| BirdNote | |
| Type: | Nonprofit organization, radio program |
|---|---|
| Broadcast on: | KPLU |
| Located in: | Seattle, Washington |
BirdNote is a nonprofit radio program dedicated to education and conservation of birds and their habitats. BirdNote shows are two-minute vignettes that incorporate the sounds of birds with stories that illustrate their way of life. Shows can be heard on radio, online, and via podcast.
The BirdNote broadcast originated in the Pacific Northwest under the patronage of the Seattle Audubon Society, a chapter of the National Audubon Society and now operates under the umbrella of the nonprofit, Tune In to Nature.[1] The show airs seven days a week on KPLU, an affiliate of National Public Radio, and also on KOHO, KTOO-FM, KMBH-FM, KWMR, WNPR/Connecticut Public Radio, WRVO, KPBX, KCAW, KYRS, KPFZ, KHSU, KRTS, and KUNM. Stories range from natural history to conservation to the language and music of birds.
BirdNote's goal is "to help people connect to the natural world and, for a couple minutes, get out of the daily grind."[2] Story subjects have included Roger Tory Peterson, Aldo Leopold, Frank Chapman, Ivan Doig, Whooping Crane migration, the extinction of the Dodo, and hundreds of species of birds.
Most bird sounds for BirdNote are provided by the Macaulay Library of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. Writers include Dennis Paulson,[3] Curator Emeritus of The Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound,[4] Robert Sundstrom, birding-by-ear expert with the Seattle Audubon Society, and other writers and naturalists. All shows are reviewed for scientific accuracy by a panel of advisors that includes Victor Blanchard Scheffer[5] and others. Narrators include Mary McCann, Michael Stein, and Frank Corrado, a professional actor well known to Seattle theater-goers.[6] John Kessler, of NPR’s Mountain Stage fame, is the producer. All shows have a companion photo, many of which were taken by photographer-naturalist, Paul Bannick.[7] BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by John Kessler and Nancy Rumbel of Tingstad and Rumbel.