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PODCAST

Tweet of the Day

Discover birds through their songs and calls. Each Tweet of the Day begins with a call or song, followed by a story of fascinating ornithology inspired by the sound.

science

All Episodes

1:44

Poorwill (American Nightjar)

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/27

Michael Palin presents the common poorwill from an Arizona desert. In the dead of night, loud calls pierce the stillness on a moonlit track, a small shape suddenly sprouts wings and flutters into the darkness ... a Common Poorwill is hunting.Poorwills are small nightjars that breed mainly in western North America, often in deserts and dry grassland. By day the poorwill sits in the open or among rocks relying on its mottled plumage for camouflage. By night, it emerges to hawk after insects snapping

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1:43

Red-Eyed Vireo

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/26

Michael Palin presents the red-eyed vireo from North America. About the size of British great tits the red-eyed vireo is a common summer visitors to much of North America where they breed in woodlands. The adult vireos are mainly olive green with white bellies and grey heads and their red eyes are highlighted by a white eyestripe. Seeing the birds as they hunt insects among the leaves is much harder than hearing them, because red-vireos are tireless songsters. They used to be known locally as

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1:44

Snail Kite

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/23

Michael Palin presents the snail kite from the Florida Everglades. Unlike many birds of prey which are known for their speed and agility, the snail kite hunts at a leisurely pace, one which matches its prey; and here in Florida's swamps, it is on the lookout for the apple snail.To pick them out of floating vegetation, the kite has evolved long needle-like claws, and its slender, viciously-hooked bill is perfect for snipping the snails' muscles and winkling them out of their shells. Snail kites are

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1:44

Greater Roadrunner

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/22

Michael Palin presents the greater roadrunner of south western North America. A cuckoo that can run at 20 miles per hour and snap up venomous reptiles might not seem destined for cartoon fame, but that's exactly what happened to the Greater Roadrunner.The loud "beep-beep" call of the Warner Brothers cartoon creation, always out-foxing his arch-enemy Wile-E. Coyote brought this very odd member of the cuckoo family racing into the living rooms of the western world from 1949 onwards . Greater

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1:44

Horned Screamer

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/21

Michael Palin presents the Venezuelan horned screamer. Soundling as if someone is using a giant plunger in the Venezuelan marshes, these are the mating calls of the Horned Screamer. They're sounds that only another Horned Screamer could love, but then screamers are very odd birds. Over the years ornithologists have struggled to classify them, modern thinking puts their closest living relatives as the primitive Australian Magpie Goose.Protruding from its head is a long wiry horn made of cartilage,

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1:45

Kakapo

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/20

Michael Palin presents the New Zealand Kakapo, high on the ferny slopes of its island fortress off the coast of New Zealand. Kakapos are flightless and the heaviest parrots in the world. They're also called owl-parrots from their nocturnal habits and open owlish expressions. Like owls their plumage is richly mottled although no owl shares their beautiful moss-green tones. Kakapos also have a curious mating strategy. The males gather at traditional "leks" or display areas to attract mates. At the

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1:44

Harpy Eagle

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/19

Michael Palin presents the harpy eagle flying over the Brazilian rainforest. This is one of the most powerful birds of prey and links mythological corpse-bearers, the coat of arms of Panama and the Harry Potter films. In Greek mythology harpies were creatures with the bodies of eagles and the faces of women, who seized people in their claws. A human body is beyond the real-life harpy eagle, but with its massive 12 cm talons, it can carry a full-grown sloth or an adult howler monkey. Being versatile

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1:44

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/16

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Liz Bonnin presents the raucous calling sulphur-crested cockatoo from Australia. It is with somewhat heavy irony that with its loud, jarring calls, the sulphur crested cockatoo is also known as the "Australian Nightingale". These large white parrots with their formidable curved beaks and long yellow crests which they fan out when excited are familiar aviary birds. One of the reasons that they're popular as

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1:45

Trumpeter Swan

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/15

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the sonorous trumpeter swan of North America. Across an Alaskan wilderness powerful sounds and calls emanate from the largest and heaviest of all wildfowl, the pure white trumpeter swan. With a wingspan of up to 250 cm, the biggest male trumpeter swan on record weighed over 17 kilogrammes, heavier than mute swans. They breed on shallow ponds and lakes in the wilder parts of north west

