BirdNote

When Adé Ben-Salahuddin stopped to help a trapped young bird on his way home from work, he found an unexpected source of help: an older Black woman walking by who had just the skills for the problem at hand.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 Red-winged Blackbird is the theme bird for this year's Black Birders Week. Deja Perkins, who helps organize the event, introduces us to this species and what the bird represents to her and to Black Birders Week. 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.

Juvenile Glaucous-winged Gulls are taking flight over downtown Seattle. In Chicago, young Ring-billed Gulls are heading for Lake Michigan. And before long, juvenile Herring Gulls will be soaring over the Atlantic Ocean. More and more, some gulls are raising their families in the city. They nest on flat, sunny rooftops that are generally inaccessible to humans. When chicks like this Western Gull fledge, they're soft brown, and won't have adult plumage – that flashy white and gray or black crispness – until they're four years old.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.ult plumage – that flashy white and gray or black crispness – until they're four years old. 

Barn Swallows have adapted to nesting near people, and build their cup-shaped mud nests in barns or garages, or on protected ledges, often near each other. The good news? These twittery, flittery birds love to eat the insects that humans consider pesky.Imagine: 60 insects per hour, a whopping 850 per day. That's how much each bird eats.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 Secretarybird of sub-Saharan Africa looks like a slim eagle set on the long, slender legs of a crane. Secretarybirds can fly but prefer to hunt on foot, walking over 20 miles a day and dispatching their prey with powerful kicks of their taloned feet.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.

Climate change poses a big threat to all life on earth, and birds are no exception. Garry George is the director of the Clean Energy Initiative for the National Audubon Society, and he says that wind turbines are essential to meet our carbon reduction goals. But they can also kill birds. Garry and his team at Audubon provide guidance on how to make wind farms safer for 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.

During the day, an American Robin, a member of the thrush family, sings a lovely, familiar song of rich phrases. But as the sun begins to set, robin song takes on a different character. From sunset until dark, a robin adds ethereal whispered notes to its carol, creating a song of remarkable grace and complexity. In the high latitudes, where twilight lingers late into the evening, a robin may expand its daytime carols into a twilight symphony that continues for hours.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.

When a Sage Thrasher, perched on a clump of sagebrush, tips its head back to sing, the notes rush forth. They often sing non-stop for at least two minutes. In stark comparison, the song of this Brewer's Blackbird lasts barely a second. And the Henslow's Sparrow values brevity even more. But whether they're long and drawn out or short and sweet, bird songs are all about the same things: territory and breeding. 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.

Many birds drink while standing — dipping their beaks into a pond or birdbath, taking a beakful, and then tossing their heads back to swallow the water. But drinking on the wing suits swallows best. They walk awkwardly on the ground, and their long wings are cumbersome. So it's far more efficient to grab a drink on the glide. This adaptation holds true for some other birds, too, including Common Nighthawks and swifts. Swifts have such short legs that they never land on the ground — so a sip on the wing is essential. 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.

Western Tanagers dart from tree to tree, on the lookout for delicious bugs. They'll find them by scanning the tree bark — or maybe snatching them from mid-air during flight — a tactic called hawking. Come winter, these lovely songbirds head south, where they fit right in with the other brightly colored tropical birds they'll spend the winter with in Mexico and 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.

Birds communicate with a fascinating array of instrumental sounds, and nearly all are made with their feathers or bills. The territorial drumming of a woodpecker - like this Black-backed Woodpecker - is one example. American Crows clatter their beaks to make rattling sounds. And the remarkable drumming of a Ruffed Grouse is produced by a rapid beating of its wings.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.

Júlia d'Oliveira is a paleoartist who brings extinct species to life in artwork. For each species she illustrates, she learns everything she can about the species to come up with a realistic portrait. Júlia hopes her paleoart offers something different from the grotesque versions of dinosaurs in movies she remembers from growing 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.

The environmental movement has historically been very white. As a conservation scientist for the National Wildlife Federation, Corina Newsome works with government agencies to make sure that conservation plans will benefit Black and Brown people and the environmental health of their communities.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.

