BirdNote Daily

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 ama…

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.…

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 l…

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 so…

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 convinci…

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 th…

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 in…

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 t…

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 …

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!

More info and transcript at BirdNote.or…

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 elo…

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 tim…

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 …

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.

More info and transcript at…

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 tho…

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 t…

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 …

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 patc…

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…

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 a…