Morning is a great time for birding – that’s the peak of singing and foraging activity for many species. But it’s not the only time to experience birds. Some species, such as American Robins, sing for much of the day. Daytime predators such as hawks and cormorants are active in the middle of the day. Some birds such as Common Nighthawks sweep the sky for insects at dusks. And many owls come awake at night!

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Although we may think of autumn as the end of the growing season, a sort of winding down in the natural world, for birds it’s as much a season of renewal as the spring. In the colder months, we welcome back our winter birds — juncos, swans, and more — which spent the summer in their breeding territories to the north. Offering the right kind of food and environment in the winter months can attract these migrants to your yard!

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The crocodilians — crocodiles and their relatives, like the American Alligator — are the closest living relatives of birds. About 250 million years ago, the ancestors of all crocodiles split off from the dinosaur group that gave rise to modern birds. While crocs these days are mostly short-legged ambush predators, before mass extinction there were ocean-dwelling crocodilians and even species that ran around on two legs.

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Sooty Terns have long been called "wide-awakes" because of their calls. But it may describe their sleeping habits, too. When young terns leave their breeding grounds, they don't return for several years. They do not rest on the water, and only rarely land on floating objects. They feed while aloft, grabbing prey from the ocean's surface. On the fly, they also capture fish that have been chased out of the water by predators. In other words, Sooty Terns live in the air for years at a time.

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The Purple Martin is the largest swallow that nests in the U.S. and Canada. During fall, Purple Martins from western North America migrate to a distinct wintering area in southeastern Brazil — a travel distance of more than 5,000 miles! Scientists believe that Purple Martins started out as a South American swallow species. Over time, they evolved a seasonal migration to North America because the longer days of summer sunlight provided extra hunting and feeding opportunities during nesting season.

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Saturday October 10, 2026, is World Migratory Bird Day, a celebration of one of our planet’s most marvelous natural phenomena. It occurs twice a year, on the second Saturday of May and October, in observance of peak spring and fall migration in the Americas. This year’s theme is “Every Bird Counts,” which highlights the importance of community science to migratory bird conservation worldwide.

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Smaller than a pigeon — but fierce enough to knock one from the air — are the powerful, compact falcons known as Merlins. Climate change is pushing ranges of many birds farther north, but more and more Merlins have been nesting farther south, in towns and cities across the northern United States. Merlins will take over old crow nests, especially in conifer trees, in parks, cemeteries, and neighborhoods.

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This Bar-tailed Godwit makes one of the longest migrations of any animal — a 7,200-mile non-stop flight each autumn from western Alaska to New Zealand. In his book A World on the Wing, Scott Weidensaul explores the remarkable transformation godwits undergo to make this migration possible. Their digestive organs shrink as their weight more than doubles in stored fats and muscle mass.

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 When you think of bird migrations, you might think of a bluebird or a robin first. But some owls do migrate – such as the Short-eared Owl, which flies south for the winter. Northern Saw-whet Owls were once thought non-migratory, but in fact they travel at night, unseen. Snowy Owls breed in the Arctic then wander toward the south, staying wherever they can find food. Some Burrowing Owls spend their whole life in one place. But others migrate every spring and fall with the regularity of a bluebird.

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Biologists with Manomet tagged a Whimbrel named Lindsay with a GPS tracker. She has spent the summer breeding in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on the northern coast of Alaska. As fall migration begins, she heads straight into a storm in the Gulf of Alaska. The tempest slingshots her toward British Columbia, where she picks up a tailwind down the California coast. Landing near San Francisco, she rests and refuels.

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In the October sunlight, a Lincoln's Sparrow – like this one – sings energetically from a hedgerow. Soon a Fox Sparrow chimes in. Both nested in Alaska last summer but will spend the winter farther south. The Snow Geese are moving, too. A massive movement of birds takes place in the fall. The exodus of summer visitors to the tropics has given way to a surge from the north. And predators can't be far behind.

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Most birds are mostly waterproof. Their feathers, aided by oil from preen glands, keep them pretty watertight. So why do birds avoid flying during rainstorms? It may have more to do with the air than with the water. Rainstorms tend to occur when atmospheric pressure is low. Air in a low-pressure system is less dense. But it’s dense air that gives birds the aerodynamic lift they need to take wing. Falling rain and high humidity make air even less dense. Many birds perch and wait out a storm. Afterward, birds once again take to the skies.

