BirdNote Daily

Yellow-billed Magpies are clever, colorful birds — and they’re only found in central California. Their hefty bodies are boldly patterned in black, white, and iridescent blue. Like their crow and jay cousins, these corvids are adventurous eaters that often forage on the ground in noisy groups. In California’s oak-dominated woods and grasslands, you’ll find them feasting on acorns, insects, grains, and anything else they can get their beaks on. Sadly, Yellow-billed Magpie populations have declined drastically in recent years. Now it’s up to us to step up and protect the remaining woodlands and savannas they need to thrive.

BirdNote is supported by Purgatory Auto Works and Dinosaur Farm, a small ranch in California transformed from a barren landscape to a vibrant oasis for wildlife. Learn more at Purgatory.org.

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Golden-cheeked Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Townsend’s Warblers, and Hermit Warblers share similar songs and plumage. Though they all breed in different areas of North America, they can often be found flocking together on wintering grounds in Central America. Genetic studies have confirmed what their family resemblance suggests: these four warblers are closely related and likely shared a common ancestor before the last Ice Age. And as sister species often do, they all put a unique twist on that bright, buzzy song.

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Tropical rainforests are stunning places. Despite covering a small part of the Earth’s surface, they support half of the world’s biodiversity. The variety of lifeforms stands out visually in stunning color, and in sound through the strange and beautiful calls of birds. Today is World Rainforest Day, which recognizes the importance of safeguarding rainforests for future generations.

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In marshes across the country, birds awaken on a summer morning. Tall dense grasses and reeds often make marsh birds hard to see, but their voices carry easily across the lush, green landscape. You can hear birds like the Redhead, the Sora, the American Bittern, the Ruddy Duck, this Yellow-headed Blackbird, and many more.

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Organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and by Birds Canada, volunteers for Project NestWatch observe local nesting birds and track whether they’re successful in raising their young. Because the nest-watching volunteers monitor birds over a huge area, they cover way more ground than a small team of scientists ever could. Data from Project NestWatch helped scientists reveal that cold snaps and heat waves make many bird parents less successful in raising their young.

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Waved Albatrosses produce such slow-growing, needy offspring that females lay only a single egg every two years. And both parents need to share the load until youngsters can hunt on their own. Albatrosses tend to pair for life, and reunited pairs go through an elaborate, synchronized ritual of braying, wing spreading, and bill tapping to reaffirm their bonds.

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In the spring, Rufous Hummingbirds journey from Mexico to the northwest U.S., some as far north as Alaska! That’s almost 1,000 miles one way for a bird measuring just under four inches beak to tail, making this the longest migration of any bird relative to body length. Not long after arriving, they bulk up on nectar and bugs for the scenic return trip over the Rocky Mountains.

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White-tailed Kites are distinctive birds of prey. They only live in a few states in the U.S., but they’re common in grasslands throughout much of Central and South America where they hunt for rodents and small prey. Though White-tailed Kites are globally abundant, they still face threats from habitat loss across the Americas. We can support these graceful raptors by preserving the grasslands they call home.

This episode is dedicated in memory of Alice Ashbaugh, a lifelong birdwatcher and amateur ornithologist.

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When Juan Pablo Culasso spends time outside, he often encounters people thinking he doesn’t belong out there as a blind person – despite the fact that he’s a renowned nature recordist. He helped design nature trails in Colombia with features that make them more accessible for people who are visually impaired, including guide ropes with textures that signal points of interest and QR codes that provide info. But Juan Pablo says these are not simply trails solely for blind people to enjoy — “we need to share the same places in society,” he says.

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American Oystercatchers are crow-sized shorebirds that can be found foraging in intertidal zones along the U.S. Atlantic shoreline and both coasts of Central and South America. Their bodies are mostly black and white, except for bright yellow eyes and a long, orange bill. Sadly, researchers estimate that between 1970 and 2023, American Oystercatchers lost roughly half their population to habitat degradation, human disturbance, and predation by mammals. We can protect shorebirds by giving them space on shared beaches, keeping domestic pets indoors or on leash, and cutting fossil fuel emissions that drive climate change.

This episode is dedicated to Bob Goodale whose lifelong love for birds and nature continues to inspire.

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