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

A male Bobolink perches on a stem in a grassland and sings

The Superpowers of the Humble Bobolink

If you had to pick the bird most like a superhero, the Bobolink might not be an obvious choice. But these quirky blackbirds have abilities that would impress Superman himself. Every year, Bobolinks fly from their wintering grounds in southern South America all the way to grasslands in…
A Common Loon swims through still water, seen from the side, calling with its bill open

A Music Student Inspired by Bird Sounds

Eleven-year-old Zjencès Bell took an early interest in birds after he learned his first bird call. As a piano student, Zjencès soon blended his love of birds with his musical skills by creating piano compositions inspired by bird calls and songs. In this show, hear an excerpt of his…
An American Alligator entering shallow water from a bank

The Link Between Birds and Alligators

The crocodilians — crocodiles and their relatives, like the American Alligator — are the closest living relatives of birds. About 250 million years ago, the ancestors of all crocodiles split off from the dinosaur group that gave rise to modern birds. While crocs these days are mostly short…
A Hooded Oriole perches on a bunch of fruits hanging below

All Those Colorful Orioles

The Baltimore Oriole is a standout bird. With adult males’ electric orange and jet black feathers, and females and immature birds in various shades of yellow and orange, it’s no surprise that these birds show up in art, illustrations, and on the uniforms of Baltimore's baseball team. But…
A Purple Martin flies up to a birdhouse mounted on a pole

Studying Climate Change by Watching Bird Nests

Organized by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and by Birds Canada, volunteers for Project NestWatch observe local nesting birds and track whether they’re successful in raising their young. Because the nest-watching volunteers monitor birds over a huge area, they cover way more ground than a…
Closeup of a singing Yellow Warbler perched in a tree

Chipes amarillos en un mundo cambiante

En primavera y verano, los chipes amarillos cantan desde lo alto de los árboles hasta las orillas de los arroyos. Si bien sus bellas canciones iluminan normalmente nuestros meses más vibrantes, también enfrentan retos inminentes. Las poblaciones de chipes amarillos se han adaptado…
A Common Nighthawk in flight with wings outstretched and vertical white wing stripes visible

Common Nighthawks at the Ballgame

An evening baseball game isn’t the only thing illuminated by the bright stadium lights. High in the air, countless flying insects are drawn to them. And those insects are a perfect snack for the game’s avian attendees! Common Nighthawks swoop with their wide mouths open to hoover up the…
A bright orange and black American Redstart sings from a perch

Setting the Thermostat with Birds in Mind

If you’ve already done things around the home with birds in mind, consider one more action that might be less obvious. Turning the thermostat down a degree or two in the colder months and up a degree in the warmer months might seem more about personal preference or energy bills than birds…
Two Burrowing Owls painted on a business's security fence with their heads tilted, and a person walking past on the sidewalk

Emily Raboteau on New York City's Bird Murals

Emily Raboteau’s book, Lessons for Survival, begins with a painting of two Burrowing Owls on the security gate of a local business in West Harlem, near where she teaches. Intrigued, she found more bird murals nearby, later learning that they are part of a collaborative effort between the…
A Blue-gray Tanager looking to its left, showing pale blue breast and head with more vivid blue wings, and a dark eye.

Spark Bird: Dara Wilson and the Blue-gray Tanager

While Dara Wilson was working at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C., she introduced visitors to the Amazonia exhibit. She would describe the song of a bird she’d never had the chance to see in the wild, the Blue-gray Tanager. But when Dara moved to Panama, she heard the song that she…