Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Episode 565 (2-22-21): Winter Birds of the Chesapeake Bay

Click to listen to episode (4:14)

Sections below are the following:

Transcript of Audio
Audio Notes and Acknowledgments
Images
Sources
Related Water Radio Episodes
For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.)

Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 2-19-21.

TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of February 22, 2021.  This episode is a revised version of an episode from February 2013.

MUSIC – ~15 sec – instrumental

That’s part of “Chesapeake Bay Ballad,” composed for Virginia Water Radio by Torrin Hallett, a graduate student at Lamont School of Music in Denver.  It sets the stage for a series of Bay-related mystery sounds.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds, and see if you can guess what kind of animals these six creatures are, and a seasonal thing they have in common.  And here’s a hint: if you think cold, you’re warm!

SOUNDS - ~ 32 sec


If you guessed all birds, you’re right!  The sounds, in order, were the Horned Grebe, Dunlin, American Coot, Hooded Merganser, Tundra Swan, and Snow Goose.  The seasonal thing they share is that they are winter residents around Chesapeake Bay area waters.  According to Life in the Chesapeake Bay, by Alice and Robert Lippson, some 22 bird species are commonly found in winter around the Bay but are uncommon or not present at all during summer.  And a similar number of Bay-area bird species are just the opposite—rare in winter but common in warmer months.  So as spring arrives, the first of two yearly feathered comings-and-goings will start to fill the skies over Virginia’s coastal waters.

Thanks to the Lang Elliott and NatureSound Studio for permission to use the grebe, dunlin, coot, and merganser sounds, from the Stokes Field Guide to Birds Songs; and thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Tundra Swan and Snow Goose sounds.  Thanks also to Torrin Hallett for this week’s music, and we close the final 35 seconds of “Chesapeake Bay Ballad.”

MUSIC – ~34 sec – instrumental

SHIP’S BELL 

Virginia Water Radio is produced by the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, part of Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment.  For more Virginia water sounds, music, or information, visit us online at virginiawaterradio.org, or call the Water Center at (540) 231-5624.  Thanks to Ben Cosgrove for his version of “Shenandoah” 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 Horned Grebe, Dunlin, American Coot, and Hooded Merganser 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 the “Music of Nature” Web site, http://www.musicofnature.org/.

The sounds of Tundra Swan and Snow Goose were taken from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (FWS) “Sounds Clips” Web page, online at Sound Clips” Web site at http://www.fws.gov/video/sound.htm.  For more FWS audio and video recordings, see the National Digital Library, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/.

“Chesapeake Bay Ballad” is copyright 2020 by Torrin Hallett, used with permission.  Torrin is a 2018 graduate of Oberlin College and Conservatory in Oberlin, Ohio, and a 2020 graduate in Horn Performance from Manhattan School of Music in New York.  As of 2020-21, he is a performance certificate candidate at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver.  More information about Torrin is available online at https://www.facebook.com/torrin.hallett.  Thanks very much to Torrin for composing the piece especially for Virginia Water Radio.  This music was used previously by Virginia Water Radio in Episode 537, 8-10-20, on conditions in the Chesapeake Bay.

Following are other music pieces composed by Torrin Hallett for Virginia Water Radio, with episodes featuring the music.
“A Little Fright Music” – used in Episode 548, 10-26-20, on water-related passages in fiction and non-fiction, for Halloween.
“Beetle Ballet” – used in Episode 525, 5-18-20, on aquatic beetles.
“Corona Cue” – used in Episode 517, 3-23-20, on the coronavirus pandemic.
“Geese Piece” – used most recently in Episode 440, 10-1-18, on E-bird.
“Ice Dance” – used in Episode 556, 12-21-20, on how organisms survive freezing temperatures.
“Lizard Lied” – used in Episode 514, 3-2-20, on lizards.
“New Year’s Water” – used in Episode 349, 1-2-17, on the New Year.
“Rain Refrain” – used most recently Episode 559, 1-11-21, on record rainfall in 2020.
“Spider Strike” – used in Episode 523, 5-4-20, on fishing spiders.
“Tropical Tantrum” – used most recently in Episode 489, 9-9-19, on storm surge and Hurricane Dorian. “Tundra Swan Song – used in Episode 554, 12-7-20, on Tundra Swans.
“Turkey Tune” – used in Episode 343, 11-21-16, on the Wild Turkey. 

Click here if you’d like to hear the full version (2 min./22 sec.) of the “Shenandoah” arrangement/performance by Ben Cosgrove that opens and closes this episode.  More information about Mr. Cosgrove is available online at http://www.bencosgrove.com.

IMAGES

Horned Grebe with young at Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.  Photo by Donna Dewhurst, made available in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Digital Library, online at https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/.  Specific URL for the photo is https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/478/rec/3, as of 2/23/21.

 

Drawing of a Dunlin.  Drawing by Tom Kelley, made available in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Digital Library, online at https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/.  Specific URL for the image is https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/5023/rec/1, as of 2/23/21.

American Coot.  Photo from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s “Birds” Web site, online at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/all/birds/all, accessed 2/23/21.

Hooded Merganser.  Photo from the Chesapeake Bay Program’s “Birds” Web site, online at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/all/birds/all, accessed 2/23/21.

Tundra Swan.  Photo by Donna Dewhurst, made available in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Digital Library, online at https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/.  Specific URL for the photo is https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/3403/rec/5, as of 2/23/21.

