At midday, it might seem like the birds that were so active in the morning have gone silent, maybe even vanished. But cormorants rally in the afternoon, offering a second chance to see and hear them. During the breeding season, Double-crested Cormorants have two peaks of fishing activity…

The crocodilians — crocodiles and their relatives, like the American Alligator — are the closest living relatives of birds. About 250 million years ago, the ancestors of all crocodiles split off from the dinosaur group that gave rise to modern birds. While crocs these days are mostly short…

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…

If you’ve already done things around the home with birds in mind, consider one more action that might be less obvious. Turning the thermostat down a degree or two in the colder months and up a degree in the warmer months might seem more about personal preference or energy bills than birds…

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…

In shallow waters off the coast of Massachusetts, ocean predators come from far and wide to hunt. Humpback whales join Great Shearwaters and many other seabirds in pursuing sand lance, a tiny fish that these top predators rely on for sustenance. But sand lance are vulnerable to climate…

Every BirdNote episode starts with a solid grounding in research. When we play a bird sound for you, first we make sure you're hearing the right species. But not just that — we bear in mind the distinction between songs and calls, and we make sure the recording comes from an appropriate…

Whether you know your neighborhood inside-out or you just moved and are getting to know the area, BirdNote adds another dimension to how you understand the place you live — by understanding the birds. Our hope is that by spreading knowledge about birds, BirdNote is helping you become more…

Green-winged Teal are North America's smallest dabbling duck, at just over a foot long and weighing less than a pound. The male has a cinnamon brown head with a band of green behind the eye. Both males and females have a green bar on the wing that gleams like an emerald when the sun…

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…