Named after their distinctive cat-like “mew” call, Gray Catbirds are mimic thrushes, related to mockingbirds and thrashers. They can imitate a wide variety of noises, from songbirds to mammals to frogs. Noisy and boisterous in the spring, a migrating flock of catbirds can fill a city park with sound.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.

Brooklyn's Prospect Park covers more than 500 acres — many of them covered in trees. One bird species that calls the park home is the strikingly beautiful Blue Jay, which nests, forages, and roosts in trees. In the eastern US, you can invite Blue Jays into a small yard with just a decent tree or two. It's the volume of branches and leafy habitat overhead that matter to the jays.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 Bee Hummingbird, found only in Cuba, is the smallest bird in the world. An absolute miniature, even among hummingbirds, it measures only two and a quarter inches long. Often mistaken for bees, they weigh less than a dime. The female builds a nest barely an inch across, and lays eggs about the size of a coffee bean.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.

Peer into an owl's face – there is something almost human about its large, forward-facing eyes. The Great Gray Owl, which stands two feet tall and weighs 2 and 1/2 pounds, has eyes larger than those of most humans! Enormous eyes enable owls to see in near darkness. An owl's retinal anatomy is similar to that of cats, which rival owls in seeing in dim light. You can learn more about owls' eyesight from the World Owl Trust.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.

Imagine this Black-capped Chickadee flying toward its nest, carrying fresh insects for its chicks. A moment later, it emerges with a tiny white pouch in its bill. The chickadee drops the object into the vegetation below. That outgoing payload is a fecal sac, a remarkable adaptation found in nesting songbirds. Nestlings — often within seconds of being fed by an adult — excrete waste in tidy little sacs. Then the dutiful parent switches tasks, from meal delivery to waste management.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 native pinewood forests of the Scottish Highlands are home to many species, but among the most striking is the Western Capercaillie – the largest living grouse species. Their future in the highland forests is under threat. But a conservation task force headed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and backed by landowners and the government is striving to reverse their decline.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.

Burrowing Parakeets excavate deep nest tunnels in sandstone and limestone cliffs in Argentina and Chile. The colony's many tunnels zigzag and interconnect, creating an intricate labyrinth. Their nesting colonies are among the largest of any parrot — one in Argentina has 70,000 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.

Spring has reached the Arctic. Low-growing wildflowers carpet slopes of tundra, and arriving migratory birds begin to sing: Lapland Longspurs, Hoary Redpolls, Snow Buntings, Bluethroats, and more.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.

Heidi Hoelting, a musician, listens carefully to the songs of birds. In her piano studio at her home in the woods, she wrote down several variations of the different sounds a Song Sparrow makes. In this BirdNote, Nancy Rumbel plays some of those variations on a bamboo whistle. Listen to all thirteen variations, as played by Nancy.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.

A bird's crest is made up of a slender array of feathers on top of its head. These feathers are a bit longer and can be spiked up or slicked back, depending on what the bird is trying to communicate. Even birds without crests, like crows or sparrows, sometimes puff up their short crown feathers.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.

In the rural Southeast, roadside ditches – known as “bar ditches” – carry on for miles. The term bar ditch probably comes from their construction, when dirt was "borrowed" to build up the road. The ditches are full of water and full of life, these narrow wetlands. Herons stalk the shallow water, stabbing at minnows. Common Gallinules, like this one, swim on the surface. Reeds and bulrushes provide cover for secretive marsh birds like King Rails. Red-winged Blackbirds flash crimson epaulets as they sing, and Boat-tailed Grackles offer their own rough music.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.

This Great Horned Owlet - about 2-1/2 months old and already as big as its parents - is quite well feathered, although its underparts remain downy. Its wing and tail feathers are developing nicely, and it has begun to make short flights. By mid-May, the owlet still relies almost entirely on its parents for food, and will stay with the family for months to come.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 American Kestrel is the smallest, most numerous, and most widespread North American falcon. This bird is built for speed, its long pointed wings often bent back at the tip. While hunting, kestrels hover above an open field. These days, the lack of suitable nesting cavities, which limits American Kestrel populations in some areas, has lead to public interest in installing wooden nest boxes.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.

