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Articles by Bob Sundstrom
The Color of Birds' Eyes
BirdNote® The Color of a Bird’s Eyes Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Great Horned Owl] Peer into the world of birds, and eyes of many different colors peer back. [American Herring Gull] There shades of light and dark - yellows, whites, greens, the red eyes of certain hawks, ducks, loons, herons, and songbirds. These colors really pop because birds have no white around the iris like we do.
Robins Raise a Brood in a Hurry
BirdNote® Robins Raise A Brood – In a Hurry Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [American Robin song, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/168300, 0.7-.11] When it comes to raising a family and getting them out of the house, American Robins have got it - down. [Music] Day one. A male and female mate in the spring. [Very quick burst of robin song] Day eight, approximately - the female's built a nest of grass and mud. A few days later, she's laying. Four days, four eggs.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
BirdNote® Ruby-throated Hummingbirds Are on the Way Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Rapid squeaky chips and wing hum of male Ruby-throated Hummingbird] It’s late April in the Northeast. You’ve just stepped out for a breath of spring air and — [Rapid squeaky chips and a very brief bit of wing hum of male Ruby-throated Hummingbird] — Hey, what was that!? A tiny bird just whizzed by like a bullet. There it is, over by those scarlet flowers, hovering – it’s a hummingbird.
Bird Songs of April
BirdNote® The Bird Songs of April Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. The month of April inspires poets, sometimes with contradictory results. T.S. Eliot describes April as “the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land.” Shakespeare strikes an upbeat note, writing “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” Let’s allow April – through the voice of nature – to speak for itself. Step outside and listen to the birds.
BirdNote® Soaring with Red-tails Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote! [“Oklahoma! Every night my honey lamb and I - Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk - Making lazy circles in the sky.”] A Red-tailed Hawk soars above a roadway on broad, rounded wings, the epitome of effortless flight. Without flapping, it traces a leisurely, rising circle. This is the hawk you’re most likely to see in the Lower 48 and the one that was “makin’ lazy circles in the sky” in the musical Oklahoma.
Brewer's Sparrow, Sageland Singer
BirdNote® Brewer’s Sparrow, Sageland Singer Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Long song of the Brewer’s Sparrow] Every spring, one of the most musical and complex bird songs on the continent rings forth from the sagebrush of the Columbia Basin in Washington State. The Brewer’s Sparrow, a migratory songbird that winters mostly in western Mexico, returns in April to the sage. Sagebrush habitat, often called shrub-steppe, is a common landscape of the interior West.
Pablo Neruda’s Celebrated Birds
BirdNote® Pablo Neruda’s Celebrated Birds Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Ambient sound of Chilean Swallow, ML303677] Pablo Neruda is considered one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. A native of Chile who wrote in Spanish, much of his work has been translated into English. Known best for poems of love, he also celebrated nature. His “Ode to the Hummingbird” brilliantly captures the bird.
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.
How Much Birds Sing
BirdNote® How Much Birds Sing Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote! [Black-headed Grosbeak song] This rollicking song belongs to a Black-headed Grosbeak. [Black-headed Grosbeak song] Like most birds, the male grosbeak begins singing in earnest a few days after reaching his traditional nesting grounds in spring. [Black-headed Grosbeak song] And, like most birds, he sings frequently when trying to attract a mate.
The Cool, Rugged Life of a Snow Bunting
BirdNote® The Cool, Rugged Life of a Snow Bunting Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Snow Bunting flight call, XC 636807, 0:05-0:08] Weather in the Arctic is still wintry when male Snow Buntings return to nesting areas in April. They’ve spent the winter roaming shorelines and fields of grain stubble — cold, windswept places in the northern United States and Canada.
Meet the Tiniest Owl in the World
BirdNote® Meet the Tiniest Owl in the World Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Elf Owl song, ML105533] As twilight deepens along a dry desert streambed, a tiny owl peers out from a hole in a sycamore tree. It’s an Elf Owl, the smallest species of owl in the world. [Elf Owl song, ML188270] Standing less than six inches tall, with gray feathers and big yellow eyes, the Elf Owl weighs less than an ounce and a half — a bit less than a golf ball.
