How Raven Made the Tide

Long ago the tide stayed close to shore. The people went hungry because the clams lay hidden under water. Then Raven had a plan. He put on his cloak and flew along the shore to the house of the old woman who held the tide-line firmly in her hand. Raven fooled her, and she let go of the tide-line, and the tide rushed out. All the people joined Raven to feast on clams. Finally the old woman promised to let go of the tide-line twice each day. And that is how Raven made the tides.
BirdNote is completely independent and receives no funds from the stations that air it. To make a gift to BirdNote, begin here.

Woodpeckers as Keystone Species

Woodpeckers - including this Northern Flicker - are master carpenters of the bird world. They're called “keystone species” for their crucial role in creating habitat suited to other woodland wildlife. Abandoned woodpecker nest-holes become nests or roosts for small owls, cavity-nesting ducks, swifts, bluebirds, swallows, wrens, and other birds, as well as many small mammals.
Would you like to become a benefactor? Begin here.

Laughing Kookaburra

The voice of the Laughing Kookaburra is so distinctive, it’s become one of the best known sounds in nature. Its exotic call has been a Hollywood standard for decades, that unseen creature in the depths of the jungle, with heroes ranging from Tarzan to Indiana Jones. Kookaburras are hefty members of the kingfisher family, found primarily in Australia and New Guinea. Learn more at the Australian Museum Online.
Would you like to become a benefactor? Begin here.

Groove-billed Ani

The Groove-billed Ani’s large, laterally flattened bill spits out its sharp, high whistles, slurred whinings, and various squeaks, pips, squeals, and growls. These retiring birds gather in loose groups, nesting communally. As many as four pairs of birds may use one nest, a bulky cup of twigs lined with fresh leaves. Up to 20 chalky white eggs have been found in one nest! Learn more at Cornell’s All Birds.
Learn more about the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds.

Albatross Surfs the Wind

This Laysan Albatross, with a wing span of about seven feet, is completely at home in the vastness of the open ocean. It glides up and down, back and forth, across the wake, sometimes riding up 100 feet, then coasting right back down near the surface. Its wings stay slightly arched, but don’t seem to flap. Through a marvelous feat called “dynamic soaring,” this Laysan Albatross uses differences in wind speed. Learn more about this albatross at Audubon.org. Learn more about dynamic soaring.

What Is Nature Worth?

What is nature worth? Can its value be quantified? Some natural resource economists and policy-makers say it’s important to have a common language of dollars and cents when making decisions about land use and environmental management. Dr. Robert Costanza says that nature provides us with many valuable services upon which we can put a price tag. Wetlands, for example, protect us from floods and purify surface waters and provide a home for this Red-winged Blackbird.
Learn more about Dr. Costanza’s research.

Roadrunner

The Greater Roadrunner is a common species in the desert and brush country of the Southwest, but its full range reaches from California to western Louisiana. Its soft cooing voice hints at its connections to anther bird: scientists group roadrunners with the cuckoos. Where to see a roadrunner? In the US Southwest, you might spot one along the roadside, standing atop a boulder. It can reach speeds of nearly 20 miles an hour and can fly—but doesn’t very often. To see a video of a roadrunner in action, click here.
KPLU listeners are invited on a field trip to Nisqually NWR, Saturday, August 22. Learn more.

Hendricksons' Violet-green Swallows

Ray and Gretchen Hendrickson explain how they make homes for birds in their garage in Leavenworth, Washington: When the birds have picked out a hole they want, take a coffee can and tin snips and cut down an inch around the top so you can bend the little flanges out. Tack the can behind the hole. Use a plastic lid so you can clean it. Put holes in it for air. That’s all!
Learn more about The Icicle Fund, a BirdNote supporter.
KPLU listeners are invited on a field trip to Nisqually NWR, Saturday, August 22. Learn more.

Birding 101 - Join a Field Trip!

Join the BirdNote bunch at Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Saturday, August 22, 9AM-Noon. Volunteers from Tahoma Audubon and BirdNote will introduce you to the sport. Meet other BirdNote listeners, feel the excitement, and find the birds!

For directions and more information, and to sign up, begin here.

Hurricanes and Birds

Hurricanes bring tragedy to birds and other wildlife. Severe storm winds not only kill many birds, but blow others far from their normal range. Although many individuals die, most populations of birds are resilient, able to spring back from disaster if conditions allow. Many small birds - like this Carolina Wren - breed twice in a season. Fortunately, the effects of natural disasters are usually local, and bird populations on a grand scale can, literally, weather the storm.

Bill Shape Equals Food Source

A fine woodworker has a chest full of tools, each designed for a specific task. Birds also have highly refined tools—their bills. The size and shape of a bird’s bill match perfectly the food they seek and the way in which they obtain their meals. Different species of shorebirds that forage shoulder to shoulder in tidal estuaries have bills of different lengths. As a result they don’t compete for the same food. Learn more about the Bar-tailed Godwit, front, and the Long-billed Curlew, back.

