Tweet Of The Day

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Great Skua. Great skuas are often known as bonxies - their local name in Shetland where most of the UK's population breeds. Almost two thirds of the world's great skuas nest here or on Orkney.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the great skua.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the rock pipit. The sight of a greyish bird no bigger than a sparrow, at home on the highest cliffs and feeding within reach of breaking waves can come as a surprise. In spring and early summer, the male Pipits become wonderful extroverts and perform to attract a female, during which they sing loudly to compete with the sea-wash.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the rock pipit.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the adelie penguin on a windswept Antarctic shore. A huddle of braying shapes on a windswept shore in Antarctica reveals itself to be a rookery of Adelie Penguins. These medium sized penguins whose white eye-ring gives them an expression of permanent astonishment were discovered in 1840 and named after the land which French explorer Jules Dumont d'-Urville named in honour of his wife Adele. They make a rudimentary nest of pebbles (sometimes pinched from a neighbour) from which their eggs hatch on ice-free shores in December, Antarctica's warmest month, when temperatures reach a sizzling minus two degrees. In March the adult penguins follow the growing pack ice north as it forms, feeding at its edge on a rich diet of krill, small fish and crustaceans. But as climate change raises ocean temperatures, the ice edge forms further south nearer to some of the breeding colonies, reducing the distance penguins have to walk to and from open water. But, if ice fails to form in the north of the penguin's range it can affect their breeding success, and at one research station breeding numbers have dropped by nearly two thirds.

Liz Bonnin presents the Adelie penguin on a windswept Antarctic shore.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the wetland loving African Jacana. Being rich chestnut coloured above, with black heads, white throats, each has a patch of blue skin above the bill, known as a shield, Jacanas are waders with very long slender toes which allow them to walk on floating plants giving them the name lily-trotters. Widespread in wet places south of the Sahara desert they may become nomadic moving between wetlands as seasonal water levels change. They have an unusual mating system. Females mate with several males, but leave their partners to build the nest, incubate the eggs and bring up the chicks. With up to 3 or 4 mates rearing her different broods, her strategy is to produce the maximum number of young lily-trotters each year.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the wetland-loving African jacana.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the African southern ground hornbill.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the African Southern Ground hornbill. Ground hornbills live in south and south-east Africa. They're glossy black birds, as big as turkeys with huge downward-curving bills. The bird produces a deep booming sound that reverberates over long distances, sometimes as much as 5 kilometres, across its grassy habitat. Preferring to walk rather than fly, they strut about in the long grass, searching for prey. Snakes are a favourite: even deadly puff adders are no match for the birds' bludgeoning beaks.

Alasdair Grubb describes how a blue tit seemingly cried out for his help.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Rower and Olympic gold medallist Alex Gregory on the house sparrow for Tweet of the Day.

Rower and Olympic gold medallist Alex Gregory on the house sparrow for Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Olympic Gold medallist Alex Gregory on the birds he sees while out early morning training.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Olympic gold medal-winning rower Alex Gregory on the white stork for Tweet of the Day.

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A seasonal offering from Tweet of the Day for the Christmas period.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Bill Oddie presents the alpine swift.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Bill Oddie presents the alpine swift. Alpine swifts are impressive anchor-shaped birds, the colour of coffee above and milk-white below. In the UK Alpine swifts are annual visitors, appearing in Spring, but they don't breed here. They spend the winter in Africa and on their journey north in spring some birds overshoot their breeding areas. Alpine swifts can be seen as they arc through the skies and because they travel so fast they can turn up almost anywhere from central London to Shetland.

Michael Palin presents the iconic bald eagle from Alaska. In days of yore, when bald meant "white" rather than hairless, these magnificent birds with a two metre wingspans were common over the whole of North America. They were revered in native American cultures. The Sioux wore eagle feathers in their head-dresses to protect them in battle and the Comanche celebrated the birds with an eagle dance.

The bird became a national symbol for the United States of America and on the Great Seal is pictured grasping a bunch of arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other.

But pomp and reverence don't always guarantee protection. In 1962 in her classic book "Silent Spring", Rachel Carson warned that bald eagle populations had dwindled alarmingly and that the birds were failing to reproduce successfully. Rightly, she suspected that pesticides were responsible. Bald eagle populations crashed across the USA from the middle of the twentieth century, but fortunately are now recovering following a ban on the use of the offending pesticides.

Michael Palin presents the iconic American bald eagle from Alaska.

Orcadian author Amy Liptrot laments the Arctic terns of her childhood.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Writer Amy Liptrot recalls her work as the RSPB Corncrake officer on Orkney.

Writer Amy Liptrot reflects on the evocative disappearing curlew call in the uplands.

Orcadian writer Amy Liptrot on the greylag goose, which is widespread on the islands.

Writer Amy Liptrot discussed how hooded crows in Berlin remind her of her youth.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Andean cock-of-the-rock from Peru.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Andean Cock-of-the-rock from Peru. Deep in a cloud forest a female awaits the display of her displaying males. Gathered in front of her several head-bobbing wing-waving males, these males are spectacularly dazzling; a vibrant orange head and body, with black wings and tails, yellow staring eyes, and ostentatious fan-shaped crests which can almost obscure their beaks. Male cock-of-the rocks gather at communal leks, and their performances include jumping between branches and bowing at each other whilst all the time calling loudly. Yet, for all the males' prancing and posturing, it is the female who's in control. Aware that the most dominant and fittest males will be nearest the centre of the lekking arena, it's here that she focuses her attention.

Andy Clements is captivated by the excited chatter of pink-footed geese.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Andy Clements is entranced by the song of the garden warbler.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Andy Clements is entranced by the mournful spirit-rising sound of the golden plover.

Professor Andy Radford recalls first hearing curlews as a child on the Yorkshire moors.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Professor Andy Radford describes a noisy encounter among green woodhoopoes.

Professor Andy Radford describes the role of the sentry amongst pied babblers.

Professor Andy Radford is captivated by the vocal repertoire of the robin.

Professor Andy Radford reveals the importance of alarm calls to the superb fairy-wren.

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

Brett Westwood presents the aquatic warbler. The stripy aquatic warbler is streaked like the sedges it lives in and is the only globally threatened European perching bird. They sing in the marshes of central and eastern Europe where the small European population has its stronghold. Unfortunately, this specialized habitat is disappearing because of drainage, disturbance and peat extraction. They are migrants so it's vital to protect their wintering areas as well as their breeding sites. It's known that up to 10,000 birds winter in the swamps of North-west Senegal.

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the aquatic warbler.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the Arabian babbler of a Yemeni Desert. Arabian babblers could almost be described as feathered meerkats. They're sociable, charismatic and always on the alert. These energetic and curious birds are found around the Arabian peninsula and in Egypt, often in dry scrubby places. They have long tails, curved bills and a bounding gait, and their sandy plumage is superb camouflage against the parched ground where they roam in search of insects and seeds. If on their travels, a group of babblers discovers a snake they will mob it with loud shrieks, raising their wings and calling to each other until they see it off. Arabian babblers don't use their social skills just to chase away predators. They spend all their time in groups of usually four to six adult birds and in these groups their relationships are fluid. They are also co-operative breeders and help each other to rear their chicks, a communal way of life that helps to forge bonds between these very vocal birds.

Chris Packham presents the Arabian babbler of a Yemeni Desert.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the arctic skua. Arctic Skuas are the pirates of the bird world and cash in on the efforts other seabirds make to find food. They are elegant birds with long angular wings, projecting central tail feathers and a hooked bill. The dashing flight of an Arctic Skua as it chases a hapless gull is always thrilling to watch.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the Arctic skua.

The Arctic Tern - Miranda Krestovnikoff narrates the story of this bird and its sound.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

The Arctic Tern - Miranda Krestovnikoff narrates the story of this bird and its sound.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Arctic Tern. Arctic terns are superlative birds. They're best known for seeing more daylight than any other bird as they migrate between the Antarctic seas, where they spend our winter, and their breeding grounds in northern Europe - a staggering round trip of over 70 thousand kilometres.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the Arctic tern.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the long distant migrant Arctic warbler. These classic olive-grey warblers, slightly smaller than the European robin, with a pale eye-stripe, winter in south-east Asia, but each spring fly to northern forests to breed. This can be as far as Finland, up to 13,000 kilometres away as well as Arctic and sub-Arctic Russia, Japan and even Alaska. They do this to feed on the bountiful supply of insects which proliferate during the 24-hour daylight of an Arctic summer. A few make it to Britain, the Northern Isles, but whether they finally return to Asia is not known.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the long-distance migrant Arctic warbler.

Ashley Davies of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre reveals why a kingfisher changed his life.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the rare Asian crested Ibis formerly common in Japan and China. The crested ibis is mainly white with a shaggy white crest and a red face; but in the breeding season its plumage is tinged with ash-grey. Under its wings is a subtle peach tone, a colour known in Japan as toki-iro. Unfortunately its beauty hasn't saved the crested ibis from persecution in Japan, China or Siberia where it used to breed. It was thought to be extinct in China, until seven birds were found in 1981. In 2003 the crested ibis became extinct in the wild in Japan. Now, crested ibis are conservation symbols in the Far East. They are strictly protected in China where they are being reintroduced to increase the small wild population. In Japan the first wild Japanese crested ibis chick flew from its nest in 2012.

Chris Packham presents the rare Asian crested ibis, formerly common in Japan and China.

Michael Palin presents the Asian koel's arrival to an Indian orchard.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Michael Palin presents the Asian koel's arrival to an Indian orchard. This long-tailed glossy blue-black bird, is a well-known British harbinger of spring, and like it's British counterpart, it is a cuckoo.

The koel's plaintive call is heard from late March until July around villages and in wooded countryside from Pakistan east to Indonesia and southern China. In India, it symbolises the birth of a new season, the flowering of fruit-trees, the bloom of romance and all that's good about spring. The koel's song can be heard in many Bollywood movies and has inspired poems and folk songs; it's even rumoured to help mangoes ripen faster.

This almost universal feel-good factor doesn't extend to its victims, because the koel is after all a cuckoo, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests. Asian Koels are parasitic on a wide range of birds, but in India especially, on House Crows and Jungle Crows.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the Atlantic canary singing in the Tenerife treetops. The ancestor of our cage-bird canaries is the Island or Atlantic Canary, a finch which is native to the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands which include Tenerife. The Canary Islands were named by early travellers "the islands of dogs from 'canis', the Latin for dogs, because of the many large dogs reputedly found there. And so the common and popular song-bird which is now a symbol of the islands became known as the canary. Unlike their domestic siblings, wild Island canaries are streaky, greenish yellow finches: males have golden- yellow foreheads, females a head of more subtle ash-grey tone. But it's the song, a pulsating series of vibrant whistles, trills and tinkling sounds; that has made the canary so popular. They were almost compulsory in Victorian and Edwardian parlours; a far cry from the sunny palm -fringed beaches of the Atlantic islands.

Chris Packham presents the Atlantic canary, singing in the Tenerife treetops.

David Attenborough presents the Australian magpie.

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 piebald 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.

Chris Packham presents the avocet.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the avocet. With its black and white plumage, blue-grey legs and delicate upturned bill, the avocet is one of our easiest birds to identify. They are a conservation success and are now breeding in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Kent and elsewhere.

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Barn Owl. Barn owls are mainly nocturnal hunters. They are ghostly creatures, with rounded wings and a large head which acts as a reflector funnelling the slightest sound from their prey towards their large ear openings.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the barn owl.

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Barn Owl. Barn owls are mainly nocturnal hunters. They are ghostly creatures, with rounded wings and a large head which acts as a reflector funnelling the slightest sound from their prey towards their large ear openings.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the barn owl.

