Story Archives of 'Birding'

“Where imagination and innovation meet extreme science.” That’s the slogan for Operation Migration, a group devoted to the restoration of the North American whooping crane population. And extreme it is — Operation Migration members play an active role in nearly every aspect of the life cycle of its birds, from teaching chicks to peck for food, to taking part in the migration from Florida to Wisconsin via ultralight plane. Yet, through the whole process, the birds are never aware of their reliance on humans. Participants disguise themselves in white whooping crane costumes and never speak in front of the birds. Operation Migration’s time, effort, and resources have helped turn around the decline of whooping cranes from just 50 in 1973 to 265 today.

So what’s so special about the whooping crane? Here to answer that question is Joe Duff, co-founder of Operation Migration. We also hear an audio report from producer Mark Chenoweth about the group.

Operation Migration website

The New York Times: "Rescue Flight"

(Photo courtesy Tzafrir R via Flickr/Creative Commons)

As the weather gets colder in New Hampshire, bird watchers are keeping their eyes to the sky to catch a glimpse of migratory birds heading towards warmer climates. Birding is a year-round activity in this part of the country, and new high-tech devices are bringing more people into the hobby. A couple of months ago on this show, we heard from Noah Strycker, a birding enthusiast who uses his i-Pod to bring him closer to his subjects. But i-Pods are just one of the new devices employed by the birding community. Tour guide and naturalist Mark Suamala joins us on Word of Mouth to tell us all about other new-fangled do-dads used in the field.

Useful Links

Tracking a Peregrine Falcon using Satellites
Tracking Bird Migrations using Weather Satellites
Digital Bird Song Hearing Device
Bird Song Recognition Software

Also, producer David Gorn of KQED's QUEST radio series reports on the fate of the Condors who lost their sanctuary in this Summer's Big Sur fires.Click here to listen, see a slide show and read David's reporter notes.

(Photo by Glen Scott)

We often think of hawks and other raptors as lone rangers, but as Scott explains now is the time of year when you might see them in droves.

As the holiday season descends, there is still some business to attend to: namely, keeping tabs on our feathered friends.

New Hampshire hosts many shorebirds as a lay-over spot on their way south for the winter.