Chickadees at Dawn

Chickadees swirl in small chattering flocks in the first light, to drink dew from the cups of leaves. Birds are gifted, as Henry Beston wrote, “with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.” For more about this Black-capped Chickadee, visit Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

Martyn Stewart Part II

Martyn Stewart’s calling is recording the sounds of birds and nature. He describes some of the rewards of working in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: “It is a great place to go record birds and animals. You know generally that once you point your microphone at a nesting bird or a bird that’s hopping through the tundra, it’s going to be pristine. You haven’t got a leaf-blower or an ATV or a plane flying over the top of you ... It’s just a beautiful place.”
Learn more about the Arctic Refuge Project.
There's more about Martyn himself at naturesound.org.

Honeybees and Redtails

BirdNote writer, Todd Peterson, is also a beekeeper. His spring and summer labors in the apiary have long been accompanied by the cry of Red-tailed Hawks that nest in the woods nearby. If it survives its first two years, a Red-tailed Hawk can live from 10 to 15 years. Red-tails and other birds must have the right habitats to thrive.
Consider joining your local Audubon to see how you can help. Begin here.

Kent Woodruff and the Townsend's Big-eared Bats

Kent Woodruff is a wildlife biologist with the USFWS in Washington’s Upper Methow Valley. He spearheaded the effort, which included The Trust for Public Land, to conserve a colony of rare Townsend’s big-eared bats. An old cabin (left) that the bats had used for a nursery was relocated. They also built a permanent structure (right), which will let the bats prosper well into the future. Visit Audubon.org and see what you can do on behalf of birds, bats, and other wildlife.

Ivan Doig on a Birdless World

A world without birds? Seattle resident and renowned author Ivan Doig reflects on such a world in his book-length historical meditation, Winter Brothers: ". . . a birdless world, the air permanently fallow, is unthinkable. To be without birds would be to suffer a kind of color-blindness … Occasional flashing hummingbirds; seasonal grosbeaks … masked like society burglars. … There exist few everyday necessities in my life, but birds are among them."
Learn more about this Evening Grosbeak at Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

Willow Flycatcher

Willow Flycatchers arrive later than most other migrants, usually in late May or early June. They’re coming from South America, a long way to fly for a bird that weighs 1/35th of an ounce. A male Willow Flycatcher aggressively defends its territory against other males and soon attracts a mate. Their compact nest is usually low in a willow or rose or bracken fern. To find a Willow Flycatcher, listen for its sneeze. Learn more at Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

Birds Helping People - Vineyards

In some vineyards of Napa and Sonoma Counties in California, owls patrol by night, and kestrels, harriers, and other raptors take the day-watch. They eat the mice, rats, and gophers that nibble on the roots of young grapevines. Other birds help, too, including this Western Bluebird. Wineries put out nestboxes for the bluebirds (like this male) and other birds that eat insect pests. Instead of poisons and other environmentally dangerous methods, growers put nature to work, a great example of sustainable agriculture and a win-win situation for people and birds. Learn more about birds from your local Audubon.

Birds and Navigation

The argonauts of the western Pacific and Polynesia, when navigating the vast distances between tiny islands, observed with great care the migration of birds. Polynesian navigators often carried with them frigatebirds, which they released and followed to land. Risking their lives, ancient navigators counted on the unerring ability of birds (like this Magnificent Frigatebird) to find landfall in the vastness of the great ocean. Learn more about this frigatebird at Cornell's AllAboutBirds.

Baby Bald Eagles

A recently fledged Bald Eagle, a juvenile just learning to fly, lands unceremoniously on the ground. The parent Bald Eagles may react by calling from a tree, or they may have to descend to the ground themselves, to tend to and encourage their young to take flight again. Young Bald Eagles do not reach full adult plumage until they are around four years old and may live up to 40 years. Watch a video of a young eagle testing its wings -- and then fledging!

Sweet Pea - Rufous Hummingbird Migration

Last spring, Ann and Tom Campbell discovered that one of the Rufous Hummingbirds in their garden on Whidbey Island, Washington had been banded in Louisiana! That one hummingbird (Ann nicknamed her "Sweet Pea," for the bird's favorite flowers) had flown over -- or all the way around -- the Rocky Mountains. Here’s more of the story.
Learn how you can attract hummingbirds to your garden.

How Young Birds Migrate

Millions of shorebirds -- like these Western Sandpipers at rest for the moment-- migrate southward in August. By the time this year’s hatchlings have put on their first full set of feathers and plumped up for the journey, their parents have already flown south. How do the novices find their way? The young birds possess an inherited magnetic compass and also some ability to reckon using the sun and stars. But this year's experience will make next year's trip easier.
Like to get BirdNote as a podcast? Sign up here.

Nesting and Roosting

A young bird’s nest is its first home. But most birds don’t live in a nest year round, even at night. By August, many birds have left the nest behind. So, after they spend the day flying and foraging, where do they go at night?  What most birds do at night is roost: they find a safe place to sleep, and enter it secretively so that predators don’t suspect. Some birds - like these young Eurasian Tree Sparrows - nestle together and perch on a branch. Learn more about this sparrow at The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.