BirdNote

Twice each day, the tide surges past Point No Point on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, causing the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water. These nutrients support clouds of tiny plankton that feed vast schools of herring and sand lance.

The Northern Bobwhite -- many call it just the Bobwhite -- has an unmistakable call, which is also the source of its name. The species is native to the US, east of the Rockies. But Northern Bobwhites have been released into the wild as game birds in many locales in the West.

Thirty years ago, there were six million Northern Pintails in North America. Now? Just over three million. Duck numbers plummeted in the 1980s drought. When returning rains improved breeding habitat, duck abundance rebounded.

Shakespeare's tragedies and histories are filled with crows, owls, and ravens, birds of evil portent, promising sickness and death. Shakespearean actor Rod Molzahn describes some of them!

Researcher Bernd Heinrich writes: "Ravens associate with any animals that kill large game - polar bears, grizzlies, wolves, coyotes, killer whales, and humans." These birds travel with caribou on their migration, and scavenge remains after wolves have made their kills.

The Cree Indians called the full moon in October "The Moon of Falling Leaves." It's almost time to stow the tools and put the garden to bed for the winter. When the trees lose their leaves, you can see the nests of summer.

An owl's seeming ability to rotate its head in a complete circle is downright eerie. An owl's apparent head rotation is part illusion, part structural design. Because its eyes are fixed in their sockets, it must rotate its neck to look around.

The Northern Shoveler's oversized, spoon-shaped bill helps it stand out in even the most crowded pond.

It's autumn, and apples have begun to fall, although many remain on the trees. In full view of its offspring, an adult Pileated Woodpecker stabs a tasty apple treat. After it feeds, it flies to a nearby tree.

Cape May is one of the most famous birding destinations in the US. And October may be the most exciting month of all to watch birds there. It's hawk migration! Cape May lies at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, on a peninsula that divides Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean.

What does the Pacific Wren hear in a song? It's a long story. What we hear as a blur of sound, the bird hears as a precise sequence of sounds, the visual equivalent of seeing a movie as a series of still pictures.

Barry Lopez, in his story Emory Bear Hands' Birds, wrote "Every person...had an animal companion, a sort of guardian. Even if you never noticed it, the animal knew." We know nature has the power to heal and restore. How are you connected to the natural world?

Dick Ashford, a hawk expert and president of Klamath Bird Observatory, says there's more to learning about birds than just identification. A good teacher can welcome you into the field of wonder. You could look at a bird and say, "OK, There is a Red-tailed Hawk.

Bats.... creatures to regard with superstition and fear? On summer evenings, bats put on an aerial display while eating hundreds of mosquitoes. Kent Woodruff of the US Fish and Wildlife Service spearheaded a project to save Townsend's big-eared bats.

Urban Peregrine Falcons rely on Rock Pigeons for much of their diet. But some pigeons appear harder to catch than others. Pigeons with white rumps evade pursuing falcons more often than those with dark rumps.