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Through all of spring and summer, swallows dart and sail overhead, their airborne grace a wonder to behold. But by October, the skies seem empty. Most swallows have flown south, in search of insects. The eight species of swallows that nest in the U.S. — including the Cliff Swallow — migrate south to Central or even South America. Watch for them again next spring!

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Brianna Amingwa is a birder, environmental educator, and mom of two bird-loving boys. In this episode, Brianna shares one of her favorite, tried-and-true techniques for sparking curiosity with kids outside. This easy activity has a funny name: INIWIRMO. It’s an acronym for I Notice. I Wonder. It Reminds Me Of. INIWIRMO works by inviting kids and adults to turn each phrase into a statement about something they observe in nature.

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In Lafayette Park in St. Louis, Missouri, a dozen or so Eurasian Tree Sparrows from Germany were released. But unlike other introduced species such as the similar-looking House Sparrow, they did not spread very far and remained in a limited area in the Midwest. It’s not fully clear why, but it’s possible that they just behave differently. And the aggressive House Sparrow may have helped prevent the tree sparrows from spreading further by competing for the same nesting sites.

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There’s no wrong place to search for birds — looking out the window and listening for calls and songs is a great place to start. But you might be curious where else to look. In this episode, get a few quick tips on good places to find birds.

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In general, the bigger the bird, the higher the number of feathers. Someone counted the feathers on a Tundra Swan and came up with 25,216. At least 80% were on the swan’s neck. Penguins, on the other hand, have lots of small feathers all over their bodies. The largest species is the Emperor Penguin, and one project counted around 80,000 feathers on a single bird. That’s nearly sixty per square inch – keeping the penguin insulated and waterproof in harsh climates. But the most feathered creature ever? It may have been a dinosaur!

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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.

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Birds called prions have an especially creative approach to getting their food. They pass seawater through their mouths and filter it to catch tiny animals such as krill and other small crustaceans. It’s similar to how baleen whales feed, leading to the prion’s nickname: the whale-bird. The sides of their bills have comb-like structures. Small food items get trapped in the combs as water flows past. In Greek, the word “prion” means saw, which refers to the bird’s highly specialized mouth.

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Brown-backed Solitaires are ordinary-looking: medium-sized, gray-brown birds. But they have one of the most melodic, complex songs in the world, ringing out year-round in high-altitude forests from Mexico to Central America.

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It's easy to feel helpless during a heat wave, as if there's nowhere to hide from the sun. Birds feel much the same. Extreme heat poses a risk to young birds of many species. Here are three things we can do to protect birds and ourselves from heat.

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American Goldfinches are one of our most familiar birds, but they lead lives that are anything but ordinary. These birds will sometimes raise two broods a year, have a secret weapon against cowbirds, and have the ability to distinguish between songs that — to our ears — sound the same. Backyard birds they may be, but American Goldfinches never cease to amaze.

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At a glance, swallows and swifts, both graceful fliers, look much alike. But swifts — like this Chimney Swift — have longer, slimmer wings and short bodies, enabling them to glide for long periods. Their glides are punctuated by rapid, stiff bursts of wing-beats. Swallows, on the other hand, flex and flap their wings. Why do swifts have such a peculiar, stiff wing stroke? Picture a bird wing, with two halves jointed in the middle. Swift wings have a short inner “half” and a long outer half. This causes the stiffness.

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At the end of summer, the once-bright feathers of a male American Goldfinch look ragged. Growing new flight feathers in a process called molting makes him more vulnerable to predators. Before migrating to wintering grounds, many songbirds stop at a secondary location to undergo the awkward phase of feather replacement. It’s called molt migration. The places birds go to molt could be important targets for conservation efforts.

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Once abundant around San Francisco Bay, the Ridgway’s Rail — formerly known as the California Clapper Rail — is now endangered. In the 19th Century, unregulated hunting plundered the species. In the 20th Century, rampant development reduced salt marsh habitat by 85%. But in the 21st Century, the Ridgway’s Rail has allies. Restoration is under way to increase healthy saltmarsh habitat for these endangered birds. Also, efforts to control the number of predatory cats are improving the chances for the Ridgway’s Rail to survive.

