Latest Birdsong Podcast Episodes
An Unusual Place to Eat and Rest
Threatened - February 07, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn Puerto Rico, there is an area of saline lagoons, salt flats and mangrove swamps where humans have extracted salt for over 500 years. We often describe the effects of human activity on the environment as negative. But the migratory birds that eat and rest in one of the most visited places by l...
The Scientific Name Doesn’t Do It Justice
Threatened - January 31, 2023 10:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsBirds have their common English name and a name in the languages of all the places they might fly through. And then they have their Latin name, which is their taxonomic name, the one scientists use. In this episode, we learn about a decades-long effort in Puerto Rico to change San Pedrito's scie...
Protecting a Bird and Ourselves
Threatened - January 24, 2023 10:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsHow do you organize a group of people to protect a bird from powerful forces? The Julián Chiví, or Black-whiskered Vireo, reveals a story of a community banding together to save a species, its environment, and ultimately, the people themselves. The organizers in Puerto Rico decided to go beyond ...
The Puerto Rican Parrot Comeback
Threatened - January 17, 2023 10:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the season premiere, we travel to Puerto Rico to meet a bird that has survived deforestation, hurricanes and the exotic pet trade. The Puerto Rican parrot saw its numbers drop to almost zero at one point. But today, its population is growing and stabilizing. To achieve this, the people involv...
Hawai’i: Hope for the ‘Ua‘u
Threatened - August 09, 2022 09:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsWe end our season with a little seabird that’s making a comeback. The Hawaiian Petrel, or ‘Ua’u, was once written off as going or gone from the islands. But after recent discoveries of remnant colonies, we see how some human intervention with the right tools can make a huge difference for birds ...
Hawai’i: Saving the ʻAlalā
Threatened - August 02, 2022 09:00 - 21 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsHawai‘i has its own species of crow, the clever and charismatic ʻAlalā. But the species hasn’t been able to survive in its shrinking native habitat. The only reason the ʻAlalā still exists is because of captive breeding programs. Reintroducing them to the wild is fraught with challenges, but it’...
Hawai’i: Rewriting the Story of Extinction
Threatened - July 26, 2022 09:00 - 34 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn 1823, a young princess was presented with an incredible gift, and a choice: protect the Native Hawaiian way of life, or embrace the teachings of newcomers. Today, the gift resides in a museum, and its story tells of tragedy and hope, the duality of life, and maybe a different understanding of...
Hawai’i: The Mosquito Problem
Threatened - July 19, 2022 09:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsHow do you fight a disease carried by mosquitoes as climate change helps them spread? Avian malaria could wipe out whole species of birds, and people are going to great lengths to stop it. There’s hope on the horizon. Scientists believe they have a way to wipe out the mosquitos first. But will i...
Hawai’i: Protecting Palila
Threatened - July 12, 2022 09:00 - 23 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the season premiere, we travel to Hawai‘i to meet a unique group of birds called honeycreepers. Over 55 species of honeycreepers once existed, but over half of them have gone extinct. One of them, the Palila, is still holding on. What do we need to do to protect it? More info and transcript...
Threatened Season 3 Trailer
Threatened - June 28, 2022 09:00 - 1 minute ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsThreatened returns with Season 3 on Tuesday, July 12th. These five new episodes explore the unique ecology and conservation of the Hawaiian Islands. Of the 44 endemic bird species in Hawai‘i, 33 are endangered. The good news: people are helping these birds fight for survival. Take a deep dive wi...
An Update on BirdNote Presents
BirdNote Presents - November 18, 2021 21:56 - 1 minute ★★★★★ - 225 ratingsHey BirdNote Presents listeners! A quick update on this podcast feed: Sound Escapes now has its own podcast feed! BirdNote Presents is mostly an archive — to hear the latest stories from BirdNote on our other podcasts: BirdNote Daily Bring Birds Back Threatened Thanks for listening to our ...
The Future of Bird Migration with Scott Weidensaul
Threatened - October 19, 2021 07:00 - 27 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsToday’s episode was produced by Ari Daniel, Allison Wilson, Mark Bramhill, Conor Gearin, and Sam Johnson. Fact checking by Conor Gearin, mixing by John Kessler. Original theme music by Ian Coss. Special thanks to Willistown Conservation Trust. Additional Resources: A World on the Wing: The ...
Plantation Ecology
Threatened - August 31, 2021 07:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the final episode of this season Host Ari Daniel tours the marsh at the Nemours Wildlife Foundation with Dr. Drew Lanham, cultural and conservation ornithologist at Clemson University. They bring us a story of time travel. Of touching a place through old hands and seeing it through new eyes. ...
Block Island, Bird Central
Threatened - August 24, 2021 07:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsEvery spring, millions of birds travel the Atlantic Flyway, one of four major North-South routes for migratory birds in the Americas. Along the way, they need to stop for food, water, and rest— and Block Island, Rhode Island, provides. In this episode, producer Ben James takes us to this special...
Vultures in Zimbabwe
Threatened - August 17, 2021 07:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsZimbabwe is home to six species of vultures, five of which are critically endangered and at risk of extinction. At Victoria Falls, researchers and wildlife rehabilitators are working to increase populations, and advocates in the cities of Bulawayo and Harare educate farmers and traditional heale...
