Click to listen to episode (3:47) 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 9-25-20. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;} TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 28, 2020.  This episode is a revised repeat of an episode from September 2012. MUSIC – ~10 sec – instrumental This week, we feature a traditional tune about a prominent geographic feature found at the southwestern tip of Virginia andat the top of each Virginia Water Radio episode.  Have a listen for about 20 more seconds.  MUSIC  - ~21 sec – instrumental You’ve been listening to part of “Cumberland Gap,” performed by Dwight Diller and Timothy Seaman on the 2004 album “Virginia Wildlife,” done in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, which is now the Department of Wildlife Resources.  The tune, dating at least from the Civil War and widely recorded, refers to the gap in Cumberland Mountain at the far southwestern tip of Lee County, Virginia, where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet.  That gap is the focal point of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, preserving what the National Park Service calls “the first great gateway to the west.” For many centuries, the gap provided passage through the mountains for native peoples.  After European settlement, it was the opening through which hundreds of thousands of people took the Wilderness Road from Virginia to Kentucky and other western territories.  For millions of years before those human passages, geology, water, wind, and perhaps the impact of a meteorite were causing the erosion that eventually formed a key pathway over the imposing mountains of the Appalachian chain. According to a National Park Service video about the Cumberland Gap park, quote, “Along more than 70 miles of trails, those who explore are rewarded with groves of hemlock, fields of wildflowers, meadows of rhododendron and fiddle ferns, and the chance to experience the legacy traced by bison, traveled by Cherokee and Shawnee, and crossed by explorers and pioneers on their way to transform a nation,” unquote. Thanks to Timothy Seaman for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 10 more seconds of “Cumberland Gap.” MUSIC  - ~12 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 Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this 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 126, 9-3-12.  The version of “Cumberland Gap” heard in this episode, from the 2004 album “Virginia Wildlife,” is copyright 2004 by Timothy Seaman and Pine Wind Music, used with permission.  This music was used previously by Virginia Water Radio in Episode 229, 9-1-14.  More information about Mr. Seaman is available online at http://www.timothyseaman.com/.  The “Virginia Wildlife” album was a collaboration between M

Click to listen to episode (4:19) 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 9-18-20. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;} TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 21, 2020. This week, we feature mystery sounds from two creatures found in coastal Virginia, particularly on an island with an interesting human history and a reputation as a bird haven.  Have a listen for about 15 seconds and see if you know either of these birds, or that island, which now actually is a peninsula.  And here are hints: the first bird’s unusual name sounds like “have a set”; the second bird’s name is something used to make people taller; and a word for stretching your neck out, as these birds sometimes do, may help you guess the island’s name.  SOUNDS  - ~14 sec If you guessed an avocet, a stilt, and Craney Island, you’re right!  You heard, first, an American Avocet, and second, a Black-necked Stilt, in a recording by Lang Elliott from the Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs.  These two wading shorebirds are the only two North American species in the small bird family of avocets and stilts.  They both have striking black and white markings, long legs, and long bills, with the bill of the avocet notably curving upward.  They use their bills in various ways to feed on a variety of aquatic insects and crustaceans.  The two species will share space for their nesting colonies, and they’re known to interbreed and produce hybrid offspring that birders have given the nickname “avo-stilt,” according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. These species typically inhabit shallow water bodies and wetlands in western parts of North America, but both occur in coastal Virginia: the avocet in winter and during spring and fall migration, and the stilt also during migration and sometimes as a summer breeder.  Particularly abundant populations of these birds occur on Craney Island, which is now a peninsula stretching from Portsmouth into the area where the Elizabeth and James rivers meet.  Before the 1950s, the area was truly an island, reportedly named for herons and other birds that were mistakenly called cranes by early European settlers.  The site has experienced various historical developments, culminating in creation in the 1940s of a Navy fuel area and, in 1957, the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area, an Army Corps of Engineers facility for depositing material dredged from Hampton Roads channels.  With human access limited, Craney Island has become an important habitat for many kinds of birds, with American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts being two birders’ highlights there, according to the “Birding Virginia” Web site. Thanks to Lang Elliott for permission to this week’s sounds, and we let an American Avocet have the last call. SOUND  - ~2 sec 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,