Pigeons, one of the most ancient of domesticated animals, feed their nestlings a peculiar, milky substance, straight from the adult's beak to the baby's throat. It's called pigeon milk, a fat-rich substance loaded with antioxidants and immunity factors that enhance the survival of newborns — much like mammals' milk does.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.

American White Pelicans have a nine-foot wingspan, nearly that of the California Condor. In summer, they breed mainly in the interior west of the United States and Canada, favoring shallow portions of lakes, marshes, and rivers, where they scoop fish from the water in the pouches of their beaks.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 most distinctive characteristic of the California Quail is the black, forward-facing topknot that juts out from its forehead like a small flag. The California Quail – the state bird of California – builds its nest right on the ground. Almost immediately after hatching, the precocial chicks are up and running, following their parents to feed. 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.

A typical songbird belts out its song between 1,000 and 2,500 times per day. Even though most bird songs last only a few seconds, that's a lot of warbling! A Yellowhammer, a European bunting, may sing over 3,000 times a day. But the Yellowhammer doesn't even come close to the North American record-holder, this Red-eyed Vireo. One such vireo delivered its song over 22,000 times in ten hours!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.

Hummingbirds need to consume five times their body weight each day. This Rufous Hummingbird of the West is looking for flowering plants to quench that mighty thirst on its spring migration. A feeder would work, too. Put a hummingbird feeder up in your yard, and see who turns 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.

At Charity Birds Hospital, a small staff takes care of approximately twenty-six hundred  birds at a time, providing antibiotics, medicine, food, and a safe place to rest for injured or sick birds. The hospital is run entirely on donations, mostly from the Jain community, which follows the philosophy, “live and let live.”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.

Piping Plovers are tiny, sand-colored shorebirds that nest on the beach. They're threatened in much of their range. But plovers have gotten a boost from something rather surprising: hurricanes. Superstorm Sandy left behind plant-free, sandy beaches on barrier islands in New York and New Jersey, which actually offers better camouflage for nesting plovers. Where these hurricane-created habitats were protected, Piping Plovers have boomed.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.

Poet Sean Hill performs three poems that encapsulate his dynamic relationship to birds, travel and life as a Black wanderer in the great outdoors. First is The Western Tanager or Why Montana, a villanelle reflecting on why people choose a home. Then, In Houston examines the intimacy of quiet moments and the surprising sounds that can be heard when we really listen. And finally, Silas Fishing 1967 shows how connecting with even small moments in nature can have a transformational effect.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 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 more. 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.

A pair of White-throated Swifts twists and turns, sailing through the air. Dashing headlong across the canyon toward an unyielding wall, the birds disappear at the last second into a slender crevice. This swift is aptly named — and doubly so. The White-throated Swift is among the fastest of all birds. And its lyrical, scientific name suits it perfectly: Aeronautes saxatalis - sailor of the air who dwells in the rocks.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.

We've all heard that the early bird gets the worm. But research shows that birds dining early and heavily may lower their life expectancy. Socially dominant birds stay lean (and agile at avoiding predators) during the day, and then stoke up later, before a cold night. Subordinate birds have to look for food whenever and wherever they can find it, and carry fat on their bodies to hedge against unpredictable rations.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 ancient Greeks and Egyptians described a mythical bird called the Phoenix, a magnificent creature that was a symbol of renewal and rebirth. According to legend, each Phoenix lived for 500 years, and only one Phoenix lived at a time. Just before its time was up, the Phoenix built a nest and set itself on fire. Then, a new Phoenix would rise from the ashes.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.

Although a field of grass might not seem like valuable habitat at first, many birds have adapted to nest in grassland habitats and nowhere else. In North America, birds such as the Bobolink seek out grasslands to raise their young, deftly hiding their nests within the dense vegetation. Very few grasslands and savannas have been protected compared to the area that's been lost, making them the most at-risk ecosystem on the planet. That means every acre of grassland remaining is even more precious — to birds, to plants, and to people.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 may be no busier bird during the nesting season than a male House Wren. Just a day or so after completing his spring migration from the tropics, the male House Wren claims a territory and checks out several potential nest cavities. And in each of these locations, he builds a starter nest using virtually anything twig-like to get the job done — from nails and bits of wire to paper clips and hairpins. The male House Wren stays at it until a female pairs with him. Then she picks one of the starter nests and takes over construction. 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.

