Birdnote

For folks looking to try birding for the first time, getting started can be daunting. Should you learn every species’ call, every subtle feather pattern before you head out to look for birds? While it’s good to prepare, there’s a risk of scaring yourself out of starting, and preventing the kind of hands-on experiential learning that’s one of the best parts of birding. So when you have the time and energy, just go for it! Learning about birds is the work of a lifetime — that’s why it’s so rewarding.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.

Thomas Poulsom is a hobbyist LEGO builder best known for his models of birds. But making birds out of bricks isn't easy. That’s why he uses special pieces to sculpt something entirely different — like when minifigure carrots became a puffin’s legs. A unique piece called a “snot brick” allows him to build in any direction, making it possible to make a round object out of square LEGO bricks. 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.

The hoots of the Greater White-fronted Goose inspired a nickname, the “Laughing Goose.”  A little smaller than Canada Geese, these gray-brown birds are named for the band of white around the base of their pinkish-orange bills. Greater White-fronted Geese are strong, athletic fliers. When family groups come in to land at a roost, they employ a slip-sliding or “falling leaf” maneuver to quickly lose altitude—from over a thousand feet above the ground.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.

Long-eared Owls aren’t rare, and they don’t live in remote locations. But their plumage and habits make them incredibly elusive. The mixture of warm browns and cool, bark-like grays lends the bird an astonishingly branch-like appearance. When potential predators approach, the birds close their orange eyes and stretch their bodies so that even the most practiced human eye has a hard time spotting them.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.

The Andean-Cock-of-the-Rock sounds like a cross between a chainsaw and a squealing pig. The national bird of Peru, male birds of this species sport a splendid bright red plumage along with a head crest reminiscent of a knight’s battle helmet. Females choose their mate from among a group of bickering males, then build a nest high on a cliff wall.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.

There are five million bird eggs stowed away in museums across the world — and the study of eggs, called oology, can give us great insight into birds. The link between DDT and the decline of Peregrine Falcon populations was identified in part using museum and personal egg collections, and this evidence helped lead to a ban on DDT. And today, Peregrines can still be seen zipping across the sky.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.

There used to be a saying about somebody who doesn’t eat much — “she eats like a bird.” But how much does a bird typically eat? As a rule of thumb, the smaller the bird, the more food it needs relative to its weight. A Cooper’s Hawk, a medium-sized bird, eats around 12% of its weight per day. For a human weighing 150 pounds, that’s 18 pounds of chow, or roughly six extra-large pizzas. And that perky little chickadee at your feeder eats the equivalent of 35% of its weight. You, as a 150-pound chickadee, will be munching 600 granola bars a day. And a hummingbird drinks about 100% of its body weight per day. That means you’ll be sipping 17½ gallons of milk.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.

Every summer, puffins — like this Horned Puffin — grow blazingly colorful layers over the bases of their huge beaks. But in the winter, puffins lead very different lives, and they shed their bright ornamentation. Puffins in winter are largely solitary — and silent. They spend about seven months alone at sea, before returning once again to their colonies to breed.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.

Dwain Vaughns, II, worked as a pilot for 11 years until he developed a rare chronic pain condition called complex regional pain syndrome after an accident. As part of a recreational therapy program, Dwain signed up for a birding trip, but that day he found himself struggling with a racing heart rate. But by stopping and listening to the birds, he found that his heart rate and pain decreased. In the details of bird flight, Dwain sees echoes of his time spent flying planes.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.

For birds and other animals with good natural insulation, winter provides a striking benefit as they scavenge. Bacteria function very slowly or not at all in the cold, preventing dead bodies from rotting. In northern latitudes, ravens and other scavenging birds take advantage of winter's cold storage. When a caribou, moose, or deer dies in Canada, Alaska, or other cold place in the winter, it's available to be eaten for months. Bacteria must wait until spring warms the carcass before they can begin to consume it.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.

To out-sip their competition, Sword-billed Hummingbirds have a distinct adaptation: these birds’ beaks are longer than their bodies. Found in temperate forests from Venezuela to Bolivia, these hummingbirds rely entirely on tube-like flowers that other species could never reach. While most birds can use their tongues to clean their feathers, the Sword-billed Hummingbird’s long beak gets in the way – so they use their legs to scratch themselves instead.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.

Male birds are often the larger, flashier sex that courts choosy females, who in turn raise their chicks. But not always. Female phalaropes -- like this Wilson's Phalarope -- challenge each other over territories in which to house a cluster of males half their size. And the males do all the childcare. Other stay-at-home dads include most of the ratites, like ostriches and emus, as well as several species of jacanas.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.

Great Black-backed Gulls have a reputation as serious predators of other birds. During the nesting season, they’ll prey on eggs and nestlings of other seabirds. They’ll also hunt adult seabirds including puffins and grebes, as well as songbirds as big as a grackle.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.

Here and there along winter shorelines, little flocks of pale, silvery shorebirds probe at the water's edge, keeping pace with each wave's ebb and flow. These are Sanderlings, small sandpipers that stay through the winter. Rachel Carson, in Under the Sea Wind, described Sanderlings as running "with a twinkle of black feet." Learn more about the Sanderling at Audubon's online Guide to North American Birds.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.

The secret to birds’ flight starts with the shape of their wings. They’re curved in a way that causes air to flow more slowly under the wing than above it. That creates an area of low pressure just above the wing that pulls the bird up into the sky—a force called lift. Airplane wings are curved in a similar way — but unlike airplanes, bird wings don’t stay in place, they flap! That lets birds push their way into the air from a dead stop. On the upstroke of a wing-flap, birds fold their wings inward, reducing drag on the wing.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.

Palmyra Atoll is a ring-shaped island encircling a lagoon in the South Pacific. The atoll lost many native trees due to U.S. military activity during World War II. Conservationists have worked to restore the ecosystem. Seabirds such as Black Noddies and Red-footed Boobies nest in the island’s rainforest. Their guano enriches the soil, and the soil’s nutrients help support the coral ecosystem that provides fish for the birds.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.

After Christine Okon was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2012, she found herself falling behind on birding walks when the group trudged across hills and valleys – something she once really enjoyed. Now, Christine helps organize birding events with Golden Gate Bird Alliance and designs them to be accessible. A big part of that is talking to people with disabilities about what they need.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.

The 22-inch Great Horned Owl has two tufts of feathers that stick up from the top of its head. This owl is difficult to see, but it's often heard during dark winter evenings and pre-dawn mornings. A pair of owls may call back and forth or overlap their hoots. The male’s call is slightly lower in pitch. Listen for the owl’s night-time refrain, "Who’s awake? Me, too."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.

Kererū, green-blue pigeons native to New Zealand, like to sun themselves after dining on fruit. But in warm summer months, the bird’s sunbathing has a surprising side-effect. A part of their digestive system called the crop stores their latest snack – where it begins to ferment, eventually making the pigeons drunk! The rotund creatures often get so tipsy that they fall out of trees, prompting compassionate people to deliver them to local bird rescues and let them sober up.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.

Nuthatches rank high on the list of favorite backyard birds. Compact and stub-tailed, they climb down tree trunks and along the underside of branches with comical ease. One at a time, they flit in for suet and sunflower seeds. But out in the woods, where they spend most of their time, nuthatches are hard to spot. Fortunately, they give themselves away with their voices. Compare the calls of Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches, then head to the woods.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.