Transcript of audio, notes on the audio, photos, and additional information follow below.
All Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 8-6-15.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 10, 2015.
This week, we feature two mystery sounds, and a guest voice, about two striking birds—striking in looks, and
striking in how they hunt. Have a listen for about 30 seconds, and see if
you can guess these two long-necked, long-legged wading birds.
SOUNDS AND GUEST VOICE – ~30 sec
If you guessed, egret or heron, you’re right! The
first call was from a Great Egret and the second from a Great Blue Heron. The guest voice was Alyson Quinn, reading
part of her “Lesson from an Egret,” inspired by a September 2007 visit to the
Potomac River. The word “egret” derives
from an old German word for “heron,” a fitting origin for the many similarities
between these two big birds. The Great
Egret and the Great Blue Heron are the two largest of 12 North American species
of herons, egrets, and bitterns. The Great
Egret is strikingly white, while the Great Blue has only a partially white head
over a bluish-gray body. But a white
“morph” of the Great Blue, called the Great White
Heron, occurs in Florida. Great Egrets
and Great Blues sometimes hunt on dry land, but both typically feed in shallow
water, taking fish, amphibians, and other prey by waiting and watching quietly,
then quickly striking with their long, sharp beaks. The two species also share
a history of having been widely hunted for their long plumes in the late 19th
and early 20th centuries; the impact on their populations helped
lead to nationwide bird-conservation efforts and organizations.
Distinctive looks, behavior, and history make these two “Greats” a memorable and meaningful sight along Virginia’s rivers, ponds, marshes, and other areas. Thanks to Lang Elliott for permission to use this week’s sounds, from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs, and thanks to Alyson Quinn for permission to share her “Lesson from an Egret,” which gets this week’s last words:
GUEST VOICE – ~17 sec
For more Virginia water sounds, music, and information, visit
us online at virginiawaterradio.org,
or call us at (540) 231-5463. Virginia
Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part
of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment. Thanks to Stewart Scales for his banjo
version of Cripple Creek to open and close the show. In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you
health, wisdom, and good water.
AUDIO NOTES AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The sounds of the Great Egret and the Great Blue Heron were
taken from the Stokes Field Guide
to Bird Songs-Eastern Region CD set, by Lang Elliott with Donald and
Lillian Stokes (Time Warner Audio Books, copyright 1997), used with permission
of Lang Elliott, whose work is available online at http://www.langelliott.com/ and the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/.
Excerpts of “Lesson
from an Egret” are courtesy of Alyson Quinn, from her blog “Winterpast”
(9/21/07), available online at http://www.winterispast.blogspot.com/, used with permission. Ms. Quinn made the recording after a visit to
Algonkian Regional Park,
located in Sterling, Va. (Loudoun County), part of the Northern Virginia
Regional Park Authority. More
information about the park is available online at https://www.nvrpa.org/park/algonkian/.
PHOTOS
Top two: Great Egret along the New River near
Parrott, Va. (Pulaski County); by Robert Abraham, used with permission. Third: Great Blue Heron along the New
River near Parrott, Va. (Pulaski County); by Robert Abraham, used with
permission. Bottom: Great Blue Heron in
stormwater pond on Virginia Tech campus, Blacksburg, July 28, 2015; by Alan
Raflo.
SOURCES
Used in Audio
Audubon Society, “History of Audubon and Science-based Bird
Conservation,” online at http://www.audubon.org/content/history-audubon-and-waterbird-conservation.Cornell University Lab or Ornithology, “All About Birds,”
online at http://www.allaboutbirds.org; and “Birds of North America Online,” online at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna (subscription required for the latter).
Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L. Lippson, Life in the Chesapeake Bay, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2006.
Oxford Dictionaries/Oxford
University Press, “Egret,” online at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/egret; and “Heron,” online at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/heron.
Chandler S. Robbins et al., A Guide to Field
Identification of Birds of North America, St. Martin's Press, New York, 2001.
Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, “Fish and
Wildlife Information Service/Species Information,”online at http://vafwis.org/fwis/?Title=VaFWIS+Species+Information.
Joel C. Welty, The Life of Birds, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1975.
Joel C. Welty, The Life of Birds, W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia, 1975.
For More Information about Egrets and Herons
E-bird Web site,
maintained by the Cornell Lab and the Audubon Society, online at http://ebird.org/content/ebird/. Here you can find
locations of species observations made by contributors, and you can sign up to
contribute your own observations.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Digital Library,
online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/. Images and other products (documents, videos,
or audio recordings) of Great Egrets are available at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/search/searchterm/Great%20Egret/order/nosort;
for Great Blue Herons, at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/search/searchterm/Great%20Blue%20Heron/order/nosort.
Virginia Society of Ornithology - non-profit organization
dedicated to the study, conservation, and enjoyment of birds in the
Commonwealth; online at www.virginiabirds.net.
RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES
Black-crowned
Night Heron featured in Episode 235 (10/13/14).
Green Heron and
Snowy Egret in “Last Bird Out,” Episode
183 (10/14/13), on fall migration.
For other episodes on birds in Virginia, please see the
“Birds” category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).
SOLS INFORMATION FOR
VIRGINIA TEACHERS
This episode may help with the following Virginia’s 2010 Science
Standards of Learning (SOLs):
Grades K-6 Earth
Resources Theme
3.10 – impacts on survival of species.
4.9 – Va. natural resources, including watersheds, water
resources, and organisms.
Grades K-6 Life
Processes Theme
1.5 - animals’ basic needs and distinguishing
characteristics.
3.4 - behavioral and physiological adaptations.
Grades K-6 Living
Systems Theme
2.5 - living things as part of a system, including habitats.
3.5 - food webs.
3.6 - ecosystems, communities, populations, shared
resources.
4.5 - ecosystem interactions and human influences on
ecosystem.
5.5 - organism features and classification.
6.7 - natural processes and human interactions that affect
watershed systems; Va. watersheds, water bodies, and wetlands; and water
monitoring.
Life Science Course
LS. 4 - organisms’ features and classification.
LS.6 - ecosystem interactions, including cycles and energy
flow.
LS.8 - community and population interactions, including food
webs, niches, symbiotic relationships.
LS.9 - adaptations for particular ecosystems’ biotic and
abiotic factors.
LS. 10 - changes over time in ecosystems, communities, and
populations, and factors affecting those changes.
LS.11 - relationships between ecosystem dynamics and human activity.
Biology Course
BIO.8 - dynamic equilibria and interactions within populations,
communities, and ecosystems; including analysis of the flora, fauna, and
microorganisms of Virginia ecosystems.
Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department
of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.