Chris Packham presents the barn owl.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the barn owl. As soft-plumaged birds which weigh very little Barn Owls avoid hunting in strong winds or heavy rain. Snow is a problem too because it allows voles and mice to tunnel beneath its blanket, out of the owls' reach. But in spite of seasonal perils, barn owls are a welcome sight over grassy fields and verges in many parts of the UK.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Chris Packham presents the barn owl.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Barnacle Goose. Yapping like terriers, skeins of barnacle geese leave their roosts on mud-flats and fly inland at dawn to feed in grassy fields.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the barnacle goose.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the barred warbler. With its glaring yellow eyes, banded chest and long white-tipped tail, the Barred Warbler is always an exciting find. Look out for them in late summer and autumn, when young Barred Warblers turn up here regularly as they migrate south.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the barred warbler.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Bar-tailed Godwit. Bar-tailed godwits are waders which occur around the globe and are now known to make the longest non-stop journey of any migratory bird.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the bar-tailed godwit.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the bearded tit.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bearded Tit. Bearded Tit live in reed-beds, eat mainly reed-seeds in winter and build their nests using reed leaves and flower-heads. The males do have a flamboyant black moustache which would be the envy of any Chinese mandarin.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the bell miner of eastern Australia. The sound of a tiny hammer striking a musical anvil in a grove of gum trees signifies that bell miners are in search of sugar. More often heard than seen the bell miner is a smallish olive-green bird with a short yellow bill, with a small orange patch behind the eye. It belongs to a large family of birds known as honeyeaters because many have a sweet tooth and use their long bills to probe flowers for nectar. But the bell miner gets its sugar hit in other ways. Roving in sociable flocks, bell miners scour eucalyptus leaves for tiny bugs called psyllids who produce a protective waxy dome. Bell miners feed on these sweet tasting shelters. Some scientists suggest that Bell Miners actively farm these insects by avoiding over-exploiting of the psyllid colonies, allowing the insects numbers to recover before the birds' next visit. So dependent are they on these psyllids bugs that Bell Miners numbers can often fluctuate in association with any boom-and-bust changes in psyllid population.

Chris Packham presents the bell miner of eastern Australia.

Ben Darvill recalls his first encounter with a common rosefinch.

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Bewick's Swan. This year is the 50th anniversary of Bewick Swan studies, begun by Sir Peter Scott, at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. Bewick Swans return here and to other UK sites each winter to escape the icy grip of the Arctic tundra and studies have identified individuals through their varying bill patterns.

David Attenborough presents the bewick's swan.

As part of Radio 4's Character Invasion Day, Chris Packham presents Big Bird.

As part of Radio 4's Character Invasion Day, Chris Packham presents a unique Tweet of the Day to tell the story of Big Bird.

Avis giganteus, is , as its scientific name suggests, a large, conspicuous and highly vocal species, and one of the few birds for which binoculars are redundant. At a staggering 249 cm high, it is over-topped only by the male ostrich. But while the ostrich is an athletic creature of wild open spaces, our bird is a denizen of urban thoroughfares and film studios.

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

Kate Humble presents the bittern. As the first shoots of spring appear in the reed-beds, you might hear the booming sound of a bittern. The bittern's boom is lower pitched than any other UK bird and sounds more like a distant foghorn than a bird. Today these birds are on the increase, thanks to the creation of large reed-beds.

Kate Humble presents the bittern.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the black drongo of Southern Asia.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the black drongo of Southern Asia. What looks a like a small crow crossed with a flycatcher is riding a cow's back in an Indian village. Black drongos are slightly smaller than European starlings, but with a much longer tail. They feed mainly on large insects: dragonflies, bees, moths and grasshoppers which they will pluck from the ground as well pursuing them in aerial sallies. Although small, these birds are famous for being fearless and will attack and dive-bomb almost any other bird, even birds of prey, which enter their territories. This aggressive behaviour has earned them the name "King Crow" and in Hindi their name is Kotwal - the policeman.

Kate Humble presents the black grouse.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Kate Humble presents the story of the black grouse. A black grouse lek is one of Nature's spectacles. Charged with testosterone, the males, known as 'black cocks', compete on 'jousting lawns' for the females or grey hens. Fanning their lyre-shaped tails and displaying a flurry of white undertail feathers, the males rush towards their rivals with harsh scouring sneezes and bubbling cries, known as 'roo-kooing'.

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

Bill Oddie presents the black redstart. It was the German Luftwaffe which enabled black redstarts to gain a real foothold here. The air-raids of the Blitz created bombsites which mimicked their rocky homes and the weeds that grew there attracted insects. In 1942 there over twenty singing males in London alone and now they're being encouraged by the creation of 'green roof' habitats, rich in flowers and insects.

Bill Oddie presents the black redstart.

Michael Palin presents the black sicklebill of New Guinea.

Michael Palin presents the black sicklebill of New Guinea. The black sicklebill is a breath-taking creature. It's a bird of paradise, and the male sicklebill's black feathers gleam with metallic blue, green and purple highlights. But his most striking features are a slender scythe-like bill, and an extremely long sabre-shaped tail whose central plumes can reach 50cm in length.

During courtship, he transforms his pectoral and wing feathers into a huge ruff which almost conceals his head and exposes an iridescent blue patch. Perching on a dead branch, he displays horizontally, looking less like a bird than a small black comet, all the while producing strange rattling cries.

It is thought that the Black sicklebill and its relative the Brown Sickle bill may have spooked the Japanese in the Second World War. Japanese forces had occupied the North coast of (Papua) New Guinea and during their push south to the capital, Port Moresby, had to cross the mountain territories of the sicklebills. It's said that on hearing the birds' courtship displays; they flung themselves to the ground, thinking that they were under fire from the Allies.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the globally widespread but secretive black stork. High up in a forest canopy, the black stork is a large but fairly secretive and mostly silent bird. They are also strong migrants capable of sustained flight, flying up to 7,000 kilometres or more, often over open seas. Black storks are summer visitors to eastern Europe and breed from Germany across Russia to Japan. A small population is resident in Spain, but most birds migrate south in winter to Africa, India or China. Unlike their relative the more flamboyant and colonial nesting white stork, black storks are a solitary nester. It is at this time of the year adults can produce a few grunts or bill clapping sounds during courtship, the young however are far more vocal at the nest.

Sir David Attenborough presents the globally widespread but secretive black stork.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents a widely regarded symbol of Australia, the black swan. These stately looking birds are native to the wetlands of south-western and eastern Australia. The New Zealand population was hunted to extinction but has now been reintroduced there. Their plumage is charcoal grey rather than black and beautifully ruched along their lower back, hiding the white primary feathers which are fully revealed in flight. Their only colour is a raspberry- coloured bill. Black swans behave like nomads, tracking local rains and breeding when they can. In Britain as a collection bird, a few have even cross-bred with mute swans to produce a greyish hybrid nick-named the 'Blute Swan'.

Sir David Attenborough presents a widely regarded symbol of Australia, the black swan.

Chris Packham presents the blackbird.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the blackbird. Resident blackbirds are on the alert just now because their territories are under siege. Large numbers of Continental blackbirds pour in to the UK each winter to escape even colder conditions elsewhere.

Bill Oddie presents the blackbird.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Bill Oddie presents the blackbird. Blackbirds are thrushes and the brown female often has a few speckles on her throat to prove it. Velvety, black and shiny, the males sport an eye-ring as yellow as a spring daffodil and a bill glowing like a buttercup. Happily blackbirds aren't doing too badly. There's so many of them that their territories often overlap so that where one song leaves off, another song begins.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the black-browed albatross.

Although they're residents of the Antarctic seas , black-browed albatrosses have turned up in the UK many times. For a while, Albert-or Albert Ross as he was christened by birdwatchers- was one of the most well-known birds in the British Isles. He was first spotted in the gannet colony on Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth in 1967. Sadly he failed to find a mate among the masses of gannets there.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the black-browed albatross.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Blackcap. Many Blackcaps winter in sub-Saharan Africa, but increasingly birds have been wintering in the Mediterranean and over the last few decades spent the winter in the UK.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the blackcap.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Blackcap. Many Blackcaps winter in sub-Saharan Africa, but increasingly birds have been wintering in the Mediterranean and over the last few decades spent the winter in the UK.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the North American black chinned hummingbird. What seems to be a large green beetle is flying erratically across a Los Angeles garden: suddenly, it hovers in mid-air to probe a flower bloom; this is a black-chinned hummingbird. Although often thought of as exclusively tropical, a few species of hummingbirds occur widely in North America and in the west; the Black-chinned hummingbird is the most widespread of all. Both sexes are glittering emerald above: the male's black throat is bordered with a flash of metallic purple, which catches the sun. Black-chinned "hummers" are minute, weighing in at just over 3 grams. But they are pugnacious featherweights seeing off rival males during intimidation flights with shrill squeals, whilst remarkably beating their wings around 80 times a second. They'll also readily come to artificial sugar-feeders put out by householders to attract these flying jewels to their gardens.

Liz Bonnin presents the North American black-chinned hummingbird.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the black-footed albatross of Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Two dusky-brown birds point their bills skywards to cement their lifelong relationship, these are black-footed albatrosses are plighting their troth in a former theatre of war. At only a few square kilometres in size, the island of Midway is roughly half way between North America and Japan. Once it was at the heart of the Battle of Midway during World War Two, but today it forms part of a Wildlife Refuge run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is home to white laysan albatross and the darker Black footed Albatross. Around 25,000 pairs of Black-foots breed here. Each pair's single chick is fed on regurgitated offal for six months, after which it learns to fly and then can be vulnerable to human activity on the airbase. But careful management of both species of albatrosses near the airstrip has reduced the number of casualties to a minimum.

Liz Bonnin presents the black-footed albatross of Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the black-headed gull.

Black-Headed Gulls are our commonest small gull and throughout the year you can identify them by their rather delicate flight action, red legs and the white flash on the front edge of their wings.

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Black-Necked Grebe. In winter the black-necked grebe is largely grey and white with a dark cap and eyes like rubies. You'll need to seek out Black headed grebes in their favourite spots which include large London reservoirs and shallow seas along the south coast.

David Attenborough presents the black-necked grebe.

Michael Palin presents the black-nest swiftlet, deep inside an Indonesian cavern.

Michael Palin presents the black-nest swiftlet deep inside an Indonesian cavern. The Black-nest swiftlet landing on the cave wall, begins work on one of the most expensive and sought- after items connected with any bird; its nest.

The swiftlet's tiny bowl -shaped nest is highly-prized as the main ingredient for bird's nest soup and is built by the male from strands of his saliva which harden into a clear substance which also anchors the nest to the vertiginous walls. Black-nest swiftlets are so-called because they add dark-coloured feathers to their saliva which are then incorporated into their nests.

The nests fuel expensive appetites. A kilo of nests can fetch 2500 US dollars and worldwide the industry is worth some 5 billion US dollars a year. Today in many places in South-east Asia artificial concrete "apartment blocks" act as surrogate homes for the Black-nest swiftlets. The birds are lured in by recordings of their calls, and once they've begun nesting, the buildings are guarded as if they contained gold bullion.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the black-tailed godwit.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Tailed Godwit. A black-tailed godwit in its summer finery is a stunningly attractive bird, russet brown with a long orange and black bill. A few pairs of black-tailed godwits breed in the UK, most of them in damp grazing meadows such as the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. When breeding is over the male and female split up and spend the winter months apart, often in widely separated locations.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Tailed Godwit. A black-tailed godwit in its summer finery is a stunningly attractive bird, russet brown with a long orange and black bill. A few pairs of black-tailed godwits breed in the UK, most of them in damp grazing meadows such as the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. When breeding is over the male and female split up and spend the winter months apart, often in widely separated locations.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the black-tailed godwit.

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

John Aitchison presents the black-throated diver. Black-throated divers are strong contenders for our most beautiful bird. Their breeding plumage with a neck barcoded in white, an ebony bib and a plush grey head, is dramatic. The black dagger-like bill and broad lobed feet are perfect for catching and pursuing fish which the divers bring to their chicks in nests on the shoreline of the Scottish Lochs on which they breed.

John Aitchison presents the black-throated diver.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough begins the series with 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.

David Attenborough begins a new series with the blue bird of paradise.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the North American blue jay. The loud warning screams of blue jays are just part of their extensive vocabulary. These birds are intelligent mimics. Blue jays are neat handsome birds; lavender-blue above and greyish below with a perky blue crest, black collar and white face. But the blue jay is not blue, but black. Its feather barbs contain a dark layer of melanin pigment; the blue we see is caused by light scattering through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs and reflected back as blue. Common over much of eastern and central North America, blue jays will move in loose flocks to take advantage of autumnal tree mast. A single blue jay can collect and bury thousands of beechnuts, hickory nuts and acorns (in a behaviour known as caching) returning later in the year to retrieve these buried nuts. Any they fail to find, assist in the natural regeneration of native woodlands.

Chris Packham presents the North American blue jay.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the advancing, leaping and queuing male blue manakin of Brazil. Male blue manakins are small, blue and black birds with scarlet caps. They live in the forests of south-east Brazil and neighbouring areas of Argentina and Paraguay. Whilst their plumage is eye-catching, their mating display is one of the strangest of any bird. A dominant male Blue Manakin enlists the support of one or more subordinate males. Calling loudly, all the males sidle along a branch towards the female, taking turns to leap into the air and then fly back down and take their place at the back of the queue. This sequence of advancing, leaping and queuing occurs at a frenetic pace, until, without warning, the dominant male calls time on this avian dance-off, with a piercing screech.

