When not in the radio studio, Dwight Davis likes to go afield with his binoculars and watch birds. "Birdnotes" is a result of his long-time interest in birds, a short feature that can be about almost any aspect of bird life, from migration to coloration to birds in art to song.
Cedar Waxwing
The berry bird
10/21/2024 • 0
October Waterthrush
Some thoughts on a late leaver.
10/14/2024 • 0
The Piping Plover
Rhymes with Clover
10/1/2024 • 0
John Gould
English ornithologist
9/23/2024 • 0
Lady Birds
Distaff Onomastics
9/9/2024 • 0
The Chimney Swift
"A Cigar with Wings"
9/2/2024 • 0
Sparrow Nomenclature
Small, brown and confounding
8/26/2024 • 0
The Goldfinch
Sunlight on the wing
8/19/2024 • 0
The Kingfishers
Colors Abounding
8/12/2024 • 0
Staying Cool
Birds Beating the Heat
8/5/2024 • 0
The Phoebe
Singing its name
7/29/2024 • 0
The Warbling Vireo
What I Heard on my Summer Vacation
7/22/2024 • 0
Bastille Day Bird
Le Coq Gallois
7/15/2024 • 0
Birds for the Fourth
Colonial Nortes
7/8/2024 • 0
The Magic of Birdsong
John Burroughs' musing
7/1/2024 • 0
Summer Tanager
summer visitor
6/28/2024 • 0
The Phalarope
Fine Feathered Father
6/17/2024 • 0
The Black Swift
Mystery Solved
6/10/2024 • 0
Red-headed Woodpecker
Bold and Bright
6/4/2024 • 0
Isaak Walton's Birds
The fisherman birder
5/31/2024 • 0
Isaak Walton's Birds
A fisherman goes birding
5/24/2024 • 0
Isaak Walton's Birds
A fisherman goes birding
5/24/2024 • 0
Prairie Warbler
Another Spring Song
5/20/2024 • 0
The White-eyed Vireo
Heard bu no Seen
5/13/2024 • 0
Upland Sandpiper
Midwest May
5/7/2024 • 0
The Yellow of Warblers
Spring Palette
4/26/2024 • 0
Audubon
Buckskin Birder
4/22/2024 • 0
The Mimids
Overflowing with song
4/15/2024 • 0
The Yellow-breasted Chat
Relatively speaking
4/8/2024 • 0
The Voice of the Turtle
A Sound to Welcome Spring
3/29/2024 • 0
The Canary
A bird from the dog islands
3/25/2024 • 0
An Irish Bird?
for St. Paddy's Day
3/15/2024 • 0
Buzzard's Day
Not all "buzzards" are buzzards
3/12/2024 • 0
Buzzard's Day
Not all "buzzards" are buzzards.
3/11/2024 • 0
The Red Kite
St, David's Day Bird
3/4/2024 • 0
The Downy Woodpecker
Diminutive and Demure
2/26/2024 • 0
Tail Waggers
Why Wag?
2/19/2024 • 0
The Broad-Winged Hawk
Sotto Voce Raptor
2/5/2024 • 0
Mozart's Starling
A Musical Pet
1/29/2024 • 0
The Chickadee
Cheerful in the Cold
1/19/2024 • 0
Scoters
Look, but don't eat
1/15/2024 • 0
Feathered Winter Mites
Birds Small and Busy
1/5/2024 • 0
Swans a' Swimming
on the 7th day of Christmas
12/29/2023 • 0
A Christmas Bird
The European Goldfinch
12/22/2023 • 0
Beethoven's Birds
Ludwig the Birder
12/19/2023 • 0
Halcyon Days
Kingfishers calm the waters
12/8/2023 • 0
December Ducks
A Day at the Beach
12/1/2023 • 0
Loud Songster
The Wren
11/24/2023 • 0
Migration and Mortality
It's not easy being a bird
11/17/2023 • 0
Migration and Mortality
It's not easy being a bird
11/17/2023 • 0
Migration and Mortality
It's not easy being a bird
11/17/2023 • 0
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
A John Burrow's observation
11/10/2023 • 0
The Pitohui
A poisonous bird
11/3/2023 • 0
As thin as...
