Spark Bird - Glenn Albrecht and the Gray Fantail

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Spark Bird: Glenn Albrecht and the Gray Fantail 

Written by Nick Bayard

This is BirdNote. 

[Staccato calls of a Gray Fantail, ML 233491]

Glenn Albrecht grew up in western Australia, where he became enamored with birds.

Glenn Albrecht: One bird in particular, the Gray Fantail, would come very close — in fact, sometimes would land on my grandmother’s head and steal some of her hair. And for the rest of us, it would come close, it would fly around our heads. It’s an acrobat, so it would tumble and twist and turn. And as a child, I thought that this was such a special bird, because it felt like it was directing its attention to humans, and to me in particular.

He later learned that these acrobatic flights allow the fantail to catch insects. 

Glenn Albrecht: And It wasn’t until I became a more serious bird lover and birdwatcher that I read that the Gray Fantail does this special bonding and acrobat trick to anyone that enters its territory. And it turns out that it’s just using me as a broom, as an extension of its own fan to get more insects up into the air so that it could catch them.

[Sound of Gray Fantail with ambient environmental sounds, ML 78535181]

As he grew up, Glenn witnessed how coal mining devastated the Australian countryside — and the birds that lived there. He’s since become an environmental philosopher. He’s developed a new vocabulary to describe human relationships with the natural world. Glenn wants to expand the human imagination about our future on Earth – honoring the kinds of connections he built as a child with the Gray Fantail.

Glenn Albrecht: This bird was inviting me to share its world. All I had to do was to pay attention to it.

[Melodic song of a Gray Fantail]

Learn more about Glenn’s work on our website, birdnote.org. I’m Nick Bayard. 

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Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Gray Fantail ML233491 recorded by Tony Baylis, Gray Fantail ML78535181 recorded by Ian Davies, and Gray Fantail ML272046311 recorded by Ramit Singal.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2023 BirdNote   January 2023        
Narrator: Nick Bayard

ID# sparkbird-22-2023-01-11    sparkbird-22