BirdNote Daily

Rosa Malagon grew up believing that birds hold spiritual significance, thanks to teachings from her Mexican heritage that her mother would share. Now working for the Hispanic Access Foundation, Rosa …

Once nesting season ends, swallows know it's time to party! Whether they nest as single pairs or in large colonies, both adults and juveniles now gather on electrical wires by the dozens, socializing…

The White-vented Storm-Petrel is a small black and white seabird found off the coasts of Chile and Peru. Storm-petrels spend their entire lives at sea, except when nesting. Scientists had long been m…

Brown-headed Cowbirds have a sneaky approach to parenthood. They lay eggs in the nests of other songbirds, and the songbird hosts often raise the cowbird chick as their own. It’s called nest parasiti…

Keas are large alpine parrots from New Zealand. Intelligent and social, they have olive-green plumage, a red rump, and a long, curved beak. Keas produce a distinct warbling call, a “play call,” that …

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the human fascination with bird feathers went a little too far. Women’s hats and dresses featured extravagant feathers from birds both near and far. The tra…

Hummingbirds use their long tongues to sip nectar from flowers. They’re able to roll their tongues into a tube-like shape. Since the 1800s, scientists thought those tongues worked through capillary a…

Sculptor and musician Walter Kitundu first became enraptured by birds in 2005 when a Red-tailed Hawk flew four feet above his head. He named the bird Patch, after the white patch on the back of her h…

Birds are part of the complex web of Nature, and each fits into this web in its own way. Some even pollinate flowers! While feeding at a flower, this Rainbow Lorikeet gets pollen on its forehead and …

Once abundant around San Francisco Bay, the Ridgway’s Rail — formerly known as the California Clapper Rail — is now endangered. In the 19th Century, unregulated hunting plundered the species. In the …

With their excellent sense of smell, pigs are renowned for sniffing out truffles, a fungus that grows underground and is prized for its taste. But it turns out that some bird species can also find th…

Let’s talk about nests. Every spring, robins build their cup-shaped nests using grass and mud. Orioles weave a hanging sack. It’s hard work, and yet once the chicks fledge, the structures probably wo…

American Goldfinches are one of our most familiar birds, but they lead lives that are anything but ordinary. These birds will sometimes raise two broods a year, have a secret weapon against cowbirds,…

Mike Chamberlain is a wildlife ecologist at the University of Georgia and co-founder of the Wild Turkey Lab. He’s spent the majority of his 30-year career studying wild turkeys and says one recent, c…

In September, this Arctic Tern flies from Alaska all the way to Antarctica. Rufous Hummingbirds follow pathways of mountain wildflowers, from as far north as Alaska south to Mexico. Ruby-crowned King…

The American Crow’s rattle call is uncommon, and researchers aren’t sure what it means. It could be a gathering call, a predator alarm, or a call between mates. But if you hear it, you might think it…

How does a robin know a worm is in one exact spot? Does it see the worm or hear it? Smell it? Sense its movements through its feet? To find the answer, researchers buried worms in soil in a tray. The…

Birds that depend on flies for food have many creative ways of catching their prey. Swallows execute sharp turns and quick changes of speed. Bluebirds watch from a perch, pouncing when the time is ri…

For birds, learning starts early. Birds listen to their parents’ songs and calls from inside the egg. Recent findings have shown that calls from Zebra Finch parents can even prepare their chicks for …

At the end of summer, the once-bright feathers of a male American Goldfinch look ragged. Growing new flight feathers in a process called molting makes him more vulnerable to predators. Before migrati…