BirdNote Daily

The Brown Thrasher's Never-Ending Songbook

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Northern Mockingbird isn’t the only mimic bird in town. Brown Thrashers also learn songs from nearby birds and add them to their repertoire. The...

The Ulūlu's Comeback

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There are promising signs that a native Hawaiian bird called the ulūlu is on the way to recovery. Also known as the Millerbird, this small gray songb...

Phainopeplas Glisten

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A slim, sleek bird with a spiky crest, Phainopepla comes from the Greek for “shining cloak.” The name refers to the male’s glistening, inky blac...

Minnesotans Embrace Their Inner Loons

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Each year, adults and children gather in Crosslake, Minnesota to celebrate the incredible sounds of the Common Loon — the state bird of the land of ...

Turkey Vulture - Sky Sailor

18 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Although some of the Turkey Vulture's habits may evoke our disgust, these remarkable birds also inspire our awe. With wingspans approaching six feet, ...

When Does a Crossbill's Bill Cross?

17 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A young crossbill starts life with a wedge-shaped beak. As it grows up and starts to feed itself by removing conifer seeds from their tough packaging,...

Hovering with Horned Larks

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Horned Larks rival meadowlarks as the most colorful birds of North American grasslands. They live in prairies, fields, and tundra, but agriculture and...

Looking Two Ways at Once

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Great-tailed Grackles are known for their long, expressive tails, and their wide vocabulary of odd sounds. But this bird has another special trait. A ...

Making a Home Among the Saguaros

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the arid Arizona desert, where cacti thrive but trees are scarce, the Gila Woodpecker and Gilded Flicker carve out nest cavities in living saguaros...

The Peabody Ducks

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Twice every day, a rapt audience gathers at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee to see six local celebrities: five ducks and the hotel’s head Du...

Scintillating Starlings

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Africa, where there are dozens of starling species, a quick look reveals a variety of visual stunners. Some of the names hint at their dazzle: Supe...

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

11 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A male Buff-breasted Sandpiper courts a female on their breeding grounds far north of the Arctic Circle. He raises his wings, flashing their silvery-w...

Migration and Fat

10 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If long migratory flights are amazing, what goes on inside a bird’s body during those flights seems absolutely astonishing. To store fat, birds may ...

The Crafty Carolina Wren

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Though half the size of a robin, the Carolina Wren has a powerful singing voice that seems to come from a much bigger bird. Many people remember their...

Protecting Endangered Birds from Maui’s Wildfires

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Maui Bird Conservation Center helps care for Hawai‘i’s critically endangered bird species, some of which have gone extinct in the wild. Jennif...

A Giant Parrot of New Zealand

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

New Zealand was once home to a massive parrot that stood three feet tall, about hip-high to most adult humans. It’s estimated that the bird weighed ...

Migrations: Watching Seabirds Summer at the Lake

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many oceanic species like grebes, loons, pelicans, and gulls migrate far inland to raise their young near freshwater lakes. Ring-billed Gulls, for exa...

Bringing Birding Adventures to Broward County

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While Sierra Taliaferro was working as a Naturalist in Broward County, Florida, in 2021, she collaborated with Broward County Library to help enhance ...

An Amazing World of Owls

04 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Owls are magnificent animals that share our cities with us, and live in some of the most extreme environments on Earth. They range in size from huge, ...

Pigeon Flocks Follow the Leader

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The flocking movements of homing pigeons are governed by a pecking order. Higher-ranked birds have more influence over how the flock moves. Leading bi...

For Shorebirds, Summer Ends Early

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We often think of birds migrating south in the fall. But many species kick off their big trips surprisingly early in the year. Shorebirds nesting in t...

Gannets and Dolphins

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Northern Gannets, fish-eating seabirds, dive headfirst into the ocean at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour, pursuing their prey. Sometimes, they get he...

Precision Flight in Flocks: How Does It Work?

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A flock of shorebirds flying wingtip to wingtip seems to act like a single organism, rolling and twisting in exquisite patterns. Flocks like these use...

Birds in Art Through the Ages

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Birds were one of the earliest subjects for human artists. A cave painting in France over 30,000 years old shows the unmistakable outline of an owl. P...

Having Your Tail Scared Off

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a hawk is about to capture a songbird, the songbird has one last trick: a fright molt. It’s when a bird loses feathers due to sudden stress. Th...

