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BirdNote Daily

Escape the daily grind and immerse yourself in the natural world. Rich in imagery, sound, and information, BirdNote inspires you to notice the world around you.

science natural sciences

All Episodes

00:01:41

Trumpeter Swans Rebound in Arkansas

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/10

Trumpeter Swans weigh over 25 pounds and measure about five feet from beak to tail. They were nearly hunted to extinction by the turn of the twentieth century. In Arkansas, a small flock of Trumpeter Swans began spending the winter at Magness Lake in the 1990s. It has now grown to one of the biggest winter swan flocks in the Southeast. In recognition of its value to the swans, Magness Lake has been designated an Important Bird Area.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote

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00:01:41

Sandhill Cranes Are Expanding Their Range

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/09

In some parts of North America, Sandhill Cranes are common as ants at a picnic. In New England, on the other hand, they’ve been almost as rare as pterodactyls — until relatively recently! Birders began reporting cranes scattered throughout the region. When a Sandhill Crane chick hatched in Maine in 2000, it was evident the New England birds were not just strays. Cranes now breed in several parts of New England, especially Massachusetts.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote

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00:01:45

Migrations: Pine Siskin Irruption

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/08

Do you ever see flocks of birds in your yard that show up in droves one year, but are completely absent the next? Some nomadic species such as Pine Siskins move based on the availability of food and habitat. It’s called “irruptive” migration, and it sometimes leads to backyards full of siskins. While these flocks are a delight for bird watchers, the dense groups can easily transmit diseases such as salmonellosis.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly

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00:01:41

Making Roads Safer for Wildlife and People

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/07

Roads can get people where they need to go. But they often run right through wildlife habitat, creating a deadly hazard for animals on the move. Liz Hilllard, who’s the Senior Wildlife Biologist for Wildlands Network, says roadkill takes a huge toll on birds and other animals every year. Wildlands Network helps transportation agencies create wildlife-friendly designs and build animal-centric bridges and tunnels for their safe crossing. The goal is to create a connected landscape that Liz and her

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00:01:41

Song of the Mountains: The Brown-backed Solitaire

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/06

Brown-backed Solitaires are ordinary-looking: medium-sized, gray-brown birds. But they have one of the most melodic, complex songs in the world, ringing out year-round in high-altitude forests from Mexico to Central America.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.

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00:01:45

Bird Tracks in the Snow

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/05

Look for the stories birds tell with their tracks in the snow. A crow swaggers, leaving right-and-left steps much as a walking human would. Juncos under a birdfeeder leave a hopping pattern of tiny footprints in side-by-side pairs. Look for beak marks, where a bird picked up a choice morsel or probed the ground. Tell-tale signs sometimes tell stories of life and death. You might see mouse tracks end suddenly, just where you find the imprint of an owl's wings. Find out more about animal tracking at

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00:01:45

BirdNoir – Dial E for Eagle

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/04

In this BirdNoir mystery, the private eye fields a call from a woman who says a large bird that looks like a Bald Eagle stole a Rainbow Trout from her pond. Through a process of elimination, the detective is able to rule out a few likely suspects and arrive at the probable answer. When you think you’ve spotted an eagle, remember to examine all the evidence.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening

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00:01:41

Here Come the Barred Owls

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/03

The emphatic hoots of a pair of Barred Owls resonate in the still of a winter's night. Like many owls, Barred Owls initiate their vocal courtship in winter. And they're among the most vocal. These owls have more than a dozen calls, ranging from a "siren call" to a "wail" to a wonderfully entertaining "monkey call." Barred Owls are among the largest owls in North America.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get

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00:01:51

Wandering Tattlers Traverse the Pacific

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/02

The Wandering Tattler is one of the few birds equally at home along the coast and high in the mountains. They’re found far and wide along Pacific shores, living up to their “wandering” name and gaining names in many local languages throughout the ocean basin. Their nesting habitats in the mountains of Alaska, western Canada and eastern Russia were a mystery for many years. Despite their wide range, there could be as few as 18,000 Wandering Tattlers left in the world.More info and transcript at

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00:01:32

Bluebirds Close to Home

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/02/01

Bluebirds can bring flashes of azure color and mellow songs to where you live. The best way to bring them close to home is with nest boxes. You’ll need an untreated wood box with a one-and-a-half inch hole five feet above the ground. Finding the right place for the nest box is important, too. Shrubs that bear small fruits can entice bluebirds. Find instructions for building an effective bluebird nest box below.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly

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00:01:45

Baby Birds' Bizarre Beaks

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/31

Most baby birds are adorable little floofs — but not all of them. The tongue and palate of estrildid finch chicks are strangely spotted and ringed. They display these markings while they beg for food. Most species’ chicks have mouth markings in colors ranging from black or white to bright yellow, orange, red or blue. The function of these markings has long puzzled scientists.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get

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00:04:45

The Wonderchicken!

