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Spark Bird: Chidi Paige and the Yellow Warbler
A bright yellow bird draws an educator into birding.
© Skip Russell / FCC
When Chidi Paige moved from Nigeria to the U.S., she began running a youth STEM program and had to teach lessons on bird identification. She was in for a challenge: she had to learn the local bird species quickly. On a birding trip, she spotted a Yellow Warbler in a pine tree. The beautiful warbler got Chidi hooked on birding. She has designed several games to make learning bird identification fun for kids.
BirdNote®
Spark Bird: Chidi Paige and the Yellow Warbler
Written by Mark Bramhill
Mark Bramhill: This is BirdNote.
Chidi Paige grew up in Nigeria, and while she studied zoology, she was not an expert on birds. So, when she moved to the United States and got a job running a youth STEM program at the Newark Museum in New Jersey and had to teach lessons on bird identification, she was in for a challenge.
Chidi Paige: So here I was, brand new to the country, going through a lot of culture shock. And so I was not even familiar with the native fauna. I was learning to identify birds alongside my students, who I'm supposed to be teaching bird identification! So I had to learn, and I had to learn fast.
Mark Bramhill: Her boss mentored her and helped lead the first few birding trips. And on one of those trips, as she got the hang of using her binoculars, Chidi spotted a bird in a pine tree.
Chidi Paige: It was this Yellow Warbler, this bright yellow bird with red streaks going down its belly.
[Yellow Warbler song, ML 57524601]
Chidi Paige: For me, it was an eye opener. Like I never knew, I just never knew this existed right under my nose.
[Yellow Warbler song, ML 165186111]
Chidi Paige: After I saw that Yellow Warbler I was just hooked. I was blown away and I wanted to see more.
Mark Bramhill: Chidi has stuck with birding ever since, and designed several games to make learning bird identification fun for kids. Learn more at our website, BirdNote.org. I'm Mark Bramhill.
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Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Yellow Warbler ML 57524601 recorded by J. McGowan, and Yellow Warbler ML 165186111 recorded by B. Walker.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote February 2022/October 2024
Narrator: Mark Bramhill
ID# sparkbird-16-2022-02-01 sparkbird-16
Mark Bramhill
Writer NarratorSights & Sounds