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher: Little Bird with a Big Story

28 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The slim, 4½-inch Blue-gray Gnatcatcher is found over much of the East and Midwest and in parts of the West, too. It actively searches trees and bush...

To Mob or Not to Mob

27 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a bird of prey flies over, a flock of crows may dive-bomb the predator and give it a noisy escort out of town. An Eastern Kingbird, like this one...

Which Bird Has the Most Feathers

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In general, the bigger the bird, the higher the number of feathers. Someone counted the feathers on a Tundra Swan and came up with 25,216. At least 80...

Bridging Hawaiian Culture and Conservation

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sam ‘Ohu Gon is the Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor for the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i. He's something of a rare combination: academicall...

Black-necked Stilt – The Bird with Outrageous Legs

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Visit a shallow wetland in summer, and you might see this slender, black-and-white shorebird with outrageous red legs. The Black-necked Stilt uses its...

Taking the Bus for Birds

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

By carrying more people in a single vehicle, mass transit can use less energy than cars. Taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can help the ...

Black-crowned Night-Heron

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Black-crowned Night-Herons feed primarily on fish, but they will consume everything from earthworms to clams to eggs of nesting birds and refuse at la...

Shorebirds Aren't Always on the Shore

21 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Shorebirds' lives take them to many places other than the shore. Most of the shorebirds we see along our coasts migrate to the Arctic in summer. Here,...

Australia's Rainforest Birds

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The rainforests of Eastern and Northeastern Australia harbor many species of birds found almost nowhere else. This Eastern Whipbird — which is more ...

Emily Raboteau and Harlem's Gray Hawk Mural

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last few years, writer Emily Raboteau has been going out and photographing a series of bird murals found throughout New York City commissione...

A Cardinal That's Half Male, Half Female

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, people have reported seeing Northern Cardinals that are red on one side and brown on the other, indicating that...

J. Drew Lanham’s Taxonomy of Bird Obsessions

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ornithologist J. Drew Lanham's favorite bird is “the one with feathers.” But here, he shares a few species that have been especially on his mind l...

Flying and Molting - A Tricky Balance

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Feathers are amazing structures. But after about a year, constant use and exposure to the elements mean they have to be replaced. So how do you replac...

How Birds Can Help Coral Reefs Recover

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today kicks off Coral Reef Awareness Week. Coral reefs are hotspots of biodiversity, but they’re threatened by warming ocean temperatures, pollution...

Kestrels Love Nest Boxes

14 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This American Kestrel evolved to nest in tree cavities or small caves in cliffs. We humans have made life difficult for kestrels. Development has shru...

You Could Take a Pigeon to the Movies

13 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A movie runs at 24 frames per second, just right for humans to sense as normal speed. Pigeons process the visual world several times faster. The frant...

Hearing Birdsong Can Help Decrease Anxiety

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many people would tell you that hearing birdsong puts them in a good mood. Recently, scientists have tried to put numbers to this effect that many of ...

What's Inside a Woodpecker's Nest Hole?

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many woodpeckers chisel out deep cavities in tree trunks in order to lay their eggs and raise their brood. The cavities hollowed out by the birds vary...

A Renaming Committee of One

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amid discussion of renaming birds that are named after people, ornithologist J. Drew Lanham forms a “committee of one” to choose his own names for...

Rock Climbing Among the Peregrines

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Eagle Cliff in New Hampshire’s Franconia Notch State Park is an important nesting site for Peregrine Falcons. Each year, popular climbing routes in ...

Polite Birds Gesture 'After You' with Their Wings

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers studying birds called Japanese Tits, relatives of the chickadees and titmice in North America, noticed that mates raising chicks together ...

Spider Silk - Duct Tape for Bird Nests

07 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The spider’s web is an intricate piece of precision engineering. Made from large proteins, it’s sticky, stretchy, and tough. So it’s no surprise...

Great Egret's Lacy Courtship

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Male Great Egrets have special long feather plumes called aigrettes, which they use in courtship displays in the spring. These beautiful big birds wer...

David Shepard and the 'Alala

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Artist David Shepard designs aloha shirts with illustrations of Hawai‘i's native flora and fauna. David actually trained as a botanist, and one of h...

