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 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s and their habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s. 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

Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

.

The BirdNote broadcast originated in the Pacific Northwest under the patronage of the Seattle Audubon Society

Seattle Audubon Society

Seattle Audubon Society is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting birds and the natural environment by involving volunteers and the community in education, advocacy, preservation, science and enjoyment...

, a chapter of the National Audubon Society

National Audubon Society

The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...

 and now operates under the umbrella of the nonprofit, Tune In to Nature. The show airs seven days a week on KPLU, an affiliate of National Public Radio, and also on KOHO

KOHO-FM

KOHO-FM is a radio station broadcasting an adult album alternative format. BirdNote, a radio show produced in Washington State, airs seven days a week. Licensed to Leavenworth, Washington, USA, the station serves the Wenatchee area. The station is currently owned by Icicle Broadcasting,...

, KTOO-FM

KTOO (FM)

KTOO is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Juneau, Alaska, USA. The station is owned by Capital Community Broadcasting, Inc.The station airs public radio programming from the National Public Radio and CoastAlaska networks...

, KMBH-FM

KMBH-FM

KMBH-FM , is a National Public Radio member station in Harlingen, Texas, United States.-External links:*...

, KWMR, WNPR

WNPR

WNPR is a radio station licensed to Meriden, Connecticut. The station is owned by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, and is the flagship affiliate of Connecticut Public Radio.-External links:*...

/Connecticut Public Radio, WRVO

WRVO

WRVO 89.9 FM is a member-supported public radio station in Oswego, New York. Owned by the State University of New York at Oswego, it operates from studios in the Penfield Library on the SUNY Oswego campus.- Programming :...

, KPBX, KCAW

KCAW

KCAW is a non-commercial radio station in Sitka, Alaska, on 104.7 FM, which airs public radio programming. It first went on air in 1982.-Programming:KCAW is Sitka's only public radio station and offers a wide variety of programming...

, KYRS, KPFZ

KPFZ

KPFZ-FM is an FM radio station that broadcasts a community radio format to Lakeport, California....

, KHSU, KRTS

KRTS

KRTS is a radio station broadcasting a public radio format. Licensed to Marfa, Texas, USA, it serves the Far West Texas area.The station features programming from National Public Radio plus local affairs and original music programs from the Big Bend.In 2010/2011 approximately half of its budget...

, 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." Story subjects have included Roger Tory Peterson

Roger Tory Peterson

Roger Tory Peterson , was an American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator, and held to be one of the founding inspirations for the 20th century environmental movement.-Background:...

, Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold

Aldo Leopold was an American author, scientist, ecologist, forester, and environmentalist. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin and is best known for his book A Sand County Almanac , which has sold over two million copies...

, Frank Chapman

Frank Chapman

Frank Michler Chapman was a U.S. ornithologist and pioneering writer of field guides.Chapman was born in West Englewood, New Jersey and attended Englewood Academy. He joined the staff of the American Museum of Natural History in 1888 as assistant to Joel Asaph Allen...

, Ivan Doig

Ivan Doig

Ivan Doig is an American novelist. He was born in White Sulphur Springs, Montana to a family of homesteaders and ranch hands. After the death of his mother Berneta, on his sixth birthday, he was raised by his father Charles "Charlie" Doig and his grandmother Elizabeth "Bessie" Ringer...

, Whooping Crane

Whooping Crane

The whooping crane , the tallest North American bird, is an endangered crane species named for its whooping sound. Along with the Sandhill Crane, it is one of only two crane species found in North America. The whooping crane's lifespan is estimated to be 22 to 24 years in the wild...

 migration, the extinction of the Dodo

Dodo

The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit, and nesting on the ground....

, and hundreds of species of birds.

Contributors

Most bird sounds for BirdNote are provided by the Macaulay Library of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary...

. Writers include Dennis Paulson, Curator Emeritus of The Slater Museum of Natural History at the University of Puget Sound, 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

Victor Blanchard Scheffer

Victor Blanchard Scheffer was an American mammologist and the author of eleven books relating to naturalism...

 and others. Narrators include Mary McCann, Michael Stein, and Frank Corrado, a professional actor well known to Seattle theater-goers. John Kessler, of NPR

NPR

NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

’s Mountain Stage fame, is the producer. All shows have a companion photo, many of which were taken by photographer-naturalist, Paul Bannick. BirdNote's theme music was composed and played by John Kessler and Nancy Rumbel of Tingstad and Rumbel.

External links

• BirdNote online
• The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
  Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary...