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Cliff Swallow--Strength in Numbers
Cliff Swallows gather in spring, in nesting colonies of up to 3,700 nests. Look for swarms of them under bridges, under the eaves of barns, or even the side of your house. The swallows use mud to mak…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Birds Need Water in Summer
Summer is a crucial time to keep your backyard birds supplied with water for drinking and bathing. Birdbaths set at different heights serve a great variety of birds. A wide, shallow birdbath that dee…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Why Do Birds Flick Their Tails?
The way that some birds flick, wag, or flare their tails can be distinctive. A flicking or flashing tail might suggest to a predator that a bird is particularly alert or hard to catch, while also war…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Gull-billed Tern
The Gull-billed Tern are terns with black caps and unusually thick bills– like a gull. This lets them eat more types of prey than other terns that rely on fish. Gull-billed Terns tackle crabs and liz…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Marsh Voices at Sunrise
In marshes across the country, birds awaken on a summer morning. Tall dense grasses and reeds often make marsh birds hard to see, but their voices carry easily across the lush, green landscape. You c…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Dry Tortugas Archipelago
From a bird's perspective, the Dry Tortugas, a cluster of islands in the Gulf of Mexico, can be a life-saver. Millions of migratory songbirds fly north across the Gulf and Caribbean each spring, head…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Changing How You Hear the World
We often hear from listeners that BirdNote has changed the way they see and interact with the world around them. It's had that impact for those of us who help make the show, too. There’s so much life…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
An Unlikely Burrowing Owl Boomtown
The Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon, a landscape dotted with a thousand concrete bunkers, may not look like an ideal haven for birds. But the site has taken on a new life — as a luxury subdivision…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
Behind the Scenes
It takes a lot to bring you the rich sounds of birds yodeling, cooing, and screeching to you each day. It's a meticulous process of researching, writing, fact-checking, editing, recording and sound d…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago
'Akē'akē
Known locally as 'Akē'akē, the Band-rumped Storm-Petrel is one of the smallest and rarest seabirds that nests in the Hawaiian Islands. To protect the nests of these rare birds, scientists have to fin…
Published on 2 years, 6 months ago