BirdNote Daily

Hudsonian Godwits are tough birds to find, and they were once thought extinct due to overhunting. After nesting at sites scattered in the High Arctic, they migrate south on a route that takes them over the ocean from Canada to South America. In spring, they head north through the Great Plains. Populations are estimated to be in the tens of thousands today, but like many arctic nesters, they are a...

In August 2008, Kasatochi Island erupted in the middle of auklet breeding season, burying tens of thousands of chicks in hot ash. At first, the auklets’ future on the island appeared bleak. But in just a few years, the birds had returned in force. Thousands nested within the innumerable chambers left behind by sea-cooled lava.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe...

Beaks suited for opening tough, hard seeds — thick, conical beaks — evolved in more than one lineage of birds. Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are related to cardinals, which also have powerful beaks. Evening Grosbeaks belong to the finch family, which includes goldfinches and crossbills — an entire family of seedeaters. But both these grosbeaks were named before their family connections were fully...

We make it a habit to detail the broad and beautiful spectrum of bird colors, but iridescent feathers are undoubtedly among the most mesmerizing. When sunlight hits the Bufflehead’s dark head feathers at the right angle, their colors transform into shades of the rainbow, from deep violet to green and gold. Common Grackles, caught in natural light, gleam gold, green and blue-purple. Starlings,...

Ross’s Geese and Snow Geese are both white-bodied waterfowl with black wingtips that can be difficult to tell apart. The pair are a great example of what science calls sister species, which occur when a portion of one species takes an evolutionary step away from the rest, resulting in a species split. In this case, genetic studies suggest that the Ross’s Goose branched away from their Snow Goose...

Found in the Sierra Madre, the Arizona Woodpecker has a special connection to the mountain range. Sharing mid-elevation pine and oaks with fellow border straddlers, these small brown birds with white and brown cheeks stand out from other Woodpeckers with their heavily marked white underparts. Uniquely, they forage by flying to the base of a tree and then spiraling up the trunk. And in courtship,...

Swainson’s Hawks make an incredible journey every year, migrating 12,000 miles round-trip from North America’s prairies to Argentina’s pampas. What makes them truly unique is their diet. Most hawks hunt rodents and reptiles, but Swainson’s Hawks switch to insects, feasting on grasshoppers and locusts in South America. In the 1990s, this diet nearly led to disaster when pesticides in Argentina...

Some bird songs leave us in admiration of their beauty, some with a sense of wonder at their complexity—and others are downright comical. As a maker of silly sounds, the male Willow Ptarmigan beats the Three Stooges hands down. But these sounds are no laughing matter. Where it nests in the shrubby willow tundra of Alaska and Canada, the Willow Ptarmigan crows to attract females and show other...

Over 12,000 miles across at its widest point, you might think the Pacific Ocean is a barrier that even high-flying birds can’t cross. Think again – some species make the trip every year as part of their life cycle. During the spring, Bar-tailed Godwits break up their trip from New Zealand to Alaska with a stop in the Yellow Sea off the coast of East Asia. But for their winter migration, they fly...

Why do birds consistently follow certain routes in their migrations? Pathways of migration evolved, shaped by the wind. During the height of the last ice age, ice-free breeding habitat for songbirds remained in what is now Alaska and parts of Western Canada. Studies of fossil pollen show that consistent winds blew across the continent on a northwest-southeast heading of 155 degrees. Scott...