BirdNote Daily

Have you wondered about the right time to remove your hummingbird feeders during fall? Consider leaving your feeders hanging for a week or two after you’ve seen the last hummingbird of the season, just in case a late migrant stops by to fatten up. However, Anna’s Hummingbirds – like the one pictured here – benefit from feeders year-round. This species is largely non-migratory, residing from California to southern British Columbia.

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As he trained to be an arborist, Thomas Poulsom started developing two new interests: birds and building with LEGO bricks. After first building a European Robin, he went on to create LEGO models of more than 75 species. Thomas became one of the first LEGO fans to have his designs produced as an official set.

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Even if the name Spix's Macaw doesn’t ring a bell, you might recognize this bird. It’s Blu, from Rio, the animated film! Also known as the Little Blue Macaw, the species went extinct in the wild due to hunting for the pet trade, loss of habitat, and invasive species. However, scientists raised a captive population of Spix’s Macaws from the few remaining wild birds. In 2022, 52 of the captive-raised birds were released into the wild.

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John Edmonstone was born on a timber plantation in British Guiana, and enslaved by Scotsman Charles Edmonstone. He learned taxidermy techniques by accompanying a naturalist on expeditions. In Scotland, he became a free man and began working as a taxidermist. One of his students was a teenaged Charles Darwin, who would later use the skills he learned from John to preserve and study the Galapagos birds that formed the basis of his theory of evolution.

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Birds have developed many strategies for protecting their young. But only one species can tuck its chicks into pouches under its wings, then fly the young to safety. It’s the Sungrebe of Central and South America. Despite the name, they are not closely related to grebes. Sungrebes swim and dive on quiet freshwater streams. Both sexes incubate the eggs in a nest on branches just above the water. But when the young hatch, naked and helpless, the male takes them under his wing. He’ll swim — and fly if he needs to — with chicks on board until they’re able to swim.

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Blackpoll Warblers make one of the longest migrations taken by a songbird in the world. Blackpoll Warblers that breed in Alaska fly southeast in the fall, appearing throughout the Midwest and eastern U.S. on their way to the Atlantic Coast. Then, they make a nonstop flight over the water to reach South America. Scientists uncovered the stranger-than-fiction details of Blackpoll Warbler migration thanks to a tool called a light-level geolocator, which uses day length to figure out where a bird traveled.

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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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It's the time of year that geese migrate south for the winter. Isn't it? So why are there so many geese still hanging around, setting up housekeeping on our parks and golf courses? Did they decide to forgo the long trip north? In the early 1900s, non-migratory geese were brought in by the hundreds to populate wildlife refuges. Now, while many Canada Geese migrate south for the winter, these other geese stay -- and multiply.

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When a pair of Western Grebes decides it’s time to mate, they call loudly and approach one another. Each bird curves, then straightens, its long neck gracefully. They then face each other, necks on the water’s surface, their bills flipping up drops of water. If attraction prevails, they rush together and off they go across the water, running on the surface side by side. Standing straight up with necks held high and feet churning like propellers, they no longer look much like grebes - more like participants in Tchaikovsky’s ballet, Swan Lake.

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Photographer Xavi Bou creates incredible images of birds and their movements by combining his love of photography and technology with his love for birds and nature — as seen in his book, Ornithographies. He’s especially drawn to European Starlings and their movements as a flock, called a murmuration. The starlings fly in a tight, synchronized group, sometimes to avoid a predator.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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