BirdNote

BirdNote® The Marsh Wren Adapted from a story by Frances Wood This is BirdNote. [Marsh Wren singing] This chatty fellow is a Marsh Wren, a sprightly brown bird with a cocked tail. Wrens are known for their amazing singing, including loud, complex vocalizations. And they have a huge repertoire of songs. Some bird-lovers have tagged the Marsh Wren the “Heinz 57 variety" bird, because scientists have recorded 57 different variations of its song. That’s quite a mix of notes.

Marbled Murrelets are secretive little birds that spend most of their lives at sea — but they breed in redwood forests! While North America’s remaining redwoods are protected in parks, predators are moving in. Stellar’s Jays and Common Ravens are just two opportunists that thrive on our food that human visitors leave behind. And once they’ve eaten our leftover trail mix, their next meal may be a murrelet egg or chick.

BirdNote® An Albatross Surfs the Wind Written by Bob Sundstrom This is BirdNote. [Sound of wind and waves] Out in the North Pacific, an albatross flies in the wake of a ship. This large bird has a wingspan of about seven feet, and it’s completely at home in the harsh winds of the open ocean. It soars back and forth, above the ship’s wake, sometimes rising a hundred feet in the air, then coasting back down near the surface.

BirdNote® La alquita crestada seduce a su pareja con aroma Escrito por Bob Sundstrom Esto es BirdNote. [Llamados de la alquita crestada] La alquita crestada, también conocida como mérgulo empenachado, es un ave marina pequeña que anida en acantilados remotos del Pacífico norte y el mar de Bering. Pero lo que de verdad distingue a estas aves es su olor.

BirdNote® The Hardy Harlequin Written by Todd Peterson This is BirdNote. [Call of the Harlequin Duck] Some ducks don’t sound like ducks at all. Some — like the Harlequin — squeak, earning them the nick name of “sea mice.” [Call of the Harlequin Duck Harlequins are unique in the duck world in other ways as well. Alone among North American waterfowl, Harlequins breed along fast-flowing rivers and streams. Quick and agile in rushing white water, they dive to the bottom of mountain streams for food.

BirdNote® Taking the Bus for Birds Written by Conor Gearin This is BirdNote. [Ding-ding! of Light Rail train; the train then departs] When taking public transportation you might read a book or listen to a podcast. But what if you used your commute to do a little birding? On the way to the bus or train stop, you might see a Common Grackle hopping along the curb… [Common Grackle calls] …or hear a House Finch belting it out from a street tree.

BirdNote® Helmeted Guineafowl Sound the Alarm Adapted from a script by Dennis Paulson This is BirdNote. [Helmeted Guineafowl calls] Helmeted Guineafowl are sometimes kept as ornamental birds in zoos and farmyards around the world. But from Senegal to South Africa, where the birds are native, their raucous calls are a familiar sound. Helmeted Guineafowl are chicken-sized birds whose round black bodies are covered in tiny white speckles.

BirdNote® Crows Parents, Fearless Defenders Written by Ellen Blackstone This is BirdNote. [Alarm call of American Crows protecting a nest] You’re hearing American Crows defending their nest, protecting their young! [More alarm calls of the American Crow] Although the American Crow may seem rather blasé about pillaging another bird’s nest, like that of this House Finch... [distress call of the House Finch] ...it regards a threat to its own young as a punishable offense.

BirdNote® Cómo se mantienen frescas las aves Escrito por Bob Sundstrom Esto es BirdNote. [Música – “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo”, de Béla Fleck] En un día caluroso de verano, puedes observar con mucha atención a un ave como un cuervo. Y aun así, nunca la verás sudar. [Graznido del cuervo norteamericano] Porque las aves no tienen glándulas sudoríparas. En vez de eso, desarrollaron varias formas de mantenerse frescas. Una de ellas es jadeando.

BirdNote® Christian Cooper, Cattle Egrets, And Cinema Written by Ariana Remmel This is BirdNote. Author Christian Cooper is never not birding — even at the movies. Like when he was watching the 2006 film Apocalypto, an action thriller set in what is now Mexico during the Mayan empire. [sounds from the film and/or projector shuttering] Christina Cooper: So they show a river and they show a cattle egret at the river. And I'm like, 'Nope, no good'.