Snow Goose over Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia.  Photo by Steve Hillebrand, made available in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Digital Library, online at https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/.  Specific URL for the photo is https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/collection/natdiglib/id/15275/rec/5, as of 2/23/21.

SOURCES

Used for Audio 

Chesapeake Bay Program, “Birds,” online at https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/field-guide/all/birds/all.

Alice Jane Lippson and Robert L. Lippson, Life in the Chesapeake Bay, 3rd Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Md., 2006.  See pages 307-308 for the seasonal occurrence of bird species around the Bay.

Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR; formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), “Native and Naturalized Fauna of Virginia, April 2018,” online (as a PDF) at https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/virginia-native-naturalized-species.pdf.

For More Information about Birds in Virginia and Elsewhere 

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, “All About Birds,” online at http://www.allaboutbirds.org.

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, “Birds of the World,” online at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna (subscription required). 

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, “eBird,” online at https://ebird.org/home.  Here you can find locations of species observations made by contributors, and you can sign up to contribute your own observations.

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, “Merlin Photo ID.”  The application for mobile devices allows users to submit a bird photograph to get identification of the bird. Information is available online at http://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/.

National Audubon Society, online at https://www.audubon.org/.

Stan Tekiela, Birds of Virginia Field Guide, Adventure Publications, Inc., Cambridge, Minn., 2002.

University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, “Animal Diversity Web,” online at https://animaldiversity.org/.

Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), “Fish and Wildlife Information Service,” online at http://vafwis.org/fwis/?Title=VaFWIS+Species+Information+By+Name&vUT=Visitor
 

Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (formerly Department of Game and Inland Fisheries), “List of Native and Naturalized Fauna of Virginia, April 2018,” online (as a PDF) at https://dwr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/virginia-native-naturalized-species.pdf.

Virginia Society of Ornithology, online at http://www.virginiabirds.org/.  The Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, conservation, and enjoyment of birds in the Commonwealth.

Xeno-canto Foundation Web site, online at http://www.xeno-canto.org/.  This site provides bird songs from around the world.  

RELATED VIRGINIA WATER RADIO EPISODES

All Water Radio episodes are listed by category at the Index link above (http://www.virginiawaterradio.org/p/index.html).  See particularly the “Birds” subject category.

Following are links to other episodes on some of the birds mentioned in this week’s episode. 

American Coot – Episode 391, 10-23-17.
Grebes – Episode 233, 9-29-14.
Sandpipers (Dunlins are a type of sandpiper)Episode 315, 5-9-16.
Snow Goose – Episode 507, 1-13-20.
Tundra Swan – Episode 554, 12-7-20 .

FOR VIRGINIA TEACHERS – RELATED STANDARDS OF LEARNING (SOLs) AND OTHER INFORMATION

Following are some Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs) that may be supported by this episode’s audio/transcript, sources, or other information included in this post.

2020 Music SOLs

SOLs at various grade levels that call for “examining the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of knowledge.”

2018 Science SOLs 

Grades K-4: Living Systems and Processes
K.7 – Plants and animals have basic needs and life processes.
1.5 – Animals, including humans, have basic life needs that allow them to survive.
2.4 – Plants and animals undergo a series of orderly changes as they grow and develop, including life cycles.
2.5 – Living things are part of a system.
3.4 – Adaptations allow organisms to satisfy life needs and respond to the environment.
3.5 – Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems support a diversity of organisms.
4.2 – Plants and animals have structures that distinguish them from one another and play vital roles in their ability to survive.
4.3 – Organisms, including humans, interact with one another and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem.

Grades K-5: Earth and Space Systems
2.7 – Weather patterns and seasonal changes affect plants, animals, and their surroundings.

Grades K-5: Earth Resources
4.8. – Virginia has important natural resources.

Grade 6
6.8 – Land and water have roles in watershed systems.

Life Science
LS.7 – Adaptations support an organism’s survival in an ecosystem.
LS.8     – Change occurs in ecosystems, communities, populations, and organisms over time.

Biology
BIO.8 – Dynamic equilibria exist within populations, communities, and ecosystems.

Virginia’s SOLs are available from the Virginia Department of Education, online at http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/.

Following are links to Water Radio episodes (various topics) designed especially for certain K-12 grade levels.

Episode 250, 1-26-15 – on boiling, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 255, 3-2-15
– on density, for 5th and 6th grade.
Episode 282, 9-21-15
– on living vs. non-living, for kindergarten.
Episode 309, 3-28-16
– on temperature regulation in animals, for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Episode 333, 9-12-16
– on dissolved gases, especially dissolved oxygen in aquatic habitats, for 5th grade.
Episode 403, 1-15-18 – on freezing and ice, for kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Episode 404, 1-22-18
– on ice on ponds and lakes, for 4th through 8th grade.
Episode 406, 2-5-18
– on ice on rivers, for middle school.
Episode 407, 2-12-18
– on snow chemistry and physics, for high school.
Episode 483, 7-29-19
– on buoyancy and drag, for middle school and high school.
Episode 524, 5-11-20
– on sounds by water-related animals, for elementary school through high school.
Episode 531, 6-29-20
– on various ways that animals get water, for 3rd and 4th grade.
Episode 539, 8-24-20
– on basic numbers and facts about Virginia’s water resources, for 4th and 6th grade.