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Spark Bird: Dara Wilson and the Blue-gray Tanager
Learning a bird’s song by teaching people about it.
© Becky Matsubara
While Dara Wilson was working at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C., she introduced visitors to the Amazonia exhibit. She would describe the song of a bird she’d never had the chance to see in the wild, the Blue-gray Tanager. But when Dara moved to Panama, she heard the song that she knew by heart already. Encountering the Blue-gray Tanager in its natural habitat inspired her to keep learning about birds — and to share that knowledge with others as an educator. Dara helps organize Black Birders Week. Find out how you can participate here.
BirdNote®
Spark Bird: Dara Wilson and the Blue-gray Tanager
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[ambient sound: ML 514943]
While Dara Wilson was working at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C., she introduced visitors to the Amazonia exhibit.
Dara Wilson: You have to talk about every species, all the trees, all the frogs, and all the birds.
She would describe the song of a bird she’d never had the chance to see in the wild, the Blue-gray Tanager.
Dara Wilson: Their song, I think it's very beautiful, but like, it's a very raspy song. It's filled with like T's and tsk! tsk! and multiple parts too.
[Blue-gray Tanager song, ML 70770, 0:26-0:31]
But when Dara moved to Panama to work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, she heard a familiar song — one that she knew by heart already.
[Blue-gray Tanager song, ML 70770, 0:26-0:31]
Dara Wilson: I heard that call and it's like, I know that call. I know that call because I spent so much time teaching about it. I don't know if I cried, but it was kind of a tear jerker moment.
Encountering the Blue-gray Tanager in its natural habitat inspired Dara to keep learning about birds — and to share that knowledge with others, helping people have their own lightbulb moments.
Dara Wilson: As an educator, it's awesome to guide and foster that journey for people. You never know where it will go.
Dara helps organize Black Birders Week, which celebrates the Black birding community and hosts interactive events. Find out how to participate in this year’s activities on our website, BirdNote dot org. I’m Conor Gearin.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Environmental sound ML 514943 recorded by J. Hite, and Blue-gray Tanager ML 70770 recorded by P. Schwartz.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote May 2022 Narrator: Conor Gearin
ID# sparkbird-18-2022-05-30 sparkbird-18