Liz Bonnin presents the advancing, leaping and queuing male blue manakin of Brazil.

Liz Bonnin presents the blue rock thrush, perched high on a Spanish castle.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the blue rock thrush, perched high on a Spanish castle. The blue rock thrush has a slim silhouette, rather like that of a blackbird, but these largely sedentary, elusive and sun-loving birds are a rare sight in northern Europe. They are widespread in summer across southern Europe and also occur in the Arabian Peninsula and across most of south-east Asia. The male lives up to his name, as in sunlight his deep indigo body feathers contrast with his darker wings and tail. His mate is a more muted mid brown, and barred beneath. Blue rock thrushes often nest in old ruins, but can also be found in houses in villages and on the edge of towns. Here in sunny spots they feed on large insects like grasshoppers and will even take small reptiles in their long thrush-like bills.

Chris Packham presents the blue tit.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the story of the blue tit. The perky blue tit is a stalwart of garden bird-feeders. This popular British bird has a blue cap and wings, olive green back and yellow belly. The male and females look identical to us but blue tits can clearly tell each other apart, find out how in this episode.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Galapagos Islands' blue-footed booby.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Galapagos Islands blue-footed booby. Far off the Ecuador coastline the Galapagos Archipelago is home to a strange courtship dance and display of the male blue-footed booby and his large bright blue webbed feet. The intensity of the male's blue feet is viewed by the female as a sign of fitness and so he holds them up for inspection as he struts in front of her. She joins in, shadowing his actions. As the pair raise and lower their feet with exaggerated slow movements, they point their bills sky-wards while spreading their wings, raising their tails and calling.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the bobolink.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bobolink. You might never have heard of a Bobolink - but these birds do occur very rarely in the UK although their true home is in the grasslands of Canada and the northern states of the USA. They look like large finches but belong to the family of New World blackbirds. Because the breeding males have black and white plumage they are sometimes called 'skunk blackbirds'.

The sound archive recording of the bobolink featured in this programme was sourced from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Bonita Johnson recalls watching a pair of battling robins.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the brambling.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Brambling. Bramblings are the northern equivalent of the chaffinch and breed across huge areas of Scandinavia and Russia. In autumn they migrate south in search of seeds and are particularly fond of beech-mast. The largest recorded gathering of any living bird species in the world is of a flock of over 70 million bramblings at a roost in Switzerland in the winter of 1951.

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

Chris Packham presents the brent goose. Brent Geese are our smallest wild geese and are unmistakable with their rather funereal colours, blackish heads and grey backs with a wisp of white on the neck. Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland is a very important wintering site for Brent Geese.

Chris Packham presents the brent goose.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the New Zealand brown kiwi. A piercing wail can be heard in a forest at night. A brown kiwi is calling. Only found in New Zealand, kiwi are flightless birds and the brown kiwi, which is about the size of a domestic chicken, lays an egg weighing as much as a quarter of its own bodyweight - proportionally; the largest egg for its size of any bird. More mammal like than birds; their tiny eyes are of little use, but they have an excellent sense of smell, using their nostrils located unusually for birds near the end of the bill. Held in great affection, brown kiwi appear on coins, stamps and coats-of- arms as well as providing a nick-name for New Zealand's national rugby team.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the New Zealand brown kiwi.

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).

David Attenborough presents a seabird with a worldwide distribution, the brown noddy.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents brown skua hunting over an Antarctic landscape. These bulky brown birds with their hooked death dealing bills are often cast as villains alongside the apparently helpless and lovable penguins. But skuas are highly efficient predators, their skills honed to find the maximum food they can in a largely barren landscape. They're resourceful pirates, forcing other birds to drop or disgorge their catches. They also scavenge around fishing boats or loiter at seal colonies where carcases are easy meat. But a penguin rookery which may have hundreds of pairs of birds provides a real bounty, where waiting for an opportunity, the keen-eyed skua swoops to seize its next victim which if it is small enough, will even swallow it whole.

Liz Bonnin presents brown skua hunting over an Antarctic landscape.

Chris Packham presents the brown thrasher, usually seen in North America.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the brown thrasher, usually seen in North America. Brown thrashers are related to mockingbirds which breed across most of eastern and central North America. They're famous for their vast repertoire which can include over 1000 song types. They spend much of their time skulking in dense shrubs at woodland edges and in parks and gardens. They're russet on top, white below and heavily streaked like a large thrush but with much longer tails and stout curved bills. Their name comes from the noisy thrashing sound they make as they search the leaf litter for food. Normally, brown thrashers are short distance migrants within North America but in 1966, in November of that year, in Dorset, birdwatchers almost dropped their binoculars in disbelief when they heard the call of a brown thrasher coming from a coastal thicket. It remained here until February 1967 and is the only British record.

BirdLife International's Bruce Winney relives seeing red kites over Harrogate.

Michael Palin presents the wild budgerigar from Australia. Budgerigars are small Australian parrots whose common name may derive from the aboriginal "Betcherrygah' which, roughly speaking, means "good to eat" though it could mean " good food" as budgerigars follow the rains and so their flocks would indicate where there might be seeds and fruits for people.

Where food and water are available together; huge flocks gather, sometimes a hundred thousand strong, queuing in thirsty ranks to take their turn at waterholes. Should a falcon appear, they explode into the air with a roar of wingbeats and perform astonishing aerobatics similar to the murmurations of starlings in the UK.

Although many colour varieties have been bred in captivity, wild budgerigars are bright green below, beautifully enhanced with dark scalloped barring above, with yellow throats and foreheads. With a good view, you can tell the male by the small knob of blue flesh, known as a cere, above his beak.

Michael Palin presents the wild budgerigar from Australia.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the bullfinch.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Michaela Strachan presents the Bullfinch. The males have rose-pink breasts and black caps and are eye-catching whilst the females are a duller pinkish-grey but share the black cap. Exactly why they're called Bullfinches isn't clear - perhaps it's to do with their rather thickset appearance. 'Budfinch' would be a more accurate name as they are very fond of the buds of trees, especially fruit trees.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the bullfinch.

Photographer Cailean Maclean on the great skua, or bonxie for Tweet of the Day.

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

John Aitchison tells the story of the Canada goose. These large black-necked geese with white cheeks and chinstraps are native to Canada and the USA. The first reference to them in the UK is in 1665 when English diarist, John Evelyn, records that they were in the waterfowl collection of King Charles II at St. James' Park in London.

John Aitchison presents the Canada goose.

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

Kate Humble presents the capercaillie. The bizarre knife-grinding, cork-popping display of the male capercaillie is one of the strangest sounds produced by any bird. The name 'Capercaillie' is derived from the Gaelic for 'horse of the woods', owing to the cantering sound, which is the start of their extraordinary mating display. These are the largest grouse in the world and in the UK they live only in ancient Caledonian pine forests.

Kate Humble presents the capercaillie.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the carrion crow.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Carrion Crow. The crow is defined in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language as "a large black bird that feeds upon the carcasses of beasts." Crows have always suggested an element of foreboding. They are arch-scavengers and black mobs of them crowd our rubbish tips but they're also birds we admire for their intelligence and adaptability.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the cattle egret.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Cattle Egret. Cattle egrets were originally birds of the African savannahs but they have become one of the most successful global colonisers of any bird species. In 2008 a pair of cattle egrets made ornithological history by breeding in the UK, on the Somerset Levels, for the first time.

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.

David Attenborough presents the bar-headed goose of Central Asia.

Bill Oddie presents the Cetti's warbler.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Bill Oddie presents the Cetti's warbler. Until the 1960s, Cetti's warblers were unknown in the UK but on the Continent they were common in marshy areas, especially dense scrub and the edge of reed-beds and ditches. They first bred in these habitats in south-east England in the early 1970s and by the end of the century their loud and sudden song-bursts were startling people from southern England and South Wales and northwards as far as Yorkshire.

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

John Aitchison presents the chaffinch. The name chaffinch refers to its habit of flocking in stubble fields, often in the company of other birds, to sort through the chaff for seeds. In less tidy times when spilled grain was a regular feature in farmyards and stubble was retained for longer periods, these winter flocks were widespread.

John Aitchison presents the chaffinch.

Bill Oddie presents the chiffchaff.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Bill Oddie presents the chiffchaff. Chiffchaff are small olive warblers which sing their name as they flit around hunting for insects in woods, marshes and scrubby places. Chiffchaffs are increasing in the UK and the secret of their success is their ability to weather our winters. Many stay in the milder south and south-west of England where the insects are more active.

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

John Aitchison tells the story of the chough. Our healthiest chough populations are in Ireland, southwest and north Wales and western Scotland. The last English stronghold was in Cornwall and Choughs feature on the Cornish coat of arms. Even here they became extinct until wild birds from Ireland re-colonised the county in 2001. Now the birds breed regularly on the Lizard peninsula.

John Aitchison presents the chough.

Michael Palin presents the secretive chowchilla from Queensland, Australia. The chowchilla gets its name from its song, which is one of the most distinctive sounds of the coastal rainforest of north-east Queensland. You're not likely to see the bird though because it spends its time skulking on the forest floor. Chowchillas belong to the family known as logrunners because they feed and nest on or near ground-level. They're stout thrush-like birds; the males are dark brown with a white chest and throat, whilst the female's throat is rusty-orange.

Chowchillas have been found to sing with different dialects in different areas. Within say, 50 hectares, all the family groups of pairs and non-breeding younger birds may share the same dialect. But in an adjacent area, the families may assemble some of their song components slightly differently. Over time, their song culture could change and a new dialect would be born.

Michael Palin presents the secretive chowchilla from Queensland, Australia.

Naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines defends the bullfinch's feeding habits.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines is captivated by the tiny Goldcrest.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines enjoys great spotted woodpeckers.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines watches nuthatches in his garden.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines listens to competing Song Thrushes.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Chris Jones from Worcestershire talks about his rescue ravens.

Chris Jones rescues and then releases a swift.

Chris Packham, host of BBC Springwatch, selects favourite episodes from Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Comedian and freestyle rapper Chris Turner hosts this Edinburgh Festival Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

British comedian and freestyle rapper Chris Turner hosts this Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

On Christmas Day, Sir David Attenborough presents the Christmas shearwater. 2000km south of Hawaii the highly marine Christmas shearwater is at home over the Central Pacific seas, tirelessly riding the air-currents, skimming wave-crests and hugging the contours of the sea looking for food. They rarely come to land as adults, but when they do, it is to return to their place of birth on remote oceanic islands to breed. Here they form loose colonies, laying a single white egg which is incubated for around 50 days. Inhabiting these far flung inaccessible islands means little is known about their biology, but that remoteness gives them protection from land based predators.

On Christmas Day, Sir David Attenborough presents the Christmas shearwater.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the cirl bunting.

Cirl buntings are related to yellowhammers and look rather like them, but the male cirl bunting has a black throat and a greenish chest-band.

Their rattling song may evoke memories of warm dry hillsides in France or Italy. Cirl buntings are Mediterranean birds more at home in olive groves than chilly English hedgerows. Here at the north-western edge of their range, most of our cirl buntings live near the coast in south Devon where they breed in hedgerows on farmland.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the cirl bunting.

Clare Jones on the inspirational little egret for Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the coal tit.

Coal tits often visit our bird-tables but don't hang around. They dart off with food to hide it in crevices and crannies. What the bird is doing is hiding or cache-ing food to be eaten later. Coal tits are smaller than their relatives and have lower fat reserves, so they store food to compensate for any future shortages. In the winter they store seeds and in summer they will hide small insects.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the coal tit.

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Collared Dove. Although these attractive sandy doves grace our bird-tables or greet us at dawn almost wherever we live in the UK, their story is one of the most extraordinary of any British bird.