Puffins: Cute to Catalyst
Threatened - August 10, 2021 07:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsAt Bempton Cliffs, on the Yorkshire Coast on the east side of the UK, about 3,000 charismatic little seabirds nest. The puffin is a sparkbird for producer Paul Drury-Bradey and many others that come to see them in the summer months. But these awkward flyers with colorful bills can spark more tha...
Ospreys and Environmental Restoration
Threatened - August 03, 2021 07:00 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsButte, Montana, used to be home to some of the most productive copper mines in the country. About a quarter of the world’s supply came from the area and it’s now the site of a massive effort to restore the degraded ecosystem. But, the local birds aren’t just victims of the pollution; they can ac...
Swallow-tailed Kites in the Black Belt
Threatened - July 27, 2021 09:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the Black Belt region of Alabama, we go on a birding tour and learn about the Swallow-tailed Kite. The Swallow-tailed Kite’s range in this region decreased rapidly over the past one hundred years, primarily due to habitat loss from agriculture, urban development, and logging. Now protected b...
Red-Cockaded Woodpeckers and The Endangered Species Act
Threatened - July 20, 2021 11:45 - 28 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsGeorgia’s longleaf pine forests are home to many endangered species, including the Red-cockaded Woodpecker. This resilient and unusual little bird is making a comeback from the brink of extinction thanks to an unexpected partner and recovery efforts set in motion by the Endangered Species Act. B...
The Siberian Crane: From Taiwan to Tundra
Threatened - July 13, 2021 10:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the first episode of this new season of Threatened, we go on a life-changing journey with Sunny Tseng, a PhD student at the University of Northern British Columbia and a researcher at the Endemic Species Research Institute in Taiwan, where she’s based. The story starts in 2014 with a Siberian...
Season 2 Coming July 13
Threatened - July 01, 2021 12:00 - 2 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsWe're traveling the world to hear stories about birds and people who care about them.
Introducing: The Bring Birds Back Podcast
Threatened - May 14, 2021 21:30 - 2 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsLike many birders, host Tenijah Hamilton discovered her love of birds during the pandemic. Now she invites listeners to join her in appreciating the beauty and mystery of the birds all around us and taking action on their behalf. As Tenijah speaks with bird experts from all walks of life, she an...
Poetry Month: Heid E. Erdrich
BirdNote Presents - April 30, 2021 16:45 - 9 minutes ★★★★★ - 225 ratingsHeid E. Erdrich is the author of seven collections of poetry. Her writing has won fellowships and awards from the National Poetry Series, Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, McKnight Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Bush Foundation, Loft Literary Center, First People’s Fund, and other ho...
Poetry Month: Timothy Steele
BirdNote Presents - April 23, 2021 09:00 - 9 minutes ★★★★★ - 225 ratingsTimothy Steele is an American poet who has received numerous awards and honors for his poetry, including a Lavan Younger Poets Award, the Los Angeles PEN Center Award for Poetry, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Robert Fitzgerald Award for Excellence in the Study of Prosody. He has taught at Sta...
Poetry Month: Traci Brimhall
BirdNote Presents - April 09, 2021 10:07 - 8 minutes ★★★★★ - 225 ratingsA native of Minnesota, Traci Brimhall is an Associate Professor and Director of Creative Writing at Kansas State University. Her first published collection, Rookery, features many poems about birds. “Birds just seem to have a kind of spiritual or symbolic weight,” Traci explains. “They feel s...
Poetry Month: Wendy S. Walters
BirdNote Presents - April 02, 2021 10:00 - 9 minutes ★★★★★ - 225 ratingsWendy S. Walters is a non-fiction writer and poet, who holds a MFA/PHD in Poetry and Literature from Cornell University. She is the former Associate Dean of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons, The New School. Currently she serves as Director of the Nonfiction Concentration and Associat...
Protecting Biodiversity in the Boreal Forest
Threatened - December 15, 2020 10:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the season finale we visit Thaidene Nëné, a huge swath of land in the Boreal Forest, and learn how the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation and the Canadian government came together to protect an area that’s vital for birds, indigenous people, and the health of the entire planet. The Boreal Forest i...
Watching Over Western Sandpipers
Threatened - December 08, 2020 10:00 - 30 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsWe visit the Fraser Estuary, where fresh water meets the salty Pacific Ocean in British Columbia, Canada. Scientists are confirming what locals and birders have long known -- these mudflats are a unique and important pitstop for Western Sandpipers during their epic migration. The Pacific Flywa...
Curlews, Sparrows, and the Ecological Trap
Threatened - December 01, 2020 10:00 - 31 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn Idaho, native grasslands were once a rich mosaic of plant life that supported a diverse cohort of birds. But as European settlers moved west, they converted those rich grasslands into farms. Today, very little native grassland habitat remains in the Intermountain West. In this episode of Thre...
A Riot of Nesting Seabirds
Threatened - November 24, 2020 10:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★★ - 98 ratingsIn the series premier, we head to a summer home for seabirds — a place where kittiwakes, murres, auklets, and puffins gather by the thousands. Gerrit Vyn, a conservation media producer, describes the scene as "a cauldron of raucous bird sound." Scientists and Aleut locals share how the birds are...