BirdNote Daily

• A Song That Has Survived for Thousands of Years

  Sometimes, a species’ song changes over the course of a few decades. But a bird that lives in the mountains of eastern Africa, the Forest Double-collared Sunbird, appears to have kept the same song for at least 500,000 years. That’s the amount of time that two populations of the species split up into two separate mountain ranges. Despite a lack of contact between those populations, they sing a nearly identical song, suggesting that it’s very similar to the one their ancestors sang long ago.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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• What Do Woodpeckers Do on Smoky Days?

  When the air is thick with wildfire smoke, people are advised to stay home. At Hastings Natural History Preserve in California, Acorn Woodpeckers do the same. These gregarious birds live in family groups and frequently visit their neighbors while foraging. Using tiny radio transmitters, scientists tracked the movements of Acorn Woodpeckers during the summer of 2020 when wildfire smoke blanketed the preserve. On smoky days, woodpeckers spent more of their time at home. And when they did leave their territories, they didn’t venture far and visited fewer neighbors than usual. Published in Current Biology in 2023, the findings suggest that harm caused by wildfires go far beyond the blaze itself. As megafires become more common in our changing climate, even more birds could be affected by wildfire smoke in the future.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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• Paradise-Whydah

  A few times each year, the Eastern Paradise-Whydah puts on his party clothes. This small finch is found in East Africa, and males and females generally share the same nondescript appearance. But when it’s time to mate, the male sprouts extravagant, long, black tail feathers two or three times the length of his body. The feathers make it look like he’s wearing a long black cape, thus the nickname, “widow bird.”More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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• In Winter, Puffins Lead Very Different Lives

  Every summer, puffins — like this Horned Puffin — grow blazingly colorful layers over the bases of their huge beaks. But in the winter, puffins lead very different lives, and they shed their bright ornamentation. Puffins in winter are largely solitary — and silent. They spend about seven months alone at sea, before returning once again to their colonies to breed.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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• Double-jointed Hawks and Convergent Evolution

  Crane Hawks of Central and South America and African Harrier-Hawks both have legs that bend forward and backward. Each bird’s wonderfully peculiar leg adaptation is completely original — it evolved all on its own — even though the end result is the same. It's a fascinating example of a phenomenon called convergent evolution.More info and transcript at BirdNote.org.Want more BirdNote? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sign up for BirdNote+ to get ad-free listening and other perks. BirdNote is a nonprofit. Your tax-deductible gift makes these shows possible.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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