NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Matthew Medler of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology about the best bird sounds of 2025 from their vast collection of recordings, and why their selections made the list.

If you were old enough to buy CDs in the ’90s, you may remember listening stations at superstores that featured music by some of nature’s noisiest creatures: birds. These CDs blended classical music ...

Bird sounds that always make me chuckle are those of the red-breasted nuthatch. I won’t call them songs because they don’t meet most people’s idea of “song.” The most common call of this species is ...

Parrots remain the most well-known talkers in the bird world. Still, they’re not alone. A handful of other species can copy words and everyday sounds with surprising realism, sometimes matching ...

We become desensitized to the common sounds around us—car alarms, chattering squirrels, the mechanical functions of modern living kicking on and off throughout the day. If you had asked me a week ago ...