eBird, an online tool for submitting bird observations, allows scientists to keep track of birds around the world. eBird now has over one billion bird observations from more than 700,000 people — most of them community scientists who care about their local birds. And as more people in more places join in, eBird becomes an even better way for researchers to understand birds. In this show, learn how you can make your birding more useful to science.

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A bird’s crest is made up of a slender array of feathers on top of their head. These feathers are a bit longer and can be spiked up or slicked back, depending on what the bird is trying to communicate. Even birds without crests, like crows or sparrows, sometimes puff up their short crown feathers.

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Sharp-shinned Hawks are swift, bird-catching predators. The male is jay-sized. The female stands a head taller and weighs almost twice as much. Female birds of prey are most notably bigger than males among hawk species that hunt very agile prey, such as other birds. The smaller male will tend to hunt smaller prey. The female takes somewhat larger prey, so together they can tap a wider range of resources.

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Rosemary Moscoe’s latest book is a tongue-in-cheek guide that defines many of the terms that you might hear on a bird outing, like calling a particularly cute bird a "birb" or shortening the word binoculars to just "bins" or "nocs."

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Greater Yellowlegs — not surprisingly — have bright yellow legs and feet. And why? While foraging through shallow water, a yellowlegs can keep track of its legs by the color, which contrasts with the sometimes dark and irregular bottom. A Sanderling, on the other hand, has black legs and feet. Its black toes really stand out against the pale sand. And the brilliant orange legs of Ruddy Turnstones? They stand out like a neon light on the shore. Mother Nature is good with the fine details!

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While camping in the mountains, you might see this Canada Jay (formerly known as the Gray Jay — but before that, as the Canada Jay!), boldly swooping into your camp. This handsome jay’s big, black eyes seem to miss nothing — especially food. But the one food Canada Jays don’t eat is conifer seeds. The jays hide other food in conifer needles and tuck it under the bark of trees with their sticky saliva. With terrific visual memories, the jays can find thousands of hidden tidbits months later.

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Writer Amy Tan’s work is known all over the world. And thanks to her latest best-seller, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, she’s now also known for her deep love of birds. Tan not only spends time interacting with birds, she also comes up with creative ways to help them.

This episode was produced as part of BirdNote’s From Love to Action Campaign, an effort to inspire one million people to take action to help birds by 2027. To learn more and to tell us how you’re helping birds, visit this link.

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Except around Easter, chicken eggs usually come in a predictable range of colors: white, brown, and sometimes pale blue or green. Chickens are descended from the Red Jungle Fowl of Southeast Asia, which has been providing eggs for humans for thousands of years. The final color of an egg comes from a pigment the hen’s body adds to the shell just before the egg is laid. Breeds that lay white eggs don’t add any pigment.

Today's show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.

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Piping Plovers are tiny, sand-colored shorebirds that nest on the beach. They’re threatened in much of their range. But plovers have gotten a boost from something rather surprising: hurricanes. Superstorm Sandy left behind plant-free, sandy beaches on barrier islands in New York and New Jersey, which actually offers better camouflage for nesting plovers. Where these hurricane-created habitats were protected, Piping Plovers have boomed.

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Although many seabirds utter groans and croaks, the Pigeon Guillemot produces a lovely series of trills and whistles. As part of their courtship, they fly side by side in large circles and loops, a perfectly synchronized flying act. These guillemots do not breed until they are between three and five years old. The male chooses a site in a crevice or cave, among boulders, under driftwood, on a wharf, or even in a pipe.

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