Adaptations for Flight
BirdNote® It Takes More Than Wings: Adaptations for Flight Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Song of the Tree Swallow http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/40786] When a bird takes wing, it leaves most of us other creatures earthbound. Birds have evolved not only wings, but many other adaptations that make it possible to fly. [Band-tailed Pigeon http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/107629] First of all, feathers.
Zone-tailed Hawks Mimic Vultures
BirdNote® Zone-tailed Hawk: A Vulture Mimic? Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Zone-tailed Hawk cry, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/140253, 0.15-.18] The Zone-tailed Hawk of the American Southwest looks a lot like a Turkey Vulture. It’s dark all over, has a long tail, and soars on long, upward angled wings while tilting from side to side. And – this is where it gets intriguing – Zone-tailed Hawks often soar among groups of Turkey Vultures.
Spring Bursts Forth
BirdNote® Spring Bursts Forth Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. We often hear it said that spring “bursts” forth. As if winter’s leafless trees suddenly shimmer with green. Flowers pop. Birds start singing with all their hearts. [Northern Cardinal song, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/176244, 0.06-.10.] But this seasonal change isn't instantaneous.
BirdNote® How Do Birds Brake From Flight? Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. Watch any backyard bird, and you're watching an acrobat at work. A robin flaps swiftly across your field of vision and — reaching a tree — appears to go from full-out flight to a dead stop in the wink of an eye. How come it doesn't crash? If we could watch in slow motion, we'd see that just before it gets there, the robin raises the angle of its wings higher and higher from the horizontal.
Long-lived Wisdom, the Albatross
BirdNote® Long-lived Wisdom, the Albatross Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. This month, we’re celebrating BirdNote’s 20th anniversary. Twenty years is a long time, but we can’t hold a candle to Wisdom the albatross, the world’s oldest-known wild bird who is at least 74 years old. [Laysan Albatross call, ML32567] Back in 1956, pioneering bird biologist Chandler Robbins was fastening ID bands to the legs of Laysan Albatrosses.
Nest Cavities – Book Early | BirdNote
BirdNote® Nest Cavities — Book Early Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote! [Rapid series of male Tree Swallow’s song-like notes] A flash of glittering dark blue cuts through the gray of late February, as a male Tree Swallow glides low over a cattail marsh. The Tree Swallow’s liquid notes hint at spring’s approach. [Repeat rapid series of male Tree Swallow’s song-like notes] Where a broad, green pasture meets the forest edge, there is a second, even brighter flash of blue.
Winter Birds of Southern Florida
It’s winter in North America — a good time to head for the subtropical realms of South Florida and listen to the region’s birds, such as the secretive Mangrove Cuckoo pictured here. Rarely seen, it sings sporadically in winter. When it does, you’re sure to take notice. A sweeter voice belongs to the Spot-breasted Oriole. Found in suburban neighborhoods, these birds were brought to Florida in the 1940s from Central America.
For White-throated Swifts, Love Is in the Air
BirdNote® For White-throated Swifts, Love Is in the Air Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Elvis sings “Can’t Help Falling in Love”] This is Cupid’s busiest day of the year.* You could say that love is in the air. And for some birds, you can take that literally: love really is in the air. Consider the birds called White-throated Swifts. [White-throated Swift calls] White-throated Swifts are sparrow-sized birds with short bodies and very long, slender wings.
Swan Song | BirdNote
BirdNote® Swan Song Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote! [Flock of Tundra Swans calling] As a flight of Tundra Swans passes overhead on a winter day, their voices swell in a kind of wild music. [Flock of Tundra Swans calling] You might want to call it a “swan song.” The term “swan song” has an old and intriguing lineage. The ancient Greeks believed that swans remained silent most of their lives, singing an exquisite, heartrending lament only at the moment of their death.