 Click to listen to episode (4:21) 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 9-11-20. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;} TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 14, 2020.  MUSIC – ~7 sec – instrumental This week, that music opens an episode about a group of intelligent and social marine mammals.  Have a listen for about 30 seconds to three kinds of mystery sounds, along with a bit more of the music, and see if you can guess this group of ocean animals.  And here’s a hint: they’re a popular attraction at places like the National Aquarium. SOUNDS ~ 16 sec  MUSIC - ~ 13 sec - instrumental If you guessed dolphins, you’re right!  You heard sounds from the Atlantic White-sided Dolphin, Bottlenose Dolphin, and Risso’s Dolphin, also known as Grampus.  The music was “Dolphin Dialogues,” by Torrin Hallett, a graduate student at Lamont School of Music in Denver.  Eight dolphin species are known to occur in Virginia coastal waters, out of over 30 ocean dolphin species worldwide.  The Bottlenose Dolphin is the most common species off the Virginia coast, and it’s known to travel well upstream into rivers such as the Potomac and the James. Scientists classify dolphins within the order of marine mammals called cetaceans, from a Greek word that means “large sea creature” or “huge fish.”  The cetacean order also includes whales and porpoises.  One porpoise species, the Harbor Porpoise, is known in Virginia waters.  Dolphins differ from porpoises in the shape of their body, beak, teeth, and top fin.  Along with whales and porpoises, dolphins have a high level of intelligence and a sophisticated use of sound for communication and navigation.  Dolphins make a variety of clicking, creaking, and whistling sounds, with individuals having their own, distinctive whistle.  Dolphins are also known for their social nature, traveling in pods that sometimes number in the hundreds. The non-profit organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation has described dolphins as “highly mobile, powerful predators who hunt fast-moving fish, squid, and other sea creatures.”  If you go to Virginia’s Atlantic coast, here’s hoping your visit includes a view of these remarkable marine mammals. Thanks to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office for the dolphin sounds.  Thanks also to Torrin Hallett for composing this week’s music for Virginia Water Radio, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “Dolphin Dialogues.” MUSIC – ~20 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 Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS  The dolphin sounds heard in this Virginia Water Radio episode were taken from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Office, “Sounds in the Ocean,” online at https://www.fishe

Click to listen to episode (4:51) 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 9-4-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 7, 2020. MUSIC - ~11 sec – instrumental This week, we feature a Blacksburg, Va., musician’s song that sets the stage for thinking about significant water resources issues.  Have a listen for about 45 more seconds. MUSIC - ~48 sec – Lyrics: Whatcha gonna do when the river runs dry? When there’s no more water in your well? You won’t know when to give it that one last try; You won’t be warned before the final bell. [I'm] takin’ it on the way, takin’ it on the way. Whatcha gonna do when the river runs dry?” You’ve been listening to part of “River Runs Dry,” by Kat Mills, accompanied by Rachel Handman, on the 2003 album “Long Time.”  As noted in a previous Virginia Water Radio episode featuring this music, the river in the song symbolizes the inspirations and sources of creativity on which Ms. Mills depends in her life and work.  But the song’s questions about what to do if the river or well goes dry provide inspiration for considering the challenges of actual water.  For example, water is a factor in three of the top worldwide risks over the next ten years cited in the non-partisan World Economic Forum’s “Global Risks Report” for 2020.  Those three are a water-availability crisis, climate change, and extreme weather. With U.S. national elections fast approaching, this Labor Day week offers a good time to consider some national and global water resources challenges awaiting the next president, Congress, and other federal officials.  If Virginia Water Radio could interview the presidential candidates, here are eight questions we’d ask, generated from various sources. 1. What water bodies should be regulated as part of the Waters of the United States under the federal Clean Water Act? 2. What are your plans for addressing the nation’s water-related infrastructure needs? 