Crane Hawks of Central and South America and African Harrier-Hawks both have legs that bend forward and backward. Each bird’s wonderfully peculiar leg adaptation is completely original — it evolved all on its own — even though the end result is the same. It's a fascinating example of a phenomenon called convergent evolution.

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Biodiversity conservationist Lily-Arison Rene de Roland works with some of the rarest birds in the world. He’s the Madagascar program director for the Peregrine Fund, a non-profit conservation organization that protects imperiled birds of prey like the Madagascar Fish-Eagle. These large raptors only eat fish, which means they rely on the same diminishing wetlands and natural resources as some fishing communities. In this episode, Lily shares how community-centered conservation programs are helping to support Madagascar’s fishers and fish-eagles.

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Common Potoos are champions of camouflage. In the daytime these nocturnal creatures perch perfectly still on branches: heads pointed upward, bodies outstretched, and eyes closed down to tiny slits. It’s hard to tell where the branch ends and the bird’s body begins — which helps them avoid predators. They’re birds more often heard than seen; with a melodious but mournful song, made at dawn, dusk and by the light of the moon. The song earned potoos the name ‘Poor-me-one’ in Trinidad and Tobago.

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Gyrfalcons are circumpolar, nesting in the far north of Asia, North America, and Europe, including Iceland and Greenland. They evolved as a distinct species in the Pleistocene Era, around 100,000 years ago. Their large size and warm feathering gave them an edge for nesting high in the Arctic. Gyrfalcons reuse the same nesting site year after year, and some nests have been occupied for 2,500 years!

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Walk into the visitor center at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and you’ll be greeted by a massive mural called the Wall of Birds. About the size of a tennis court, the mural shows a map of the world covered in 270 life-sized portraits of birds and their relatives — ranging in size from the 30-foot-long, feathered dinosaur Yutyrranus hauli to the tiny Marvelous Spatuletail hummingbird. Artist and scientific illustrator Jane Kim partnered with the Cornell Lab to create this epic celebration of the evolution and diversity of birds, which was completed in December 2015.

Read more about Jane in Field Notes!

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It’s early morning in Costa Rica. Tiny bats nestle in a tree after a night on the wing. A Great Kiskadee calls. Gray-capped Flycatchers sally forth from willow-like shrubs to catch insects in mid-air. White Ibis forage at the water's edge. Deep in a thicket, Black-hooded Antshrikes call. By noon, Chestnut-mandibled Toucans will shift lazily from one tree to another. In the evening, the sounds of cicadas give way to the sounds of crickets and a chorus of Marine Toads pours forth like no other. The land is pulsing with life!

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Pigeon Pose. Crow Pose. Eagle pose. Bird of paradise. Writer Trisha Mukherjee, who is also a yoga teacher, discusses the connections these bird-inspired yoga poses have with Hindu mythology and philosophy.

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From an early age, urban ornithologist Murry Burgess loved to draw and tell stories – and that passion stayed with her as her love for birds grew as well. The joy Murry found in both art and science inspired her to write the children’s book Sparrow Loves Birds. The story follows the adventures of a curious 5-year-old girl named Sparrow as she meets her neighborhood birds. The book includes a field guide so that birders of all ages can learn to identify birds, too.

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Ray Young Bear is a writer, musician and a member of Meskwaki Nation. He considers himself a word collector, writing poetry in both English and Meskwaki, his first language. And he enjoys taking photos of the birds around his home in Iowa. In the spring of 2021, he was spending time with his grandson, Ozzy Young Bear. He composed a song in Meskwaki about how his grandson enjoyed watching the robins hunt for earthworms. He later recorded the song for a music collection called, For the Birds: The Birdsong Project. Over 200 musicians, artists and writers contributed, with proceeds going to the National Audubon Society.

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The way that some birds flick, wag, or flare their tails can be distinctive. A flicking or flashing tail might suggest to a predator that a bird is particularly alert or hard to catch, while also warning others in the flock of danger. Tail flicking can also help flush out prey. A Hooded Warbler — or a Song Sparrow, like this one — may flare its tail while foraging low to the ground to cause insects to jump, making them easier prey.

¡Escuche este episodio en español!

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