The sound was unmistakable and led me outdoors to face the thick woods across the road. In the advancing twilight the sound pierced the darkness again, and then again. The ghostly mournful wail, best ...

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.

On the chilly morning of Dec. 5, Alex Patton headed into a coffee shop in Utica. On his way out, he glanced across the nearby stream and noticed the bird in the accompanying photo. Sharp-eyed Patton ...

In North America many bird species exist in eastern and western versions due to factors like geographical isolation caused by events like the ice ages and features like the Great Plains that form a ...