BirdNote
337 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 3 years ago - ★★★★★ - 485 ratingsEscape the daily grind and immerse yourself in the natural world. Rich in imagery, sound, and information, BirdNote inspires you to notice the world around you. Join us for daily two-minute stories about birds, the environment, and more.
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Episodes
Why Act on Behalf of Other Species?
May 15, 2020 07:00With so many pressing human needs in the world, for food, water, and places to live, why should we act on behalf of the wellbeing of other animals? For George Archibald of the International Crane Foundation, it’s a matter of ethics.
Peacocks in India
May 14, 2020 07:00Peacocks have been domesticated for thousands of years and now occur everywhere in the world. But to see wild peacocks, you'll need to go to India and Sri Lanka. Where hunted, peacocks are shy and rarely seen, and give loud alarm calls when startled.
Decoy - Shrike Trickery
May 13, 2020 07:00Northern Shrikes are unapologetically cool, with their black masks, elegant gray plumage, and predatory lifestyle. But these little raptors, although technically songbirds, sometimes sound less than appealing.
Dippers on the Elwha
May 12, 2020 07:00In 2014, the dams on the Elwha River in Washington State were removed. As the river ran free again, salmon from the Pacific were able to spawn upstream for the first time in 100 years, dramatically improving conditions for American Dippers.
Beaks and Grosbeaks
May 11, 2020 07:00Beaks suited for opening tough, hard seeds—thick, conical beaks—evolved in more than one lineage of birds. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are related to cardinals, which also have powerful beaks.
Gulls or "Seagulls"?
May 09, 2020 07:00Gulls 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 species breed in North America. The Pacific coast is home to the aptly named Western Gulls.
Great Horned Owl III
May 08, 2020 07:00This Great Horned Owlet - about 2-1/2 months old and already as big as its parents - is quite well feathered, although its underparts remain downy. Its wing and tail feathers are developing nicely, and it has begun to make short flights.
Beavers and Meadows
May 07, 2020 07:00Viva Las Vegas -- When explorer Antonio Armijo came upon the place in 1829, he found bubbling springs, abundant beavers, and grassy beaver meadows. No casinos. Armijo named the site Las Vegas – Spanish for “the meadows.” Beavers do much to shape the natural landscape.
Common Eiders Favor Close Relatives
May 06, 2020 07:00Some species of birds try to save energy by tricking others into incubating their eggs. After studying the nests of Common Eiders, researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden determined that trickery among close relatives of the nest owners caused no aggression.
Robins and Earthworms: The Backstory
May 05, 2020 07:00When 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 except in the southern states.
Boreal Birds Need Half
May 04, 2020 07:00The boreal forest of North America provides breeding habitat for billions of birds, such as this Semipalmated Plover. But the forest is under pressure. Many boreal birds are declining — while development and resource extraction are intensifying. Fortunately, there’s an upside.
Skylark - With Aretha Franklin
May 03, 2020 07:00Imagine: Singing for three minutes while soaring to 100 feet in the air, like the Skylark. None of the native birds of North America has such a long song or sings so persistently in flight.
The Perfect Nestbox
May 02, 2020 07:00Many native cavity-nesters - including this Black-capped Chickadee - will nest in a manmade birdhouse, or nestbox. Look for a nestbox that's plain wood. If the birdhouse comes with a perch, remove it. It just makes it easier for a predator bird to land and go after the eggs or young.
Which Bird Has the Most Feathers
May 01, 2020 07:00In 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% were on the swan’s neck. Penguins, on the other hand, have lots of small feathers all over their bodies.
Double-Crested Cormorant
April 30, 2020 07:00Sitting on a piling, wings outstretched, the Double-crested Cormorant looks like a black Celtic cross. Cormorants dive from the water's surface, pursuing prey under water, propelled by powerful webbed feet.
People Improving the Lives of Birds
April 29, 2020 07:00Over the years, BirdNote has paid tribute to people who improve the lives of birds. We find inspiration in the efforts of stewards such as Jim Brown, who’s preserving important habitat for birds such as this Lewis's Woodpecker, along the Clark Fork River in Montana.
Osprey Stance
April 28, 2020 07:00When humans ride a skateboard or snowboard or surf a wave, most prefer the same foot forward every time. A new study finds that Ospreys, too, often exhibit a favorite foot forward in flight. Today's show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
Marbled Godwits
April 27, 2020 07:00It's April, and godwits are on their way north. They have wintered along the coasts, including the Texas Gulf Coast, and along the Pacific from California to Washington. While most breed in the prairie provinces of Canada, some nest as far north as Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
John James Audubon Birthday
April 26, 2020 07:00April 26th is the birthday of John James Audubon - flamboyant, groundbreaking artist, dedicated observer, adventurer, and writer. John James Audubon grew up in France, but moved to Philadelphia at 18.
A Natural Feast for Hummingbirds
April 25, 2020 07:00Hoping to attract hummingbirds to your yard or balcony? One way is to grow native plants. Native plants provide cover, and they offer nectar in spring and summer. They also attract insects, the most important part of a hummingbird’s diet.
Bird Songs of April
April 24, 2020 07:00The month of April inspires poets, sometimes with contradictory results. Poet TS Eliot describes April as "the cruelest month." Shakespeare strikes an upbeat note, writing "April hath put a spirit of youth in everything." Let April speak for itself. Listen to the birds.
Rusty Blackbirds - A Rusty Recovery
April 23, 2020 07:00It’s basic black with an inelegant voice. It nests in places we rarely visit. And in relative obscurity, the Rusty Blackbird has suffered one of the most dramatic population declines ever recorded among our songbirds.
Earth Day
April 22, 2020 07:00Northern Bobwhite ... Evening Grosbeaks ... Boreal Chickadees ... Common Terns ... and Northern Pintails, like this one ... the populations of all are in decline, mostly due to habitat loss.
Emily K. Michael - Trading Threes
April 21, 2020 07:00Because she’s blind, Emily K. Michael experiences birds through their songs and calls. As a birder and poet, she describes hearing three Northern Cardinals singing to each other, as she walked her dog.
Voices and Vocabularies - Cardinals' Duet
April 20, 2020 07:00Among most North American songbirds, it’s males alone who sing. But during the nesting season, we also hear female cardinals. Just when she sings and whether or not she matches his song may determine when the male brings food to the nest.
Kingdom of Rarities - Featuring Eric Dinerstein
April 19, 2020 07:00Why are some creatures rare and others common? What forces – natural and manmade – cause rarity? Eric Dinerstein travels far and wide for answers. He wonders how different the world could be with a few changes: “. . .
The Ten Commandments of Subirdia
April 18, 2020 07:00In his book Welcome To Subirdia, bird expert John Marzluff offers a guide for living in close proximity to birds and other wildlife.
Backyard Bird Science
April 17, 2020 07:00One of the best studies of a North American bird ever written was published by a citizen-scientist named Margaret Morse Nice. Margaret Nice banded more than 800 Song Sparrows in a 40-acre tract in Ohio. Most of us have neither the time nor the 40 acres, but there is still much we can do.
Stefania Gomez - Swifts
April 16, 2020 07:00Each September, thousands of Vaux's Swifts roost in the chimney of Chapman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, a stopover on their southern migration. Crowds gather every night to watch the spectacle.
A Giant Parrot of New Zealand
April 15, 2020 07:00New 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 around fifteen pounds, and it probably didn’t fly.
American Woodcock
April 14, 2020 07:00At 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. After a few sharp calls, the woodcock takes flight. As it spirals upward, slim, stiff feathers at its wingtips create a curious twittering.
Thomas Jefferson's Mockingbirds
April 13, 2020 07:00Mockingbirds, masters of mimicry, are prone to ramble on and on. Sometimes they even sing at night. Thomas Jefferson kept Northern Mockingbirds in his office and sleeping quarters, while president in the early 1800s.
The Lark Ascending
April 12, 2020 07:00In “The Lark Ascending,” composer Ralph Vaughan Williams conjures up a bucolic vision of pastoral England. Small fields, hedgerows, an early summer’s morning. And the display flight of a Eurasian Skylark: Alauda arvensis.