An avian simile
10/27/2023 • 0
Baltimore Oriole
A Bird Named After a Lord
10/20/2023 • 0
Teal
What's in a Word?
10/6/2023 • 0
Avian Onomastics
The Red-bellied Woodpecker
9/29/2023 • 0
Feathered Males and Females
Sexual Dimorphism
9/22/2023 • 0
Clever Corvids
Sorting the Crows
9/15/2023 • 0
Bird Thoughts in a Vermont Forest
What I did on my Summer Vacation
9/8/2023 • 0
Molting
Feathers Old and New
9/1/2023 • 0
Which White Waders?
Distinguishing herons et al.
8/25/2023 • 0
The Pewee
Lazy summer sounds
8/18/2023 • 0
The Tailorbird
Feathered sewer
8/11/2023 • 0
"Timberdoodle"
The Woodcock
8/4/2023 • 0
Birds Beat the Heat
Staying cool
7/28/2023 • 0
Grackles
Avian Dissonance
7/21/2023 • 3 minutes, 18 seconds
Le Coq Gaulois
Vive la France
7/12/2023 • 0
A Sound of Summer
The Red-winged Blackbird
7/7/2023 • 0
Birds for the Fourth
Avifauna from Colonial Times
6/30/2023 • 0
Summer Tanager
Bright welcome to the season
6/22/2023 • 0
Feathered Father
The Phalaropes
6/12/2023 • 0
June Magic
Song of the Wood Thrush
6/9/2023 • 0
The Song Sparrow
Another spring song
6/1/2023 • 0
The Seaside Sparrow
a surfeit of sparrow names
5/26/2023 • 0
The Chipping Sparrow
Garden Friend
5/18/2023 • 0
The Great Crested Flycathcer
Another sound of spring
5/12/2023 • 0
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Bright spring visitor
5/4/2023 • 0
May Birds
Misnamed warblers
5/4/2023 • 0
The Blur-Gray Gnatcatcher
An early spring arrival
4/21/2023 • 0
Happy Birthday, Leonardo
All that and a birdwatcher too
4/14/2023 • 0
Avian Laughter
The Kookaburra
3/31/2023 • 0
The Broad-winged hawk
Sotto voce raptor
4/8/2022 • 0
The Prothonotary Warbler
Golden Swamp Warbler
6/29/2020 • 0
The Tufted Titmouse
A small bundle of winter cheer.
• 0
White-Eyed Vireo
The hidden mimic
• 0
Chimney Swift
The original twitterer
• 0
Bird Anting
An enigma still
• 0
Loons
Winter visitors
• 0
Hooded Merganser
Hooded Merganser
• 0
The Shearwaters
A Life on the Ocean Wave
10/2/2019 • 0
Bright Feathers for the Journey
Bright Feathers for the Journey
• 0
Buzzards Day
Ungainly harbingers of spring.
• 0
Elusive Birds
I Know You're in There!
2/3/2023 • 0
Cormorant
The shaggy-topped fisherman
• 0
Evening Grosbeak
A robust winter visitor
• 0
The Scary Cassowary
Definitely not Big Bird
• 0
Isaak Walton's Birds
Isaak Waltons Birds
• 0
Song Sparrow
Brown suite, bright song.
• 0
The Mimids
Thoughtful mimics
5/27/2022 • 0
A New Bird
The Sezhuan bush warbler
• 0
The Chipping Sparrow
A true feathered friend.
• 0
The Cordillera Azul Antbird
In honor of E.O. Wilson
12/31/2021 • 0
Hummingbird Migration
The ruby-throat flies the Gulf
• 0
Fantastic Fliers
Endurance Champion
• 0
What is a Timberdoodle?
The American Woodcock
• 0
The Willett
An easy ID
• 0
Elusive Birds
Checklist Challengers
10/20/2019 • 0
Irrupting Raptors
Waiting for a visit from the imposing hunters from the north.
