Sound Escapes - The Song of the Big Island

BirdNote^®

Sound Escapes - The Song of the Big Island

Written by Mark Bramhill

This is BirdNote.

[SOUND OF WAVES ON BIG ISLAND]

The Big Island of Hawaii is home to more than two hundred species of birds, some of which are found nowhere else. But down here on the beaches and in the lowlands, you’ll hear quite a few familiar voices. For the past 200 years, people have brought birds to Hawaii from all over the world. Here’s Gordon Hempton, the recordist who captured the sounds we’re listening to now:

GH: it’s almost as if the birds aren’t listening to each other. It’s like they’re singing on top of each other. This is a convention of street musicians, gathered from all over the world, that are all playing at the same time to their own preferred genre.

[SHOREBIRD SOUNDS]

But if you get away from the beach and climb higher into the mountains, you’ll find the great forest refuges, where many of Hawaii’s native birds still thrive — and sing.

GH: But we are not hearing them step on each other. It’s as if they all agree that they belong to the same band.

[NATIVE BIRD CALLS]

You’ve been listening to a sneak preview of Sound Escapes, a special podcast production from BirdNote. You can hear the full half-hour version of this sonic vacation at our website, BirdNote.org/soundescapes.

For BirdNote, I’m Ashley Ahearn.

This show is made possible by Jim and Birte Falconer of Seattle, the Bobolink Foundation, Idie Ulsh, and the Horizons Foundation.

###
 
Bird and nature recordings by Gordon Hempton.
BirdNote’s theme music composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler; Managing Producer: Jason Saul; Editor: Ashley Ahearn; Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone; Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill.
© 2019 Tune In to Nature.org   March 2019   Narrator: Ashley Ahearn
 
ID# hemptong-SE-Hawaii-01-2019-03-22                 hemptong-SE-Hawaii-1