Spring Rain Refreshes a Desert
April 11, 2020 07:00Springtime in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southeastern California. Cacti and wildflowers glisten with raindrops, and birds begin to sing. A House Finch, a Bewick's Wren, a Cactus Wren, a Mourning Dove, and this Costa's Hummingbird all add their sounds.
Spider Silk - Duct Tape for Bird Nests
April 10, 2020 07:00The 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 that many small birds — including this Anna’s Hummingbird — make a point of collecting strands of spider silk to use in nest construction.
A Wide World of Crows
April 09, 2020 07:00Crows are found on every continent except South America and Antarctica. And while there are a lot of similarities, there are a lot of differences, too. Imagine a powder-gray crow with a pink beak. There’s one thing they have in common, though: they’re all smart.
Seabirds Drink Salt Water
April 08, 2020 07:00Seabirds 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 their eyes. The densely salty fluid is excreted from the nostrils and runs down grooves in the bill.
A Cardinal That's Half Male, Half Female
April 07, 2020 07:00In Texas, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, people have reported seeing Northern Cardinals that are red on one side and brown on the other, indicating that a bird is half male and half female. This anomaly occurs in other species of birds, as well, not just cardinals. Insects, too!
Hummingbird Migration Myths
April 06, 2020 07:00Does a hummingbird migrate by hitching a ride on the back of a goose? Not exactly.
Sage Thrasher and Sagebrush
April 05, 2020 07:00The glorious song of the male Sage Thrasher rings out every spring from tracts of sagebrush throughout the West. Sagebrush was once widespread in the Great Basin region, and so were the thrashers.
Walk Down an Arroyo
April 04, 2020 07:00Arroyo means "stream" in Spanish. With mesquite, yucca, and cactus along their edges, arroyos in the Southwest fill with water only a few times a year, mostly during the heavy rains of late summer. There's a remarkable diversity of wildlife here, including this Pyrrhuloxia.
You Could Take a Pigeon to the Movies
April 03, 2020 07:00A 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 frantic car chase that puts us at the edge of our seats would likely appear—to a pigeon—more like a slideshow or PowerPoint.
House Sparrow - Introduction
April 02, 2020 07:00The House Sparrow was first introduced into the US from England in the 1850s and has spread across the country. The name "House Sparrow" fits it well, because – from Bangor, Maine to San Diego, and Alaska to the Panama Canal – it's found nearly everywhere people live.
Eoornis - A Bird of the Gobi Desert
April 01, 2020 07:00The critically endangered Eoörnis of the Gobi Desert was first described in scientific literature in the late 1920s. This bird is known informally as the Woofen-poof — because of the sound it makes when it takes off from the desert sand.
Winter Wren in a Carolina Cathedral, With Gordon Hempton
March 31, 2020 07:00Gordon Hempton, the Sound Tracker, records the sounds of nature in pristine places. Mesmerized by a Winter Wren singing in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest of the Carolinas, Gordon chased the bird up and down a mountain before capturing its song at close range.
The Beauty of Webbed Feet
March 30, 2020 07:00Webbed feet are ideal for birds that swim, on the water’s surface or under. In fact, they’re such a nifty adaptation that they evolved, independently, in several bird groups. Ducks and geese, gulls, cormorants, loons, pelicans, penguins, puffins and boobies all have webbed feet.
Music Inspired by Chicks Hatching - Mussorgsky and Ravel
March 29, 2020 07:00Inspired by a talented friend's painting called "Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks," Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky wrote a piano piece as part of his famous work Pictures at an Exhibition. The composition was later orchestrated by Maurice Ravel.
Thirsty Rufous Hummingbird
March 28, 2020 07:00Hummingbirds need to consume five times their body weight each day. This Rufous Hummingbird of the West is looking for flowering plants to quench that mighty thirst on its spring migration. A feeder would work, too. Put a hummingbird feeder up in your yard, and see who turns up!
Great Tinamou, Eerie Voice in the Jungle
March 27, 2020 07:00The eerie sound of the Great Tinamou can be heard in the lowland jungle throughout much of Central and South America. Secretive — and almost impossible to see — Great Tinamous call early and late in the day. And their voices carry a long distance.