NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Matthew Medler of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology about the best bird sounds of 2025 from their vast collection of recordings, and why their selections made the list.

If you were old enough to buy CDs in the ’90s, you may remember listening stations at superstores that featured music by some of nature’s noisiest creatures: birds. These CDs blended classical music ...

With All Hallows Eve rapidly approaching, I thought it was high time to explore the spookier side of birds. Specifically, ...

Here’s why birding by ear is a “living-in-the-moment experience.” By Camille Baker This week, we invite participants to try birding by ear. Practice identifying five species common to your area by ...

Part 1. 'I don't do calls' -- Crossing the sound barrier -- Tone and timpre -- Pitch and frequency -- Rhythm and timing -- Part 2. Put it all together and what have you got? -- Simple calls -- Simple ...

Researchers conducted a global study of the factors that influence bird sounds, using more than 100,000 audio recordings from around the world. Birds make sounds to communicate, whether to find a ...

Next to insects, birds sadly seem to get short shrift from humans. We remain powerfully drawn to scenes of lions hunting in the Kalahari desert or rhinos jousting in eastern India, but remain mostly ...

The findings of a new study about communication between birds also offer key insights into the origins of language.