Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: Killdeer, Master of Distraction
Killdeer doing a broken wing distraction
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • BirdNote Daily
    • Bring Birds Back
    • Threatened
    • BirdNote Presents
    • Sound Escapes
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • The Team
    • Board Members
    • DEI/IDEA Commitment
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Bird...NOT! with H. Jon Benjamin

April 1, 2022
H. Jon Benjamin takes on a bird-themed game show!
Listen Now
Subscribe
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
A Blue Jay with its back to the viewer, looking up over its right shoulder in a quizzical or thoughtful pose Expand Image
© Dave Fletcher

During the COVID-19 pandemic, actor H. Jon Benjamin began sharing his experiences with birds in his “Morning Bird Report” videos on social media. For April Fools Day, BirdNote has invited him to test out his birding-by-sound skills on a one-of-a-kind quiz show: Bird…NOT! Jon has to guess whether the sound is a bird or not — which isn’t always as easy as it sounds.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Bird...NOT! with H. Jon Benjamin

Written by Allison Wilson, Conor Gearin, and Mark Bramhill

[game show music]

H. Jon Benjamin: This is Bird Not. I'm H. Jon Benjamin. [applause] 

Today the good people at BirdNote have put together a little quiz for me to test my birding-by-sound skills. They're going to play me a sound. And I just have to guess if it's a bird…or not. I really hope I pass. Okay. Sound number one, hit me.

[Black-capped Chickadee call, ML 202239]

That's a bird. [ding!] [applause] It's a small songbird. That narrows it down. Uh… sparrow. [buzzer] Oh my God. Okay. That was a Black-capped Chickadee.

All right. So I got the first one wrong, but now I think I'm going to go on a roll.

[Cat meows]

That is not a bird. [ding!] That is my grandmother seeing a mouse. [buzz] [crowd groans] Ha! That’s close. So close. That's a domestic cat.

[Northern Cardinal song, ML 24184651]

That’s a giant bird. That was a massive bird. Was that Big Bird from Sesame Street? [buzzer] [crowd sighs] Northern Cardinal. One of my favorites.

[Tina from Bob’s Burgers sounding stressed with wind in the background]

[laughs] I can assure you that that is Tina from Bob's Burgers. [ding ding ding!] 
[applause]  

    [Squeaky hinge with wave noises in background]

I feel like that's like some sort of porpoise or dolphin, or that's a crazy bird that's splashing around in a massive bird bath. [buzz] [crowd groans] Oh, my God, it was a squeaky cabinet door! …or there's a porpoise in that cabinet.

    [Blue Jay call, ML 216524141]

That’s probably some sort of raptor, maybe a hawk. If not, a Blue Jay impersonating a Hawk. [ding ding ding!] [applause] HA!!!

Wow. I can't believe I got one. For BirdNote, this has been H. Jon Benjamin.

[outro music]

###

Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Special thanks to H. Jon Benjamin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Black-capped Chickadee ML 202239 recorded by J. McGowan, Northern Cardinal ML 24184651 recorded by P. Marvin, and Blue Jay ML 216524141 recorded by J. McGowan.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
©  2022 BirdNote      April 2022        Narrator: H. Jon Benjamin

ID# birdNOT-01-2022-04-01        birdNOT-01

 

Allison Wilson
Writer
Conor Gearin
Writer
Mark Bramhill
Writer
H. Jon Benjamin
Narrator
Tags: birdwatching by ear, humor, vocalization

Related Resources

Morning Bird Report: A Blue Jay Imitating a HawkH. Jon Benjamin’s 'Morning Bird Reports' Have Brought Joy to Many in Dark Times

More About These Birds

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Poecile atricapillus

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

Cardinalis cardinalis

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

February 10, 2020

Tweets 'n' Squawks: Learn How to Identify Birds by Song

By Adam Sedgley
Nothing signals spring quite like singing birds.
December 18, 2017

What does it take to record the world’s birds?

By Gerrit Vyn

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • About
  • Annual Report
  • Contact
  • Science Advisory Council
  • Pitch Page
  • Sights & Sounds
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy