BirdNote Daily

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 since the end of winter. The resounding notes of this Ovenbird let us know it has returned safely from Belize, after a long flight across the Gulf of Mexico. A Chestnut-sided Warbler joins in, having returned from winter in Costa Rica, to the same patch of woods in which it nested last year. By late May, the last of the migrants has arrived from the tropics.

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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 with unique and diverse bird life, but because of invasive species and climate change, have seen so much loss and extinction. In this episode, he shares poetry that explores his relationship with lost and endangered wildlife and that reflects on the future his daughter will inherit.

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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”) won’t leave his car alone. He keeps tapping his beak on the car. Then the turkey starts circling the house and looking in all the windows. The private eye reveals how things look from the turkey’s perspective, which points the way to a possible solution.

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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 experience birds. Some species, such as American Robins, sing for much of the day. Daytime predators such as hawks and cormorants are active in the middle of the day. Some birds such as Common Nighthawks sweep the sky for insects at dusks. And owls come awake at night.

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Birds like finches, chickadees and Northern Cardinals love sunflower seeds, but each species uses a different strategy to extract the meat. When a finch plucks a sunflower seed from the feeder, it uses its tongue to maneuver the seed lengthwise into a groove on its beak. As it closes its beak, a slight back and forth action slices open the hull, and a small sideways movement husks the seed, while the tongue may help extract the kernel. But chickadees lack the heavy duty, seed-slicing beak of a finch. Instead, they hammer and chip the hull open with the tip of the bill to extract the goods.

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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. Another place might be your local landfill or dump. The Brownsville, Texas dump was, for years, the only place in the US you could find this Tamaulipas Crow. For a more sedate birding adventure, visit a cemetery. Especially in rural areas and in the Midwest, cemeteries are often repositories of native plants, and thus magnets for migratory birds, which find food – and cover – in those green oases.

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Poet Claire Wahmanholm's work focuses on nature and the environment. As she was walking around a nature preserve north of Chicago, Claire was listening for birds but realized there was something else she was hearing: the ever-present hum of a nearby highway. “When you're trying deliberately to hear something else you really notice it,” she says. That experience inspired a poem, “You Can Always Hear the Highway.”

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Cactus Wrens, which may nest several times between March and September, carefully orient their nests in tune with the season. These bulky twig structures have a side entrance that curves toward the inner chamber. When building a nest for the hot months, the wren faces the opening to receive the afternoon breeze. By contrast, a Cactus Wren building a nest in early March orients the entrance away from the cold winds of that season, keeping the chicks snug and warm.

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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 head with a band of green behind the eye. Both males and females have a green bar on the wing that gleams like an emerald when the sun strikes it. During courtship, up to 25 males may court a single female at once.

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The 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.

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With invasive species and climate change, Hawai‘i has experienced so much loss and extinction since Western colonists arrived. But Sam ‘Ohu Gon, the Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor for the Nature Conservancy of Hawai‘i, believes Hawaiian culture and tradition are key to advancing conservation ecology and has done a lot of work connecting these two worlds. He hopes that one day, Hawai‘i can be not just a microcosm of ecology, but of conservation as well.  

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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 build a gourd-shaped nest with a tapered opening. They add a lining of dry grass to keep eggs warm. It takes days of work and a thousand mouthfuls of mud to finish a single nest—and it’s just one part of a large colony.

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One of the biggest threats to birds is the decline in biodiversity due to habitat loss — and the traditional, manicured lawn isn’t helping. Growing native plants in your yard allows you to protect birds at home, says ecologist Douglas Tallamy, who co-founded an organization called Homegrown National Park® to help people transform their lawns into havens for wildlife.

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Northern Cardinals have vocal abilities that surpass even the most accomplished human singers. When cardinals sing, they sweep their voices from the high to low end of their ranges many times in just seconds. The secret is in the clever way cardinals use their two-sided vocal organ, called the syrinx. By dividing their vocal range between the two sides, cardinals can sing complex songs rapidly.

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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 for the reflective surface of deep water and try to land there, then become unable to take flight again. If you see a stranded loon on a road or parking lot, calling a wildlife rehabilitator can help start the process of returning that bird to safety and back on their migratory journey.

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Aplomado Falcons were once widespread residents of the American Southwest, but by the 1950s, they'd disappeared entirely from the region. Loss of habitat, loss of prey, and pesticides all played a role. But in the 1980s, a group called The Peregrine Fund began breeding captive Aplomado Falcons. Over the next 25 years, 1,500 fledglings were set free in South Texas. At the same time, conservation pacts with private landowners provided more than two million acres of habitat. Learn more in Related Resources below.

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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 migration, hundreds of thousands of cranes roost on sandbars in the Platte River. The sound and sight of these birds is breathtaking; Lee Ann captures it beautifully in her poem “:: #sandhillcranes #string of beads ::.”

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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 knight-in-armor. Light waves reflect and refract off the throat feathers, creating color in the manner of sun glinting off a film of oil on water. The gorget of this Rufous Hummingbird is stunning!