3. What should the federal government do regarding groundwater quantity and quality issues around the country? 4. What’s needed for all citizens to have access to adequate, safe drinking water? 5. What are your positions on climate change? And 6. What international water issues concern you? We end this episode with a question for you listeners: how, if at all, does water factor into your voting decisions this fall? Thanks to Kat Mills for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 25 more seconds of “River Runs Dry.” MUSIC - ~26 sec – Lyrics: “Whatcha gonna do when the river runs dry? I guess I'll have to pack up and leave my home.” 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 “River Runs Dry,” by Kat Mills, accompanied by Rachel Handman, is from the 2003 album “Long Time,” from Sweetcut Music; used with permission.  More information about Kat Mills is available online at http://www.sweetcut.com/kat/ and at https://www.facebook.com/katmillsmusic.  This music was used previously by Virginia Water Radio in Episode 200 (2-10-14) and Episode 291 (11-23-15). 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.&n

Click to listen to episode (4:18) 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 8-28-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 31, 2020. SOUND – ~5 sec This week, that sound of a Humpback Whale’s song opens an episode about water-related mammals. In scientific classification, or taxonomy, mammals are one class of vertebrates, that is, the animals with internal backbones. Other vertebrate classes are fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and birds.  While many mammals—including humans—live primarily on land, some other species are aquatic, meaning they actually live in water, while others are semi-aquatic, meaning they spend time both in water and on land.  As of August 2020, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources’ Fish and Wildlife Information Service listed 149 mammal species and subspecies known to occur in the Commonwealth, including 30 marine mammal species. To give you a chance to see what you know about various aquatic or semi-aquatic mammals that are found in Virginia or in ocean water off Virginia’s coast, here's a short quiz of five questions.  After each question, I’ll play a ticking timer for about three seconds to give you time to think before I give the answer. 1. What semi-aquatic mammal with a long tail like a rudder can remain submerged for as long as 15 minutes?  TIMER SOUND - ~3 seconds  - That’s the muskrat. 2. What weasel-like, semi-aquatic mammal makes distinctive slides through mud or snow?  TIMER SOUND - ~3 seconds - That’s the river otter. 3. What small semi-aquatic mammal, whose name rhymes with shoe, is found near fast-flowing rocky streams, feeds on aquatic insects and small fish, and is in turn eaten by larger fish such as trout and bass?  TIMER SOUND - ~3 seconds – That’s the water shrew. 4. What long-eared semi-aquatic mammal swims well and is found only in marshes and swamps?  TIMER SOUND - 3 seconds - That’s the marsh rabbit. 5. What aquatic mammal, listed on the federal endangered species list, is the largest living species of mammal?  TIMER SOUND - 3 seconds – That’s the Blue Whale. From gigantic whales to small shrews, aquatic and semi-aquatic mammals exhibit a wide range of sizes, shapes, adaptations to water, behaviors, and ecological functions. Thanks to the National Park Service for the Humpback Whale sound.  We close by letting three water-related mammals have the last calls.  Here are about 15 seconds of sounds of a beaver tail splat, an otter at a wildlife center, and an underwater recording of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins. Thanks to Freesound.org contributors for the otter and dolphin sounds. SOUNDS - 15 sec 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 Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this show.  In Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water. AUDIO NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Humpback Whale sounds were taken from a National Park Service recording (“Humpback Whales Song 2”) made available for public use on the “Community Audio” page of the Internet Archive Web site, at http://www.archive.org/details/HumpbackWhalesSongsSoundsVocalizations. The otter sounds were recorded by user Motion_S (dated March 5, 2014) and made available for public use by Freesound.org, at online at https://freesound.org/people/Motion_S/sounds/221761/, under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.&