David Attenborough presents the collared dove.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the common buzzard.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Steve Backshall presents the common buzzard. Common buzzards are stocky birds of prey which often soar on upturned wings. In Scotland they're sometimes called the tourists' eagle because of many golden eagles claimed by hopeful visitors. Common buzzards are increasing their range and numbers and range in the UK and their soaring flight over their territories is now a regular sight nearly everywhere.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the common buzzard.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the common crane.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Common Crane. Common Cranes were extinct in the UK in the 17th century. Now, they are being re-introduced to the Somerset Levels and Moors. The aim is to release a hundred birds into the wild over five years and establish a strong population.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the common gull. In spite of their name Common Gulls aren't as common or widespread as some of our other gulls. Most of the breeding colonies in the UK are in Scotland. In North America their alternative name is Mew gull because of their mewing cat-like cries.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the common gull.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the common gull. In spite of their name Common Gulls aren't as common or widespread as some of our other gulls. Most of the breeding colonies in the UK are in Scotland. In North America their alternative name is Mew gull because of their mewing cat-like cries.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the common gull.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the common hawk cuckoo from the Bengal region. The repetitive call of the common hawk-cuckoo, otherwise known as the brain-fever bird, is one of the typical sounds of rural India and on into the foothills of the Himalayas. Its name partly derives from its call sounding like "brain fever" but also what one writer called its repetition being a "damnable iteration". It looks like a bird of prey, and flies like one too, imitating the flapping glide of a sparrowhawk in the region, known as the shikra, often accompanied by mobbing small birds. Unwittingly as they mob her, birds like babblers betray their nest, into which the cuckoo will lay her egg.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the common hawk cuckoo from the Bengal region.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the Indian cuckoo found across much of South East Asia. A bird singing "crossword puzzle" - "crossword puzzle" over the woods is an Indian Cuckoo, a shy and slender bird, grey above and barred black and white below. These features are similar to those of a small hawk and when a cuckoo flies across a woodland glade, it's often mobbed by other birds. They're right to sense danger. Indian cuckoos are brood parasites and the females lay their eggs in the nests of other species including drongos, magpies and shrikes. The Indian cuckoo's song is well-known in the Indian sub-Continent and has been interpreted in different ways. As well as "crossword puzzle " some think it's saying "one more bottle" or "orange pekoe". And in the Kangra valley in northern India, the call is said to be the soul of a dead shepherd asking "... where is my sheep? Where is my sheep?".

Chris Packham presents the Indian cuckoo, found across much of South East Asia.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the common pheasant.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Common Pheasant. The crowing of pheasants is a sound inseparable from most of the UK countryside yet these flamboyant birds were introduced into the UK. The pheasant's coppery plumage and red face-wattles, coupled with a tail that's as long again as its body, make the cock pheasant a strikingly beautiful bird.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the common redstart. Redstarts are summer visitors from sub-Saharan Africa. The males are very handsome birds, robin-sized, but with a black mask, white forehead and an orange tail. John Buxton gave us a fascinating insight into their lives when, as a prisoner of war in Germany, he made a study of them.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the common redstart.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the common redstart.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Michaela Strachan presents the common redstart. Redstarts are summer visitors from sub-Saharan Africa. The males are very handsome birds, robin-sized, but with a black mask, white forehead and an orange tail. John Buxton gave us a fascinating insight into their lives when, as a prisoner of war in Germany, he made a study of them.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the common sandpiper.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Common Sandpiper. This bird can look slightly pot-bellied as it bobs nervously on the edge of an upland lake or on a midstream boulder. Get too close though and it will be off - flickering low over the surface on bowed wings.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the common tern. The Common Tern is the most widespread of our breeding terns and is very graceful. It has long slender wings and a deeply forked tail with the outer feathers extended into long streamers. These features give the bird its other name, sea swallow, by which terns are often called.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the common tern.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the common tern.

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

Kate Humble presents the common whitethroat. Whitethroats are warblers which winter in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert and spend spring and summer in Europe. When they arrive in April the males establish a territory by singing that scratchy song from hedgerow perches or by launching themselves into the air.

Kate Humble presents the common whitethroat.

Chris Packham presents the coot.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the story of the Coot. The explosive high-pitched call of the coot is probably a sound most of us associate with our local park lakes. Coot are dumpy, charcoal-coloured birds related to moorhens, though unlike their cousins, they tend to spend more time on open water, often in large flocks in winter.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the cormorant.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Cormorant. Although cormorants are common on rocky and estuarine shores, increasingly they are breeding inland in tree colonies - where branches whitened by their droppings are a giveaway in summer.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the corn bunting.

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

Steve Backshall begins July with the corn bunting. Corn buntings may be plain-looking birds which sing their scratchy songs from cornfields, but their private lives are a colourful affair and a single male bird may have up to 18 partners.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the corn bunting.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Steve Backshall begins July with the corn bunting. Corn buntings may be plain-looking birds which sing their scratchy songs from cornfields, but their private lives are a colourful affair and a single male bird may have up to 18 partners.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the corncrake.

Correction to factual error in the broadcast programme:

Subsequent to the broadcast of this programme, we would like to correct a factual error: the poet John Clare summed up this birds' elusive omnipresence in the early 19th Century, not the 18th Century.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the corncrake.

The rasping repeated call of the corncrake was once a familiar sound of hay meadows throughout the UK. However these birds were no match for mechanical mowers which destroyed their nests and they're now mainly found in the north and west where conservation efforts are bringing them back to lush meadows and crofts.

Craig Hartley revels in a near-miss encounter with a green woodpecker for Tweet of the Day

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the crested lark found from Europe across to China.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the crested lark found from Europe across to China. The west coast of Europe is one edge of the huge range of the crested lark. Much like many larks it is a streaky brown bird but supports, as its name suggests a prominent crest of feathers on its head. Its song is delivered in a display flight over its territory as a pleasant series of liquid notes. Unlike skylarks which are rural birds, crested larks often nest in dry open places on the edge of built-up areas. Its undistinguished appearance and behaviour were cited by Francis of Assisi as signs of humility and he observed that like a humble friar, "it goes willingly along the wayside and finds a grain of corn for itself".

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the crested lark, found from Europe across to China.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the crested tit.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Crested Tit. Although crested tits are quite common in Continental Europe, they are confined in the UK to the central Highlands of Scotland. They're the only small British bird with a crest so identification shouldn't be a problem and their black eye-stripe contrasts well with their grey and white face.

David Attenborough presents the crossbill.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Crossbill. Crossbills are large finches that specialise in eating conifer seeds. To break into the pine or larch cones, they've evolved powerful bills with crossed tips which help the birds prise off the woody scales of each cone. Crossbills breed very early in the year and incubating birds sometimes have snow on their backs.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the female Cuckoo. The "cuckoo" call of the male is perhaps one of the most recognisable of all bird sounds. But the sound of "bathwater gurgling down a plughole" is much familiar and is the call of the looking for somewhere to lay her eggs.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the female cuckoo.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the female cuckoo.

David Attenborough narrates the first in a new series of short stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs, beginning with the Cuckoo. After spending winter in Africa, the migratory urge propels the Cuckoos northwards. And for many of us their return is a welcome sign that spring is well and truly here.

In the first of a new series, David Attenborough introduces the male cuckoo.

David Attenborough introduces the male cuckoo.

David Attenborough narrates the first in a new series of short stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs, beginning with the Cuckoo. After spending winter in Africa, the migratory urge propels the Cuckoos northwards. And for many of us their return is a welcome sign that spring is well and truly here.

David Attenborough introduces the male cuckoo.

David Attenborough introduces the male cuckoo.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the curlew.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the story of the curlew. The UK is a vital wintering ground for flocks of curlews. Some birds fly in from as far away as Belgium and Russia, probing our coastal mudflats and thrilling us with their mournful cries.

Kate Humble presents the curlew.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Kate Humble presents the curlew. The haunting song of the curlew instantly summons the spirit of wild places. By April, most curlews have left their winter refuge on estuaries and marshes and have returned to their territories on moorland or upland pastures. Wherever they breed you'll hear the male birds singing and displaying. It's often called the bubbling song.

Kate Humble presents the curlew.

London chef and restaurant owner Cyrus Todiwala on his love of the city's house sparrow.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

London restaurant owner Cyrus Todiwala on the ring-necked parakeet for Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

The RSPB's Danielle Meyer recalls working with gannets for Tweet of the Day.

Thirteen-year-old Northern Ireland wildlife blogger Dara McAnulty on the hen harrier.

Fermanagh-based bird blogger Dara Mcanulty on the whooper swan for Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Dartford Warbler. Dartford Warblers prefer Mediterranean wine-producing climates, which means ice and snow is bad news for them. The harsh winters of 1961 and 1962 reduced the population to just 11 pairs, but fortunately the numbers have since recovered.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the Dartford warbler.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the Dartford warbler.

Dave Leech describes his excitement on finding the nest of a water rail.

David Lindo on a magical moment spotting a honey buzzard in central London.

David Lindo, the Urban Birder, on the kestrel.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

David Lindo the Urban Birder on seeing an osprey next to Wormwood Scrubs in London.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

The urban birder David Lindo on the ring ouzel for Tweet of the Day.

Urban Birder David Lindo in praise of the robin.

Urban Birder David Lindo on the swift.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

For Professor David Rothenberg, the blackbird is a beautiful melodic songster.

David Rothenberg, best known for his interest in animal sounds, on the brown thrasher.

Mockingbirds do not mock but, as David Rothenberg explains, can copy over 1,000 bird songs

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

David Rothenberg on the jazz artist of the bird world - the humble robin.

David Rothenberg asks a question, why is the song thrush not famous?

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

As David Rothenberg suggests, the superb lyrebird song has evolved to excess and craziness

The veery thrush has a remarkable song, if slowed down, as David Rothenberg explains.

For David Rothenberg, the white-crested laughingthrush is a superb clarinet accompanist.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

David Salmon of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the song of the woodlark.

Debbie Pain of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the marsh harrier.

At the beginning of Armistice week, Derek Niemann recalls sparrows on the Western Front.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Presenter Dermot O'Leary relishes soaring swifts and swallows bobbing in front of his car.

Presenter Dermot O'Leary gazes into his garden to watch busy coal tits on the bird feeders

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Dermot O'Leary admires the work ethic and understated beauty of the industrious dunnock.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Presenter Dermot O'Leary hails the greater black-backed gull as an 'Alsatian of the skies'

Dermot O'Leary searches for sea eagles, but with light fading, his chances look slim.

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

David Attenborough presents the dipper. On a cold winter's day when few birds are singing, the bright rambling song of a dipper by a rushing stream is always a surprise. Dippers sing in winter because that's when the males begin marking out their stretch of water, they're early breeders.

David Attenborough presents the dipper.

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Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the dotterel.

Dotterels are waders, rather like small plovers with a broad white-eye stripe. In the UK, they're almost confined as breeding birds to the Scottish Highlands. They don't tend to fly away when approached which led our ancestors to believe that they are stupid. "Dotterel" derives from the same source as "dotard" and this tameness meant that the birds were easy prey for Victorian collectors.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the dotterel.

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls hearing an emperor penguin chick for the first time.

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls his encounters with giant petrels in Antarctica.

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls his encounters with snow petrels in Antarctica.

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls his encounters with snow petrels in Antarctica.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls his encounter with snowy sheathbills in Antarctica.

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls a very close encounter with wandering albatrosses.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Dunlin. Dunlins are a stirring sight, en masse, as their flocks twist and turn over the winter shoreline. When the tide turns they take to the air in a breath-taking aerobatic display. Around 350,000 Dunlin winter here, travelling from Scandinavia and Russia.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the dunlin.

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

John Aitchison presents the dunnock. You'll often see dunnocks, or hedge sparrows, as they were once called, shuffling around under a bird table or at the bottom of a hedge. They're inconspicuous birds being mostly brown with a greyish neck and breast. They aren't, as you might imagine, closely related to sparrows, many of their nearest relatives are birds of mountainous regions in Europe and Asia.

John Aitchison presents the dunnock.

Sir David Attenborough presents the Dupont's lark of southern Europe and North Africa.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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.

David Attenborough presents the dupont's lark of southern Europe and North Africa.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the eastern orphean warbler in an olive grove near Athens. Until recently there used to be just a single species of Orphean Warbler; a summer visitor to southern Europe, North Africa and western Asia: a handsome bird much like a large blackcap with a white throat and greyish-brown back. But across the wide breeding range which stretches from Portugal to Pakistan some orphean warblers look and sound different. Those east of Italy tend to be subtly greyer above and paler beneath. And the songs of birds from Greece eastwards are longer and richer, often including the richness of nightingale like notes. These slight differences have persuaded many ornithologists that the Eastern Orphean warbler is a different species to the Western Orphean Warbler. Biologists call this "splitting "although exactly where these new species boundaries lie is a moot point.

Liz Bonnin presents the eastern orphean warbler, in an olive grove near Athens.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the echo parakeet, found only in Mauritius.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the echo parakeet found only in Mauritius, a bird which has brushed extinction by its wingtips. This once familiar bird of the island of Mauritius will only nest in large trees with suitable holes, few of which remain after widespread deforestation on the island. A close relative of the more adaptable ring necked parakeet found now across southern Britain where it's been introduced, by the 1980's the wild population of echo parakeets numbered around ten birds. Threatened with extinction in the wild, captive breeding and successful releases into the wild have stabilised the population to about three hundred birds.