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The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago wreaked worldwide ecological damage, spelling the end for most dinosaurs and destroying the world’s forests. Yet a few bird-like dinosaur groups made it through. Scientists believe that these groups were all ground-dwellers. Though some species could fly, a life on the ground would have been a key advantage in a world without forests. All modern birds evolved from these ancient creatures.

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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. White-tailed Hawks often hunt by kiting: hovering like a kite in the breeze with the wings held in a “V” above the body, dropping suddenly on their prey. When a grass fire breaks out, they hunt small animals fleeing from the fire’s edge.

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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 radio station KPLU, now called KNKX. After capturing many of Seattle’s well-known spots on tape, he broadened his scope by connecting with local birders to find the best places to hear birds around town. Shortly after, BirdNote's founder, Chris Petersen, sought out John's musical ear to help create a sound-rich show highlighting the joy of birds.

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The Belted Kingfisher dashes through the air, warning intruders with its rapid-fire, rattling call. In spring, the best places to see Belted Kingfishers are along sandy banks – they are busy digging burrows, where they will nest. The holes typically reach three to six feet into the bank, but some nesting holes can extend 15 feet.

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In this episode featuring Aviary — the shapeshifting bird superhero — the surprising abilities of birds come in handy when a student gets lost exploring a cave with his class. Aviary remembers an amazing bird called the Himalayan Swiftlet that’s able to echolocate like a bat, and enlists this species’ superpower to save the day.

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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 feathers have fallen out, and new ones have grown in. When goldfinches molt in the fall, they lose these brightly colored feathers. Their winter camouflage helps them blend in with the drab background of the season.

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Beavers are well known as ecosystem engineers in North America. In Australia, lyrebirds play a big role in shaping their environment when they use their toes to dig in the ground for food. A single lyrebird can shift 11 dump truck loads of soil and leaves — each year! That’s thought to be more than any other digging animal. Lyrebirds are best known for their spot-on imitations of other birds’ songs and calls.

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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 cavities, including backyard nest boxes. Most migrate south in late summer. The male House Wren sometimes builds multiple nests, allowing his mate to choose her favorite and put her finishing touches on it.

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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 frogs and toads! Their performances are so convincing it’s hard to tell frog from bird. It’s still unknown how this benefits mockingbirds, but scientists think that the females might find it attractive.

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Each spring, millions of songbirds migrate north from the tropics to nest in North America. It takes 15 hours on average to cross the roughly 500 miles of the Gulf of Mexico. If wind or rain slows the crossing, the birds are worn out and famished when they reach land. What will they find on gaining the coast? Along the upper Gulf Coast of Texas, many arriving birds — including Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, like this one — find respite on High Island, Texas.

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For National Poetry Month, we’re sharing contemporary writers’ work about birds. Poet Susan Nguyen got a hummingbird feeder from her neighbor in 2020 during the COVID pandemic. She began taking an interest in the hummingbirds that visited, giving them names and learning the surprising way they use their tongues to drink nectar. The way birds defy expectations has helped inspire several of Susan’s poems.

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Most raptors are solitary birds, but Harris’s Hawks of the southwestern U.S. live and hunt in groups of two to six. After spotting a prey animal, the hawks swoop in from various directions to catch the confused creature. If they miss and their prey takes cover, some of the birds try to flush it out while others lie in ambush. Their teamwork may help them safely pursue bigger animals or capture well-hidden prey.

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The Wilson's Snipe lives in marshes and muddy areas, where it probes for worms and other squirmy delights. But when spring comes, it takes to the air. The male Wilson's Snipe circles high above in a series of roller-coaster arcs, each descent marked by a loud and distinctive sound. This winnowing sound comes from its wings and a couple of tail feathers! Take a field trip with your local Audubon and you may find a snipe.

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In this April Fool’s Day quiz from BirdNote, we play the sounds of three birds — only one of which is real. See if you can tell which one, and let us know here!

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Bats and birds have evolved very different ways of flying. Birds have stiff feathers projecting from lightweight, fused arm and hand bones; bats have flexible wings of membranes stretched between elongated fingers. While birds use the strong downstroke of their wings to fly, bats support their weight on the upstroke, too, by twisting their wings backward. Bats tend to be more agile in flight, while many birds can fly with greater speed.

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The Pine Warbler is one of the few warblers that make appearances at bird feeders. They live year round in pine forests of the southeast U.S. and several Caribbean islands. Early spring is a good time to see them migrating through cities in the Midwest and the East Coast. If there’s a pine or two nearby, look for them picking through pine needles for food. Their song, heard throughout the year, is a sweet-sounding trill.

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Woodpeckers are our most familiar bird carpenters, but other birds also chip out nests in trees and wood structures. Nuthatches — like this Red-breasted Nuthatch — are exceptional wood carvers, with their chisel-like bills. Chickadees will peck into less dense wood, carrying out wood chips by the beak full! Listen for bird carpenters this spring — and watch for wood chips.