Click to listen to episode (5:19) 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 8-21-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 24, 2020.  This week’s episode is intended especially for Virginia science students and their teachers in grades 4 and 6, and for anyone interested in water-related numbers. MUSIC - ~ 20 sec – instrumental That’s part of “The Water is Wide,” a traditional Scottish tune, performed by Timothy Seaman of Williamsburg, Va.  It sets the stage for exploring some numbers and facts about the wide variety of Virginia’s water resources.  We start with some mystery sounds about water bodies, that is, places that contain surface water.  Have a listen for about 25 seconds, and see if you know these four kinds of water bodies. SOUNDS – ~ 23 sec  If you guessed river, stream, lake, and estuary, you’re right! Those were sounds from the James River in Lynchburg; a small stream in Montgomery County; a boat on Claytor Lake in Pulaski County; and waves in the Chesapeake Bay, which is the United States’ largest estuary.  An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal water body where fresh water and salt water mix. According to a 2019 state government report, Virginia has almost 43,000 square miles of surface area, and about 3300 of those square miles are covered by surface waters.  That includes over 100,000 miles of rivers and streams; 160,000 acres in 248 publicly-owned lakes, not counting hundreds of privately-owned lakes or ponds; over 2300 square miles of estuaries; over 1 million acres of wetlands; and 120 miles of Atlantic Ocean coastline. All surface water bodies have an associated watershed, that is, the land area that drains to the water body at any given point.  Small-stream watersheds might cover considerably less than one square mile, while large-river watersheds can cover thousands of square miles, such as the over 10,000 square miles in the James River watershed, almost one-fourth of Virginia’s landscape. Besides surface water, the other main component of water resources is groundwater.  Underground formations of rock or other materials that yield water in wells are called aquifers.  Aquifers occur all over Virginia, varying in rock type, size, depth, and amount of water they hold and yield.  One particularly large example is the Potomac Aquifer, the major source of groundwater in Eastern Virginia; it’s found from Georgia to New Jersey. We know a lot about water in Virginia, but many unknowns—about climate change, groundwater, streams, and more—will probably still be wide-open questions when today’s elementary students have become tomorrow’s scientists. Thanks to Timothy Seaman for permission to use his version of “The Water is Wide.”  We close with some more music, with a title appropriate for wandering around to explore Virginia’s great diversity of waters.  Here’s about 20 seconds of “Wandering Boots,” by the Charlottesville- and Nelson County, Va.-based band, Chamomile and Whiskey. MUSIC - ~19 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 version of “The Water is Wide” heard here, from the 2006 album, “Jamestown—On the Edge of a Vast Continent,” is copy

Click to listen to episode (4:40) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Images Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 8-14-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 17, 2020. This episode is a revised repeat of an episode from April 2013. MUSIC – ~ 19 sec That’s part of “A Song for the Sea,” by the Richmond, Va.-based band Carbon Leaf.  The music opens an episode about Virginia’s famous connection to the sea—the Chesapeake Bay—and a wireless, floating system for getting current data and historical information about the Bay.  Have a listen for about 55 seconds to a recording from that system. VOICE - ~56 sec – “Welcome to NOAA’s First Landing buoy, part of the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System. … This buoy lies on a shoal in the Chesapeake’s mouth, approximately halfway between the junction of the Thimble Shoals and Baltimore channels, and east of the middle section of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.  The first landing buoy sits at the crossroads of the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic. Weather and water conditions at this intersection reflect the dynamic daily interplay of Earth’s third-largest estuary and her second-largest ocean. … In this location, the First Landing Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System buoy anchors the lower end of the buoy system.  It provides fascinating observations on both water quality and weather conditions, assisting many users, from pilots handling large ships, to anglers in small boats, and even tourists driving across the Bridge-Tunnel.” You’ve been listening to excerpts of a recording from the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System, or CBIBS, about geography at the First Landing buoy near Cape Henry, Virginia.  Sometimes called “smart buoys,” these buoys provide current weather and water conditions at ten Bay locations, from the Susquehanna River’s mouth near Havre de Grace, Maryland, to Cape Henry.  Begun in 2007 and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, CBIBS buoys collect meteorological, oceanographic, and water-quality data and relay that information through wireless technology to users of the system’s Web site or related mobile apps.  Along with the data measured at the buoys, CBIBS offers geographic, historical, and seasonal information for each buoy location, both in text and in audio recordings like the one you just heard.  This information helps interpret the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, a water trail marking Smith’s explorations of the Bay and area rivers from 1607 to 1609. Whether you’re venturing out on the waters of the Chesapeake, or you have a land-based interest in Bay data, geography, or history, you can get information from CBIBS online at buoybay.noaa.gov or via mobile apps for the system. Thanks to Carbon Leaf for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “A Song for the Sea.” MUSIC – ~ 21 sec - “Sail, sail, sailor beware,” then 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 Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this 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 replaces Episode 159, 4-29-13. “A Song for the Sea,” from the 2013 album, “Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle,” is copyright by Carbon Leaf and Constant Ivy M

