BirdNote Daily

Kingbirds are robin-sized flycatchers that excel at plucking insects from the air. They’ll even tackle prey as big as cicadas. Finding naturally-camouflaged cicadas hidden among the leaves is hard work. But two species of kingbirds in Arizona found a shortcut — stealing them from cicada-killer wasps! The female wasps, nearly two inches long, paralyze cicadas and bring them to their burrows for their young to eat. The kingbirds have learned to ambush wasps carrying cicadas on the way back to their burrows.

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The glorious song of the male Sage Thrasher rings out every Spring from tracts of sagebrush throughout the west. Sagebrush was once widespread in the Great Basin region, and so were the thrashers. But huge areas of sagebrush were turned into alfalfa and potato farms, and the songs of the thrasher aren't so common today. Sagebrush badly needs advocacy. The Important Bird Areas program works to protect key habitats for birds.

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House Finches are familiar birds all across North America. Researchers have shown that the red coloration of males is produced from carotenoid pigments in the birds' diet. Male House Finches develop brighter plumage when they are growing in new feathers, if they eat more fruits containing carotenoids. Females prefer more brightly colored males. Redder males also attract females in better condition, and such a pair raises, on the average, more young. You can learn more at AAAS.org.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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A Laysan Albatross named Wisdom has been nesting and raising chicks on the island of Midway for nearly 60 years. She was banded back in 1956 and was rediscovered, still alive and healthy, in 2002. Since that time, scientists have watched Wisdom closely. Every year, she has managed to navigate the many perils facing her species and successfully raise a new chick.

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Tree Swallows and bluebirds — like this Western Bluebird — are among the earliest northbound migrants to arrive, heralding spring a month before the equinox. These species will nest only in cavities, such as old woodpecker holes or man-made nest boxes. But the supply of specialized nest sites is limited, and competition is intense. By arriving early, these swallows and bluebirds improve their chances of securing unoccupied cavities.

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During winter and early spring, Great Blue Herons build their nests high in the treetops. The male delivers the supplies to the nest site stick by stick, as the female arranges things. It’s the perfect childhood home for their young, made without blueprints, architects or engineers. But by early May, the chicks are starting to test the limits of their nests!

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Upland Sandpipers are an emblematic bird of grassland habitats in many regions of the Americas. These shorebirds live far from sea with the largest breeding populations in the north central U.S. But Upland Sandpipers are losing breeding ground to row-crop agriculture, pushing some birds to nest at airports as a substitute for natural prairies. Preserving grasslands throughout their range will help ensure that the Upland Sandpiper’s signature whistling song continues to ring out.

This episode is sponsored in memoriam of Alice Ashbaugh, a lifelong birdwatcher and amateur ornithologist.

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One of the most difficult skills to pick up as a birder is how to identify birds in flight. You have to sort through a series of visual clues all at once, at high speed: silhouette, wing shape, how fast it flaps, and patterning. An experienced birder will take in all these and other clues that are hard to put into words. So if you hang around long enough, you might hear some interesting slang.

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In this story from Nimiipuu culture, Meadowlark is likened to the ‘reporter’ of Western grasslands, singing its song from the tops of fenceposts and trees. This story takes place before the time of people. Meadowlark warned Coyote about a Monster that was eating all the animals in the Kamiah Valley in the north-central part of what is today called Idaho.

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Twenty years ago today, the first BirdNote Daily episode aired on the radio in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. Since then, through sound-rich stories, we’ve explored the lives of countless birds – and inspired action to protect birds around the world. Join us in celebrating 20 years of stories. 

Now and forever, this is BirdNote.

More info and transcript at BirdNote.org. 

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