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1:44

Adelie Penguin

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/14

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the adelie penguin on a windswept Antarctic shore. A huddle of braying shapes on a windswept shore in Antarctica reveals itself to be a rookery of Adelie Penguins. These medium sized penguins whose white eye-ring gives them an expression of permanent astonishment were discovered in 1840 and named after the land which French explorer Jules Dumont d'-Urville named in honour of his wife

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1:44

Black-footed Albatross

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/13

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the black-footed albatross of Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Two dusky-brown birds point their bills skywards to cement their lifelong relationship, these are black-footed albatrosses are plighting their troth in a former theatre of war. At only a few square kilometres in size, the island of Midway is roughly half way between North America and Japan. Once it was at the heart of

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1:44

Snow Petrel

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/12

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents an Antarctic specialist, the delicate looking snow petrel. On a wind blasted Antarctic iceberg, small white hummocks sprout beaks to bicker and flirt with each other. These are snow petrels, one of the hardiest bird species in the world. Few bird species breed in the Antarctic and fewer still are so intimately bound to the landscape of snow and ice. But the near pure white snow petrel

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1:43

Montserrat Oriole

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/09

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Liz Bonnin presents Montserrat oriole from the Caribbean island of Montserrat. In 1995, after being dormant for over 300 years, a volcano on erupted. The eruption not only destroyed Montserrat's capital but much of the wildlife couldn't escape, and one bird, the Montserrat oriole was almost silenced forever. The male is a colourful bird with coal-black head, wings and tail and underparts the colour of

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1:44

Brown Skua

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/08

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents brown skua hunting over an Antarctic landscape. These bulky brown birds with their hooked death dealing bills are often cast as villains alongside the apparently helpless and lovable penguins. But skuas are highly efficient predators, their skills honed to find the maximum food they can in a largely barren landscape. They're resourceful pirates, forcing other birds to drop or disgorge

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1:42

Blue Rock Thrush

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/07

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Liz Bonnin presents the blue rock thrush, perched high on a Spanish castle. The blue rock thrush has a slim silhouette, rather like that of a blackbird, but these largely sedentary, elusive and sun-loving birds are a rare sight in northern Europe. They are widespread in summer across southern Europe and also occur in the Arabian Peninsula and across most of south-east Asia. The male lives up to his name, as

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1:44

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/06

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the diminutive spoon-billed sandpiper of the high Russian tundra. Spoon-billed sandpipers are wading birds, no bigger than a house sparrow. They have rust-coloured feathers and a black, spoon-shaped bill for sifting tiny creatures from the mud or catching insects on the tundra of eastern Russia, where they breed. In winter they fly down to south-east Asian estuaries. Here they are

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1:44

Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/05

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the displaying Raggiana bird-of-paradise from Papua New Guinea. An explosion of colour flashes across the tree canopy of a rainforest: male Raggiana birds-of-paradise, one of the most spectacularly coloured birds in the world, are displaying to one another. The Raggiana or Count Raggi's bird-of-paradise is Papua New Guinea's national bird and it's easy to see why. His yellow head and

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1:45

Black Swan

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/02

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents a widely regarded symbol of Australia, the black swan. These stately looking birds are native to the wetlands of south-western and eastern Australia. The New Zealand population was hunted to extinction but has now been reintroduced there. Their plumage is charcoal grey rather than black and beautifully ruched along their lower back, hiding the white primary feathers which

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1:43

White Tern

Tweet of the Day ·

2015/01/01

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern. Also known as fairy terns or angel terns, these are very slender, long-winged birds, brilliant white except for a black, slightly-upturned bill, dark eyes and very short blue-grey legs. In flight, their wings appear almost translucent. For such a delicate-looking bird, they have rather harsh calls. Unusually they lay

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1:44

Greater Hill Mynah

Tweet of the Day ·

2014/12/31

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the mimic specialist Greater Hill Mynah from Asia. Like many members of the starling family, Greater Hill Mynah's are superb mimics with a remarkable ability to reproduce the tones of the human voice. This makes them popular as cage and now some wild populations have been severely reduced by collecting. Hill mynahs are not just vocally outstanding. They're dapper looking

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