Click to listen to episode (4:59) 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 8-7-20.  TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 10, 2020. This week, we focus on the Chesapeake Bay, and we start with some original music composed for that large, historic, and complex body of water. Have a listen for about 30 seconds. MUSIC – ~32 sec – instrumental You’ve been listening to part of “Chesapeake Bay Ballad,” by Torrin Hallett, a graduate student at Lamont School of Music in Denver.  A ballad is a song that tells a story, and the Chesapeake is rich in stories. One long, complicated Chesapeake story is the condition of the Bay’s water quality, habitats, and aquatic life, as told in various periodic reports by universities, government agencies, and other groups. A recent overall look at Chesapeake environmental conditions was the May 2020 edition of the annual Chesapeake Bay Watershed Report Card from the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science.  Like some other Bay health reports, this assessment generates a condition score ranging from zero to 100 by comparing various indicators to established goals.  The 2020 Maryland report examined Bay waters data available in 2019 [Note not in audio: the report released in May 2020 is called the 2019 report] for dissolved oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, chlorophyll, water clarity, aquatic grasses, and the benthic, or bottom-dwelling, community.  The overall score was 44, considered by the report as a “C-.” For comparison, the score in 2019—that is, for data from 2018—was 47; the highest score since 1986, when this record began, was 55 in 2002, and the lowest was 36 in 2003.  In their news release about the 2020 report, the Maryland Center asserted that low scores were believed due in part to unusually high rainfall and river flows in 2018 and 19.  The 2020 Maryland report also, for the first time, generated an index score for the overall Bay watershed, that is, beyond the Bay waters.  At that level, the score was 60; the highest scoring sub-watershed was the Upper James in Virginia, at 72; the lowest was the Lower Eastern Shore in Maryland, at 42. Besides the Maryland Center’s annual report, the Chesapeake Bay Program produces a yearly “Bay Barometer” report; the Chesapeake Bay Foundation produces a biennial “State of the Bay” report; various groups produce reports on individual Bay aspects, such as Blue Crabs and aquatic grasses; and real-time updates on the goals of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement are available from the Bay Program’s “Chesapeake Progress” Web site. These sources, and more besides, are among the many tellers of the Chesapeake Bay’s story. Thanks to Torrin Hallett for composing this week’s music for Virginia Water Radio, and we close with the final 15 seconds of “Chesapeake Bay Ballad.” MUSIC – ~18 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 “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 cert

Click to listen to episode (3:47) 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 7-31-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of August 3, 2020.  This week’s episode is a revised repeat of an episode from August 2013. MUSIC – ~5 sec – instrumental That music is named for a bird which provides this week’s mystery sound.  Have a listen for about 10 seconds, and see if you can guess what’s making the repeated cooing sounds, and what that they might have to do with water.  And here’s a hint: predicting the weather is rarely just like the clockwork connected to this bird. SOUNDS  - ~13 secIf you guessed a cuckoo, you’re right!  That was the call of a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, recorded around sunrise on August 9, 2013, in Blacksburg, Virginia.  The music you heard is part of “The Cuckoo’s Nest,” performed by Timothy Seaman of Williamsburg, Virginia, on the 2004 album, “Virginia Wildlife.”  The Commonwealth is a summer home for two of North America’s three cuckoo species, the Yellow-billed and the Black-billed.  Both species are found in woods, thickets, and orchards; both are secretive and are heard more than seen; and both feed in summer primarily on insects, particularly caterpillars.  Cuckoos are in the same taxonomic family as roadrunners, and cuckoos do, in fact, sometimes run or hop along the ground to capture prey. Now, all of that may be interesting, but what do cuckoos have to do with water, particularly?  