Click to listen to episode (4:23)
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 3-19-21.
TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO
From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of March 22, 2021. This revised episode from March 2016 is part of a series this year of spring-related episodes.
MUSIC – ~ 13 sec – Lyrics:
“see I ate all my dinner, and so much for winter; I’m gonna run till the
springtime’s gone.”
This week, music from the Harrisonburg, Va.-based band, The Steel Wheels, captures some of the “fever” of spring, which begins astronomically in the northern hemisphere on March 20 this year. Have a listen for about 40 more seconds.
Music – ~ 41 sec – Lyrics: “Hey, hey, hey, what a day. I’m gonna soak up sun, gonna dry out the
river, I’m gonna run to the shimmering pond, until the summer comes….”
You’ve been listening to part of “Until the Summer Comes,”
from The Steel Wheels’ 2013 album, “No More Rain.” Water is part of spring’s
feverish pull for this song’s narrator and for many non-humans, like Spring
Peepers [SOUND ~ 3 sec] seeking temporary ponds for breeding;
Red-winged Blackbirds [SOUND ~ 3 sec] nesting in wetlands; and—to
humans’ dismay—mosquitoes [SOUND ~ 2 sec] seeking all kinds of
standing water for egg-laying.
As of this recording on March 19, water supplies were mostly in good condition
across Virginia. The U.S. Drought
Monitor from the University of Nebraska showed no current drought in Virginia; the
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s drought indicators map showed
mostly normal conditions, except for low groundwater in part of northern
Virginia; and the U.S. Geological Survey’s WaterWatch showed stream flows over
the past 28 days at or above normal across the Commonwealth.
Let’s hope that those good water conditions persist well beyond when summer
begins astronomically on June 20, for the sake of kids in creeks, frogs in
ponds, birds in wetlands, water supplies in reservoirs, plants in the ground,
and countless other aquatic connections.
Thanks to Freesound.org for the mosquito sound, and thanks to The Steel Wheels
for permission to use this week’s music.
Here’s to spring’s arrival, and we close with about 25 more seconds of
“Until the Summer Comes.”
MUSIC – ~ 26 sec – Lyrics: “Until the summer comes.”
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
This Virginia
Water Radio episode revises and replaces Episode 308, 3-21-16.
“Until the Summer Comes,” by The Steel Wheels, is from the
2013 album “No More Rain,” used with permission. More information about The
Steel Wheels is available online at http://www.thesteelwheels.com/.
The Spring Peeper sound was recorded by Virginia Water Radio at Heritage Park
in Blacksburg, Va., on March 17, 2021.
The Red-winged Blackbird sound was recording by Virginia
Water Radio in Blacksburg, Va., on March 26, 2015.
The mosquito sound was recorded by user Zywx and made available for public use on Freesound.org, online at https://www.freesound.org/people/Zywx/sounds/188708/, under Creative Commons License 0 (public domain). More information about Creative Commons is online at http://creativecommons.org/; license information specifically is online at https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/.
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
Above: Virginia drought indicator map
as of 3/18/21, from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, accessed
online at this
link, 3/19/21.
SOURCES USED FOR AUDIO AND OFFERING MORE
INFORMATION
Deborah Byrd, “Everything you need to know: Vernal equinox
2016,” EarthSky, 3/16/16, online at http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-vernal-or-spring-equinox.
Cornell University Lab of Ornithology,
“All About Birds,” online at http://www.allaboutbirds.org. The Red-winged Blackbird entry is
online at https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
“Meteorological Versus Astronomical Seasons,” online at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/meteorological-versus-astronomical-seasons.
National Weather Service/Climate Prediction Center, “U.S. Seasonal Drought
Outlook for March 18—June 30, 2021” (released March 18. 2021), online at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/expert_assessment/sdo_summary.php.
U.S. Geological Survey, “Water Watch,” Virginia 28-day streamflow map, online
at https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/index.php?m=pa28d&r=va&w=map,
on 3/18/21.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, “U.S. Drought Monitor,” online at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/.
U.S. Naval Observatory, “Earth’s Seasons—Equinoxes and Solstices—2021-2025,”
online (as PDF) at http://www.weather.gov/media/ind/seasons.pdf.
Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, “Virginia is for Frogs,” online at https://dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/virginia-is-for-frogs/.
Va. Drought Monitoring Task Force, “Current Drought Conditions in Virginia,”
online at http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Water/WaterSupplyWaterQuantity/Drought.aspx,
accessed 3/18/16.
Virginia Herpetological Society, online at http://www.virginiaherpetologicalsociety.com/. Herpetology is the study of amphibians
(including frogs, toads, and salamanders) and reptiles (including lizards,
snakes, and turtles).
Virginia Water Resources Research Center, “Mosquitoes and Water,” Virginia Water Central Newsletter, June 2009 (pages 6-15), online at http://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/49357.
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 “Amphibians,” “Birds,” and “Overall Importance of Water” subject categories.
Following are links to other spring-themed episodes.
Eastern Phoebe – Episode 416, 4-16-18.
Frog and Toad Medley – Episode
408, 2-19-18.
Rhododendrons – Episode 574, 4-26-21.
Spring forest wildflowers – Episode
573, 4-19-21.
Spring Peepers – Episode
570, 3-29-21.
Spring reminder about tornado awareness – Episode
568, 3-15-21.
Spring signals for fish – Episode
571, 4-5-21.
Spring
sounds serenades – Episode 206, 3-14-14 and Episode 516, 3-16-20.
Virginia Bluebells – Episode
521, 4-20-20.
Warblers and spring bird migration – Episode
572, 4-12-21.
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.
1.4 – Plants have basic life needs (including water) and
functional parts that allow them to survive.
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.
3.5 – Aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems support a diversity
of organisms.
4.3 – Organisms, including humans, interact with one another
and with the nonliving components in the ecosystem.
Grades K-5: Earth and
Space Systems
1.7 – There are weather and seasonal changes.
2.7 – Weather patterns and seasonal changes affect plants,
animals, and their surroundings.
3.7 – There is a water cycle and water is important to life
on Earth.
Grades K-5: Earth Resources
4.8. – Virginia has important natural resources.
Life Science
LS.5 – Biotic and
abiotic factors affect an ecosystem.
LS.8 – Changes occur
in ecosystems, communities, populations, and organisms over time.
Earth Science
ES.12 – The Earth’s weather and climate result from the
interaction of the sun’s energy with the atmosphere, oceans, and the land.
Biology
BIO.8 – Dynamic equilibria exist within populations,
communities, and ecosystems.
2015 Social Studies SOLs
Grades K-3 Geography
Theme
1.6 – Virginia climate, seasons, and landforms.
World Geography Course
WG.2 – how selected physical and ecological processes shape
the Earth’s surface, including climate, weather, and how humans influence their
environment and are influenced by it.
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.