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Rails are secretive marsh birds, and they’re on the decline. But a researcher playing their recorded calls over a loudspeaker could help bring them back – by tricking them.

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In this episode of BirdNoir, Private Eye Michael Stein gets a call from his friend Billy, a mail carrier. Billy says he hasn’t seen a single bird on his route since the storm came into town, even though at this time of year the streets are usually chock full of birds. He asks, what happens to birds when it rains?

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As thousands of army ants march through a rainforest in Panama looking for food, countless insects try to escape. Antbirds follow the ants, waiting for flying insects to leave their hiding spots so they can swoop down and catch them. About 300 species of animals, including 29 bird species, depend on army ants for their survival. It’s thought to be the largest association of animals tied to a single species in the world.

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Boreal Owls are highly adapted to hunt in long hours of winter darkness. Uniquely, one ear opening in the skull is set high and the other much lower, an asymmetry that helps to pinpoint the sound of tiny rodents under the snow. They also have a pronounced disk of feathers encircling their faces that funnels sound to the ears. The staccato notes of the male’s song can carry for more than a mile on spring nights.

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Humboldt Penguins living along the Pacific Coast of Chile and Peru are adapted to cold. But on land, temperatures rise to 100+ degrees, and penguins need to cool off. So these penguins have pink patches of bare skin on their face, under their wings, and on their feet. On hot days, the patches turn a deep, rosy color, as blood rushes to the surface to dissipate heat. They appear to be blushing, but they’re really flushing!

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To our ear, the haunting song of this Hermit Thrush is musical, even ethereal. To another Hermit Thrush, the song signals that a male is laying claim to a territory and seeking a mate. These thrushes, like other songbirds, broadcast a variety of calls. Call notes can signal many things – alarm at a predator or aggression toward a rival. Or they may simply maintain contact between members of a pair or flock. So the next time you hear a bird sing or call, listen carefully. You may be introduced to a whole new vocabulary.

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With their bare heads, long legs and massive bills, Wood Storks seem to have flown out of a fairytale — but in the American South they’re a real-life part of the ecosystem. Developers drained large areas of wetlands, causing the Florida Everglades population to decline to just 5,000 breeding pairs in the 1970s, placing them on the endangered species list. Habitat protection and restoration efforts have helped Wood Storks begin recovering, although they still struggle to find suitable breeding habitat in south Florida.

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Mallards are found virtually everywhere there is open water, from city parks and subalpine lakes to sheltered bays and estuaries along the coasts. In their breeding plumage, male Mallards are avian dandies. The male's primary goal is to attract a mate and defend the breeding territory. The female's is to blend in with the natural surroundings, while incubating the eggs and caring for the young. And the female Mallard is the only one that can quack!

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When Janet Ng was a kid, there was a very specific moment when she realized what she wanted to be as a grown-up: seeing a wildlife biologist being interviewed in a documentary and realizing that was a possible career path. Now working for the Canadian Wildlife Service and surveying birds in Canada’s southern plains, Janet and her colleagues help find out whether bird populations are increasing or declining, so that we know which species need the most help.

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Geese migrate north between February and April, making stopovers along the way to rest and eat. Most are bound for their breeding grounds in the far north. But we’ll hear them again soon, on their way back south in October. Click play and learn how to tell some North American species apart by sound!

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For years, scientists debated whether the first flying dinosaurs, the ancestors of modern birds, began by running and making little hops off the ground, or leapt off a tree branch to glide. It’s called the “ground up vs. trees down” debate, for short. But a newer perspective on this mystery suggests that flying dinosaurs tried taking flight from more than one place. Recent findings suggest that the ability to fly could have evolved not just once but three separate times among dinosaurs.

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When buying seed for your feeders, it’s tempting to get the biggest, cheapest bag. But not all bird seed is the same. Figure out the nutritional value of the seeds and whether your local birds can actually eat them. Black-oil sunflower seeds provide good protein and fat. Other good seeds include white millet and nyjer thistle. Avoid red milo, a livestock grain. And clean your feeding station regularly to prevent the spread of disease.

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By March in the East, cardinals and other songbirds that don't migrate are already singing heartily to attract mates. Many other birds – including Yellow Warblers – will return north from the tropics in April and May, announcing themselves in song as soon as they arrive in nesting areas. Now is the perfect time to tune up your ears.

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The strange wading birds known as jacanas are nick-named "lily-trotters" for their ability to walk on lily pads. In Jamaica, they're known as "Jesus birds," because they appear to be walking on water — a feat made possible by their long toes. But that's not the only cool thing about jacanas. The males, including the Comb-crested Jacana pictured here, can carry their young under their wings. Picture this colorful wading bird, crouching down and spreading his wings. The young scoot in under him, and he sweeps them up and carries them off, tiny legs dangling from under his wings.

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Birds have lost many habitats they’ve called home for millions of years, but people can help create bird habitats wherever they live. It all begins with native plants. If you have a yard, or even just a few outdoor plant pots, you can offer native plants to birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. Below, find online tools that show you native plant species ideal for your location.

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