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PODCAST

BirdNote

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. Join us for daily two-minute stories about birds, the environment, and more.

All Episodes

00:01:41

Sheridan Alford on Birding and Mental Health

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Sheridan Alford helps organize Black Birders Week, which celebrates Black people who love birds with a week of interactive events. She’s passionate about the mental health benefits of birding, especially for people who have experienced trauma. Sheridan says that sitting and journaling about what you observe can help you feel grounded. Becoming aware of the birds living around you can help you tap into their resilience in a changing world.

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00:01:45

Spark Bird: Dara Wilson and the Blue-gray Tanager

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

While Dara Wilson was working at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C., she introduced visitors to the Amazonia exhibit. She would describe the song of a bird she’d never had the chance to see in the wild, the Blue-gray Tanager. But when Dara moved to Panama, she heard the song that she knew by heart already. Encountering the Blue-gray Tanager in its natural habitat inspired her to keep learning about birds — and to share that knowledge with others as an educator. Dara helps organize Black Birders

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00:01:41

Black Heron

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

The canopy feeding method used by the Black Heron, also known as the Black Egret, is an impressive trick. It spreads its wings out like it's mimicking an umbrella and waits. Unsuspecting fish think this is shade from vegetation and a safe place to hide — and that is when the bird strikes! This pitch-black heron creates canopies in shallow open waters and seasonally flooded grasslands through Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. Culturally, herons are seen as sacred messengers and symbols of prosperity

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00:01:41

Celebrating Female Bird Day

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

In 2019, several co-workers at the National Audubon Society formed a team for the World Series of Birding that focused on identifying female birds. Called the Galbatrosses, they sought to highlight how female birds have been understudied and unfairly written off as quieter and less interesting. Since then, the Galbatrosses have led events about IDing female birds and held the first Female Bird Day over Memorial Day weekend in 2020.

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00:01:45

Ospreys and Baling Twine

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Each year, two Ospreys known as Charlie and Charlotte nest near the Owl Research Institute in Montana. A webcam of their nest gives people an intimate glimpse into their lives. In 2021, Charlie brought some baling twine into their nest. Baling twine is a plastic string used to bind hay and straw. When brought into a nest, chicks can get fatally tangled — including as many as 10% of Osprey chicks. Fortunately, there are organizations working to protect Osprey chicks from baling twine.

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00:01:45

Songbirds Teach Each Other Tricks

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

In the UK for years, milk came in bottles with foil caps. Great Tits, a common songbird, learned how to peck through the foil. The skill spread. But how? Researchers trained Great Tits in different ways of opening a box and re-released them. Knowledge of how to open the box spread rapidly, with most birds copying the trained bird in their group. In a follow-up study, the researchers made one method of opening the box more effective. Many birds quickly switched to the better method, suggesting the

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00:01:41

Haley Scott on Leading Bird Walks

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Haley Scott leads bird walks with the Feminist Bird Club in New York City. And she tries to make her walks comfortable for newcomers and experienced birders alike. “We’re all in the process together, we’re all learning the birds together,” she says. She values the inclusive approach of the Feminist Bird Club and makes sure that participants, especially people from historically excluded backgrounds, feel welcome on her walks. Learn more about the Feminist Bird Club here.

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00:01:45

Phainopeplas Glisten

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

A slim, sleek bird with a spiky crest, Phainopepla comes from the Greek for “shining cloak.” The name refers to the male’s glistening, inky black feathers, which are set off by piercing red eyes. And if the Greek name isn’t helping you picture it, a common nickname might: the goth cardinal. From February to April, they nest in pairs in the arid Sonoran Desert. From May to July, they form nesting colonies in leafy oak and sycamore canyons to escape the summer heat.

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00:01:45

Rock Climbing Among the Peregrines

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Eagle Cliff in New Hampshire’s Franconia Notch State Park is an important nesting site for Peregrine Falcons. Each year, popular climbing routes in the area close temporarily to give nesting falcons their space. After peregrines disappeared from the northeast due to the pesticide DDT, Eagle Cliff was the first natural rock face to host a successful peregrine nest. Now, state agencies and New Hampshire Audubon work with rock climbing groups to decide when to close cliffs in the summer.

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00:01:40

Bird Facts Stranger Than Fiction

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Novelist Kira Jane Buxton has written several books about a pet crow navigating a post-apocalyptic world. But her writing is full of real-world bird behaviors. She has taken inspiration from how sparrows line their nests with cigarette stubs — which can deter mites — and many other bits of animal trivia. “I maintain that anything I took liberties with, in terms of the more fantasy or fantastical elements of the novel, they're not half as exciting as what's really happening in nature,” she says.