Bohemian Waxwings Wander South
BirdNote® Bohemian Waxwings Wander South Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Winter sound image, such as fierce wind] In winter, when snow blankets the northern states, nearly all of the beautiful songbirds that graced the days of summer are long gone. They’re living out the cold months in warmer climes. But there’s one special winter visitor that goes a long way to filling the absence left by the birds of summer.
Winter Birds Love Suet
Birds at a suet feeder... What a burst of vitality on a chilly morning! What's the attraction? A cake of suet, suspended from a branch in a small wire feeder. Suet is beef fat, a high-energy food critical for birds' survival in the colder months. Suet is an especially strong magnet for birds (including this Northern Flicker) that eat lots of bugs in the warmer months. You can learn about suet feeders – and what kinds of birds they'll attract – at Birds.Cornell.Edu.
The Harpy Eagle Is a Huge, Powerful Hunter
BirdNote® Harpy Eagle Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. (Harpy Eagle, male song, https://www.xeno-canto.org/20069, 0.05-.11] If there is a single bird that captures the imagination of birders it may be the Harpy Eagle. Harpy Eagles are huge, powerful hunters that spend their lives in tall, remote tropical forests in Central and South America.
The Verdin’s Winter Roosts
BirdNote® The Verdin’s Winter Roosts Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [sounds signifying cold weather] For small songbirds, surviving a cold winter night can be challenging. Their bodies lose heat faster than those of larger birds. So little birds have found resourceful ways to stay warm — like huddling close together with others. Some snuggle into old bird nests; others shelter in a dense mass of leaves.
Following the Honeyguide
BirdNote® Following the Honeyguide Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote! [Greater Honeyguide chattering call] A sun-drenched morning in Kenya… A sharp chattering penetrates the quiet. It’s the call of a Greater Honeyguide. The small bird flares its tail as it chatters, flashing white spots like a semaphore. Surprisingly, the honeyguide’s demanding call is not aimed at a member of its own species.
Why Do Grebes Eat Their Feathers?
Eared Grebes eat brine shrimp and aquatic insects for sustenance, but rigid exoskeletons make them hard to digest. So these grebes – along with their other grebe cousins – evolved to use their feathers as a way to slow down digestion. The feathers form dense balls in the digestive tract and appear to slow the passage of food long enough that the food can be safely liquified. The bird then regurgitates the tough bits within a ball of feathers.
Winter Brings Falcons
BirdNote® Winter Brings Falcons Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Winter wind] Each season ushers in its own bounty of birdlife. Winter is the best season to highlight North America’s feathered thunderbolts: the falcons. [Peregrine Falcon calling] Northern-nesting species of falcons, like this Peregrine we’re hearing, move southward, closer to their many admiring observers.
Voices and Vocabularies - Great Horned Owls
BirdNote® Voices and Vocabularies Night Voices: Great Horned Owls Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Crickets-nighttime + call of female Great Horned Owl] After dark, it’s our ears that connect us to the lives of birds. And one of our most familiar connections is with the lovely and mysterious hooting of Great Horned Owls.
City Owls | BirdNote
Some owls, like Barred Owls and Great Horned Owls, live in the city. As hunters, they find a lot to eat in the city — like rats or squirrels! Both favor urban parks, cemeteries, and botanical gardens — places with big trees — and both roost during the day. The Great Horned Owl, like this one, might appear like an enormous housecat sitting upright. The Barred Owl often perches down low, where it’s easy to spot.
Ivory Gull and Conservation
BirdNote® Ivory Gulls and Polar Bears Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Polar Bear growls, roars, or snorts] Polar Bears symbolize the icy landscapes of the far north like no other animal. The bear’s way of life — its very survival — is inseparable from the Arctic pack-ice. Less familiar is a remarkable bird that shares with the Polar Bear this vital link to ice: the Ivory Gull.
Pygmy-Owls' False Eyes
BirdNote® Pygmy-Owls’ False Eyes Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Sound of grade-school children] Back in grade school, we all likely had a teacher with an uncanny ability, even with her back turned, to sense when we were up to no good. You might say she had eyes in the back of her head. In nature, there are a few birds that actually appear to have eyes in the back of their heads.