Comedian Ed Byrne tees up his choices for a week curating his favourite episodes of Tweet.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Ed Byrne perches on the feeder for a second week to pick more of his favourite episodes.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Bill Oddie presents the Egyptian goose.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Bill Oddie presents the Egyptian goose. Although Egyptian geese are common throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa and in Egypt, they are now officially a British bird. These striking birds attracted the attention of wildfowl collectors and the first geese were brought to the UK in the 17th century. By the 1960's it became obvious that the geese were breeding in the wild in East Anglia and since then they've spread in south and eastern England.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the eider.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Eider. Eiders are northern sea-ducks perhaps most famous for the soft breast feathers with which they line their nests. These feathers were collected by eider farmers and used to fill pillows and traditional 'eider -downs'. Drake eiders display to the females with odd moaning calls which you can hear in the programme.

Writer Eleanor Matthews recalls the magpie for Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the emperor penguin from the Antarctic Peninsula. With temperatures down to minus 50oC, midwinter blizzards scouring one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, this is not an obvious location for raising young. Yet at the heart of this landscape, the world's largest penguin, the emperor, stands guard over their young. Tightly-packed colonies of hundreds or sometimes thousands of birds huddle together, to conserve heat. The male broods the single egg on his feet, protected under folds of bare abdominal skin. Females travel up to 100km from the colony in search of food, using a technique called tobogganing which is far more efficient than walking on their short legs. Harsh though the landscape is in midwinter, all this activity is co-ordinated to allow the young to fledge into the relatively warmth of an Antarctic summer.

Sir David Attenborough presents the emperor penguin from the Antarctic peninsula.

David Attenborough presents the Eurasian scops owl found in Mediterranean regions.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

David Attenborough presents the Eurasian scops owl found in Mediterranean regions.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the Eurasian scops owl found in Mediterranean regions. In summer a mournful monosyllabic call interrupts the heady scented air of a Greek olive grove at dusk. A male scops owl is proclaiming his territory with a repeated call lasting over 20 minutes. Hearing these tiny owls, no bigger than a starling is one thing, seeing one roosting in an old tree is quite a challenge. They feed mainly on moths and beetles which they hunt for in open country with scattered trees. By autumn these largely nocturnal birds are heading south to sub-Saharan Africa, until the following spring when once again the olive groves resound to their plaintive song.

Chris Packham presents the fieldfare.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the fieldfare. Fieldfares are thrushes, and very handsome ones. They have slate-grey heads, dark chestnut backs and black tails and their under parts are patterned with arrows. Although birds will stick around if there's plenty of food available, fieldfares are great wanderers and are quick to move out in freezing conditions.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the firecrest.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Firecrest. Firecrests are very small birds, a mere nine centimetres long and are often confused with their much commoner cousins, goldcrests. Both have the brilliant orange or yellow crown feathers, but the firecrest embellishes these with black eyestripes, dazzling white eyebrows and golden patches on the sides of its neck... a jewel of a bird.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the flightless cormorant adapted to its Galapagos world. The isolated Galapagos Islands are famous for their unique wildlife which has evolved to adapt to a landscape free of predators. This absence of predators has allowed the native cormorant to dispense with the need to fly, why waste energy when there's nothing to fly away from? This is the only flightless member of the cormorant family, which feeds on fish and for that reason it has developed stronger feet for swimming after its prey. They nest on the rocky coasts of Fernandina and Isabela islands and the population can dip below a thousand birds especially after hurricanes or collapses in local fish numbers. They recover quickly though, but are vulnerable to introduced dogs which nearly eliminated the cormorants on Isabela Island.

Chris Packham presents the flightless cormorant.

Co-founder of bird song recognition app Warblr Florence Wilkinson likes the female siskin.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Florence Wilkinson, co-founder of bird song recognition app Warblr, enjoys the early bird.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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.

David Attenborough presents the Florida scrub jay.

The BBC's Frank Gardner recalls the song of a golden oriole for Tweet of the Day.

The BBC's Frank Gardner recalls great northern divers for Tweet of the Day.

The BBC's Frank Gardner recalls the King of Saxony Bird of Paradise for Tweet of the Day.

The BBC's Frank Gardner recalls the King of Saxony Bird of Paradise for Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

BBC security correspondent and avid birdwatcher Frank Gardner on the Little Auk.

The BBC's Frank Gardner recounts hearing the three-wattled bell bird for Tweet of the Day.

The BBC's Frank Gardner remembers watching white-throated kingfishers for Tweet of the Day

Series of stories about British birds, inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the fulmar.

Kate Humble presents the fulmar.

Kate Humble presents the fulmar.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield imagines his dream clothes made in the colours of the bee-eater.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

The jewel-like patterns of the black-throated diver have musician Fyfe Dangerfield in awe.

For musician Fyfe Dangerfield, seeing a rare bird is like seeing a celebrity on the street

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield is enthralled by the rapid, bombing dive of a gannet out at sea.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield recalls the joy of hearing then seeing a golden oriole in France

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

For Fyfe Dangerfield, the prehistoric sight and sound of the grey heron is a big leveller.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield tells the story of the seabird that inspired his band name.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield uses his own birdsong recordings to experiment with music.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield enjoys watching his son chasing one of our most common birds.

Childhood holidays in France were a chance to see rare birds for Fyfe Dangerfield.

for Tweet of the Day.

Gabi Mann on the American crow for Tweet of the Day.

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

Chris Packham presents the gadwall. Gadwall were rare ducks until a few decades ago, now though, gadwall are spreading fast in the UK. Gadwall can be sneaky thieves, exhibiting what scientists call klepto-parasitic tendencies. They often wait for birds such as coot and mute swans to bring up aquatic vegetation beyond their reach and seize it before their victims can eat it themselves.

Chris Packham presents the gadwall.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents a bird which intrigued Darwin, the Galapagos mockingbird. There are four species of Mockingbird in the Galapagos islands, which probably all descended from a single migrant ancestor and then subsequently evolved different adaptations to life on their separate island clusters, hence their fascination for Charles Darwin. The most widespread is the resourceful Galapagos Mockingbird. Unlike other mockingbirds which feed on nectar and seeds, the Galapagos mockingbird has adapted to its island life to steal and break into seabird eggs and even attack and kill young nestlings. They'll also ride on the backs of land iguanas to feed on ticks deep within the reptiles' skin and will boldly approach tourists for foot. They aptly demonstrate the theory of the "survival of the fittest".

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents a bird that intrigued Darwin, the Galapagos mockingbird.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the gannet.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Gannet. The North Atlantic is the international stronghold for this impressive seabird - with its wingspan of nearly 2 metres, remorseless expression and dagger-like bill.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the gannet.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Garden Warbler. Garden warblers aren't very well named.these are birds which like overgrown thickets of shrubs and small trees and so you're more likely to find them in woodland clearings especially in newly- coppiced areas.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the garden warbler.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Garganey. When you hear the male's peculiar call, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Garganey is a grasshopper rather than a duck. One of its other names is 'cricket teal' and the dry rattle is unlike any other British bird sound you'll hear.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the garganey.

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore describes his surprising encounter with capercaillie.

Gary Moore describes the elation of tracking down the notoriously elusive golden pheasant.

How wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore became a launch pad for migrating birds on Skomer.

While paying tribute at the Somme battlefields, sound recordist Gary Moore hears a skylark

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Braving dark countryside, sound recordist Gary Moore goes in search of the stone curlew.

When sound recordist Gary Moore recorded a woodlark his work revealed some odd behaviour.

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Glossy Ibis. If, from a distance, you see what appears to be a stout-looking curlew with bronze-coloured highlights, it's probably a glossy ibis. Glossy ibis have always been rare visitors to the UK but in recent years, they've flown here much more regularly.

David Attenborough presents the glossy ibis.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the goldcrest.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Goldcrest. Goldcrests are, by a whisker, our smallest bird - roughly nine centimetres long and the weight of a ten pence coin. They migrate in October and November from Continental Europe and some people used to believe that because they arrived around the same time as wintering woodcock they'd travelled on the waders' backs and the tiny goldcrest became known as the 'woodcock pilot'.

The sound archive recording of the Goldcrest featured in this programme was sourced from The British Library.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the golden eagle. Golden Eagles are magisterial birds. With a wingspan of over two metres their displays are dramatic affairs involving spectacular aerobatics. They can dive upon their quarry at speeds of more than 240 kilometres per hour, using their sharp talons to snatch up their prey.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the golden eagle.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the golden eagle. Golden Eagles are magisterial birds. With a wingspan of over two metres their displays are dramatic affairs involving spectacular aerobatics. They can dive upon their quarry at speeds of more than 240 kilometres per hour, using their sharp talons to snatch up their prey.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the golden eagle.

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Golden Oriole. Golden orioles look as exotic as they sound. The male is bright yellow with black wings and a reddish bill. The female is more greenish, but both are very hard to see among the fluttering leaves.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the golden oriole.

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

John Aitchison presents the golden pheasant. Golden pheasants are native to the mountains of China where they live in thick bamboo forest. The males are brightly-coloured; gold and scarlet, with a long tail and a cape of black and orange which they use to woo the much duller brown females. From the late 1800's Golden Pheasants were introduced to many bird collections and shooting estates around the UK. Today the strongest colonies are in East Anglia.

John Aitchison presents the golden pheasant.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the golden plover.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Golden Plover. If, among a flock of lapwings circling over a ploughed field, you see smaller birds with wings like knife-blades and bell-like calls... these are golden plovers.

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

Bill Oddie presents the goldeneye. Although they're a common winter visitor, you'll need to travel to Speyside in the Scottish Highlands to see goldeneyes in their breeding season where, since 1970, a small population has bred there. Unlike dabbling ducks, such as mallard and teal, they don't need muddy shorelines and lots of vegetation. Goldeneyes are diving ducks that feed mainly on shellfish and crustaceans.

Bill Oddie presents the goldeneye.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the goldfinch.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the goldfinch.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Goldfinch. With its bright yellow wing-flashes and face painted black, white and red, the goldfinch is one of our most colourful birds.

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

Kate Humble presents the goosander. Goosanders are handsome ducks and belong to a group known as 'sawbills' because their long slender bills are lined with backward pointing 'teeth', for gripping slippery fish. Underwater they're as agile as otters, chasing fish in raging currents or nosing for them under riverbanks.

Kate Humble presents the goosander.

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

Martin Hughes Games presents the Goshawk. A favourite bird of Martin Hughes-Games, who is presenting November's 'Tweet of the Day', the goshawk is a powerful deep-chested relative of the sparrowhawk: its name derives from "goose-hawk", though in practice goshawks rarely catch geese - they prefer woodpigeons, rabbits and squirrels. A female goshawk is a hefty bird, as big as a buzzard and much bulkier than her smaller mate.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the goshawk.

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

Kate Humble presents the grasshopper warbler. The reeling song of the grasshopper warbler sounds more like an insect than a bird. Like the paying out of an angler's line from a reel, the grasshopper warbler's song spills out from the bush or bramble clump in which he sits. You'll hear it most often at dawn or dusk in overgrown scrubby or marshy areas.

Kate Humble presents the grasshopper warbler.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the great black-backed gull. These gulls are the largest in the world. They are quite common around our coasts and you can see them in summer perched on a crag watching for any signs of danger or potential prey. Although they are scavengers Great Black-Backs will attack and kill other birds.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the great black-backed gull.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the great black-backed gull. These gulls are the largest in the world. They are quite common around our coasts and you can see them in summer perched on a crag watching for any signs of danger or potential prey. Although they are scavengers Great Black-Backs will attack and kill other birds.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the great black-backed gull.

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

Chris Packham presents the great bustard. Great bustards, one of the heaviest flying birds in the world, were most common in Wiltshire and East Anglia but in the past they were hunted to extinction and the last known breeding birds in the UK were in 1832.

Today, great bustards are back on Salisbury Plain, thanks to the work of the Great Bustard Group. The Group aims to establish a self-sustaining population in the UK.

Chris Packham presents the great bustard.

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

Bill Oddie presents the great crested grebe. In Spring, great crested grebes perform a high ritualized mating display. This includes head shaking and a spectacular performance during which both male and female birds gather bunches of waterweed and as they swim towards each other, before rising vertically in the water, chest to chest, and paddling furiously to keep themselves upright.

