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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

00:01:45

An Ever-Growing Library of Bird Sounds

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/26

Most of the bird sounds you hear on BirdNote come from the Macaulay Library, a vast collection of over one million bird calls and songs curated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The library relies on both professional field recordists and dedicated volunteers to capture the sounds of birds all over the world.Support for BirdNote is provided by Marjorie and Ed Ringness from Seattle, Washington — and generous listeners around the world. More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote

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00:01:42

Moon-Watching for Migrating Birds

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/25

Before the high-tech gadgets used to track bird migration today, there was moon-watching: a technique dreamed up in the 1940s by ornithologist George Lowery. Using telescopes pointed at the moon to see the silhouettes of migratory birds, Lowery helped show that birds regularly migrate across the Gulf of Mexico and organized the first continent-wide survey of migration in North America. Learn more about the history of bird migration research in Rebecca Heisman’s book Flight Paths: How a Passionate

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00:01:42

How Jays Helped Restore an Oak Forest

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/24

Corvids, like crows and jays, are known for caching seeds instead of eating them immediately. Sometimes, those seeds take root before the birds return. Mario Pesendorfer, a forest and behavioral ecologist at BOKU in Vienna, says that’s what happened on Santa Cruz Island in southern California. It’s part of Channel Islands National Park where native shrub oak habitats were largely decimated by grazing livestock. After these animals were removed in the 80s and 90s, Santa Cruz Island regained

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00:01:45

Migrations: Indigo Bunting, Master Stargazer

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/23

The stars appear to rotate in the sky, raising the question of how birds can use stars to navigate during migration. Ornithologist Stephen Emlen brought Indigo Buntings to a planetarium, tracking their movements as the simulated night sky changed above them. The buntings oriented themselves using star patterns that appear to rotate the least — especially the North Star, Ursa Major and Cassiopeia.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up

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00:03:10

Lee Ann Roripaugh: Utsuroi

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/22

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of approximately equal length across the globe. In her poem ‘Utsuroi’, writer Lee Ann Roripaugh reflects on how, as the days grow shorter, the remaining light feels that much more beautiful.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

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00:01:45

Southern Lapwings Defend Their Nest

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/21

Nature educator Johanne Ryan shares her observations of Southern Lapwings, shorebirds that make their nests on the ground in open areas and vigorously defend them. If a potential predator approaches, the parent will sound a piercing alarm call. If that doesn’t work, the lapwing will charge the opponent, using a secret weapon – sharp, bony spurs on the bird’s “wrists.”More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free

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00:01:45

T and Dart

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/20

Author Kira Jane Buxton loves crows — so much that she’s written two novels about a crow named S.T. navigating the extinction of humanity. When she was writing those books, she tried befriending the crows in her neighborhood and wound up bonding with a pair of them. She named them T and Dart. T, the female, is clumsy and playful. Dart, her mate, is more aloof towards Kira but always shares his food with T. This crow couple helped inspire the fictional crows in Kira’s books.More info and transcript

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00:01:45

Williamson's Sapsucker

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/19

Williamson's Sapsuckers nest in western mountain forests. The radically different plumages of the male and female so confounded 19th-century naturalists that, for nearly a decade, the birds were thought to be of different species. Sapsuckers are unique among woodpeckers in drilling neat rows of tiny holes — or sapwells — in the trunks of trees. The sap provides food for the sapsuckers and snags small insects that are eaten by hummingbirds and warblers.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want

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00:01:45

A Lost Hummingbird is Found Again

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/18

The Santa Marta Sabrewing is a hummingbird species so rare, they’ve only been documented twice in recent years. Native to the mountains of Colombia, they were officially described in 1946. No one reported another sighting until 2010. They became a “lost” species, eluding every attempt to find them. Then in 2022, Yurgen Vega was studying the birds of a mountain range called the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. He snapped a photo of an unusual, large hummingbird – and the sabrewing was lost no

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00:01:38

Thick-billed Euphonia – Deceitful Mimic

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/17

Northern Mockingbirds can learn to mimic the sounds of just about any bird. They mimic to show off, not to deceive. But this Thick-billed Euphonia, a tiny songbird in South America, employs what scientists call “deceitful mimicry.” When frightened by a predator near its nest, a Thick-billed Euphonia imitates the alarm calls of other birds nesting nearby. This stirs them into action as they rush in to harass the predator. The euphonia, meanwhile, sits tight while others do the dirty work.¡Escuche

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00:01:41

Bicknell's Thrush

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/16

The Bicknell’s Thrush is known for scarcity… and promiscuity. Unlike most songbirds, the female thrush establishes a territory and then mates with males that happen by. She then lays eggs that have been fertilized by multiple different males. Many of those males will stick around and help feed the young, even if they are not their own. Each year, these little songbirds make the long journey from the Caribbean Islands to the forests of the northeastern coasts of North America.Support for BirdNote is

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00:01:45

The Delightfully Odd Magellanic Plover

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/15

The Magellanic Plover is known for being a bit of an oddball. These shorebirds have a round body like a dove and even feed their young with milk produced in a part of their digestive system called the crop — a rare trait they share with doves. But genetic data revealed that Magellanic Plovers are neither plovers nor doves — they’re the only species in the family Pluvianellidae. Genetically speaking, they’re one of a kind.This episode is dedicated to Kit Ellis, of Gig Harbor, Washington, with thanks

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00:01:41

Where Birds Sleep

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/14

All birds need to sleep — or at least snooze — sometime during each 24-hour period. And most sleep at night. A bird, like a Mallard Duckling, may turn its head around and warm its beak under its shoulder-feathers. Songbirds find a protected perch, sheltered from rain and nighttime predators. Small forest birds often spend the night in tree cavities. Ducks sleep while floating in protected bays.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up

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00:01:41

The Music of Birds Migrating in the Night

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/13

Ornithologist Bill Evans has helped us better understand the sounds that birds make as they migrate at night. Known as nocturnal flight calls, many species can be identified based on their signature sound. Using special handmade microphones left outside overnight, Evans, his colleagues and many volunteers recorded countless nocturnal flight calls — and not all of them have been identified yet. Let's take a moment to revel in the beauty of the calls that birds make as they fly high in the air.More

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00:01:45

There's a BirdNote for that!

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/12

Do you have a question about birds? BirdNote’s Content Director Jonese Franklin says that when people bring her bird queries, she often finds the answer in a BirdNote Daily episode. Over the last 20 years, BirdNote has produced more than 2,400 episodes covering tons of topics – and there are still more stories to tell! BirdNote is an independent nonprofit that relies on the generosity of its listeners. Your support allows us to continue to make informative and immersive shows that hopefully inspire

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00:01:37

Helping BirdNote Continue Its Journey

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/11

When you provide places for migratory birds to rest and refuel, you’re helping them complete their long journeys and reach their destination safely. In a similar way, BirdNote also relies on your generosity. As an independent nonprofit, we depend on support from listeners like you to keep us going. This week, we’re asking you to make a donation of any amount to help us continue sharing the joy and wonder of birds with people everywhere.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote

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00:01:41

Bird Books with BirdNote

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/10

For many of us nature nerds, books and birds go hand in hand. That’s why BirdNote brings you conversations with award-winning writers about how birds inspire their work. This week, we are asking you to support the show so that we can keep providing daily stories about birds – and the books they’ve inspired – to your local station for free.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

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00:01:45

BirdNote Helps You Get to Know Your Neighborhood

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/09

Whether you know your neighborhood inside-out or you just moved and are getting to know the area, BirdNote adds another dimension to how you understand the place you live — by understanding the birds. Our hope is that by spreading knowledge about birds, BirdNote is helping you become more connected to your local ecosystems. A gift of any amount helps us continue to accomplish this goal.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

The Multiplier Effect

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/08

This summer, the U.S. Congress revoked more than $1 billion in previously allocated funding for public media. Because BirdNote provides its shows to stations for free, a gift to BirdNote has a multiplier effect: It helps produce a show you love and it helps provide free programming for the local public radio station you love.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

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00:01:38

Darwin's Birds

BirdNote Daily ·

2025/09/07

The finches of the Galapagos Islands are famous in the history of evolutionary theory. But Charles Darwin spent four years studying other birds as well, as the Beagle circumnavigated southern South America before reaching the Galapagos in 1835. It was not just the birds, but a lifetime of attending to all the wild things in his path that brought Darwin to his great idea.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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