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.

Birds are the master vocalists of the animal kingdom. They can make a remarkable variety of sounds. But why is a barred owl more of a baritone, while a cedar waxwing is a soprano? And what influences ...

Most people think of spring as the season for listening to birds — with good reason. Spring is when the most birds are singing, performing those nesting season declarations of presence and prowess ...

Late September is the time to listen for the magic sounds that announce autumn. If you are used to listening to birds, recent months may have seemed increasingly quiet and uneventful as spring and ...

Some birds such as starlings (right) are better at mimicking R2-D2 (left) than others. Researchers did acoustic analyses on samples of birds imitating the plucky droid that were already available ...

The BirdNET app, a free machine-learning powered tool that can identify over 3,000 birds by sound alone, generates reliable scientific data and makes it easier for people to contribute citizen-science ...

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 ...

This would be an outstanding clue in a future Jeopardy episode under the category of Birds: they look like hawks and act like vultures, but they are actually falcons. Answer: What is the crested ...

Explore one of San Diego’s dozens of canyons on this short hike that would be especially inviting for students, with a location not far from the San Diego State University campus. Located in Rancho ...

A guided walk through North Yorkshire woodland throws up some thrilling surprises by honing in on sound over sight ...

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, R2-D2 beeped and booped—and now birds that copy the Star Wars character are giving scientists fresh insight into how different species imitate complex sounds ...