Listening for Lost Birds

Sounds Wild · Oct 29, 2026 · 32m

Ever wondered what an extinct ivory-billed woodpecker sounded like? Or what a rare California condor sounds like now? As bird populations have declined, and some species have disappeared, it’s gotten a lot more difficult to hear the songs of our avian friends. In this episode cohost Mike Stark talks with Mike Webster, emeritus director of the Macaulay Library at the famed Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It’s the world’s largest and oldest archive of wildlife recordings, including the sounds of more than 10,000 bird species. Tune in and hear the calls of several extinct birds and a few that are…