When he was just 22 years old, a young man named Samuel Clemens (who would go on to become the writer Mark Twain) signed on to train as a pilot on a Mississippi riverboat. He quickly realized that, if he volunteered for the early morning shift he could experience one of the most incredible…

The Mississippi Flyway is one of North America’s four major corridors for migrating birds. Billions of birds make their way north from Central and South America into the U.S. and Canada each spring and head south again in the fall. For a time, they join residents, including this Barred Owl…

The young Samuel Langhorne Clemens - later known as Mark Twain - signed on to train as a pilot on a Mississippi riverboat when he was just 22. He quickly discovered that if he volunteered for the early morning shift, he could experience one of the most incredible musical shows there is.

Parrots are famous for their ability to mimic human voices. But to teach a parrot all the sounds of human language is actually really challenging. They might not have the right anatomy to replicate the sound faithfully, but they can usually improvise. Hear the full episode from our friends…

Gordon Hempton has spent his whole life recording the sounds of the natural world. But capturing intricate, immersive soundscapes is a challenge: Gordon has to keep entirely silent, sometimes for hours at a time. Tune in to the entire journey at birdnote.org/soundescapes. This show is made…

To make their beautiful songs and calls, birds have different sound-making anatomy than people. Humans have a larynx at the top of our windpipe. Birds use a different organ, called the syrinx. Naturalist Kenn Kaufman and Dallas Taylor of the podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz explain.

We’re at the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, just 50 miles northwest of Nashville, Tennessee. It’s this massive inland peninsula, bordered by sections of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. It’s a sneak peek of Sound Escapes, our new podcast series. This show is made…

Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is a massive inland peninsula, bordered by sections of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers that were permanently flooded as a part of FDR’s New Deal. Humans changed this landscape, but now birds have claimed it - and they are flourishing.

April is National Poetry Month in the US, so we featured some of our favorite poets who write about our feathered friends. Traci Brimhall is an associate professor of poetry at Kansas State University. Her first published collection, from 2013, is called Rookery and features many poems…

Looking out from a tall mountain on a clear day, you might be able to see for dozens of miles. Expansive, scenic views are treasured for their beauty — but what about being able to hear over long distances? For that, the ideal location is wide open prairie, like Saskatchewan’s Grasslands…