Bill Oddie presents the great crested grebe.

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

Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike. Great grey shrikes feed on small birds, which they can catch in flight. They also eat mice, voles and shrews and, as spring approaches, they'll include bees and larger beetles in their diet. Shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns, just as a butcher hangs his meat on hooks.

Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike.

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

Chris Packham presents the story of the great northern diver. The wailing cries of a great northern diver echo around the lakes where they live. If the bird sounds striking, then its appearance is just as dramatic....a dagger bill, sleek submarine-shaped body, it's plumage covered in graphic patterns of black and white stripes, dots and dashes.

Chris Packham presents the great northern diver.

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

Brett Westwood presents the great reed warbler. As you'd expect from their name, Great Reed Warblers are a much larger version of the Common Reed Warbler and breed in Continental Europe where their very loud song echoes around reed-beds, it can be heard up to half a kilometre away. We can hear one or more singing Great Reed Warblers in the UK each spring.

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the great reed warbler.

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Great Skua. Great skuas are often known as bonxies - their local name in Shetland where most of the UK's population breeds. Almost two thirds of the world's great skuas nest here or on Orkney.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the great skua.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the superbly camouflaged great snipe of Eastern Europe. A thin drizzle of tinkling notes mingled with rhythmic tapping drifts across a Polish marsh in spring a sign that great male snipes are displaying. Great snipe are wading birds with short legs and very long two-toned bills, which they use to probe bogs and wet ground for worms. Across much of Europe having newly returned from its sub-Saharan wintering grounds a number of northern and eastern European marshes, set stage as breeding sites for the larger, great snipe. They court females at traditional lekking or displaying grounds where several males vie for attention. Perched on a small mound, males gather at sunset to fan their white outer tail feathers, puff out their chests and produce a medley of very un-wader-like calls. The females, looking for a mate, are attracted to the dominant males at the centre of the lek.

Chris Packham presents the great snipe.

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the great spotted woodpecker.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Brett Westwood presents the Great Spotted woodpecker. In spring Great Spotted Woodpeckers drum loudly with their bills against tree bark to advertise their territories. Unlike many of our woodland birds, which are declining, Great Spotted Woodpeckers have increased rapidly over the last few decades - up to 250% since the 1970's.

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

Chris Packham presents the great spotted woodpecker. In late winter and early spring, brightly-coloured head-bangers are livening up the woods. The handsome Great Spotted Woodpecker really knows how to grab our attention. They don't sing but instead advertise their territories by drumming loudly on the branch or trunk of a tree.

David Attenborough presents the great tit.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Great Tit. That metallic 'tea-cher, tea-cher' song of the great tit is instantly recognisable and you can hear it on mild days from mid-December onwards. It's the origin of the old country name, 'Saw-Sharpener'.

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Great White Egret. Great White Egrets are much bigger than little egrets, another recent colonist. These majestic birds first bred in Britain in 2012 at Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve in Somerset where two nests produced a total of five chicks, four of which fledged successfully: they bred again in 2013.

David Attenborough presents the great white egret.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the mimic specialist Greater Hill Mynah from Asia. Like many members of the starling family, Greater Hill Mynah's are superb mimics with a remarkable ability to reproduce the tones of the human voice. This makes them popular as cage and now some wild populations have been severely reduced by collecting. Hill mynahs are not just vocally outstanding. They're dapper looking birds too; glossy purplish-black with a white wing-patch and wattles of bright yellow skin under their eyes and around the back of their necks. The wild birds don't impersonate people though; it's only those captive birds which are amongst some of the best mimics of the human voice.

Sir David Attenborough presents the mimic specialist greater hill mynah from Asia.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the greater honeyguide of sub-Saharan Africa. A loud repetitive "it's - here" - "it's -here" is a sound the greater honey guide only makes to humans in an extraordinary co-operative act between humans and bird. Relatives of woodpeckers they are one of the few birds which can digest wax and also feed on the eggs, grubs and pupae of bees. A greater honeyguide knows the location of the bee colonies in its territory and is able to lead honey-hunters to them. Once it has successfully guided its helpers to a nest, it waits while the honey-hunters remove the comb. Then it moves in to snap up the grubs and wax from the opened nest. So reliable are honeyguides that the Boran people of East Africa save up to two thirds of their honey-searching time by using the bird's services and use a special loud whistle (called a fuulido) to summon their guide before a hunt.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the greater honeyguide of sub-Saharan Africa.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the greater racket-tailed drongo of South-East Asia. Across a clearing in a Malaysian forest flies a dark bird, seemingly chased by two equally dark butterflies. Those butterflies in hot pursuit aren't insects at all; they are the webbed tips of the greater racket-tailed drongo's excessively long wiry outer-tail feathers, which from a distance look like separate creatures as it flies. Glossy blue-black birds which live in wooded country and are great insect catchers, hawking after them in mid-air before returning to a perch. They're bold too and won't hesitate to harry and chase much larger birds than themselves, including, birds of prey. Like other drongos the greater racquet-tailed drongo has an extensive but not very musical repertoire which includes the sounds of other birds it meets, when it joins mixed feeding flocks, and can imitate the call of a hawk to alarm the hawk's victims and so steal food from them while they are distracted by the call: an ingenious tactic, which few other birds have learned.

Liz Bonnin presents the greater racket-tailed drongo of South East Asia.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the greater rhea roaming the South American pampas. Greater rheas are the largest birds in South America and look like small brown ostriches. They're flightless, but can avoid danger by sprinting away on sturdy legs reaching speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour. Gauchos, the horsemen of the pampas, used to hunt them on horseback using a bolas; a well-aimed bolas would wrap around the rhea's legs or neck and bring it down in a tangle of feathers and limbs. In the breeding season males call loudly to proclaim territories, and to woo potential mates the male runs around erratically, spreading his wings and booming. He mates with several females who lay their eggs in the same nest. Then the females depart to mate with another male leaving the first male to incubate the clutch and rear the huge brood of chicks on his own.

Chris Packham presents the greater rhea, which roams the South American pampas.

Michael Palin presents the greater roadrunner of south western North America.

Michael Palin presents the greater roadrunner of south western North America. A cuckoo that can run at 20 miles per hour and snap up venomous reptiles might not seem destined for cartoon fame, but that's exactly what happened to the Greater Roadrunner.

The loud "beep-beep" call of the Warner Brothers cartoon creation, always out-foxing his arch-enemy Wile-E. Coyote brought this very odd member of the cuckoo family racing into the living rooms of the western world from 1949 onwards. Greater roadrunners live in dry sunny places in the south western states of North America, where their long-tailed, bushy--crested, streaky forms are a common sight. They will eat almost anything from scorpions to rats, outrunning small rodents and lizards and even leaping into the air to catch flying insects.

As it runs across the desert, the roadrunner's footprints show two toes pointing forward and two backwards. The "X" shape this forms was considered a sacred symbol by Pueblo tribes and believed to confound evil spirits because it gives no clues as to which way the bird went.

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

Brett Westwood presents the Green Sandpiper; a bird with a wonderful yodelling call and the heart-stopping suddenness with which it leaps up from its feeding place and dashes off. The birds that visit the UK are often from Scandinavia, where they nest high up in a fir-tree. When the chicks hatch they tumble unharmed from the nest and are escorted to safe feeding places by their parents.

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the green sandpiper.

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

Kate Humble presents the green woodpecker. The maniacal laughing call, or 'yaffle', of a green woodpecker was supposed to herald rain, hence its old country name of 'rain bird'. You can hear their yodelling calls in woods, parks, heaths and large gardens throughout most of the UK. Altough green woodpeckers do nest in trees they spend a lot of their time on the ground, probing lawns and meadows for their main food, ants and their pupae.

Kate Humble presents the green woodpecker.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the greenfinch.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Greenfinch. Often seen singing from the tops of garden trees looking large for a finch with a heavy bill, these are sadly a declining garden bird.

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

Brett Westwood presents the Greenshank. The ringing triple call of a greenshank from a pool or marshy area is something to listen out for and a sure sign that autumn migration is under way. It's during their migration north that most of us meet greenshanks because in the UK they breed only in Scotland and even there, they are usually in the most remote bogs and mires of the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland.

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the greenshank.

Wildlife sound recordist Gregory Overden on Canada geese for Tweet of the Day.

Actress Greta Scacchi compares the birds she knew in Australia with those in London.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the grey heron.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Grey Heron. The Grey Heron makes a loud croaking sound, often standing in an ungainly way on a tree-top which it might share with many others for nesting - the heronry.

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

Chris Packham presents the grey heron. Winter can be a challenging time for grey herons. In freezing conditions, their favoured food supplies of fish and amphibians are locked beneath the ice and prolonged spells of cold weather can be fatal for these birds.

Chris Packham presents the grey heron.

Bill Oddie presents the Grey partridge.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Bill Oddie presents the grey partridge.

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

Bill Oddie presents the Grey partridge. The grey partridge, a plump game bird, is now a rarity across most of the UK. Found on farmland, a partridge pair will often hold territory in a few fields beyond which they seldom stray during their whole lives. They should be doing well but increasing field sizes, which reduce nesting cover and the use of pesticides, which kill off vital insects, have taken their toll.

On 100th anniversary of WWI Armistice, Derek Niemann recalls the grey partridge.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the grey plover.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Grey Plover. The call of the grey plover across the shimmering mud-flats of an autumn estuary is a haunting sound. They feed out on open mudflats using the "run, stop, peck" method....a quick run towards any worms or shellfish which they spot with those big eyes, stop, then a slight lean forward to pick it up.

Chris Packham presents the grey wagtail.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the story of the grey wagtail. Grey wagtails are supremely graceful birds which boost their appeal by nesting in photogenic locations. They revel in shaded spots near swift-flowing water and will also nest by canal lock-gates or mill-races.

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

David Attenborough presents the story of the Greylag Goose. Greylags are the biggest and bulkiest of our wild grey geese with bright orange bills and pink legs. When they fly, you can see large pale grey panels on the wings. The greylag has been fully domesticated for around three thousand years.

David Attenborough presents the greylag goose.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Guillemot. Guillemots breed on cliff ledges and the chick is encouraged to make its first flight at the pointing of fledging by being encouraged to jump by its mother or father calling from the sea below.

David Attenborough presents the sounds and story of the guillemot.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the guira cuckoo of central South America. Guira cuckoos break all the usual rules of their family. They are very sociable and travel in noisy gangs, feeding and roosting together. But what makes the behaviour of guira cuckoos so different is that several females often lay their eggs in a single nest, sometimes as many as 20 eggs which are tended by the respective mothers. This is known as co-operative breeding. Whether a female recognises her own eggs isn't certain, but it's possible that they can distinguish them by variable markings on the eggshells and single them out for special care.

David Attenborough presents the guira cuckoo of central South America.

Michael Palin presents the Harpy Eagle flying over the Brazilian rainforest

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Michael Palin presents the harpy eagle, flying over the Brazilian rainforest.

Michael Palin presents the Harpy Eagle flying over the Brazilian rainforest. This is one of the most powerful birds of prey and links mythological corpse-bearers, the coat of arms of Panama and the Harry Potter films.

In Greek mythology harpies were creatures with the bodies of eagles and the faces of women, who seized people in their claws. A human body is beyond the real-life harpy eagle, but with its massive 12 cm talons, it can carry a full-grown sloth or an adult howler monkey. Being versatile hunters, the eagles catch a range of birds and reptiles and can easily hoist porcupines and armadillos into the treetops to feed their young.

Harpy Eagles breed in the rainforests of central and South America. They're blackish- grey above and white below with a black collar and a divided crest which gives them an uncanny resemblance to Buckbeak the Hippogriff in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the now extinct in the wild Hawaiian Crow. It's hard to imagine any crow becoming endangered, but only a hundred or so the formerly widespread Hawaiian crow survive and all of them in captivity. Also known by its Hawaiian name 'Alala' these sooty black brown crows produce a chorus of caws and screeches. Early settlers in the Hawaiian archipelago reduced their numbers, leaving the remaining populations vulnerable to introduced predators; feral pigs further reduced the fruit-laden understory plants favoured by the crow. The species was last seen in the wild in 2002. All may not be lost. A captive breeding programme overseen by San Diego Zoo is hoping to reintroduce the crows into the wild, so perhaps the Hawaiian forests will once again resound with their calls.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Hawaiian crow, now extinct in the wild.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Liz Bonnin presents the Nene, or the endemic and rare Hawaiian goose. Visit a Wildfowl and Wetland Trust centre in the UK and it is likely you'll be mobbed by the nasal calls of one of the world's rarest birds, the Hawaiian Goose or "Ne-Ne". In the late 18th century there were around 25,000 of these neat attractive geese, with ochre cheeks and black-heads, on the Hawaiian Islands. But by the early 1950s, due to development and introduced predators, a mere 30 or so remained. A few of these remaining Nene's were taken to Slimbridge, home of Peter Scott's Wildfowl Trust as part of a captive breeding programme. They bred successfully and now many generations of geese produced there have been returned to their native islands. Their future is still precarious in the wild, but as the state bird of Hawaii the Nene's outlook is more secure today than for the last seventy years.

