Return of the Birds 44from26

It’s the best time of the year. The parade begins. As Winter retreats Spring leans in. The birds are returning. And so is our show. 

Return of the birds is the serialized audiobook podcast of the nature study, Wake Robin, by John Burroughs. It’s the best story about birds I’ve ever read out loud.

The podcast combines Burroughs’s anticipation and delight that the birds bring to the changing seasons with field recordings of the bird songs he so accurately describes woven into the narration.

First published in 1871, Return of the Birds is a podcast 149 years in the making.

Come join the gentleman rambler on the shady trails of the Catskills, the Adirondacks and the fields and farms around the nation’s Capitol. 

Return of the Birds is 18-episodes. You can binge the first edition now or enjoy the weekly episodes of this new, second edition as they’re released. 

Click the links below for details about the bird vocalizations used in this episode from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Winter Wren
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin

Intro music: Kai Engel Walking Barefoot on Grass



Outro music: The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps: United States National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)



Download Wake-Robin by John Burroughs in e-reader format at archive.org.

The Creative Commons and public domain contains a wealth of images, music and more. The images used in these show notes link back to the contributors.
Winter Wren

Eastern Bluebird

American Robin

Credits & Links:
Click the links below for details about the bird vocalizations used in this episode from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology


American Robin 

Bluebird

Phoebe bird

Kingbird

Northern Flicker 1

Northern Flicker 2

Tufted Titmouse

White-breasted Nuthatch

Eastern Meadowlark

Northern Bobwhite

Ruffed Grouse

Barn Swallow

Greater Prairie Chicken

Great Horned Owl

Barred Owl

Barn Owl

Red Rooster

Chipping Sparrow

Snow Bunting

Brown-headed Cowbird

Downy Woodpecker 1

Downy Woodpecker 2

Song Sparrow

Baltimore Oriole

Wood Thrush

Intro music: Kai Engel Walking Barefoot on Grass
Outro music: The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps: United States National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)
Download Wake-Robin by John Burroughs in e-reader format at gutenberg.org or archive.org.
The Creative Commons and public domain contains a wealth of images, music and more. The images used in these show notes link back to the contributors.
American Robin

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Kingbird

Northern Flicker

Tuffed Titmouse
a title="Tufted Titmouse" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/snpphotos/43704028060" data-flickr

Naturalist John Burroughs quotes 'To the Cuckoo’ by William Wordsworth. He considers in detail the White-eyed Vireo’s skilled mimicry in her mid-summer song and how it may rival the mockingbird’s own ability. Burroughs shares observations on how elevation might impact and effect the distribution of species in the Town of Highlands, New York.  And concludes with a comparison of the vocal quality and musicianship between the hermit and the wood thrushes.



Intro music: Kai Engel Walking Barefoot on Grass

Outro music: The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps: United States National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)

Download Wake-Robin by John Burroughs in e-reader format at gutenberg.org or archive.org.

Naturalist and gentleman rambler John Burroughs was born 183 years ago on April 3, 1837. We’re grateful to carry on his work. Continuing where we left off in episode 3, we pick up in the first chapter of his book Wake-Robin. John Burroughs focuses on the thrushes. He details the grace and ease of the Wood Thrush. The Veery’s simple, descending flute-like tone adds to the twilight symphony. But Burroughs has some terse criticism for the Catbird and its song. But he turns to empathy for a Catbird family, when its nest is terrorized by a black snake and loses a fledgling to its grasp. In the end, Burroughs avenges the Catbird family.


Credits & Links:


Click the links below for details about the bird vocalizations used in this episode from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Wood Thrush

Veery

Vesper Sparrow

Gray Catbird

Intro music: Kai Engel Walking Barefoot on Grass



Outro music: The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps: United States National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)



Download Wake-Robin by John Burroughs in e-reader format at archive.org.

The Creative Commons and public domain contains a wealth of images, music and more. The images used in these show notes link back to the contributors.

Reaching the end of Chapter 1 in John Burroughs's classic nature study, Wake-Robin, the gentleman rambler describes the birds of July, the Scarlet Tanager, compares the Peewee’s hunting prowess and efficiency on the wing to the Chipping Sparrow's, or Socialis's, fumbling pursuit of a month. The marvel and spectacle when the pigeon hawk, now known as a Merlin, unflinchingly chases a goldfinch. Concluding with the late season silence and August’s departures.

The Creative Commons and public domain contains a wealth of images, music and more. The images used in these show notes link back to the contributors.





Credits & Links:


Click the links below for details about the bird vocalizations used in this episode from the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:


Scarlet Tanager
Field Sparrow
Great Crested Flycatcher
Barn Swallow
Chipping Sparrow
Vesper Swallow
American Robin
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
White-eyed Vireo
Bobolink
Hermit Thrush

Intro music: Kai Engel Walking Barefoot on Grass



Outro music: The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps: United States National Anthem (The Star Spangled Banner)



Download Wake-Robin by John Burroughs in e-reader format at archive.org.