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 Conor Gearin

Close up of a light brownish red feather, showing the closely aligned individual barbs that grow out from the shaft

What Makes Feathers Both Strong and Light

Bird feathers are famously light, but they’re also strong, holding up under tricky flying and high winds. They’re made of beta keratin, a tougher version of the keratin that makes up human fingernails and hair. They also have an intricate branching structure that makes them highly flexible…
An adult Canada Goose walks across a sunlit grassy area, with a dozen goslings walking along with it

Grounded Geese

In spring and summer, the paths around local ponds might have some fluffy obstacles: young goslings along with their caring and defensive parents. Adult Canada Geese lose their flight feathers for several weeks in the summer, often while they’re raising a brood of goslings. Without the…
A graphic with the Bring Birds Back artwork on the right side and a photo of Bill McKibben on the left side.

On Time, Age and Climate Change with Bill McKibben

This season has been all about the mutual impact birds, humans and nature have on each other. To close it out, Bill McKibben joins us for an honest chat about the future of this dynamic, which inevitably includes the planet Earth. His book debut, “The End of Nature,” first sounded the…
Episode promotional graphic for Bring Birds Back: Reimagining Prison Pt. 2: Rehabilitating Butterflies and Minds featuring the podcast artwork and headshot of guests, Mary Linders, Kelli Bush, and Ray Dunning from left to right.

Reimagining Prison Pt. 2: Rehabilitating Butterflies and Minds

This is part two of our series on the Sustainability in Prisons Project. We encourage you to listen to Part 1 before listening to this episode. Tenijah learns all about Sustainability in Prisons Project’s most successful program to date: rehabilitating the federally endangered Taylor’s…
A graphic with the Bring Birds Back artwork on the right side and a photo of Lauren Kuehne

Reimagining Prison Pt. 1: Acoustic Birding and Sustainability

The American prison system is complex and there are so many reasons as to why and how it could be improved. For nearly two decades, the Sustainability in Prisons Project (a collaboration between Evergreen State College and Washington state’s Department of Corrections) has been doing just…
A graphic with the Bring Birds Back artwork on the right side and a photo of Dudley Edmondson on the left side.

Finding Belonging in the Great Outdoors

Nature author, photographer and self-taught birder Dudley Edmondson shares how embracing the great outdoors as a child changed his life for the better. With over 30 years of experience, Dudley has dedicated much of his career encouraging Black and Brown people, especially, to venture into…
A pair of white birds with gray backs and black heads and beaks stand looking in opposite direction while standing at a shoreline

Gull-billed Tern

The Gull-billed Tern are terns with black caps and unusually thick bills– like a gull. This lets them eat more types of prey than other terns that rely on fish. Gull-billed Terns tackle crabs and lizards on the ground, catch flies, and even steal chicks from other birds. They’re found…
Artwork for episode 4 Bring Birds Back, featuring a photo of Isaiah Scott and an illustration of Tenijah Hamilton

Let’s All Go to Gullah Geechee Sea Islands with Isaiah Scott

This episode’s guest may be too young to remember the 90’s children’s show, Gullah Gullah Island, but he’s certainly influencing the next generation the same! Isaiah Scott, a rising Gen-Z bird-influencer and ornithologist, reconnects with Tenijah to dish all about his journey into birding…
Artwork for episode 3 Bring Birds Back, featuring a photo of Tony Suffredini and an illustration of Tenijah Hamilton

No Birds Were Harmed in the Making of this Podcast

Childhood nostalgia, anyone? Tenijah reminisces about her favorite bird moment in a film and learns all about how it came to be! Our guest this episode is Tony Suffredini, a bird trainer and master falconer, but the real stars are all Hollywood trained professionals – his birds! Tony…
Artwork for episode 2 Bring Birds Back, featuring a photo of Katie Umekubo, Susan Downey, Garry George and an illustration of Tenijah Hamilton

A.I. for Birds: A Lesson on Wind Farms

Artificial intelligence is all the rage these days – for better or for worse. Luckily, in the case of our feathered friends, it’s good news! In this episode, Tenijah speaks with three experts (starting with Garry George and Katie Umekubo) about the great environmental gains of wind energy…