Liz Bonnin presents the nene, or the endemic and rare Hawaiian goose.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Hawfinch. The Hawfinch is a large thickset finch with a massive bill. It uses this to crack open hawthorn and cherry stones as well as hornbeam seeds to get at the soft kernels inside. In doing so, it exerts a force of around 180 pounds per square inch.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the hawfinch.

The RSPB's Heather Bennett recalls her first sighting of a lapwing for Tweet of the Day.

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

David Attenborough celebrates International Dawn Chorus Day with the second of four recordings marking this event. In this programme, we hear the dawn chorus from the heather moors of Allendale in Northumberland. Songs featured are that of the curlew, skylark, golden plover and redshank.

David Attenborough presents a dawn chorus from the heather moorlands of Allendale.

Helen Moncrieff recalls seeing an Orca seize a Black Guillemot at sea.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Helen Moncrieff finds an ally in a territorial fulmar!

Helen Moncrieff reveals why her tummy 'flips with joy' at the sight of Northern Wheatears.

Helen Moncrieff is bewitched by the mimicking of Shetland starlings.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Chris Packham presents the story of the hen harrier. The sight of hen harriers floating in to their roost on a winter's afternoon is one that once seen, you'll never forget. Hen harriers are long-winged, graceful birds of prey which hunt by quartering rough ground such as marshes and moorland.

Chris Packham presents the hen harrier.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the herring gull.

Herring gulls now regularly breed inland and that's because of the way we deal with our refuse. Since the Clean Air Acts of 1956 banned the burning of refuse at rubbish tips, the birds have been able to cash in on the food that we reject: And our throwaway society has provided them a varied menu. We've also built reservoirs around our towns on which they roost, and we've provided them with flat roofs which make perfect nest sites.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the herring gull.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the herring gull.

Herring gulls now regularly breed inland and that's because of the way we deal with our refuse. Since the Clean Air Acts of 1956 banned the burning of refuse at rubbish tips, the birds have been able to cash in on the food that we reject: And our throwaway society has provided them a varied menu. We've also built reservoirs around our towns on which they roost, and we've provided them with flat roofs which make perfect nest sites.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the herring gull.

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'.

David Attenborough presents the South American hoatzin.

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the hobby.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Brett Westwood presents the Hobby. Sickle winged, red-trousered and black-moustached, the hobby is a strikingly beautiful falcon. Hobbies arrive in the UK in late April or May from their wintering grounds in Africa. They are now flourishing in the UK where there are now around 2000 pairs, breeding mainly on farmland and heaths in England and Wales.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the honey buzzard. The Honey Buzzard is more closely related to the Kite than it is to our common Buzzard. It gets its name for its fondness, not for honey, but for the grubs of bees and wasps. The bird locates their nests by watching where the insects go from a branch. It then digs out the honeycomb with its powerful feet and breaks into the cells.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the honey buzzard.

Kate Humble presents the hoopoe.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Kate Humble presents the hoopoe. The hoopoe, a salmon-coloured bird with a long curved bill and a black-tipped crest, which it can spread like a fan when excited, is so outrageously exotic that its call reminds us of the Mediterranean. Several hoopoes arrive in the UK each spring and autumn. These are usually birds which have overshot their migration routes and almost certainly won't find a mate here, though they do breed very occasionally.

Michael Palin presents the Venezuelan horned screamer.

Michael Palin presents the Venezuelan horned screamer. Sounding as if someone is using a giant plunger in the Venezuelan marshes, these are the mating calls of the Horned Screamer. They're sounds that only another Horned Screamer could love, but then screamers are very odd birds. Over the years ornithologists have struggled to classify them, modern thinking puts their closest living relatives as the primitive Australian Magpie Goose.

Protruding from its head is a long wiry horn made of cartilage, which could rightfully earn it the title of "unicorn of the bird world" Usually seen as pairs or, outside the breeding season in small groups in the marshes and savannas of the northern half of South America, as you'd expect from their name , they are very vocal and these primeval bellows which sound more cow like than bird like and can be heard up to 3 kilometers away.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the house crow, native of southern Asia. Leggier and longer-billed than the slightly larger European carrion crow and having a charcoal grey bib and collar and raucous call, these are common birds in towns and villages from Iran through India to Thailand. As scavengers they eat almost anything, which is how they've come to live alongside us. We provide water as well as food and have introduced the birds into areas of the Middle East and Africa. Although they don't fly long distances, the crows often hop aboard ships and arrive in foreign ports. Ship-assisted house crows have the potential to spread around the globe, a beautiful example of avian exploitation of human activity.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the house crow, native of southern Asia.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the house martin.

House martins are often confused with swallows , but look shorter-tailed and lack the rusty throats. They're compact birds which build their with pellets of mud under our eaves and although they're so familiar to us in summer, we still can't be certain where they spend the winter. Ornithologists believe that they may spend our winter catching insects high over African rainforests.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the house martin.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the house martin.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the house martin.

House martins are often confused with swallows , but look shorter-tailed and lack the rusty throats. They're compact birds which build their with pellets of mud under our eaves and although they're so familiar to us in summer, we still can't be certain where they spend the winter. Ornithologists believe that they may spend our winter catching insects high over African rainforests.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the house sparrow.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Michaela Strachan presents the house sparrow. These birds are more commonly found living alongside us than any other British bird. Perhaps the most enterprising birds were the House Sparrows which bred below ground in a working mine at Frickley Colliery in Yorkshire.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the house wren found across the New World. Having one of the largest ranges of any songbird in the New World, the migratory house wren occurs anywhere from their breeding grounds in Canada and North America, to their to wintering grounds from Central America to Chile. The male house wren's song is a torrent of trills delivered at full volume from his territory of shrubs, low trees and ferny banks. Diminutive he may be but he's feisty and is known to drag other birds' eggs or chicks from a nest-hole he wants for himself. In parts of North America, house wrens are a significant cause of nest failure in some other species of songbirds.

Sir David Attenborough presents the house wren, found across the New World.

Writer Hugh Thomson discusses his love of the wood pigeon song in an English woodland.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the hyacinth macaw of the Brazilian Pantanal. Raucous ear-piercing screeches are produced by one of the most beautiful parrots in the world, flying high over the marshy wetlands of the Pantanal. As their name suggests they are a rich cobalt blue, with sulphur-yellow eye rings with a massive bill and long elegant tail-feathers streaming behind them in flight, making them our longest parrot. Popular as captive caged birds, they are now endangered in the wild and legally protected in Brazil. They feed on palm nuts, including those of the acuri palm which are so hard that even the macaw's powerful bill can't break into them, until they've first passed through the digestive tracts of cattle.

Sir David Attenborough presents the hyacinth macaw of the Brazilian Pantanal.

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

Michaela Strachan presents the icterine warbler. Icterine Warblers are fluent mimics and include phrases of other species in their song. Their name, icterine, is derived from ikteros, the ancient Greek word for jaundice and describes the bird's spring plumage...yellowish beneath and olive brown on top.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the icterine warbler.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the icterine warbler.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Michaela Strachan presents the icterine warbler. Icterine Warblers are fluent mimics and include phrases of other species in their song. Their name, icterine, is derived from ikteros, the ancient Greek word for jaundice and describes the bird's spring plumage...yellowish beneath and olive brown on top.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the ivory gull from the northern polar seas. Ivory gulls breed on rocky outcrops and cliffs and has a near-circumpolar distribution, spending most of the year near the edge of the pack ice throughout Arctic Europe, Arctic Russia, Greenland and Canada. They regularly venture farther north than any other bird. The adults are brilliant white with black legs and black eyes; their only splash of colour is on the bill which is a pastel rainbow of blue, green, yellow and pink. At rest they look rather dove-like. Although their colour suggests purity, their tastes are definitely not. Ivory gulls are scavengers. Dead seals or whales will draw them from miles around and those birds which have turned up as rare winter visitors to the UK have often shown an uncanny ability to locate strandline corpses of porpoises, dolphins or seals. Diet aside these are entrancing gulls to watch as they loaf on icebergs or waft angelically over arctic seas.

Chris Packham presents the ivory gull from the northern polar seas.

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the jack snipe.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Jack Snipe. The song of the Jack snipe has been likened to the sound of a distant horse cantering along a road. To hear it though, you need to visit Scandinavian bogs and mires where these small waders breed. When the ice seals their northern breeding areas jack snipes head south and west and many winter in the British Isles.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the jackdaw. Jackdaws are scavengers with a reputation for stealing shiny or glittering objects. Martin Hughes-Games tells the story of a tame jackdaw he had as a child, which became a very colourful member of the family, with her very own store of costume jewellery to play with.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the jackdaw.

Author James Henry recalls the little owl for Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Author James Henry picks the yellowhammer for his Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Wildlife artist Jane Smith reveals the challenges of trying to paint barnacle geese.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith listens in the fog to a great northern diver.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith is captivated by a party of ringed plovers on a beach.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith reveals why for her, snipe symbolise the sound of the Hebrides.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith waits anxiously for a returning whitethroat.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Brett Westwood presents the story and sound of the jay.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Brett Westwood presents the jay. This bird is a colourful member of the crow family. In September and October you'll often see jays flying around woodland with their bills and throats crammed with acorns. Many of these they bury as winter stores but not all are retrieved by Jays and many germinate and grow into young oaks, making the jay a tree-planter on a national scale.

Jennifer Border recalls how looking for whinchats resulted in a broken road sign.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

A Halloween special: artist Jeremy Deller encounters a Mexican free-tailed bat colony.

Musician Jimi Goodwin on his shock at discovering the cuckoo's wicked ways.

Musician Jimi Goodwin on the mallard in this Tweet of the Day.

Musician Joe Acheson was stopped in his tracks when he heard corncrakes for the first time

Musician Joe Acheson recalls recording starling to use in his work as the Hidden Orchestra

For Joe Acheson, slowing down the song of the wren sounds like gibbons in the rainforest.

Bird therapist Joe Harkness on the nightingale for Tweet of the Day.

After a bad day at work, Joe Harkness recalls an encounter with a woodlark.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

After a bad day at work, Joe Harkness recalls an encounter with a woodlark.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

RSPB learning officer John Clifton on the bee-eater for Tweet of the Day.

Wildlife photographer John MacPherson recalls the herring gull for Tweet of the Day.

Wildlife photographer John McPherson recalls the hooded crow for Tweet of the Day.

The story and sound of birds.

Josh Myers recalls how the short-eared owl helps with his Tourette's for Tweet of the Day.

Michael Palin presents the New Zealand kakapo.

Michael Palin presents the New Zealand Kakapo, high on the ferny slopes of its island fortress off the coast of New Zealand. Kakapos are flightless and the heaviest parrots in the world. They're also called owl-parrots from their nocturnal habits and open owlish expressions. Like owls their plumage is richly mottled although no owl shares their beautiful moss-green tones.

Kakapos also have a curious mating strategy. The males gather at traditional "leks" or display areas to attract mates. At the top of a wooded ridge, the male digs one or more a bowl- like depressions in the ground which function as an amplifier. He then takes a deep breath, swells his throat-pouch like a balloon then releases the air with a soft booming call which can carry up to five kilometres.

This sound can now only be heard on a handful of offshore islands. The kakapo story is tragically familiar. Flightless and ground-nesting, it was helpless in the face of settlers who logged its forests and introduced cats and rats which slaughtered the birds. Between 1987 and 1992 the last surviving kakapos were relocated to predator-free islands. Now following intensive care and a national conservation strategy, there are about 130 kakapos in the wild.

Wildlife gardener and writer Kate Bradbury loves sparrows in this Tweet of the Day.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Wildlife gardener and writer Kate Bradbury enjoys the swift above her garden in Sussex.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde is inspired by the spectacle of migrating barnacle geese.

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde is inspired by the spectacle of migrating barnacle geese.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde recalls being surrounded by dancing common cranes.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde is inspired by house martins.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde is entranced by "an apparition" of knot.

