In 2004, Chris Peterson, the executive director of Seattle Audubon, dreamed up an idea to boost appreciation for birds: broadcast amazing stories about them on the local public radio station. BirdNote would feature two-minute essays—written by birdwatchers, vetted by ornithologists, and filled with sounds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's library. 

Fourteen years and 1,500 essays later, BirdNote is broadcast daily on stations across the nation, with 1.3 million listeners. The book BirdNote: Chirps, Quirks, and Stories of 100 Birds From the Popular Public Radio Show (Sasquatch Books, 2018) pairs 100 of those essays with charming illustrations by artist Emily Poole.

Each essay is brief but packed with wit and fascinating science. For example, the gray jay, a bold camp robber, builds its winter stash by stealing bits of food, coating them in sticky saliva, and gluing them to trees like spitballs. The American robin sits contentedly on an anthill, letting the ants crawl around in its feathers. Why? Experts think the ants' formic acid secretions help control feather mites and other parasites.

There's value in fun facts. Knowing why the cattle egret chases the cow (to eat the grasshoppers that are kicked up) or how the bobolink navigates a 6,000-mile migration (magnetite!) puts us on more familiar terms with the birdlife all around us.

This article appeared in the May/June 2018 edition with the headline "Birds Off the Air."