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/30

In 2018, paleontologist Daniel Field took a closer look at specimens from an amateur fossil collector. His team used micro-CT scanning, kind of like a high-energy CAT scan, to visualize the encased fossils. They were amazed to find a tiny bird skull: the earliest known fossil record of a modern bird. The skull looks chicken-like in the front and duck-like in the back. The bird may have looked and behaved like a modern shorebird.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe

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00:01:34

Birding 101: Bird Vocab Basics

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/29

Any hobby or special interest has its own jargon. You’ll pick up on the silly slang that birders use as you go – like calling the Yellow-rumped Warbler “butterbutt.” Still, learning a few basics of bird vocab is useful when you’re starting out. It’ll help you ask better questions when you’re confused. Check out the opening pages of a bird field for general info about what to call the different parts of a bird, basics on bird behavior, and birding tips.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want

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00:01:42

The Ferocious Feet of the Great Horned Owl

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/28

Great Horned Owls excel at nocturnal hunting, thanks to their acute senses and stealth — but their feet let them secure squirming prey. The outermost of their four toes can rotate forward or backward, an advantage that most other birds of prey lack, letting them capture animals as large as raccoons. A four-pound owl can take flight with six pounds of prey.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening

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00:01:45

Razorbills Swim in Synchrony

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/27

Razorbills, a cousin to the puffin, nest in colonies on cliffs. Before they lay eggs, Razorbills take part in two unique social behaviors. In one, the Razorbills swim round and round in a tight mass, then dive as one. Next, they surface with heads aligned and bills held open. In another behavior, dozens of birds swim in a line, then zig-zag in a synchronized pattern across the ocean’s surface.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up

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00:01:37

The Red-bellied Woodpecker and Its Curious Name

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/26

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are bold, conspicuous, and vocal, thriving in rural and urban areas east of the Mississippi. Like most woodpeckers, Red-bellieds eat lots of insects. But they also like nuts, berries, and seeds. They can be attracted to back yards with suet cakes, berry bushes, or even a cut orange tacked to a tree trunk. But the Red-bellied Woodpecker retains one element of mystery: its name. The last thing you would likely notice is the blush of rose on its lower belly.More info and

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00:01:45

Songbirds: The Large and Small of It

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/25

The group of birds called “songbirds” — the perching birds — is incredibly broad. Half the world’s 10,000 birds are in the songbird group, and their range of body sizes is mind-boggling. One of the smallest songbirds in North America is the Golden-crowned Kinglet, barely larger than a hummingbird. The largest is the Common Raven, which is almost two feet long and weighs around three pounds.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for

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00:01:34

Blackbirds' Strange Music

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/24

Blackbird songs have a strange music. The Red-winged Blackbird can be heard in nearly every marsh on the continent — bold, brassy, and piercing. The songs may not seem musical, but they definitely get your attention. Brewer’s Blackbirds, which live in open habitats like farms and grasslands, make a wet, slap-in-the-face sound. The combined voices of Tricolored Blackbirds — like this one in a California marsh — sound like a snarling catfight. Another Western bird, the Yellow-headed Blackbird, makes

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00:01:34

Ducks That Whistle

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/23

Whistling as they fly, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are gorgeous waterfowl with bright pink bills and legs, chestnut necks and backs, and black underparts. Though most whistling-ducks live in the tropics, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are found in the U.S. along the western Gulf Coast and Florida. But they’re expanding their range and have been spotted nesting as far north as Wisconsin.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for

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00:01:45

Bohemian Waxwings – Exquisite Winter Visitors

BirdNote Daily ·

2024/01/22

It's winter, and apples litter the ground. A few still hang, frozen and thawed again and again. Suddenly a flock of hundreds of birds rises from the ground beneath the trees, swarming in tight formation, wing-tip to wing-tip. Bohemian Waxwings are erratic winter visitors from their nesting grounds in the boreal forests of the north. They come in search of fruit to sustain their winter wanderings.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up

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1,664 results

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