to know the land

From Wikipedia :

A look into some of the varied ideas of what the Language of the Birds might mean. Less of the tracking and scientific approach to bird language, but instead exploring the mythic knowledge, fairy tales and legends, and history of  the language of the birds.

Originally aired August 12, 2019.

Going to Hawk Cliff to go watch migrating Raptors is becoming a bit of a pilgrimage for me. It’s only the second time I’ve gone there, but the quality of the experience is profound. To get to see these Birds whom, when you see individually during your everyday, it is always a highlight of the day. But to go see hundreds of these amazing predatory birds is just astounding. What a gift.

Hawk Cliff is a chance to be social, a chance to learn, a chance to share and be in awe and wonder at some of the most beautiful birds on the continent.

This episode is recording a trip down to Hawk Cliff with some dear friends, including Matt, Britta, Adrian, and Danielle. The structure is similar to old audiozines I used to make, describing in situ as well as voice overs to tell the story a little better and to give context to the audio.

List of books mentioned:

Hawks and Owls of the Great Lakes Region, Chris Earley. Firefly.

The Life History of North American Birds of Prey, Arthur Cleveland Bent. Dover.

Hawks at a Distance, Jerry Liguori. Princeton University Press.

Birds of Ontario, Andy Bezener. Lone Pine.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds, Roger Tory Peterson. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Field Guide to the Migrating Raptors of Hawk Cliff. Hawk Cliff Foundation.

The Crossley ID guide to Eastern Birds, Richard Crossley. Princeton University Press.

Useful references and links:

Hawk Cliff website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynandromorph

Danielle and I speak with Pinar and So of Queer Nature about how it might look feel and be to queer and decolonize our understandings of who we are in connection with the places we live. How can we interrupt the dominant narrative of ecologies viewed through the lenses of heterocentric, capitalist, white supremacis colonial narratives? Does the land make space for divergent identities, life ways and lifeforms? How do we as queer folks who seek to learn more about ancestral skills and the land bases we live on practice on lands we may not be ancestrally connected to?

Originally aired April 9th, 2018.

Matt Iles has been studying birds for about 12 years. He is humble, thoughtful and a wonderful teacher. He has taught me a lot and is a treasured friend and colleague. For this show we walk through the old fields of tall grass, Goldenrods, and assorted shrubs asking questions about his career as a bird biologist, about bird migrations, and his upcoming workshop “FlockShop #1 - The Eramosa River as Migration Stopover” put on with naturalist Adrian Iacovino at the Guelph Outdoor School.

Matthew’s instagram is   https://www.instagram.com/wild_m.iles/

Some useful online resources:

birdscanada.org/apps/checklist/ - Birds Canada Checklist tool.

audubon.org/field-guide - Online Bird Field Guide.

allaboutbirds.org - Useful information on I.D., Habitat, Range and assorted Natural History

ebird.org/canada/home - Keep track of your own finds, and support researchers.

Wonderful interview with Mountain Lion biologist and author Dr. Mark Elbroch, talking about his new book "The Cougar Conundrum : Sharing the World with a Successful Predator". Mark Elbroch shares some Cougar natural history and we hear his thoughts on the role media can play in Cougar conservation and his work with Panthera, a large Cat conservation organization protecting Cats around the world.

https://markelbroch.com/

https://islandpress.org/books/cougar-conundrum

https://www.panthera.org/

Sometimes it is hard to find ways to connect with the landbase in our daily lives. Our built up environments; navigating a world that seems to orient away from the land; and living with communities that don't support our goals of intimacy with nature.. but imagine how it might be trying to challenge this disconnect while locked up? 

Prisons are terrible places that don't really do much towards the healing of those incarcerated there nor the communities where they come from. They really just replicate and reinforce the ways our culture hurts us - alienation from our communities, from ourselves and from the land. But there are renegades. Folks in prisons looking out for the small life which breeds in the gaps and cracks, uncontrolled by the guards and their world. Today we hear some of those stories.

Originally aired January 16, 2017.

Discussing some hows and whys about storytelling as reciprocating interaction and interspecies language making. How can we work with stories to learn, teach and communicate better with each other in regards to the natural world, and then on top of that, how can we hear the stories of the natural world better so we can be a part of the learning, teaching and communication which is always already ongoing?