Tweet of the Day

Latest Episodes:

Dupont's Lark Sep 11, 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 Dupont's lark of southern Europe and North Africa. The European home for the Duponts lark is the arid grasslands of south-east Spain where Spaghetti Westerns were once filmed. The Dupont's lark is notoriously difficult to find as it skulks between tussocks of dry but at dawn and again at sunset, male Dupont's larks emerge from their hiding places and perform display flights over their grassy territories. As they rise into the sky their song is a melancholy refrain, which once heard is rarely forgotten.

White-Bearded Manakin Sep 10, 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 White-Bearded manakin of tropical South America. The sound of party-poppers exploding in a forest clearing tells you that white-bearded manakins are displaying at a lek. At a carefully chosen spot each male clears the forest floor of leaves and other debris before his performance begins. The commonest display is the snap-jump. As he jumps forward he strikes the back of his wings together creating a loud snapping sound followed by an excited "pee-you" call. Snap-jumps are often followed by grunt jumps or a manoeuvre known as "slide-down-the-pole". These displays continue throughout the day, but intensify when females visit.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Florida Scrub Jay Sep 09, 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 Florida scrub jay. Less than 6,000 Florida scrub jays exist in the wild, yet these are some of the most intelligent creatures in the world. Long term research has revealed an extraordinary intelligence. If other jays are around, a bird will only hide its food when the other bird is out of sight. It will even choose a quieter medium, and rather than pebbles for example, to further avoid revealing its hidden larder to sharp-eared competitors.

Red-winged Blackbird Sep 08, 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 North American red-winged blackbird. The arrival of spring in the USA is heralded by the unmistakable "conk-ra-lee" call of the red-winged blackbird. The male blackbirds, who are un-related to the European blackbird, flutter their red and yellow wing-patches like regimental badges to announce their territories. The numbers of Red-winged blackbirds has increased spectacularly in the mid 20th century as more land was converted to growing crops on which the birds feed. Today at a winter roost hundreds of thousands, even millions of birds darken the skies over the plantations or marshes in which they will spend the night - a loud and unforgettable spectacle.

Brown Noddy Sep 05, 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 a seabird with a worldwide distribution, the brown noddy. Expert fliers, the brown noddy is seldom seen near land and is highly pelagic, wandering extensively in warm tropical waters where it searches for small fish and squid which are captured by hover-dipping and contact-dipping. However in the Galapagos Islands, brown noddies have learnt to sit on the heads of brown pelicans hoping to steal fish from their open gular pouches; a behaviour known as kleptoparasitism (literally, parasitism by theft).

Bar-headed Goose Sep 04, 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 Central Asian bar-headed goose. The bar-headed goose is a high-flier of the bird world. Bar-headed geese are migrants which undertake one of the most arduous journeys of any bird. They breed mainly in the remote lakes of the Tibetan Plateau, but overwinter on the plains of northern India. But to get there, they have to cross the World's highest mountain range, the Himalayas, a height of over 20,000 feet.

Australian Magpie Sep 03, 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 Australian magpie. These large pibald birds with pickaxe bills reminded early settlers of the more familiar European magpie, but in fact they are not crows at all. Australian magpies have melodious voices which can range over four octaves in a chorus of squeaks, yodels and whistles. Pairs or larger groups of magpies take part in a behaviour known as carolling, a harmony of rich fluting calls which marks their territories and helps to cement relationships between the birds.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Hoatzin Sep 02, 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 South American hoatzin. Moving clumsily through riverside trees the funky Mohican head crested hoatzin looks like it has been assembled by a committee. Hoatzin's eat large quantities of leaves and fruit, and to cope with this diet have a highly specialised digestive system more like that of cattle, which gives them an alternative name, 'stink-bird'.

Blue Bird of Paradise Sep 01, 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 blue bird of paradise. The crow sized blue birds of paradise provide a spectacular flash of blue in the Papua New Guinea rainforests yet it is the males dazzling courtship performance which grabs a female's attention. Tipping forward from his perch he hangs upside down fluffing out and shimmering his gauzy breast feathers. As if this weren't enough, as the female approaches, he increases the frequency of his calls to produce a hypnotic mechanical buzzing, more like the song of a giant cicada than any bird.

Producer : Andrew Dawes

Pied Flycatcher May 09, 2014

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

David Attenborough presents the story of the pied flycatcher. The pied flycatcher is the voice of western woods, as much a part of the scenery as lichen-covered branches, mossy boulders and tumbling streams. When they arrive here in spring from Africa the black and white males, which are slightly smaller than a house sparrow, take up territories in the woodland and sing their lilting arpeggios from the tree canopy.

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