Image: The Ultimate Bird Drawing Throwdown Showdown Graphic featuring images of David Sibley and H. Jon Benjamin

Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!

Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!

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Shows With Contributions by Tom Murray

An Ovenbird holding a twig or pine needle in his beak, his body in 3/4 profile with his head turned to the right. The Ovenbird's wings and back are soft greenish brown, his chest white with patchy vertical dark brown stripes. Atop his head, a golden streak is flanked by two brown stripes.

Spring Birds Arrive in the Eastern Forest

May in an Eastern hardwood forest, and the chorus of spring birdsong is nearing its peak. The Carolina Wren, a year-round resident, has been singing since the end of winter. The resounding notes of this Ovenbird let us know it has returned safely from Belize, after a long flight across the…
Black-capped Chickadee holding a sunflower seed in its beak while sitting on fruiting branch

Creating Bird Habitat at Home

One of the biggest threats to birds is the decline in biodiversity due to habitat loss — and the traditional, manicured lawn isn’t helping. Growing native plants in your yard allows you to protect birds at home, says ecologist Douglas Tallamy, who co-founded an organization called…
House Wren looking to its left while singing

House Wren - Little Brown Dynamo

House Wrens dart from perch to perch and sing almost nonstop. They’re one of the most thoroughly studied songbird species. House Wrens nest in cavities, including backyard nest boxes. Most migrate south in late summer. The male House Wren sometimes builds multiple nests, allowing his mate…
Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker perched on diagonal branch, looking over his right shoulder

Drumming with Woodpeckers

Like a jazz player beating out a drum roll, a woodpecker uses its bill to rap out a brisk series of notes. Early spring resounds with the percussive hammering of woodpeckers. Their rhythmic drumming says to other woodpeckers, "This is my territory!" We also hear them knocking on wood when…
A Field Sparrow faces the viewer, head turned to its right, showing its pale beige front, brown wing edge, grey stripe across its forehead, pink beak and legs.

Ada Limón: The Hurting Kind

Poet Ada Limón often writes about birds, and her new book, The Hurting Kind, is no exception. Birds are a throughline in the book — between the seasons, from childhood to present, and knowing and unknowing. Two of her poems examine opposite sides of the “knowing/unknowing” coin. You can…
White-throated Sparrow in closeup, right profile, showing black stripes on head, yellow patch near dark eye, and white path beneath its beak.

Refueling on Block Island

On Block Island, 11 square miles of land off the coast of Rhode Island, Kim Gaffett catches birds and puts metal bands on their legs to track them. This has helped reveal how the birds use their island layovers. Having crossed the ocean without eating or drinking, birds—like this White…
Juvenile Cooper's Hawk striding purposefully across a sandy patch of dirt

Sprinting with Cooper's Hawks

Cooper’s Hawks hunts primarily from flight, using speed and stealth to surprise prey — mostly birds like doves. But they’re adaptable and opportunistic in both what and how they’ll hunt. If a Cooper’s Hawk misses catching a sparrow on its first dive, it will sometimes walk into a bush to…
White-collared Swift flying by waterfall spray

Waterfalls, Caves, and White-collared Swifts

A flight of White-collared Swifts, huge swifts the size of small falcons, wing their way toward a small waterfall in Southern Mexico. Flying up to 100 miles per hour, they slice right through the waterfall into the cave beyond. White-collared Swifts are found from Mexico to Brazil. By day…
Black-capped Chickadee singing, perched on a branch in sunshine

Voices and Vocabularies - Clever Chickadees

Few backyard birds are as beloved as the Black-capped Chickadee. The boldly patterned chickadee is perky, trusting – and it seems to introduce itself by calling its name – chick-a-dee. But when a chickadee voices its namesake call – using a host of variations – it’s most likely maintaining…
Eastern Wood-Pewee singing

Birds That Whistle

Many bird songs are rich and complex, difficult to remember, and nearly impossible to imitate. Some species' songs, however, sound as if they could have been whistled by a human. These simpler, pure-noted songs are some of the most familiar and easy to remember. These songs -- including…