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Jan 15, 2025 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
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.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
birdnote.org | Gregg Thompson |Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote®Winter Brings FalconsWritten by Bob SundstromThis 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.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Gregg Thompson |Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote® Voices and VocabulariesNight Voices: Great Horned Owls Written by Bob SundstromThis 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.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Gregg Thompson |Bob Sundstrom
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.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote®Ivory Gulls and Polar BearsWritten by Bob SundstromThis 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.
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Nov 16, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote®Pygmy-Owls’ False EyesWritten by Bob SundstromThis 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.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
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.
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Oct 26, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote®Meadowlarks and GrasslandsWritten by Bob SundstromThis 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.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote® Flyin’ in the RainWritten 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.
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Oct 14, 2024 | 
birdnote.org | Bob Sundstrom
BirdNote®All Those Fish in a Puffin’s BeakWritten 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.