BirdNote® Caching, Climate, and Chickadees Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. As the colder months arrive, birds that remain in northern climates face the harsh realities of staying warm and finding food. Some birds approach the food problem by storing it in advance, in a behavior called caching. Chickadees, nuthatches, jays, and some woodpeckers are known to cache large supplies of mostly seeds — in a great many places.
Gull Identification II
The challenge of learning which gull is which brings to mind a crossword puzzle. Take in all the clues, and come up with the right answer. For identifying gulls, we recommend a good bird book, binoculars, perhaps a thermos of hot coffee, and maybe a chair. So which gull is this? Large gull, dark back, pink legs, seen in the West.
Meadowlarks and Grasslands
BirdNote® Meadowlarks and Grasslands Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Eastern Meadowlark song, followed by Western Meadowlark song] With their bright yellow breasts and superlative songs, meadowlarks are among our most familiar and cherished birds. The Eastern Meadowlark’s clear, whistled music is the unmistakable anthem of eastern North America’s farmlands and open country.
Flyin' in the Rain
BirdNote® Flyin’ in the Rain Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Sounds of a rainstorm] During a rainstorm, you’re more likely to see birds perched and hunkered down than flying around. Most birds are mostly waterproof. Their feathers, combined with oil from preen glands*, keep them pretty watertight. So why do birds avoid flying during rainstorms? It’s not just about getting wet. It may have more to do with the air than with the water.
All Those Fish in a Puffin's Beak
BirdNote® All Those Fish in a Puffin’s Beak Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. Birds feed their families in a variety of ways. Baby chickens and ducklings are left to peck and forage on their own from the time they hatch. Ospreys fly in with fish in their talons. Albatrosses regurgitate a rich, fishy liquid. And then, ... there are puffins. [Atlantic Puffin call, , 0.04-.08] Puffins fly under water into schools of small, slender fish, snatching them in their large beaks.
At the Escarpment
BirdNote® At the Escarpment Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. In northwestern Belize a long, upward slope leads to a clearing at the edge of an escarpment. This rocky outcropping offers a sweeping view of the tropical forest below. As the morning sun causes warm air to rise, a pair of White Hawks soars into view, the male calling. [White Hawk, XC 188653, 0:15-0:19] In flight, a White Hawk is shaped like a compact Red-tailed Hawk.
Putting the Hum in Hummingbird
BirdNote® Putting the Hum in Hummingbird Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Ruby-throated Hummingbird wing hum, 0:04-0:09] Just what puts the hum in a hummingbird’s wings? And why don’t other birds' wings hum in flight? To figure it out, scientists used a specially-built rig to measure air pressure, twelve high-speed cameras, and over 2000 microphones to observe hummingbirds fluttering in place at an artificial flower.
Great Horned Owl Family in Autumn
Compared to many birds, Great Horned Owls remain with their parents a long time. They hatched in early March, from eggs laid in late January. By April, both parents were hunting through the night to feed their young. But for the last two weeks, the adults have not fed the young. The owlets have learned the skills they need to hunt for themselves. And any night now, the young owls will strike out on their own. We'd like to know what you think of BirdNote. Please send us your comments.
Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge
BirdNote® Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Combined voices of Black Ducks and Canvasbacks] The United States is home to more than 550 National Wildlife Refuges – havens for wildlife, like these Black Ducks and Canvasbacks. [Canvasbacks and Black Ducks] But only one refuge can claim the distinction of being international: the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge.
Does a Robin Hear Its Worm?
How does a robin know a worm is in one exact spot? Does it see the worm or hear it? Smell it? Sense its movements through its feet? To find the answer, researchers buried worms in soil in a tray. They covered the soil with a thin but opaque sheet of cardboard, followed by more soil, so the robin couldn’t see the worms. Still, the robin found them with ease. The scientists concluded the birds are listening for their prey.