For that, we turn to folklore, which has nicknamed both species as “rain crow” from the belief that they tend to call more frequently before rain.  Cuckoos are only one of the many kinds of animals considered in folklore to predict rain or other weather.  For example, a North Carolina publication on popular beliefs includes 25 pages of comments from many states about weather prediction by animals, from mammals and birds to spiders and crawfish.  Some of the other rain predictors noted in that publication, beside cuckoos calling, are a snake dying on its back, turtles crawling up on dry land, and frogs calling.  How much truth lies behind that folklore?  I certainly don’t know, but, for what it’s worth, it didrain the day I recorded the Yellow-billed Cuckoo! Thanks to Timothy Seaman for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 10 more seconds of “The Cuckoo’s Nest.” MUSIC - ~ 10 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 Stewart Scales for his banjo version of Cripple Creek to open and close this 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 is a revised repeat of Episode 174 (8-12-13), which has been archived. Thanks to David Brady, Thomas Brobson, Eric Day, and Stephen Schoenholtz for information about Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo sound was recorded by Virginia Water Radio in Blacksburg, Va., on August 9, 2013, at approximately 6:30 a.m. EDT. The version of “The Cuckoo’s Nest” heard in this episode, from the 2004 album “Virginia Wildlife,” is copyright by Timothy Seaman and Pine Wind Music, used with permission.  More information about Timothy Seaman is available online at http://www.timothyseaman.com/.  The “Virginia Wildlife” CD was a collaboration between

Click to listen to episode (5:14) Sections below are the following: Transcript of Audio Audio Notes and Acknowledgments Image Extra Information Sources Related Water Radio Episodes For Virginia Teachers (Relevant SOLs, etc.) Unless otherwise noted, all Web addresses mentioned were functional as of 7-24-20. TRANSCRIPT OF AUDIO From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of July 27, 2020. MUSIC – ~ 9 sec – instrumental This week, we feature music named for a plant that you could encounter on an outing to almost any watery or dry habitat in Virginia; and if that encounter involved touching the plant, you’d want to find some soap and clean water promptly.  Have a listen to the music for about 30 more seconds, and see if you know this widespread and wisely avoided plant. MUSIC - ~30 sec – instrumental If you guessed Poison Ivy, you’re right!  You’ve been listening to part of “Concerning Toxicodendron radicans Part II,” by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand, on the 2007 album “A Certain Tree.”  Toxicodendron radicans is the scientific name for Poison Ivy, one of four species in the Toxicodendron genus found in Virginia, according to the Flora of Virginia.  The other species are Poison Oak, Poison Sumac, and Western Poison Ivy, the latter known only from two Blue Ridge counties.  Poison Oak, Poison Sumac, and Poison Ivy have interesting water-related habitat differences: Poison Oak’s typical habitat is dry and rocky or sandy, most commonly in Virginia’s Coastal Plain; Poison Sumac’s typical habitat is wet, including swamps, bogs, and other wetlands, again usually in the Coastal Plain; while Poison Ivy is found in many kinds of dry and wet habitats, and is common throughout Virginia. Poison Ivy and Poison Oak both have leaves with a characteristic three leaflets, but Poison Sumac leaves have 7 to 13 leaflets. The species share the characteristic oil, called urushiol, that can cause a red, itchy skin inflammation.  Direct contact with leaves, stems, and roots can transfer the oil onto one’s skin, clothes, tools, and pets, and very small amounts of the oil can cause skin reactions.  Oil on a surface can remain active for months, or even years, according to some sources.  Burning these plants can release the oil which, if inhaled, can cause severe respiratory reactions. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends the following treatment for skin exposure to the oil: “Immediately [wash] skin with rubbing alcohol, specialized washes for poison plants, degreasing soap (such as dishwashing soap), or detergent, and lots of water. Rinse frequently so that [the] wash solutions [don’t] dry on the skin and further spread the [oil]. [And] Scrub under [the] nails with a brush.” The Institute recommends getting emergency medical help in case of a severe reaction, such as swelling or difficulty breathing, or if a person has had a severe reaction previously. Poison Ivy, Oak, and Sumac are native Virginia plants and have their ecological place; but here’s to outings where your place and theirs don’t mix.  Thanks to Andrew VanNorstrand for permission to use this week’s music, and we close with about 20 more seconds of “Concerning Toxicodendron radicans Part II.” MUSIC - ~20 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 “Concerning Toxicodendron radicans Part II,” on the 2007 album “A Certain Tree,” is copyright by Andrew and Noah VanNor