Today we’re visiting the Zabalo River in Ecuador. It’s a completely undisturbed ecosystem, where all the creatures we hear are all native to the land, and have coexisted and continued to evolve together for thousands of years. No animal is stepping on the communications of another animal…

A great place to listen to insects - and birds - is a remote mountain lake in the spring. Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist, recorded the sounds of this lake in Washington’s Methow Valley. The air is so clear of noise you’ll actually be able to hear the tiny splashes of lake trout…

If you’re at a cold mountain lake at just the right time and the air above it is warmer, then you might hear something magical. Because sound travels faster through warm layers than through cold ones, the lake can turn into a giant funnelling microphone. Hear it for yourself at BirdNote…

A great place to listen to insects — and birds — is a remote mountain lake in the spring. The surrounding mountians and properties of the cold water make these lakes some of nature's great concert halls. Gordon Hempton, an acoustic ecologist and sonic guide for the this series, recorded…

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.