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00:01:45

A Marsh with More Than One Purpose

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

The Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary in Northwest California is an important stop along the Pacific Flyway, one of the four main routes for bird migration through North America. Visitors are sometimes surprised to learn that this wildlife sanctuary is also the city of Arcata’s wastewater treatment facility. By combining conventional wastewater treatment to natural wetlands, the city has created habitat homes and migratory resting places for over 300 species of birds, including many

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00:07:07

Ada Limón: The Hurting Kind

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Poet Ada Limón often writes about birds, and her new book, The Hurting Kind, is no exception. Birds are a throughline in the book — between the seasons, from childhood to present, and knowing and unknowing. Two of her poems examine opposite sides of the “knowing/unknowing” coin. You can read many more fantastic poems, with and without birds, in Ada Limón's new book, The Hurting Kind.

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00:01:45

BirdNoir: That Raptor's an Impostor!

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

In this episode of BirdNoir, the Private Eye gets a call from his friend Frank, his eyes and ears in the neighborhood. He’s hearing a Red-shouldered Hawk call, but there’s no hawk in sight. Going through the lineup of usual suspects found in backyards, they examine the surprising talent for mimicry found among common birds and finally put the finger on the trickster.

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00:01:37

Thick-billed Longspur

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

It can feel like there’s nowhere to hide in the shortgrass prairie. But the Thick-billed Longspur calls this place home. The bird’s burbling song helps create the high plains’ soundscape. The species was formerly named McCown’s Longspur after a Confederate general who participated in genocide against Native Americans. In 2020, after pressure from the “Bird Names for Birds” movement and others, the species was renamed for its thick bill, which is pale on females and black on breeding males.

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00:01:45

The Wild Parrots of San Francisco

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Flocks of Cherry-headed Conures, a species native to South America, are now found throughout San Francisco. While a local legend claims that a pet shop owner introduced them by burning the shop down, it’s more likely that that a few of these loud-mouths exasperated their owners until they “accidentally” left a window open. Sadly, wild Cherry-headed Conures are falling ill from rodent poison. A nonprofit, Mickaboo, adopts out healed rescues.

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00:01:45

Noppadol Paothong on Conservation Photography

BirdNote ·

2022/04/14

Growing up in Thailand, Noppadol Paothong loved the outdoors, and began learning about cameras at just eight or nine years old. He came to the U.S. to study graphic design, but the woman who’s now his wife encouraged him to pursue photography instead. While working at a daily newspaper, he took his first photos of Greater Prairie-Chickens. He’s now a staff photographer for the Missouri Department of Conservation and has produced two books about species of grouse that depend on grasslands.

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00:04:19

Joyce Clement: Birds Punctuate the Days

BirdNote ·

2022/03/21

Poet Joyce Clement writes haiku, a traditional Japanese form. While it's often thought of as having three lines with 5-7-5 syllables, Joyce says that the key elements of any haiku are a fragment and a phrase spoken in a single breath. In this sequence of haiku, Joyce juxtaposes punctuation marks with images of birds, drawing on their similar appearances, as well as meaning.

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00:01:35

Puffin Beaks Glow

BirdNote ·

2022/03/21

Puffins are known for their flashy bills, striped like a giant piece of candy-corn. New research has found that the bills of Atlantic Puffins glow brightly under ultraviolet blacklights. Neon, curved streaks appeared between the different colored segments of a puffin’s bill in this lighting. It’s possible that the UV highlights help the birds further stand out to potential mates. For the experiment, researchers made special puffin sunglasses to protect the birds’ eyes.

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00:01:35

Sooty Grouse are Hooting

BirdNote ·

2022/03/21

In spring, a male Sooty Grouse calls from a concealed perch high in a tall conifer. Known as “hooting,” it’s a very low-pitched, five or six-note thunking sound. When a female cackles in response, the male flies down and displays to her by strutting and fanning his tail. Females are camouflaged in shades of gray and brown. One of the best times to see a Sooty Grouse is mid-summer, when the female escorts her chicks to the edge of a trail or roadside to search for food.

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00:01:45

A Small Park That Has What Birds Need

BirdNote ·

2022/03/21

Washington Square Park in Manhattan is just 10 acres. But Georgia Silvera Seamans, who leads wildlife surveys there, says there’s a spot that draws in many birds because of its well-developed forest canopy. Georgia is the director of an organization called Washington Square Park Eco Projects that provides environmental education and advocates for the ecological value of the park. She collects stories from city dwellers about their experiences with birds on her podcast, Your Bird Story.

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