BirdNote Daily

Chickadees and titmice, nuthatches and jays, and woodpeckers, like the Pileated pictured here, all love suet. As do birds whose beaks can’t open seeds, like tiny kinglets, and almost any wintering wa…

Many Brown-headed Nuthatches make their home in the tall longleaf pines of the Apalachicola National Forest in Florida. Twittering constantly, the birds probe for tiny insects or extract seeds from c…

If you're enjoying BirdNote Daily, we think you'll love the podcast, Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant! Journey deep into the heart of the world’s most remote jungles, savannas, tundras, mountains, …

In this episode, ornithologist J. Drew Lanham shares a note he has written to a Dark-eyed Junco, which he fondly nicknames “snowbird.”

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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Waved Albatrosses produce such slow-growing, needy offspring that females lay only a single egg every two years. And both parents need to share the load until youngsters can hunt on their own. Albatr…

Mair Marsiglio is an avid birder, and they are also a psychologist with a background in trauma therapy. A few years ago Dr. Marsiglio worked with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory to facilitate …

Found in Southern Mexico and Central America, Resplendent Quetzals have a striking blue tail up to three times the length of their bodies. That's probably why the Aztecs considered this bird a repres…

The songs of two common finches provide a steady soundtrack in cities across North America: the House Finch and the American Goldfinch. While they can sound similar, a couple of key features help set…

American Robins (like this male seen here with its young), House Finches, and Song Sparrows may all nest within one small garden. By selecting different nesting strata, the species avoid competing fo…

Desert raptors get most of their water from eating prey animals. Biologist Blair Wolf explains, “if you think of any insect or a mouse or something like that, they’re maybe 75% water.” Those animals …

For years, biologists have been seeing migratory birds arriving earlier in the spring due to the effects of climate change. But surprisingly, the effect on arrival time is different for members of th…

The American Dipper stands on a rock in a stream, bobbing up and down on its long legs - "dipping" - hence the name. But watch! This nondescript bird steps off a small boulder right into the torrent,…

We make it a habit to detail the broad and beautiful spectrum of bird colors, but iridescent feathers are undoubtedly among the most mesmerizing. When sunlight hits the Bufflehead’s dark head feather…

A pair of Bald Eagles will reuse their nest each year and repair it with new tree branches. But recently in British Columbia, scientists came across an eagle nest made largely out of dried kelp. Back…

In spring, we often hear woodpeckers hard at work, carving out nest holes in tree trunks. And now that fall has arrived, we may hear that excavating sound again. Some woodpecker species stay year rou…

This Bar-tailed Godwit makes one of the longest migrations of any animal — a 7,200-mile non-stop flight each autumn from western Alaska to New Zealand. In his book A World on the Wing, Scott Weidensa…

As most young male birds get ready to leave the nest, they learn their species’ song by hearing their male parent sing it again and again. They imprint on their father’s song. So how does a Brown-hea…

Knowing how clever parrots are, researchers wanted to see how they’d respond to another parrot saying hi on a tablet or phone. After being trained how to start a call, many parrots chatted amiably on…

A forest in New Zealand rings with the sound of bellbirds, also known as Korimako or Makomako. Many bellbirds sing together, especially in the morning. Pairs sing duets. And a pair may counter-sing w…

Like most juvenile shorebirds, this young Black-bellied Plover was abandoned by parents that began their southbound flights from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge a few weeks earlier. It will join …