| Learning the Birds Archive |
| To listen to an episode, please click on the episode title. |
| 2010 episodes: Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec |
 Brewers Blackbirds - In this episode, tackle the widespread, but little known Brewer's Blackbird- uncommonly lovely birds with distinctive flight styles.
(aired 12/28/10) |
 Winter Warblers - Winter weather keeps most warblers away, but not the Yellow-Rumped Warbler, a hardy little bird named for its bright yellow rump.
(aired 12/21/10) |
 Great Horned Owl - Great Horned Owls eat a wide variety of prey from skunks to kangaroo rats to the occasional house pet. Explore the mostly beneficial service owls provide, and consider their owlish anatomy.
(aired 12/14/10) |
 Wintersong - Winters may be bleak, but the air is full of birdsong. Celebrate winter birds with a medley of familiar birdsongs... You may discover how many songs you already know.
(aired 12/07/10) |
 Red-bellied Woodpeckers - We explore how the Red-bellied Woodpecker got its name, and sugggest a few new nicknames that might be more appropriate.
(aired 11/30/10) |
 When Birds Drop In - Birds are known for, "dropping in," on our human habitats. We learn some practical advice for handling the occasional accidental feathered visitor.
(aired 11/23/10) |
 Rails - Why would a bird described as, "laterally compressed," translation: flat, be so compelled to wear a girdle? We learn about trails and soras today on Learning the Birds.
(aired 11/16/10) |
 Northern Pintails - Certain birds are more sensitive to changes in their environment than others. We investigate one such bird with the unlikely nickname of the Prairie Canary.
(aired 11/09/10) |
 Anhingas - One of the oddest native waterbirds is the Anhinga, a.k.a. the darter, the water turkey, and/or the snake bird. We learn how one bird earned to many nicknames.
(aired 11/02/10) |
 Nuthatches - Nuthatches are as likely to be found upside down as rightside up. We consider their anti-gravity lifestyle and learn to recognize their nasal anthem.
(aired 10/26/10) |
 Storks - Wood storks are large, white, wading birds that have somehow evolved to haul human babies around in slings. Join us as we investigate the legends and the birds.
(aired 10/19/10) |
 Mountain Plovers - Mountain Plovers, the soft-spoken, unadorned cousins to the Killdeer, breed in the short-grass prairie. It's a bird so rare and difficult to find, it's sometimes called "prairie ghost."
(aired 10/12/10) |
 Wilson's Meadowlark - Alexander Wilson, one of the first great American ornithologists, wrote about the Eastern Meadowlark in 1828. We consider this early take on a popular High Plains bird.
(aired 10/05/10) |
 Jaeger's Poorwill - In 1946, in the Colorado desert, Edmund Jaeger, described an encounter with a hibernating Poorwill, the first official report on the baffling phenomena.
(aired 09/28/10) |
 The Miracle of the Gulls - We go far afield to consider the founders of Utah, whose descendants tend to be fond of the local gulls. We learn why from an 1891 account called, "The Miracle of the Gulls.
(aired 09/21/10) |
 Blue Darters - Ruth investigates a crime in a chicken yard, and finds herself defending the Mississppi Kite, a graceful, native raptor locally known as the Blue Darter.
(aired 09/14/10) |
 Buffleheads - If koalas are cuter than the average bear, then Buffleheads are the most adorable ducks in the pond!
(aired 09/07/10) |
 Long-Billed Curlew - Ruth investigates a shorebird of outrageous proportions, the Long-billed Curlew, a bird that migrates through the High Plains every year.
(aired 08/31/10) |
 Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker - The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker may be the nerdiest member of the woodpecker clan, but it leads an unusual lifestyle that includes sap wells and community service.
(aired 08/24/10) |
 Dickcissels - Among the most widespread of High Plains breeding birds is the Dickcissel, yet this most vocal 'Little Meadowlark' seems to escape the notice of almost everybody.
(aired 08/17/10) |
 Eurasian Collared Dove - Mourning Doves aren't the only doves on the block anymore. We consider the invasive, prolific, omnipresent Eurasian Collared Doves.
(aired 08/10/10) |
 Kinglets - Kinglets, the second-smallest bird in North America, are named for their royal crowns, but they often keep their crowns well-hidden.
(aired 08/03/10) |
 Anting - Certain birds engage in a ritual known as anting, in which they dose themselves with formic acid found in ants. We explore why 200 different kinds of birds worldwide have been caught in the act of anting.
(aired 07/27/10) |
 Mobbing - Summer is a time when birds are often seen mobbing one another. Understanding this avian behavior can help us follow what's really taking place up there in the sky.
(aired 07/20/10) |
 Cuckoo - The cry of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a sound like no other, a haunting call like the direst of warnings. We learn more about a secretive widespread bird that many know as the Rain Crow.
(aired 07/13/10) |
 Snipe Hunt - Some of us thought that a snipe hunt was a made-up game, but the actual birds known as Wilson's Snipe are a popular game bird in North America, and snipe of all kinds are hunted avidly in much of the world.
(aired 07/06/10) |
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