• 0
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Foraging in suburbia.
• 0
The Snow Bunting
The real snowbird
1/19/2022 • 0
Golden-Winged Firebird
Jules Verne was not an ornithologist
• 0
The harlequin and the turnstone
Birds from the Picasso Field Guide
• 0
The Hermit Thrush
Ethereal Songster
• 0
The Gannett
The Gannett
• 0
The Swallow-tailed Kite
Elegance on the wing.
• 0
The Ovenbird
Mysterious song at eventide.
• 0
Teal Green
The duck came first.
• 0
The Towhee
Towhee, chewink or drink-your-tea
• 0
The Fox Sparrow
Robust, foxy visitor
• 0
The Voice of the Turtle
The Voice of the Turtle
• 0
The Tailorbird
Sewing a nest.
• 0
The Saw Whet Owl
Strange sounding and cute
• 0
The Brown-headed Cowbird
Why build a nest?
• 0
Downey Woodpecker
Little Drummer Bird
• 0
The Broad-winged Hawk
Demure Raptore
• 0
The Bluebird
Gentle harbinger of spring
• 0
The Java Sparrow
Bach Bird
8/12/2022 • 0
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Remembrance of birds past.
• 0
Which White Waders
Sorting out the herons.
• 0
Yellow-rumped Warbler
small and drab, but everywhere
• 0
The Chickadee
Winter Cheer
• 0
Happy Birthday, Roger T.
Peterson’s Poetry
• 0
Orange-crowned Warbler
Defining non- descript
• 0
Hong Kong birds
big city birds
4/7/2023 • 0
The Dunlin
"..smaller than a breadbox"
1/13/2023 • 0
Mimids Three
Accomplished Songsters
• 0
Audubon
Rustic genius
4/18/2022 • 0
The Fox Sparrow
Rufus Winter Visitor
2/11/2022 • 0
The Kakapo
New Zealand's Bird of the Year
11/19/2020 • 0
Teale's boblinks
skylark they never wert
• 0
American Pipet
Walking Winter Visitor
• 0
Birds in the Twelve Days of Christmas
Just what is a colly bird?
• 0
Housewren
Housewren
• 0
Bobolinks on the Move
Edwin Way Teale's observations
8/26/2022 • 0
The Osprey
The One and Only
• 0
The Rails
As thin as...
• 0
Tail Wagging
Who wags and why
• 0
Cooling
Birds beating the summer heat
• 0
Audubon
Audubon
• 0
Mis-named Warblers
Mis-named Warblers
• 0
Football Birds
Feathered mascots
• 0
Nestling Mortality
facts of life and death
• 0
The Chestnut-sided Warbler
Now common, colorful migrant
• 0
Edible Birds
Edible Birds
• 0
The Robin
Spring Singer
4/16/2020 • 0
Aldo Leopold
November Sketches
11/17/2019 • 0
Bird-named Planes
Feathered and other Harriers
• 0
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Magical spring transformation
• 0
The Darkling Thrush
Thomas Hardy’s songster.
• 0
The Cuckoo
Harbinger of Spring
• 0
Bird of Washington
Bird of Washington
• 0
Father Knows Best
the phalarope
• 0
Autumn and Spring Colors
Feather and leaves in fall and spring
• 0
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
A spring warbler.
• 0
The Wakatobi Sunbird
A new bird for the new year
12/30/2022 • 0
Eider Down
Feathers Against the Cold
1/28/2022 • 0
Song for the Journey
The Swainson's Thrush
6/1/2021 • 0
Valentine Birds
Valentine Birds
• 0
The Glossy Ibis
Primative and Sacred
11/5/2020 • 0
The Mimids
Assertive master mimics
• 0
A New Bird for a New year
...but where is it?
