Tweet of the Day

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White Tern Jan 01, 2015

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Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern. Also known as fairy terns or angel terns, these are very slender, long-winged birds, brilliant white except for a black, slightly-upturned bill, dark eyes and very short blue-grey legs. In flight, their wings appear almost translucent. For such a delicate-looking bird, they have rather harsh calls. Unusually they lay their eggs on a bare branch. The female tern selects a small groove in the bark or on the leaf-stalks of palms where her single egg will be most secure. Here, on its tropical tightrope, the egg is safer from ground predators like rats and because there's no nesting material, there's less chance of parasites.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Greater Hill Mynah Dec 31, 2014

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Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the mimic specialist Greater Hill Mynah from Asia. Like many members of the starling family, Greater Hill Mynah's are superb mimics with a remarkable ability to reproduce the tones of the human voice. This makes them popular as cage and now some wild populations have been severely reduced by collecting. Hill mynahs are not just vocally outstanding. They're dapper looking birds too; glossy purplish-black with a white wing-patch and wattles of bright yellow skin under their eyes and around the back of their necks. The wild birds don't impersonate people though; it's only those captive birds which are amongst some of the best mimics of the human voice.

Laughing Kookaburra Dec 30, 2014

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents Australia's laughing kookaburra. At 45cm the laughing kookaburra is one of the world's largest kingfishers. Native to south and eastern Australia, they have now been introduced to Western Australia and parts of New Zealand. Although they do catch fish, they hunt mainly on land where they eat reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates. The cacophony of loud hooting laughs from which they get their Aboriginal name, is often produced by several birds in chorus. The cackling call is one of the few exotic bird sounds that is recognised around the world: a captive kookaburra named Jacko became a radio celebrity in Australia through his ability to break into that laughing call on demand. By the time of his death in 1939 he was one of the best known birds in the world.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Red-throated Caracara Dec 29, 2014

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the red-throated caracara from the Amazonian rainforest. The size of buzzards, red-throated Caracaras are black- and -white birds of prey that travel together when searching for paper wasp nests among the leaves. While some birds search for food, others act as sentinels on the lookout for predators. If a monkey or a spotted cat approaches, the sentinel will alert the flock and together they will mob the intruder with loud calls. They specialise in bee and wasp grubs, but seem impervious to stings and it was once thought that they may possess a special repellent which deters the adult insects. Latest research now shows that when they are disturbed by the caracaras, paper wasps keep away from their damaged nest to avoid further danger and so the birds simply take advantage of the wasp's absence.

Wandering Albatross Dec 26, 2014

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Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the wandering albatross of the South Atlantic Ocean. On the windswept South Georgian Islands, a stiff breeze is ruffling the grass tussocks as a Wandering Albatross is billing and coo-ing to its mate. These huge seabirds, mate for life and can live for 50 years (or more). Longevity is vital for a species which produces only one chick every two years. The chocolate brown youngster takes to the air nine months after hatching, the longest pre-fledging period of any bird, but when it does, it breaks another record, as adults have the longest wingspan of any living bird, which can reach over 5metres.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Christmas Shearwater Dec 25, 2014

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the Christmas shearwater. 2000km south of Hawaii the highly marine Christmas shearwater is at home over the Central Pacific seas, tirelessly riding the air-currents, skimming wave-crests and hugging the contours of the sea looking for food. They rarely come to land as adults, but when they do, it is to return to their place of birth on remote oceanic islands to breed. Here they form loose colonies, laying a single white egg which is incubated for around 50 days. Inhabiting these far flung inaccessible islands means little is known about their biology, but that remoteness gives them protection from land based predators.

House Wren Dec 24, 2014

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Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the house wren found across the New World. Having one of the largest ranges of any songbird in the New World, the migratory house wren occurs anywhere from their breeding grounds in Canada and North America, to their to wintering grounds from Central America to Chile. The male house wren's song is a torrent of trills delivered at full volume from his territory of shrubs, low trees and ferny banks. Diminutive he may be but he's feisty and is known to drag other birds' eggs or chicks from a nest-hole he wants for himself. In parts of North America, house wrens are a significant cause of nest failure in some other species of songbirds.

Hyacinth Macaw Dec 23, 2014

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Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the hyacinth macaw of the Brazilian Pantanal. Raucous ear-piercing screeches are produced by one of the most beautiful parrots in the world, flying high over the marshy wetlands of the Pantanal. As their name suggests they are a rich cobalt blue, with sulphur-yellow eye rings with a massive bill and long elegant tail-feathers streaming behind them in flight, making them our longest parrot. Popular as captive caged birds, they are now endangered in the wild and legally protected in Brazil. They feed on palm nuts, including those of the acuri palm which are so hard that even the macaw's powerful bill can't break into them, until they've first passed through the digestive tracts of cattle.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

New Zealand Robin Dec 22, 2014

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the New Zealand robin. The toutouwai or New Zealand robin may share a name with the more familiar European robin, but it is a very different bird to the robin redbreast we know so well. Although about the same size with the same perky upright stance, the New Zealand robin, is appropriately enough nearly all-black, with a pale belly and a white splash just above the bill, but no trace of red. Three subspecies exist; one in north Island, one in South Island, and another in Stewart Island. And like their British counterparts, who they are not closely related to at all, can become quite tame and friendly to humans. The song is very varied and each male has a repertoire of around two dozen different notes.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Eastern Orphean Warbler Dec 19, 2014

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the eastern orphean warbler in an olive grove near Athens. Until recently there used to be just a single species of Orphean Warbler; a summer visitor to southern Europe, North Africa and western Asia: a handsome bird much like a large blackcap with a white throat and greyish-brown back. But across the wide breeding range which stretches from Portugal to Pakistan some orphean warblers look and sound different. Those east of Italy tend to be subtly greyer above and paler beneath. And the songs of birds from Greece eastwards are longer and richer, often including the richness of nightingale like notes. These slight differences have persuaded many ornithologists that the Eastern Orphean warbler is a different species to the Western Orphean Warbler. Biologists call this "splitting "although exactly where these new species boundaries lie is a moot point.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

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