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Superb Fairy-wrens teach their embryonic chicks a secret code. This "incubation call" contains a special note that will later serve as a password. When the chicks have hatched, this password enables the adult birds to identify their babies in the darkness of their domed nest. A species of Australian cuckoo lays its eggs in the wren’s nest, hoping to pawn off the task of parenting. But wren chicks learn their mother’s song and incorporate the password note into their begging calls.

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Today is the last day of our on-air pledge drive. BirdNote is an independent nonprofit that relies on financial support from listeners like you. Recurring donors ensure that there is a steady source of funding to keep making sound-rich stories that inspire, entertain and educate about the remarkable lives of birds and the natural world. This week, we are asking you to support the show by making a donation now.

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BirdNote Daily is a two-minute show that takes a lot more than two minutes to create. Each episode weaves together an informative script, lively narration, immersive sound design, and our catchy theme song. BirdNote Daily is not just about one element, it’s many things working together that makes it great. The same is true for BirdNote funding, which makes the show possible. It’s not about what any one person does, it’s all of us giving what we can to support BirdNote’s mission. This week, we are asking you to keep BirdNote on the air by making a donation now.

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Birds do lots of things together, including hunting, nesting and raising young. This week, we’re asking BirdNote listeners to come together and support the show by making a donation now.

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Whether you’re planting natives or filling your feeders every day, your backyard birds know they can rely on you for a meal. And we’re relying on recurring donors to support BirdNote’s future. This week, we are asking you to join our flock by making a donation now.

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Songbirds in winter flocks benefit from having other birds nearby. They can recognize warning signals from other species and follow them to sources of food. We think of BirdNote’s audience as our flock, and we’re much stronger together than as individuals. BirdNote is an independent nonprofit organization that relies on support from listeners like you. This week, we are asking you to keep us flying strong by making a donation now.

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Let’s talk about nests. Every spring, robins build their cup-shaped nests using grass and mud. Orioles weave a hanging sack. It’s hard work, and yet once the chicks fledge, the structures probably won’t be reused. But bigger birds, such as herons, hawks, and eagles, often reuse a nest for many years. Europe’s migratory White Storks — like those pictured here — get the award for best reuse. One nest site, still used in 1930 and likely seeing many repairs, dated back to 1549. That’s a continuous series of stork pairs nesting in one spot for 381 years!

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Keas are large alpine parrots from New Zealand. Intelligent and social, they have olive-green plumage, a red rump, and a long, curved beak. Keas produce a distinct warbling call, a “play call,” that sounds — and functions — much like a human’s contagious laughter. Scientists made recordings of captive Keas making warbling calls, then played them for wild Keas. They began playing harder and even engaged birds that hadn’t been playing. Hearing it seemed to put them in a playful mood, even when they were alone.

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In this episode, ornithologist J. Drew Lanham reads a letter he has written to an Olive-sided Flycatcher, a beloved bird that he pleads with to visit the dead pine tree on the edge of his home by a mountain lake.

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In the summer of 2026, conservation photographer Gerrit Vyn visited a remote wilderness called the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. He spent much of June at Teshekpuk Lake, just 6 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. The vast wetlands in this region are critical for millions of birds that come from around the world to breed every year. In this episode, Gerrit shares the sights and sounds of three standout shorebirds: Dunlins, Semipalmated Sandpipers, and Pectoral Sandpipers.

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By early August, the rich yellow of the feathers of the Wilson's Warbler seems to flash in every forest thicket. Despite predators and weather, many pairs of adults have raised four young, which now flit about on their own. The young males hatched this spring learned their father's songs this summer. Next spring, they, too, will sing those songs. By buying shade-grown coffee, you can help preserve the wintering grounds of this bird and many others.

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In September, this Arctic Tern flies from Alaska all the way to Antarctica. Rufous Hummingbirds follow pathways of mountain wildflowers, from as far north as Alaska south to Mexico. Ruby-crowned Kinglets, migrate attitudinally from the mountains to the lowlands. Each of these birds migrates, but on a very different course. All make the most of food and breeding opportunities that change with the seasons.

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In the summer of 2026, conservation photographer Gerrit Vyn visited a remote wilderness called the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. He spent much of June at Teshekpuk Lake, just 6 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. The vast wetlands in this region are critical for millions of birds that come from around the world to breed every year. In this episode, Gerrit shares the sights and sounds of this vibrant landscape, including shorebirds, songbirds, waterfowl, and more.

