The Northern Bobwhite — many call it just the Bobwhite — has an unmistakable call, which is also the source of its name. The species is native to the US, east of the Rockies. But Northern Bobwhites have been released into the wild as game birds in many locales in the West.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.

Mites are tiny critters related to spiders and ticks. Because they are typically no larger than a grain of salt, many mite species rely on larger animals to survive. In the neotropics, hummingbird flower mites freeload off an existing partnership. This group of mites feeds on nectar and pollen, but only from specific types of flowers. These picky eaters need reliable transport between blooms that may be yards apart. Without wheels — or wings — of their own, these mites catch a ride in the nostrils of a passing hummingbird! In fact, scientists have discovered that hummingbird flower mites can detect the electric fields generated by the whirring birds, a sense called electroreception.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.

Some swifts and frigatebirds stay aloft for months. But for a long time, scientists did not know if the birds might be sleeping on the wing. A 2016 study provided answers. Tiny devices attached to the heads of frigatebirds revealed fascinating information: the birds did sleep while aloft, most often one half of the brain at a time. But they also fell into normal, whole-brain sleep and sometimes, even deeper REM sleep. But this deepest sleep came in bursts of just a few seconds — an inflight power-nap.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.

Social, chatty, ubiquitous, the House Sparrow has adapted to living in cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Like most birds, these sparrows enjoy a daily bath. Set out a birdbath, and you can watch them chatter, splash, and shake, sending droplets flying. Birds like very shallow water; an inch or two is plenty. Be sure the bath has a flat rim or rocks to perch on. And make sure the area is safe from cats.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.

In her grandmother’s neighborhood in Chicago, Lilli Holden made an early connection with the outdoors by playing in a vacant lot with a large old tree. Now an emerging environmental leader in Chicago, Lilli has a different perspective on vacant lots, many of which were properties destroyed in the city’s 1968 riots that were never rebuilt due to a lack of investment in Black communities. Because they’re such a big part of the landscape in Black communities on the West and Southside, Lilli wants to rethink how vacant lots fit into the ecology of these economically-challenged neighborhoods.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.