BirdNote Daily

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…

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 fo…

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 us…

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. …

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…

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 i…

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 mal…

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 …

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 Natu…

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. Th…

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 bi…

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…

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 …

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 ro…

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 s…

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 of…

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 gro…

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 …

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 capturin…

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 …