The Marsh Wren's Many Nests

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tiny Marsh Wrens live in wetlands, usually within cattails, reeds, or bulrushes. After choosing his territory, the male weaves up to 15 dome-shaped sh...

My Grandmother’s Ornithology, and Mine

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, J. Drew Lanham shares how his grandmother’s personal names for  birds helped shape his own relationships with birds. Names such as...

American Robins Are Exceptional Singers

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As singers go, American Robins are exceptional. They’re often the first birds to sing in the morning, and the last you’ll hear in the evening. Whi...

New English Names for Birds

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re new to birding, you might be baffled by names like Couch’s Kingbird, Wilson’s Warbler, and Townsend’s Solitaire. These birds were na...

Begging Sounds and Postures

30 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After young birds have left the nest and can fly short distances, they still follow their parents and beg for food. They squawk and assume a begging p...

An Enormous Eagle Evolves

29 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Evolution on islands can produce unusually large species. Haast’s Eagle lived on the islands now known as New Zealand. With a wingspan of 9 feet and...

Nesting Again

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Raising baby birds is a lot of work. You might think that after seeing off their fledged young ones, bird parents would call it a day. But a surprisin...

The Dickcissel

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In grasslands of the central U.S., birds called Dickcissels sing a quirky song that “spells out” the syllables of their name. Dickcissels are appr...

Birding 101: Where to Find Birds

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

There’s no wrong place to search for birds — looking out the window and listening for calls and songs is a great place to start. But you might be ...

Cormorants Dive During the Day

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At midday, it might seem like the birds that were so active in the morning have gone silent, maybe even vanished. But cormorants rally in the afternoo...

Dawn in the Marsh

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's dawn in a western marsh in mid-summer, and man! Those birds are singin'! The males of more than a dozen species are staking out their territories...

Brown Pelicans - Conservation Success

23 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Brown Pelicans are a regular sight today along the Gulf of Mexico and our southern coastlines. But these birds have not always been so plentiful. They...

Scarlet Tanagers Under the Canopy

22 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In summer, the forests of the eastern United States are home to a bounty of birds, including this gorgeous Scarlet Tanager, which spends most of the y...

Baby Birds – Leave Them Alone

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Just because a young bird appears to be alone – whether on the ground or squawking loudly from a bush or tree – doesn't necessarily mean it is sic...

The Superpowers of the Humble Bobolink

20 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you had to pick the bird most like a superhero, the Bobolink might not be an obvious choice. But these quirky blackbirds have abilities that would ...

A Music Student Inspired by Bird Sounds

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Eleven-year-old Zjencès Bell took an early interest in birds after he learned his first bird call. As a piano student, Zjencès soon blended his love...

The Link Between Birds and Alligators

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The crocodilians — crocodiles and their relatives, like the American Alligator — are the closest living relatives of birds. About 250 million year...

American Golden-Plover Lays Claim to the Tundra

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A male American Golden-Plover proclaims its nesting territory with an aerial display known as the "butterfly flight." After flying up 50 feet, the plo...

Spark Bird: Nick Belardes and the Vermilion Flycatcher

16 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Author Nick Belardes was walking at a park near his home in San Luis Obispo, California, when he saw a man who seemed in tune with birds. Belardes ask...

Northern Hawk Owl

15 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Northern Hawk Owl is one of the least studied and least known of all birds in North America. Northern Hawk Owls are owls, but they share several t...

All Those Colorful Orioles

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Baltimore Oriole is a standout bird. With adult males’ electric orange and jet black feathers, and females and immature birds in various shades ...

Flickers and Buffleheads

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After a Northern Flicker carves out a nest cavity, chances are the birds will use the cavity for just one nesting season. But the cavity may have a pr...

Studying Climate Change by Watching Bird Nests

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and by Birds Canada, volunteers for Project NestWatch observe local nesting birds and track whether they’...

Have You Ever Seen a Pink Gull?

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Some gulls and terns may show a glowing pink color, similar to that of flamingos and spoonbills. This pink color comes from pigments in the birds' foo...

Common Nighthawks at the Ballgame

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

An evening baseball game isn’t the only thing illuminated by the bright stadium lights. High in the air, countless flying insects are drawn to them....