Catching Insects
BirdNote® Catching Insects Written by Bob Sundstrom This is Birdnote. [Barn Swallow song, XC 631960, 0:03-0:07] There’s more than one way to catch an insect. Swallows swoop and glide in pursuit of prey, executing sharp turns and quick changes of speed. A bluebird perches on a utility wire and watches below. [Eastern Bluebird song, XC 599325, 0:13-0:16] When the time is right, the bluebird pounces and clamps its bill on a choice bug. A Willow Flycatcher...
Montezuma Oropendola - The Golden Pendulum
BirdNote® Montezuma Oropendola - The Golden Pendulum Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Montezuma Oropendola song] On a winter morning in the Central American tropics, the sun rises. In a clearing, surrounded by dense forest, stand the ruins of a Mayan city. And on the warming air, this song… [Montezuma Oropendola song] Perched beside its nest is the author of those gurgling tones – a Montezuma Oropendola. He sings again, this time with a sound like the pop of firecrackers.
When Does a Crossbill's Bill Cross?
BirdNote® When Does a Crossbill’s Bill Cross? Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Red Crossbill calling] If you were to look at the beak of a baby loon or young crossbill, you’d have to wonder just what kind of bird you were seeing. Because their beaks look nothing like the beaks of their parents. Red Crossbills are a striking example of how some young birds must grow into their adult bill shape. [Red Crossbill type #2 calling] A young crossbill starts life with a wedge-shaped beak.
Ridgway's Rails on San Francisco Bay
BirdNote® Ridgway Rails on San Francisco Bay Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Ridgway’s Rail loud calls, clacking notes leading to oinking call, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/210533] In a salt marsh near San Francisco, a loud clatter erupts from the dense vegetation. These jolting notes, like a small engine cranking up, are the voice of a Ridgway’s Rail. [Ridgway’s Rail loud calls, clacking notes leading to oinking call] The secretive bird peeks out from the edge of the marsh grass.
Are Birds Nests Reused?
BirdNote® Are Bird Nests Reused? Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. Let’s talk about nests. Every spring, robins build their cup-shaped nests using grass and mud. [Robin call, brief snippet, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/133356, 0.06-.08] Orioles weave a hanging sack. [Bullock’s Oriole call, brief snippet, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/50152, 0.14-.16] It takes a week or two, it’s hard work, and yet once the chicks fledge, mostly the structures won’t be reused.
Seabirds in the Desert
BirdNote® Seabirds in the Desert Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [White-vented (Elliot’s) Storm-Petrel, ML 199900991, 0:02-0:05] The White-vented Storm-Petrel is a small black and white seabird found off the coasts of Chile and Peru. Storm petrels spend their entire lives at sea, except when nesting. They pluck small fish and zooplankton from the water with their beaks, appearing to dance on the ocean, as they patter their feet on the water to stay just above the surface.
Gannets and Dolphins
BirdNote® Gannets and Dolphins Enjoy a Feast Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Northern Gannet calls, http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/224716, 0.09-.12] Northern Gannets are fish-eating seabirds. And they’re incredible hunters, aerodynamic, wings tucked back behind them, diving headfirst into the ocean at speeds of up to 60 miles an hour, pursuing their prey under water with powerful strokes of their webbed feet. But sometimes, even Northern Gannets get a little help.
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
A male Buff-breasted Sandpiper courts a female on their breeding grounds far north of the Arctic Circle. He raises his wings, flashing their silvery-white undersides, as he sings his clicking serenade. These birds spend much of the year on grasslands in Argentina, migrating to the Arctic in late spring. In the lower 48, September is a good time to look for this long-distance traveler. During migration, they show a distinct preference for grassy expanses such as pastures and rice fields.
Northern Hawk Owl
The Northern Hawk Owl is one of the least studied and least known of all birds in North America. Northern Hawk Owls are owls, but they share several traits with hawks and falcons: A streamlined body shape, daytime hunting habits, and stiff wing feathers for daytime hunting. (Owls that hunt at night have soft edges on their wing feathers, so they can hunt without making a sound.) No fossil relatives of the Northern Hawk Owl have yet been found, and it is the only living member of its genus.
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