• 0
The Cedar Waxwing
Lovely and Unusual
2/5/2020 • 0
The Wood Thrush
Der Meistersinger
• 0
Tupi Terms
Exotic Bird Names
• 0
Spring Symphony
Songs of an April Morning
• 0
An Irish Bird
Emerald Isle Birds
• 0
The Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Winter to Spring in Miniature
3/1/2021 • 0
Ruddy Duck
Ruddy Duck
• 0
The Genus Euphonia
skylark they never wert
• 0
Red-Eyed Vireo
Persistant summer songster
• 0
Kites
Kites
• 0
The Magic of Birdsong
Listen to the Mockingbird
5/30/2022 • 0
The Redstart
Feathered Perpetual Motion
5/2/2022 • 0
The House Finch
Hollywood at your feeder.
• 0
The Phoebe
Avian name calling.
• 0
The Red-bellied Woodpecker
Toward a better name
• 0
Beethoven's Birds
Beethoven's Birds
• 0
Cardinal
Favorite state bird.
• 0
Crows
Distinguishing the Corvids
• 0
Hong Kong Birds
Some avian observations from the other side of the world.
• 0
Woody’s inspiration
The pileated woodpecker
• 0
Migration and Mortality
Migration and Mortality
• 0
The Ouzel
The Little Dipper.
• 0
Storm Petrels
Oceanic water walkers
• 0
Java Sparrow
A handsome Bach bird
• 0
Window Watching
Window Watching
• 0
Le Coq Gallois
A bird for Bastille Day
• 0
Dunlin
A red-backed sandpiper by any other name.
• 0
Mulberry Birds
Mulberry Birds
• 0
The Black Swift
Avian Secrets
• 0
Feather Wear
New feathers fly better.
• 0
Red Winged Blackbird
Memorable summer sound
• 0
The Piping Plover
Rhymes with "lover".
• 0
The Red Kite
The unofficial bird of Wales
• 0
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
• 0
Shifting Sparrow Species
Nomenclature updates
• 0
An Amazing Journey
The Flight of AX 6587
• 0
Summer Singers
Summer Singers
• 0
A New Old Bird
A Perplexing Fossil
• 0
Kinglets
Active feathered mites.
• 0
Ouzel
What is an ouzel? The answer involves both etymology and ornithology.
1/20/2019 • 0
Colonial Birds
Birds of the Founding Fathers
• 0
A New Year Bird
Wilson’s antbird
• 0
Kookaburra
The Laughing Jackass doesn’t live in the jungle.
• 0
The Bullbats are About
Sounds of Summer
7/29/2022 • 0
The Bluejay
Mr. Clemons as ornithologist
• 0
Teddy Roosevelt, Birdwatcher
Teddy Roosevelt, Birdwatcher
• 0
The Skylark
Blythe Spirit
• 0
Accipiter Confusion
Sexual Dimorphism
12/30/2020 • 0
The Curious Colies
“On the Fourth Day of Christmas...”
• 0
The Sanderling
On a winter beach
• 0
The Cattle Egret
Population Fluctuation
• 0
The Nighthawk
The bullbats are about.
• 0
Grackles
Glossy and discordant.
• 0
Bird Colors
An Avian Palette
11/13/2020 • 0
The Hoatzin
One strange bird.
• 0
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
• 0
Pewee
The languid sound of summer
• 0
The Fire-Hangbird
Lord Baltimores feathered namesake
• 0
Where does a Bird Live?
Is a nest a home?
• 0
Happy Birthday,Roger Tory Peterson
Father of the Field Guide
• 0
The Warbling Vireo
A Drab Songster
• 0
Siskin Saturation
Finch Irruption, 2012
• 0
The Northern Lapwing
An Unexpected Visitor
1/14/2022 • 0
The Shoveler
The Shoveler
• 0
The Goldfinch
Bright feathered sunshine
• 0
Carrier Pigeon
Feathered war heroes
• 0
St. Francis and the Birds
St. Francis and the Birds
• 0
Lincoln’s Sparrow
Not named for Abe.
• 0
Laughing Gull
Laughing Gull
• 0
The Canary
From the Canine Islands
• 0
Terms of Venery
delightful collective nouns
2/7/2020 • 0
The Year of the Bird
Bird news for the new year
• 0
The Eagle and the Child
Despite the tall tales, eagles do not fly off with children.
