Fourth and final season of BirdNote's Threatened goes to Puerto Rico

A podcast about answering the call to protect the birds and places we love Threatened transports you to some of the most beautiful and remote places around the globe, where birds are calling humans to take action. These stories about the enduring connections between birds, people, and landscapes are for the bird-curious, conservation-conscious, and travel-starved. Join host Ari Daniel for an escape to the natural world -- and a glimpse into the lives of people working to protect it.

Season 4 will launch Tuesday, January 17th with a new episode every week – in both English and Spanish. These four episodes examine the one-of-a-kind ecology of Puerto Rico and the birds of Puerto Rico that are facing significant challenges. In season 4 of Threatened, we’ll meet the people and communities in this Caribbean island who are acting on behalf of birds and banding together to protect them.

Episodes include:

• The Puerto Rican Parrot Comeback: In the season premiere, we travel to Puerto Rico to meet a bird that has survived deforestation, hurricanes and the exotic pet trade. The Puerto Rican parrot saw its numbers drop to almost zero at one point. But today, its population is growing and stabilizing. To achieve this, the people involved had to make some difficult tradeoffs.
• Protecting a Bird and Ourselves: How do you organize a group of people to protect a bird from powerful forces? The Julián Chiví, or Black-whiskered Vireo, reveals a story of a community banding together to save a species, its environment, and ultimately, the people themselves. The organizers in Puerto Rico decided to go beyond just presenting alarming facts—and their strategy worked.
• The Scientific Name Doesn’t Do It Justice: Birds have their common English name and a name in the languages of all the places they might fly through. And then they have their Latin name, which is their taxonomic name, the one scientists use. In this episode, we learn about a decades-long effort in Puerto Rico to change San Pedrito’s scientific name, why it matters and the journeys of two people seeking to make it happen.
• An Unusual Place to Eat and Rest: In Puerto Rico, there is an area of saline lagoons, salt flats and mangrove swamps where humans have extracted salt for over 500 years. We often describe the effects of human activity on the environment as negative. But the migratory birds that eat and rest in one of the most visited places by locals and tourists probably see things differently.

About Host Ari Daniel

Ari Daniel has been heard on a variety of NPR shows, works as Senior Digital Producer at NOVA, and is a Senior Producer with Story Collider in Boston. As a graduate student, he trained Grey seal pups for his Master’s degree at the University of St. Andrews, and helped tag wild Norwegian killer whales for his Ph.D. at MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. As a science reporter and producer, Ari has reported on science topics across five continents.

About BirdNote

For over 17 years, BirdNote has brought joy, inspiration and hope to millions of people. BirdNote produces two-minute daily shows and engaging podcasts about birds and nature, such as Sound Escapes, Threatened, and Bring Birds Back. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world — and take steps to protect it. Explore stories, photos and more at BirdNote.org.