisdom has been nesting and raising chicks on the island of Midway for nearly 60 years. She was banded back in 1956 and was r...
Nest Cavities – Book Early
26 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tree Swallows and bluebirds — like this Western Bluebird — are among the earliest northbound migrants to arrive, heralding spring a month before t...
A Heron Nest Starts with Just One Stick
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During winter and early spring, Great Blue Herons build their nests high in the treetops. The male delivers the supplies to the nest site stick by sti...
Upland Sandpipers Whistling from Fences
24 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Upland Sandpipers are an emblematic bird of grassland habitats in many regions of the Americas. These shorebirds live far from sea with the largest br...
Identifying a Bird in Flight
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most difficult skills to pick up as a birder is how to identify birds in flight. You have to sort through a series of visual clues all at o...
Meadowlark and the Monster
22 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this story from Nimiipuu culture, Meadowlark is likened to the ‘reporter’ of Western grasslands, singing its song from the tops of fenceposts a...
BirdNote Celebrates 20 years
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago today, the first BirdNote Daily episode aired on the radio in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Since then, through sound-rich stories,...
Spark Bird – Glenn Albrecht and the Gray Fantail
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Glenn Albrecht grew up in western Australia, where he became enamored with birds. As he grew up, Glenn witnessed how coal mining devastated the Austra...
Great Egrets Are Lovely and Lethal
19 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Standing over three-feet tall, Great Egrets have elegant white feathers and long slender necks. During the breeding season, both males and females gro...
The Cactus Wren's Signature Voice
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most wrens in North America are small, furtive birds that stay deep in the vegetation. But the Cactus Wren is large, bold, and brassy. These wrens are...
Northern Shovelers — Dabbling Ducks with Big Bills
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Male and female Northern Shovelers both have that unmistakable trowel-shaped bill, but they differ in plumage. Females and non-breeding males are a mo...
Rough-legged Hawk
16 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After breeding on Arctic cliffs and tundra hillsides in summer, Rough-legged Hawks winter throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Open country is their id...
Winter Birds of Southern Florida
15 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s winter in North America — a good time to head for the subtropical realms of South Florida and listen to the region’s birds, such as the sec...
For White-throated Swifts, Love Is in the Air
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For some birds, love is in the air. When a pair of White-throated Swifts wants to get to know each other, they meet up — on the wing — high above ...
Why the Black Skimmer Skims
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
That’s not a distant dog barking. It’s a Black Skimmer in flight, at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia. This striking, black-a...
Starlings Evolving in New Habitats
12 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Invasive European Starlings are one of the most common birds in North American cities. Recent genetic research into European Starlings shows that popu...
Woodpeckers Love Ants
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Woodpeckers, as a group, eat far more ants than most other birds do. Many other vertebrates tend to avoid ants because of their stings or because of t...
Eastern Bluebirds Brighten Our Days
10 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From their cheerful melodies to their vibrant color and skillful acrobatics, there’s a lot to love about Eastern Bluebirds. Look for them along coun...
Ptarmigan Toes
09 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With its rubbery-sounding rattles and clownish red eyebrows, the ptarmigan is quite the stand-out northern bird. As winter approaches, the ptarmigan’...
Swan Song
08 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, i...
Cuba’s Giant Eagles
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of years ago, giant raptors lived on what is now Cuba. Gigantohierax is an extinct genus of eagles whose fossils have been found in local ca...
Bohemian Waxwings Wander South
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In winter, when snow blankets the northern states, nearly all of the songbirds that graced the days of summer are gone. But there’s one special wint...
Red-headed Woodpeckers Fly on Checkerboard Wings
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Red-headed Woodpeckers have mastered the art of high-contrast fashion. Both males and females have deep-crimson head feathers. Their clean white body ...
BirdNoir: Staging a Bird-Murder
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of BirdNoir, the Private Eye sees some suspicious activity: a House Sparrow tries to steal a nestbox from Tree Swallows, but then flee...
Kenon Walker, Duckmaster
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kenon Walker got one of the most unusual job offers you can get: be the Duckmaster of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. That means he would lead the hotel...
Small Birds Mob Big Ones
02 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When smaller birds join forces to ward off larger birds, it's called mobbing. This behavior — like calling your family for help — is used by many ...
Winter Birds Love Suet
01 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Birds at a suet feeder... What a burst of vitality on a chilly morning! What's the attraction? A cake of suet, suspended from a branch in a small wire...
Alpine Swifts Fly Nonstop
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How long can a bird fly without touching the earth? To find out, Swiss scientists attached sensors to Alpine Swifts. The sensors showed long periods w...