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 Mark Bramhill

A Mourning Dove standing on a piece of wood against a green background.

Spark Bird: Rickie Lee Jones and the Mourning Dove

Grammy-winning musician Rickie Lee Jones says her earliest memories are of sounds: running water, a bouncing ball, and the soft coos of Mourning Doves. In this episode, Rickie reminisces on her experiences hearing doves throughout her life and how she learned to call back to them in kind.
A Song Sparrow sings from a perch against a green background.

How an Ornithologist With a Microphone Made History

With today’s mobile apps and sound libraries, it’s never been easier to listen to birds on demand. But that wasn’t always the case – not until the 1920s when ornithologist Arthur Allen teamed up with an ambitious film production crew to record the dawn performance of a Song Sparrow. That…
Gray cat lays on small shelf attached to window

Keeping Cats Indoors

Outdoor cats are one of the biggest threats to birds, killing over a billion a year in North America. And indoor-outdoor cats live much shorter lives than indoor-only cats. So keeping a cat indoors helps protect birds. And there are plenty of ways to make the “great indoors” more exciting…
Bring Birds Back Season 8 Episode 6

Celluloid Birding with Christian Cooper

In this season 8 finale, Dr. Deja Perkins chats with Marvel writer, Emmy-award winning host, and famed author and birder, Christian Cooper! In this hilariously entertaining and highly-educating talk about the latest birding boom in Hollywood, Christian shares so many gems. Like his most…
A Great Crested Flycatcher perched on a branch facing away from the camera. The bird is holding a length of dried, shed snake skin in its bill.

BirdNoir: Nestboxes and Snake Skins

Private Eye Michael Stein investigates a possible break in when a kindly neighbor fears a snake has attacked a nestbox occupied by nesting Great Crested Flycatchers. What he finds is an ingenious way that birds sometimes use a predator’s survival instincts to their own advantage.
Bring Birds Back Season 8 Episode 5

Hunting Is for You, Too (Pt. Two)

In part two of our hunting series, Dr. Deja Perkins speaks with biologist Alex Troutman about all things hunting – from the perspective of a Black hunter! But first, the two dive into Alex’s work as an outdoors educator and author. Then, Alex shares his personal history with hunting, as…
A Fox Sparrow perched on a twig against a green background.

J. Drew Lanham’s Sparrow Envy

It’s National Poetry Month in the U.S., and each year we like to celebrate by sharing our favorite contemporary writers’ work about birds. Ornithologist and poet J. Drew Lanham often writes about racial justice, and his experience as a Black man in the outdoors — both the joy of being in…
Bring Birds Back Season 8 Episode 4

Weathering Migration with BirdCast

In this episode, Dr. Deja Perkins speaks with aeroecologist, Dr. Adriaan Dokter about the study of bird migration with weather radar. Using the vast supply of radars, primarily in the United States, Adriaan and his colleagues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology research the failure and…
Baby bird in a cup-shaped nest

Traci Brimhall: Intimacy and the Everyday

April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., so we are featuring 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…
Double-crested Cormorant

Sidney Wade - Blue

April is National Poetry Month in the United States, and to celebrate, we're featuring some of our favorite poets who write about our feathered friends. Today, in this extended podcast, we're sharing the work of poet Sidney Wade, professor emeritus at the University of Florida. Her…