October 2005 BirdNote Episodes:

Raptors and Wind Farms

Wind farms allow us to convert renewable wind energy into electricity. The concept seems environmentally benign, but the windmills are often installed along the same ridges favored by migrating birds for their currents. The farms would be less hazardous to migratory birds if they were sited carefully and not placed in important migratory flyways—and if the older and more lethal machines were replaced with windmills that have more visible blades. Here's an innovation taking place in Chicago at Pepsico.

Pileated Woodpecker - Returns

He doesn’t sound exactly like Woody Woodpecker, but this Pileated Woodpecker was the model for the 1950s cartoon character. The Pileated needs a tree at least 60 to 80 years old to carve out its nest cavity, which has a distinctive rectangular entrance. Learn more.

How Raven Made the Tides

Long ago the tide did not ebb and flow, but stayed close to shore. The people went hungry because the clams lay hidden under water. Raven had a plan. He put on his cloak of black feathers and flew along the shore to the house of the old woman who held the tide-line firmly in her hand…

Clark's Nutcracker - Returns

In 1805, Captain William Clark of the westbound Lewis and Clark expedition first found the bird that today bears his name: Clark’s Nutcracker. This bird inhabits remote areas near tree-line in the western mountains, where it lives in symbiosis with whitebark pines. Learn more.

Merlin!

Merlins, compact birds of prey about ten inches long with a two-foot wingspan, are swift, powerful fliers, true thunderbolts on long, pointed wings. These small falcons nest north of us, but return to hunt through the winter, even right in the city. Learn more.

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