BirdNote Daily

Biologist Erick Greene has been taking blood samples from Osprey chicks in northwest Montana for years. Ospreys eat fish, so toxins in the water become concentrated in their bodies. Their blood offer…

Many birds migrate at night, taking advantage of less turbulent conditions and cooler temperatures. But that also means that migrating birds  can get disoriented by bright lights and collide with a b…

Crested Auklets are small seabirds that nest on remote cliffs in the Northern Pacific and the Bering Sea. But it’s their smell that really sets these birds apart. They smell like tangerines! Experime…

A bird like the Whip-poor-will is a true night bird – feeding, and mating, and nesting in the dark. But for about a week each spring, male Yellow-breasted Chats also sing in the darkness as they call…

Public radio station WYSO in Yellow Springs, Ohio, renovated a historic schoolhouse to move into. But there was a bird problem: the old chimney had to come down, and Chimney Swifts were known to nest…

The ‘Alalā is a crow species that only lives on Hawai’i. In the 1990s, the species was on the verge of extinction. So biologists decided to raise ‘Alalā in captivity, aiming to release them once the …

On a hot summer’s day, watch a bird such as a crow — or this Purple Martin — very carefully. You’ll never see them sweat, because birds don’t have sweat glands. So how do they keep cool? One way is p…

Avian malaria has devastated native Hawaiian birds called honeycreepers. And now, climate change is allowing the mosquitoes that carry the disease to spread into the last mountain refuges of highly e…

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…

The Eastern Phoebe (pictured here) is one of the most familiar flycatchers east of the Rockies. Because the Eastern Phoebe repeats its name when it sings, it’s a pretty straightforward voice to ident…

When a male Indian Peafowl unfurls its magnificently-colored tail and shakes it, it creates an ultra low frequency sound that we humans can’t hear. But it seems to get the special attention of female…

After countless birding adventures of her own, Sharon Stiteler — who’s also known as Birdchick — decided to write a book that could serve as a fun introduction for beginning birders. Sharon compares …

Hawai‘i is home to many birds found nowhere else. In a stunning example of natural selection, birds called honeycreepers evolved to fill many different roles in Hawaiian ecosystems. Tragically, many …

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,…

Noah Gomes is an educator and researcher with a life-long love of birds and a passion for Hawaiian culture and language. His research into Native Hawaiian names for birds has shed light on the long-s…

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…

Bar-headed Geese, champions of high-altitude migration, leave their nesting grounds in Tibet and scale the Himalayan range on their way to wintering grounds in the lowlands of India. How do they do i…

In the desert Southwest, water can be scarce. Yet some birds, like this Black-throated Sparrow, thrive in a scorching landscape. The birds obtain moisture from foods like nectar and fruit, as well as…

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…

Ranger Evan Smith of New Zealand’s Fiordland National Park is, according to one visitor, “a bit of a legend.” Since 2011, Ranger Smith has raised money to help protect native birds from stoats, a kin…