BirdNote Daily

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 ...

The Link Between Whales, Seabirds, and a Tiny Fish

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In shallow waters off the coast of Massachusetts, ocean predators come from far and wide to hunt. Humpback whales join Great Shearwaters and many othe...

Long-eared Owls Fly at Night

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Nocturnal Long-eared Owls tuck up in dense stands of trees across North America and temperate Europe and Asia. They may form communal roosts up to a h...

Fancy Fruit-doves in the South Pacific

12 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fruit-doves are forest-dwelling doves of the South Pacific found on island groups like the Philippines and New Guinea. There are 54 species of fruit-d...

On World Migratory Bird Day, Think of Insects

11 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today is World Migratory Bird Day, which recognizes the incredible journeys birds make, the challenges they face, and how we can help them on their wa...

Helping BirdNote Continue Its Journey

10 May 2024

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....

Keeping Our Eyes on the Details

09 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Every BirdNote episode starts with a solid grounding in research. When we play a bird sound for you, first we make sure you're hearing the right speci...

Where Do Our Stories Come From?

08 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

BirdNote shows begin in many ways: a great listener question, witnessing a cool bird behavior, or a new scientific discovery. But there’s one common...

BirdNote Helps You Get to Know Your Neighborhood

07 May 2024

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...

Sharing BirdNote with the Next Generation

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a new generation of birds hatches, they copy the songs they hear from nearby adults. A young bird’s first attempts aren’t perfect. But like a...

Swallow-tailed Kite

05 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A bird of prey in the American Southeast takes grace to an utterly new level. It's the Swallow-tailed Kite. A sleek raptor with a deeply forked tail, ...

Gulls or 'Seagulls'?

04 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gulls seem so much a part of the sea that we often just call them "seagulls," a colloquial title for these graceful, ubiquitous creatures. Twenty-two ...

Do Parrots Name Their Chicks?

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Parrots are among the smartest of birds. But are they clever enough to know each other by name? Research conducted by ornithologist Karl Berg suggests...

Spring Birds Arrive in the Eastern Forest

02 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

May in an Eastern hardwood forest, and the chorus of spring birdsong is nearing its peak. The Carolina Wren, a year-round resident, has been singing s...

Craig Santos Perez and the Last Safe Habitat

01 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Poet Craig Santos Perez grew up on the island of Guam, and later moved to Hawai‘i where his children were born. Both are places that once flourished...

BirdNoir: The Wild Tom Turkey

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode of BirdNoir, the private eye gets a call from H. Jon Benjamin about unusual Wild Turkey behavior. A male turkey (known as a “tom”)...

Birding 101: Finding Birds Any Time of Day

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Morning is a great time for birding – that’s the peak of singing and foraging activity for many species. But it’s not the only time to experienc...

Beak Meets Seed

28 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Birds like finches, chickadees and Northern Cardinals love sunflower seeds, but each species uses a different strategy to extract the meat. When a fin...

Unlikely Places to Go Birding

27 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Birding is often best in the least likely places. At sewage treatment plants, watch for ducks and gulls - and raptors keeping watch over them all. Ano...

Claire Wahmanholm: You Can Always Hear the Highway

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Poet Claire Wahmanholm's work focuses on nature and the environment. As she was walking around a nature preserve north of Chicago, Claire was listenin...

Cactus Wren Nest Orientation

25 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cactus Wrens, which may nest several times between March and September, carefully orient their nests in tune with the season. These bulky twig structu...

Green-winged Teal by the Millions

24 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Green-winged Teal are North America's smallest dabbling duck, at just over a foot long and weighing less than a pound. The male has a cinnamon brown h...

Great Tinamou, Eerie Voice in the Jungle

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The eerie sound of the Great Tinamou can be heard in the lowland jungle throughout much of Central and South America. Secretive — and almost impossi...

Hawai‘i as a Model for Conservation

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

With invasive species and climate change, Hawai‘i has experienced so much loss and extinction since Western colonists arrived. But Sam ‘Ohu Gon, t...

How Cliff Swallows Build a Nest

21 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Cliff Swallows arrive on the breeding grounds in North America, the dirty work begins. The swallows scoop up mud in their beaks and carefully bui...

Creating Bird Habitat at Home

20 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest threats to birds is the decline in biodiversity due to habitat loss — and the traditional, manicured lawn isn’t helping. Growin...

The Secret to Singing Like a Cardinal

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Northern Cardinals have vocal abilities that surpass even the most accomplished human singers. When cardinals sing, they sweep their voices from the h...

Recognizing a Stranded Loon

18 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Loons are built for life in the water – so much so that their legs don’t work well on land. During migration, loons sometimes mistake wet pavement...

Aplomado Falcon

17 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Aplomado Falcons were once widespread residents of the American Southwest, but by the 1950s, they'd disappeared entirely from the region. Loss of habi...

Lee Ann Roripaugh: String of Beads

16 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When writer Lee Ann Roripaugh visited the annual staging grounds of Sandhill Cranes in Nebraska, she was in awe of the birds. During their spring migr...

Why a Gorget Glitters

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A hummingbird's brilliant throat feathers are called a "gorget," a term applied in past centuries to the metallic swatch protecting the throat of a kn...

How Birds Survived the Asteroid

14 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago wreaked worldwide ecological damage, spelling the end for most dinosaurs and destroying the...

White-tailed Hawks on the Texas Coastal Plain

13 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The White-tailed Hawk thrives in the grassy plains of the Texas Coastal Plain, where many tropical species reach the northern limit of their ranges. W...

Spark Bird: John Kessler and the Music of Birds

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Kessler served as BirdNote’s senior producer for over 18 years. But before BirdNote existed, he was recording the sounds of Seattle for public ...

Burrowing Belted Kingfisher

11 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Belted Kingfisher dashes through the air, warning intruders with its rapid-fire, rattling call. In spring, the best places to see Belted Kingfishe...

Aviary: Bird Echolocation to the Rescue

10 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this episode featuring Aviary — the shapeshifting bird superhero — the surprising abilities of birds come in handy when a student gets lost exp...

Birds Dress for Spring

09 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It's spring! And for many birds, a time to look their best to attract a new mate. This American Goldfinch has recently molted. Its old, worn-down feat...

Lyrebirds Shift the Earth

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Beavers are well known as ecosystem engineers in North America. In Australia, lyrebirds play a big role in shaping their environment when they use the...

House Wren – Little Brown Dynamo

07 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

House Wrens dart from perch to perch and sing almost nonstop. They’re one of the most thoroughly studied songbird species. House Wrens nest in cavit...

Mockingbirds Mimic Frogs

06 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The avian world is full of mimicry artists, but Northern Mockingbirds take it to a new level. Not only can they imitate other birds, they can mimic fr...