My friend and colleague at Vermont Public Television, Holly Hungerford, and I have worked and watched birds together for many years. In 2001, we came up with the idea of doing a VPT program with Bryan Pfeiffer about birding in Vermont, hoping to encourage viewers to get out and discover our state’s bird life.
Right: Bryan Pfeiffer. Photo by Ron Clark.
Bryan is a consulting ecologist, naturalist, writer, photographer and founder of Vermont Bird Tours. Holly and I had been on bird tours with him and loved the way he makes learning about nature fun. We couldn’t imagine doing this program with anyone but Bryan. We figured he’d be a natural on camera, too, since he had the experience of his radio show, his regular field trip spots on Channel 3, and even a key role in the feature film “Man With a Plan.” We were delighted when he said yes.
As the on-screen tour guide to some of the state’s most familiar birds – and some of the rarest, Bryan would highlight where to find birds in each season, from backyard feeders to remote bogs, to the state’s highest peak, and would include tips to make watching birds more enjoyable.
We put together a proposal that VPT’s programming, production, and development managers liked, and development staff got the go-ahead to seek funding. But soon came the reality so many producers experience, production funds could not be raised. We would dust off the proposal now and then, and VPT would resubmit it to potential funders. At times, when we wondered if the idea would ever see the light of a TV set, we would take “research” breaks from work and slip off to the nearby Woodside Natural Area for an hour of birding. Everything looks better after some time spent in nature.
Finally, in summer 2005, the proposal was accepted for funding by USDA Rural Development, and work got underway. Holly and I remember that initial feeling of “Yikes! Now we’ve got to do this ... and fit it in somehow around our day jobs.” We contracted with Bryan, who fortunately was still available, to be both on-camera talent and consultant for the program.
VPT purchased a telephoto lens that was essential to getting close-ups of birds. Our bird-loving videographer, Ed Lalonde, became adept at finding tiny birds on branches through the black-and-white viewfinder.
Shooting began in October 2005 with the Snow Goose spectacle at Dead Creek and continued through June 2006.
There will be seven segments to the program, featuring different parts of the state and different habitats through the seasons. The program begins with a winter visit to Birds of Vermont Museum in Huntington to see what’s at the feeders and what one can see outside the window. Bryan watches birds with Bob Spear and a young family. Next stop is the Champlain Valley in very early spring to look for wintering hawks, courting ducks and ice-fishing eagles.
A spring segment at Herrick’s Cove shows that even on a wet day, you might find newly arrived warblers, marsh birds and the elusive Virginia Rail. On a warm summer day, the program takes viewers to Moose Bog in the Northeast Kingdom to look for species that breed only in this remote habitat.
The fifth segment goes to Mt. Mansfield in search of Bicknell’s Thrush and the biologists who study them. In fall, the action moves to Dead Creek, where the Snow Geese cooperated on the day of the shoot by clustering close to the fence by the Viewing Area. The final segment features the Christmas Bird Count in Woodstock, where citizen science combines with the social side of birding.
Several Vermonters will appear briefly in the program, Audubon Vermont’s Bridget Butler among them. At Herrick’s Cove, she and Bryan watch birds together and talk about Important Bird Areas.
VPT plans to develop a related website full of useful information and links.
As this newsletter goes to press, the show is in the “post-production” stage, with editing the main activity. In the editing process, the producers depend on the skill of a seasoned editor to help tell the story. For a program like this, there are hours of footage shot in the field, and it’s certain that some good stuff won’t make it into the broadcast. Producers have to make hard choices about what goes into the program and what stays out. Fortunately, in these days of DVDs, we can add “extras,” like footage that didn’t make it into the show.
There’s still plenty to be done to complete the program -- recording narration, producing graphics, scoring, and creating an opening sequence.
We hope the program will work the way watching birds does, –as a gateway to appreciating the natural world. We’ll get the word out around the state with publicity and email alerts before the premiere on Vermont Public Television in early March 2007.
