The alpine forests of Australia’s southeast are home to an iconic pint-sized gray parrot with a bright red mohawk, and a call that’s been described as a “flying creaky gate.” The Gang-gang Cockatoo has seen significant habitat loss in recent years, especially after the 2020 wildfires. It’s…

On this episode of BirdNoir, the Mayor of Bricksville calls the Private Eye with a bit of a problem. “Several dozen giant bird-punks loitering on top of City Hall!” The detective figures out the most likely reason why these birds have chosen the top of a building as their hangout, and…

In the fall, Rusty Blackbirds get new feathers with reddish-gold highlights that have a unique and subtle beauty. Their complex little song might sound like a door hinge that needs some grease. Though once common, Rusty Blackbirds have lost over 90 percent of their population since 1966 –…

Birds are resourceful. Wherever they live, even in the biggest cities, they find clever places to build their nests. An initiative from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology called Celebrate Urban Birds once asked people to share the funkiest and funniest places they’ve seen a bird nest. Among…

The Northern Mockingbird isn’t the only mimic bird in town. Brown Thrashers also learn songs from nearby birds and add them to their repertoire. The species has been documented singing more than 1,100 different songs: a mix of imitations and invented little melodies. While mockingbirds…

In winter, many songbirds join flocks made up of multiple species that travel around looking for food, benefitting from safety in numbers. But a bird flock that doesn't move in the same direction soon scatters to the wind. It turns out that the Tufted Titmouse, a small gray songbird, is…

Many years ago, when writer and musician Ray Young Bear was training his singing voice, he took a kind of vocal lesson from the blackbirds. “They have the most complicated song in the world — high pitches and low notes, and then it smooths out, then it kicks up again,” he said. “I would…

White-breasted Nuthatches aren’t the toughest birds on the block — but when it comes to their nests, they know how to put up defenses. Squirrels could easily duck inside a nest cavity and gobble up the eggs. That’s why you might see nuthatches sweeping around their nest hole with a beetle…

Northern Cardinals are known for their iconic red feathers, yet that scarlet hue is actually derived from yellow pigments in their food. Most cardinals’ bodies transform those yellow pigments into their signature shade of red, but some lack this ability — resulting in a bright yellow bird…

Collecting data on wild birds is crucial for their conservation. But it requires huge amounts of effort. One way to help streamline the process is with gizmos called autonomous recording units, or ARUs. For days or months, these recording devices eavesdrop on the environment around them…