You might think the first bird species that humans raised in captivity would be a relatively small one, like a chicken. But evidence suggests that people in New Guinea reared the cassowary, often called the world's deadliest bird, as much as 18,000 years ago, long before the domestication of chickens. The remains of cassowary eggs and bones at archaeological sites in New Guinea indicate that people gathered the eggs, possibly allowing the more mature eggs to hatch into chicks.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.

Each spring, millions of birds head north. From Ecuador, beautiful Scarlet Tanagers fly to the eastern US and Canada, many traversing the Gulf of Mexico, an arduous journey. Across much of southern Europe, Common Nightingales – small thrushes with russet feathers – are arriving, having traveled northward from Africa across immense deserts. In northern Asia, petite songbirds known as Siberian Rubythroats — like this one — are arriving en masse, some winging their way across the South China Sea from the Philippines, others over the mountains from Thailand.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-tailed Grackles live up to their name. The glossy black males trail their long, V-shaped tails behind them as they fly, almost like a plane towing a banner ad. And while not quite as flashy, the brown-feathered females have impressively long tails, too. Also known as the Mexican Grackle, this species lives in all sorts of habitats from the northern coasts of South America to the western U.S. Their ability to live in both cities and farmland has helped Great-tailed Grackles expand as far north as Iowa. 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.

One of the most musical and complex bird songs in the US is that of the Brewer's Sparrow. It's a veritable aria, ringing forth from the sagebrush of Eastern Washington's Columbia Basin. Shrub-steppe is disappearing from the interior west as it is cleared for irrigated crops. The quintessential drylands bird, the Brewer's Sparrow can survive for an extended period of time with no supplemental water, getting all the water it needs from seeds and arthropods.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.

Female birds need to eat calcium to have enough of the mineral to lay their eggs. But it can be hard to find enough of it to eat in nature. We can help our backyard birds by offering them some extra calcium in bird feeders and by recycling our used egg shells.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.

Ever heard the term “eagle eye”? An eagle's vision is incredibly sharp, and its eyes can weigh more than its brain. The secret to the bird's exceptional vision is the density of visual cells – the rods and cones – of its retina.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.

Tracking birds can be tricky — even with GPS technology. Around 70% of bird species are just too small to carry a GPS battery. But recently, Australian scientists developed GPS trackers that looked like little backpacks, weighed less than a gram, could charge wirelessly and could be quickly released with a magnet. When the researchers tested the trackers on Australian Magpies, though, the birds managed to pinpoint a tiny weak spot in the backpack and helped each other peck the trackers off. This showed evidence of altruism, a rare behavior among 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.

Each September, thousands of Vaux's Swifts roost in the chimney of Chapman Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, a stopover on their southern migration. Crowds gather every night to watch the spectacle. As a celebration of Poetry Month in the US, we offer this poem, Swifts, by Stefania Gomez.You can read more of Stefania's work in her book, Once I Loved a Cowboy.This interview originally aired in April 2020.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.

In the daytime, hot air rises as the sun heats the ground. The rising column of air is called a thermal, and it's the perfect way for a Turkey Vulture to hitch a ride. Like an elevator to the skies, the thermal gently wafts the vultures upward. They move in a slowly ascending spiral around the thermal, rarely flapping and instead coasting on the breeze. When many vultures ride the same thermal, it's called a kettle.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 Ruby-crowned Kinglet is one of the smallest songbirds on the continent, weighing in at just a little more than half a chickadee. Mostly green and hard to spot, it hovers in mid-air as it catches tiny insects. In early spring, the kinglet's rollicking song echoes from the forest edge in the lowlands. By late May, he is singing and nesting at mile-high altitudes in mountain forests.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.

Want to try building a nest? Consider this... An average American Robin weighs less than three ounces. An average person weighs 170 pounds, or 1,000 times as much as a robin. A robin's nest, made of grass and mud, weighs about seven ounces, so yours will weigh 450 pounds. You'll need to collect about 350 strands of grass, each about four feet long. And don't forget the mud: 150 pounds of it. You have five days to complete the job. That's 300 mouthfuls of mud.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.