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A tern or gull plunges headfirst into the water, then bounces aloft grasping a small fish in its bill. But before the bird can swallow its catch, a Parasitic Jaeger swoops in. The jaeger nips the bird's wing, and it drops its hard-won fish. The pirate catches the fish in mid-air and gulps it down. The jaeger, which is German for hunter, is built for sprinting speed and predatory feats.

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With their excellent sense of smell, pigs are renowned for sniffing out truffles, a fungus that grows underground and is prized for its taste. But it turns out that some bird species can also find their way to a truffle treat. Researchers working in the Patagonia region of Chile had noticed truffles with little beak-sized bite marks, and even watched a bird eat a truffle. They found truffle DNA in the birds’ droppings, suggesting that truffles are a staple of the birds’ diet. Some of the fungi species eaten by the Patagonian birds look like berries that grow locally, which might help birds see them better.

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You don’t need fancy binoculars or lavish trips abroad to look for birds. In fact, you don’t even have to leave home — you can enjoy the birds out the window every day. And you don’t actually have to physically go anywhere to find birds. You can use a smartphone or computer to go birding. There are several websites where you can view live feeds of nests. Or you can even have your own bird feeder camera to give you a close-up view of the birds at your feeder.

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Em De Blas has years of experience leading bird outings with Chicago BIPOC Birders, the Chicago Ornithological Society, and the Urban Birding Festival. But their birding journey first started when Em was 19 years old and visiting family near San Luis Potosí in Mexico. In this episode, Em shares how a Vermilion Flycatcher sparked their passion for watching and listening to birds in nature.

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Many people would tell you that hearing birdsong puts them in a good mood. Recently, scientists have tried to put numbers to this effect that many of us have noticed. One study found that people who spent a few minutes immersed in the sounds of birds had lower levels of paranoia and anxiety than those who only listened to traffic noise.

This episode is brought to you by Teton Science Schools, specializing in outdoor learning experiences and education in Grand Teton National Park.

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Some cloudless night in September, when the air is clear, you may see birds flying across the yellow face of the moon! September is peak migration time for millions of songbirds heading south from North America to more tropical latitudes. Nocturnal migrants of the same species, such as orioles, warblers, sparrows, and tanagers, call as they fly, enabling flock-mates to stick together. Many of these flight calls are distinctive, enabling those with an excellent ear to identify them as they pass.

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In this episode of BirdNoir, Private Eye Michael Stein helps a lakefront resident get to know the avian neighbor that’s been flying by each day.

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Though half the size of a robin, the Carolina Wren has a powerful singing voice that seems to come from a much bigger bird. Many people remember their song with the phrase, “teakettle-teakettle-teakettle!” When these secretive birds venture into the open, look for their cocked tail, bright white eyebrows, tan breasts, and golden-brown backs. One reason these wrens thrive in cityscapes is their ability to build a nest in creative places: everything from an old boot to a window flower box to an engine block are potential places to raise their brood.

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Beavers are well known as ecosystem engineers in North America. In Australia, lyrebirds play a big role in shaping their environment when they use their toes to dig in the ground for food. A single lyrebird can shift 11 dump truck loads of soil and leaves — each year! That’s thought to be more than any other digging animal. Lyrebirds are best known for their spot-on imitations of other birds’ songs and calls.

This episode is sponsored by Kris Tsujikawa and her son Nicola, who say: let's build stronger communities by helping our neighbors.

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For most birds, keen eyesight is critical for survival. But many birds lead lives that can be very hard on the eyes — like flying at breakneck speed, racing for cover into a dense thicket, or diving under water to capture prey. Imagine how the chips fly as this Pileated Woodpecker chisels a cavity. Fortunately, birds have evolved a structure for protecting their eyes. Beneath the outer eyelids lies an extra eyelid, called the nictitating membrane. It helps keep the eye moist and clean while guarding it from wind, dust, and hazards.

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Nothing says summer like a day at the beach. Whether you’re lounging by a lake or enjoying a seaside vacation, listen to this episode to learn five things you can do to share the shore with birds.

BirdNote is supported by Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle, Washington — and generous listeners around the world. 

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When they migrate, tiny songbirds that spend most of their lives on land fly hundreds of miles over the ocean at a stretch – and they get tired. Research suggests that birds migrating over busy shipping routes in the Mediterranean Sea may use the decks of sea vessels as places to catch their breath when the weather turns bad.

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