City Hawks Versus Country Hawks

09 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Resident Cooper’s Hawks that nest in the urban areas of Albuquerque, New Mexico, are thriving as the populations of doves, their prey, have exploded...

Surviving Hail Storms

08 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As it began to hail, Marlon Inniss saw several Canada Geese doing something odd. Rather than trying to shield their heads, the geese pointed their bil...

Setting the Thermostat with Birds in Mind

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve already done things around the home with birds in mind, consider one more action that might be less obvious. Turning the thermostat down a...

Three Brown Thrushes

06 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Swainson's Thrush, the Hermit Thrush, and this Veery are small, brown birds, but their songs clearly distinguish them. The Swainson's Thrush annou...

David Shepard’s Aloha Shirts

05 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After David Shephard moved to Hawai‘i to study botany, he realized that the “main character” of the islands is birds — many plants have co-evo...

Indigo Bunting - Bird of the Ecotone

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Many birds – like this Indigo Bunting – can be found in ecotones, the borders between two habitats. Indigo Buntings breed in the ecotone between f...

Emily Raboteau on New York City's Bird Murals

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Emily Raboteau’s book, Lessons for Survival, begins with a painting of two Burrowing Owls on the security gate of a local business in West Harlem, n...

Migrations: Tiny Bird, Epic Journey

02 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the spring, Rufous Hummingbirds journey from Mexico to the northwest U.S., some as far north as Alaska! That’s almost 1,000 miles one way for a b...

The African American Heritage Water Trail

01 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Lillian Holden — a Chicago-based environmental educator — introduces us to the African American Heritage Water Trail, a 7-mile st...

Deja Perkins on Gaps in Bird Observations

31 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For her PhD, Deja Perkins is studying datasets generated by the public, also known as participatory science projects. These projects include eBird, a ...

Spark Bird: Dara Wilson and the Blue-gray Tanager

30 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

While Dara Wilson was working at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C., she introduced visitors to the Amazonia exhibit. She would describe the son...

The Robin Rescue

29 May 2024

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...

What the Niagara River Means to Birds and People

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode narrated by Marcus Rosten explores the history and the birdlife of the Niagara River Corridor. Just downstream from the falls, Long-taile...

If Someone Calls You 'Birdbrain,' Say Thanks

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, neuroscientist Lola Neal explores how birds are used as models to understand many neural processes, as they have cognitive abilities ...

Introducing Black Birders Week 2024

26 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode, Nicole Jackson and Emma Brittain announce the fifth year of Black Birders Week, a week-long celebration with events and activities th...

Celebrating Female Bird DayEducating people on female bird ID.

25 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2019, several co-workers at the National Audubon Society formed a team for the World Series of Birding that focused on identifying female birds. Ca...

Saving Snags for Red-headed Woodpeckers

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Red-headed Woodpeckers excavate cavities in large, dead trees called snags. Yet, over much of the Red-head's range, snags are frequently cut down as u...

Night Voices – Nightjars

23 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As darkness descends on a May evening, the voices of many birds go quiet. But for some birds, especially those known as nightjars, the music is just b...

BirdNoir: The Catbird That Wasn't

22 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of BirdNoir, Private Eye Michael Stein gives a word of advice to Ollie, an up-and-coming gumshoe. Ollie thinks he has heard his first ...

From Egg-laying to Hatching and Beyond

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Waterfowl like this Muscovy duckling spend up to 30 days in the egg, so they’re able to walk, swim, and feed themselves as soon as they hatch. We ca...

Singing Under Streetlights

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Some birds have always called nocturnally, but other species are relative newcomers to the nighttime music scene, specifically in urban areas. Birds s...

Seabirds Drink Salt Water

19 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Seabirds have no problem drinking sea water. The salt they take in is absorbed and moves through their blood stream into a pair of salt glands above t...

Habitat Defined

18 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When you think of habitat, think of home. For a jay that lives in the forest, the forest is its habitat – where it finds food, water, shelter, and t...

The Noisy Willet

17 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Toddlers – Fledgling Chickadees

16 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes in spring or summer, you might see a fledgling songbird. Like a toddler, it’s unsteady, awkward, and learning the ropes. And you might won...

Preventing Birds from Striking Windows

15 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When migratory birds fly through populated areas at night, buildings with lights on can cause them to become disoriented. And birds don’t see clear ...