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde is captivated by a flock of pink-footed geese.

Michael Palin presents the kea, from a windswept mountain in New Zealand.

Michael Palin presents the kea from a windswept mountain in New Zealand. A a snow-capped mountain in New Zealand's South Island are not a place where you'd expect to find a parrot, least of all a carnivorous one (and with a penchant for rubber). But this is the home of the kea.

Keas are curious birds in every sense of the word. Drab greenish brown, they're the world's only Alpine parrot. When they can find them, keas eat fruits and berries, but also, especially in winter they descend from the higher slopes and scavenge on animal carcasses at rubbish dumps, cracking bones with their sharp beaks to reach the marrow. They will even attack live sheep, stripping the fat from their backs and damaging vital organs. Although this habit is rare and is now understood to be largely restricted to injured sheep, it led to widespread persecution of the birds and a bounty was paid on the head of each bird killed which led to widespread declines so that keas became endangered.

Today Keas are legally protected. In their mountain homes, the parrots survive to entertain and exasperate tourists as they clamber over cars, strip rubber seals from windscreens and remove wiper-blades... curious birds indeed.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the kestrel.

The kestrel is widely distributed throughout the UK and when hovering is our most recognisable bird of prey. Their chestnut back and wings, and habit of holding themselves stationary in mid-air are a unique combination;mall wonder that an old name for kestrels is windhover.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the kestrel.

Kim Durban recalls an encounter with a blackbird for Tweet of the Day.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Arctic specialist the king eider duck. Relatives of the larger common eider found around the British coast, king eiders breed around the Arctic and sub-Arctic coasts of the northern hemisphere. As true marine ducks they can dive to depths of 25 metres on occasion, to feed on molluscs and marine crustaceans. The drake King Eider has colourful markings; having a black and white body with a reddish bill, surmounted by an orange-yellow shield. His cheeks are pale mint-green and his crown and nape are lavender-grey. He uses his bill pattern and head colours in a highly ritualised display to woo his mate, fluffing up his chest and issuing an amorous coo-ing call.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Arctic specialist, the king eider duck.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the kingfisher.

The Ancient Greeks knew the kingfisher as Halcyon and believed that the female built her nest on the waves calming the seas while she brooded her eggs: hence the expression, Halcyon days which we use now for periods of tranquillity.

Kingfishers can bring in over 100 fish a day to their large broods and the resulting collection of bones and offal produces a stench that doesn't match the bird's attractive appearance.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the kingfisher.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the kittiwake.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Kittiwake. In June you can find kittiwakes breeding on sea-cliffs around the coast. You may well hear them before you see them, shouting their name from vertiginous cliffs.

Kitty MacFarlane finds inspiration in the birds she sees in the countryside for her music.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Singer Kitty MacFarlane has a strong connection to the Somerset Levels and the birds there

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

David Attenborough presents the knot. Knot are dumpy waders which breed in the high Arctic but winter in hundreds of thousands on our estuaries and salt-marshes. Crammed together shoulder to shoulder at the water's edge, you can see how they got their scientific name Calidris canutus...a tribute to King Canute who discovered, despite his best attempts, that he didn't have the power to turn back the tides.

David Attenborough presents the knot.

Bill Oddie presents the lapwing.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Bill Oddie presents the lapwing. The lovely iridescent greens and purples of the lapwing: with its delicate crest and broad rounded wings that almost seem to twinkle in level flight, they are seen less often on our farmland today. At one time they were so common that their freckled eggs were harvested and sent off to the cities to pamper the palettes of urban epicures.

Bill Oddie presents the lapwing. The lovely iridescent greens and purples of the lapwing: with its delicate crest and broad rounded wings that almost seem to twinkle in level flight, they are seen less often on our farmland today. At one time they were so common that their freckled eggs were harvested and sent off to the cities to pamper the palates of urban epicures.

Sir David Attenborough presents the laughing gull off the Florida coast.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents the laughing gull off the Florida coast. In summer, the hearty peal of laughter is one of the characteristic sounds people hear along the North American east coast where laughing gulls come to breed. America's version of the British black-headed gull they are easy to recognise as they patrol the seashore in search for food. Like many gulls they eat what they can find and will scavenge at rubbish dumps, and will even feast on the eggs of horseshoe crabs which spawn in Deleware Bay each spring. Some become swept up in autumnal hurricanes and having crossed the Atlantic, occasionally turn up on a European's bird-watching list.

Sir David Attenborough presents Australia's laughing kookaburra.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Sir David Attenborough presents Australia's laughing kookaburra. At 45cm the laughing kookaburra is one of the world's largest kingfishers. Native to south and eastern Australia, they have now been introduced to Western Australia and parts of New Zealand. Although they do catch fish, they hunt mainly on land where they eat reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates. The cacophony of loud hooting laughs from which they get their Aboriginal name, is often produced by several birds in chorus. The cackling call is one of the few exotic bird sounds that is recognised around the world: a captive kookaburra named Jacko became a radio celebrity in Australia through his ability to break into that laughing call on demand. By the time of his death in 1939 he was one of the best known birds in the world.

Laura Howard describes how learning about nature turned the countryside into a fascination

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson presents the leach's storm petrel.

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

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Leach's Storm-Petrel. Only the most far-flung islands around our coasts provide sanctuary for Leach's Storm-Petrels, one of the most difficult of our breeding birds to see. Chris Watson tells the story of a perilous 2am climb he made to record the sounds of Leach's Storm-Petrel's in their breeding burrows on cliff ledges on the Island of Hirta in the St Kilda group.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the lesser black-backed gull.

These smart gulls are charcoal grey on top and white beneath. Like herring gulls, their close relatives LBBs have moved into urban areas and now breed on flat roofs in the centre of cities. It seems almost any flat surface will do. In just three hours, one bird in Gloucester built a nest on a car roof and laid an egg in.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the lesser black-backed gull.

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

David Attenborough presents the lesser redpoll. You can spot Lesser Redpolls hanging like tiny acrobatic parrots among the slender twigs, while a rain of papery seeds falls down around them. They're lively birds which allow you to get fairly close, and then sometimes flocks will explode en masse for no apparent reason and fly around calling.

David Attenborough presents the lesser redpoll.

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

John Aitchison presents the lesser spotted woodpecker. Lesser spotted woodpeckers are the smallest of our three woodpeckers and about the size of a house sparrow. They have horizontal white stripes across their backs, hence their old name of 'barred woodpecker'. The lesser spotted woodpecker is one of our most elusive birds. For most of the year it's relatively silent but in late February and March, males begin to stake out their territories in old woods and orchards by calling loudly and drumming softly.

John Aitchison presents the lesser spotted woodpecker.

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

Chris Packham presents the story of the Lesser White-Fronted Goose. The lesser white-fronted goose is now a very rare bird in the UK, but the siting in Bristol of the BBC's Natural History Unit, owes much to this bird.

Chris Packham presents the lesser white-fronted goose.

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

Miranda Kresovnikoff presents the Lesser Whitethroat. A loud rattling song from a roadside hedge announces that Lesser whitethroats are back from their African winter homes.

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the lesser whitethroat.

The RSPB's Liane Holdsworth recalls the kestrel for Tweet of the Day.

Lily Burton is the youngest birder on Tweet and she shares a sad story of a mute swan.

Lindsey Chapman on the Cetti's warbler.

Presenter Lindsey Chapman begins her two week takeover of the Tweet of the Day airwaves.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

TV and wildlife presenter Lindsey Chapman returns for her second Tweet of the Day takeover

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Linnet. Linnets gather in large flocks to feed on weed-seeds and the seeds of oilseed rape and flax left behind after harvesting. You can often identify the flocks from a distance as the birds circle over a field, by their tight formation and bouncing motion.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the linnet.

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

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Little Auk. Little auks are black and white relatives of the puffin but only about half the size. They're one of the most numerous seabirds in the world, with around twelve million pairs of birds. In autumn and early winter we see them in the UK as they head south into the North Sea.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the little auk.

The Little Egret - Miranda Krestovnikoff narrates the story of the bird and its sound.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

The Little Egret - Miranda Krestovnikoff narrates the story of the bird and its sound.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the story and sound of the little egret.

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

Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Little Egret. The colonisation of the UK by these small brilliant-white herons with black bills and yellow feet, has astonished ornithologists because of its speed.

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

Kate Humble presents the little grebe. Little grebes are our smallest grebes. They're dumpy birds with dark brown feathers and in the breeding season have a very obvious chestnut patch on their necks and cheeks. Little grebes are secretive birds, especially in the breeding season when they lurk in reeds and rushes or dive to avoid being seen.

Kate Humble presents the little grebe.

Kate Humble presents the little owl.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Kate Humble presents the little owl. Little owls really are little, about as long as a starling but much stockier with a short tail and rounded wings. If you disturb one it will bound off low over the ground before swinging up onto a telegraph pole or gatepost where it bobs up and down, glaring at you fiercely through large yellow and black eyes. Today, you can hear the yelps of the birds and their musical spring song across the fields and parks of much of England and Wales.

Kate Humble presents the little owl.

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

Bill Oddie presents the little ringed plover. In 1938, there was great excitement at a Hertfordshire reservoir. On the gravelly shoreline a pair of birds, which had never bred in the UK before, were showing signs of nesting. They were little ringed plovers, summer visitors to Continental Europe and they'd been attracted to the reservoirs' shingle banks where they laid their clutch of four eggs. Today there are around a thousand pairs in the UK.

Bill Oddie presents the little ringed plover.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Steve Backshall presents the little tern.

Little terns are our smallest terns. You can pick them out from our other terns by their smaller size, white forehead and yellow bill with a black tip. They look flimsy and delicate but move too close to one of their colonies, and you'll unleash a tirade of grating shrieks as they try to intimidate you out of their territory.

Steve Backshall presents the story and sound of the little tern.

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

John Aitchison presents the long-eared owl. The low moaning hoot of a long-eared owl filters through the blackness of a pine wood. Long-eared owls are nocturnal and one of our most elusive breeding birds. They nest in conifer woods, copses and shelter-belts of trees near wide open grasslands and heaths where they hunt for rodents.

John Aitchison presents the long-eared owl.

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

Chris Packham presents the long-tailed duck. The musical call of the long-tailed duck gives it the Scottish name of 'calloo', or 'coal- and-candlelight'. In the UK you're more likely to see them in Scotland and northern England where they seek out shellfish, diving up to 60 metres to retrieve them.

Chris Packham presents the long-tailed duck.

Michaela Strachan presents the story and sound of the long-tailed tit.

Discover birds through their songs and calls. 265 programmes of 90 seconds, over a year

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

Michaela Strachan presents the long-tailed tit. They are sociable birds and family ties are vital. They even roost together at night, huddled in lines on a branch, and this behaviour saves lives in very cold winter weather. The nest of the Long-Tailed Tit is one of the most elaborate of any UK bird, a ball of interwoven moss, lichen, animal hair, spider's webs and feathers.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.

Chris Packham presents the Madagascan Harrier-hawk from Madagascar. Among the branches of a Madagascan forest, there's a flutter of wings and a flash of double-jointed feet. The Madagascan harrier-hawk is a striking bird, uniform grey above and finely-barred beneath with black wing-tips and a white-banded black tail. There's a patch of sulphurous skin around its bill and eyes: and its long legs are also bright yellow. Those long legs help the harrier-hawk hunt for food that's beyond the reach of most other birds of prey. Using its wings for balance and twisting its flexibly-jointed legs at seemingly impossible angles, the harrier-hawk inserts its talons into tiny holes, relying on its sense of touch to locate its prey. Madagascar harrier-hawks do hunt more conventionally by gliding over the forest, seizing small birds, reptiles and mammals such as the Verreaux's sifaka.

Chris Packham presents the Madagascan harrier-hawk from Madagascar.

Michael Palin presents the magnificent frigatebird, a true oceanic bird.

Michael Palin presents the magnificent frigatebird a true oceanic bird, and resembling a hook-billed, pterodactyl of a seabird.

Magnificent frigatebirds are some of the most accomplished aeronauts of the tropical oceans. Their huge wingspans of over two metres and long forked tails allow them to soar effortlessly and pluck flying fish from the air, and also harass seabirds. These acts of piracy earned them the name Man-o' War birds and attracted the attention of Christopher Columbus.

Magnificent Frigatebirds breed on islands in the Caribbean, and along the tropical Pacific and Atlantic coasts of central and South America as well as on the Galapagos Islands. Frigatebird courtship is an extravagant affair. The males gather in "clubs" , perching on low trees or bushes.