Surfin' Bird Meets Surfbird

BirdNote^®

Surfin’ Bird Meets Surfbird

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.
[From “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen]
 In 1963, a band called The Trashmen set the world of music on its ear with a song named Surfin’ Bird. While there’s no actual bird that goes by the name Surfin’ Bird, there is one whose name comes very close: the Surfbird. [Call of a Surfbird]
And just like many surfers, the Surfbird makes its home along the Pacific Coast. An oddly constructed sandpiper, the Surfbird looks a bit like a small, gray pigeon as it forages on rocky jetties along the coast. [Surfbird calls] Surfbirds first became known to science in 1778, during one of Captain Cook’s expeditions. But it took another 150 years to figure out where they nest: high on the rocky slopes of mountains in Alaska.
[Calls of Surfbirds and waves crashing]
The bird’s winter range ranks among the longest and narrowest of any bird, nearly 11,000 miles from Kodiak Island, Alaska to the southern tip of Chile. [Surfbird calls] Despite their extensive range, Surfbirds are concentrated in habitats subject to oil spills and development. For that reason American Bird Conservancy lists them as a bird of conservation concern.
And so, perhaps with a little help from The Trashmen, we can get everybody talkin’ about the bird – the Surfbird, that is. Learn more at birdnote.org. Today’s show brought to you by the Lufkin Family Foundation.
[Return with music from The Trashmen]
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Surfin’ Bird sung by The Trashmen, from The Bird Is the Word, Sundazed, 1964.
Sounds of the Surfbird provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Audio recordists: L.J. Peyton 49949, G. Vyn 140899 and B. Clock 141102.
Wave ambient by C. Peterson.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org   October 2016  Narrator: Mary McCann

ID#   SotB-SURF-01-2011-10-28