Fans of John James Audubon will enjoy the fourth show in our line-up on Things With Wings Sunday, September 26.

Based on the book of the same name, the film reenacts the summer of 1821 when Audubon secured a job as a tutor for the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Pirrie in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. 

Audubon accepted the tutoring job because he was bankrupt, a situation that nearly forced him to abandon his bird folio project.  He didn’t think the job would advance his bird project at all, but that was before he spent the summer at Oakley Plantation among Louisiana’s beautiful and plentiful birds. 

Audubon’s summer of birds deepened his art and writing and permanently influenced that region of Louisiana. 

Don’t miss A Summer of Birds on Sunday September 26 at 5:00pm on WQED, Pittsburgh.

(logo from A Summer of Birds.  Image credit: New York Historical Society. Click on the image to see a preview from Louisiana Public Broadcasting.)

Yow!  I nearly missed it!  Sunday was International Rock Flipping Day (IRFD) and I almost forgot.  If I didn’t to flip a rock Pittsburgh, PA would go uncounted.

I raced to my backyard, flipped the rock that props up my bird bath, and snapped away with my cellphone camera.  Here are the before and after results.

You’re right.  There is nothing of interest is under that rock.  At least nothing I was able to photograph.  I did see a centipede run away, but that was before my cellphone camera had time to respond.

Undaunted by this lack of success I looked for another likely rock to flip and found the next best thing:  an upside down birdbath I haven’t used in a long time.  I flipped the defunct birdbath with better results, indicated below by the red arrow.

Here’s a closer look at the spider web built at the crook of the tree roots:

Conclusion?  ‘Tis better to flip the old birdbath than the rock that holds up the new one. 

Click here to read more about IRFD (organized by Wanderin’ Weeta) and the news from rock-flippers around the world… or click the links below to read the participating blogs.

• Lynda at mainlymongoose in South Africa
• Kordite in the Flickr group from (surprise!) Pittsburgh
• Bill Murphy at Fertanish Chatter
• Malia at The Shell and Mantle in New York City
• Rebecca In The Woods on Jekyll Island, Georgia
• Dave Bonta from Plummer’s Hollow, Pennsylvania, on Via Negativa. Here and here and on Flickr.
• Paul, The Obligate Scientist
• Wanderin’ Weeta from Delta, British Columbia, Canada. Here and on Flickr. Plus one to be posted soon.
• Ontario Wanderer on Flickr
• JayLeigh in Pacific Northwest Nature for Families
• Fred Schueler in Nova Scotia: a Google document, copied here.
• Rikaja in Slovakia
• Bev Wigney at Journey to the Centre, a Canadian traveling in the U.S.
• Hugh, at Rock, Paper, Lizard in Richmond, BC.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Mark your calendars for Things With Wings Sunday, September 26.

Starting at 2:30pm, WQED will broadcast 4.5 hours of programs about birds and birding.  Here’s the line-up:

• 2:30pm, On The Wing: The Swifts of Chapman School
• 3:00pm, Journey of the Broad-winged Hawk
• 4:00pm, Rare Bird
• 5:00pm, A Summer of Birds
• 6:00pm, Opposable Chums: Guts & Glory at the World Series of Birding

I’ll tell you more about these shows as the time approaches, but there are so many I have to start right now.

The first program will be a re-broadcast of On The Wing: The Swifts of Chapman School.  It tells the story of the Vaux’s swifts who put on an amazing aerial display every evening during fall migration as they swirl to roost in the chimney of a Portland, Oregon elementary school.  The event has become a cult phenomenon in Portland, attracting hundreds and thousands of observers each year.

I reviewed this show last year just before we first broadcast it, so click here to read more and see the trailer.  There’s a bonus if you click.  I give you tips on where to find swirling chimney swifts in Pittsburgh.

(photo from Dan Viens, creator of On the Wing)

On our nation’s birthday…

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.
— lyrics from This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie, 1944

(photo by Brian Herman)

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p.s.  Chuck Tague’s blog has eagle photos for today’s celebration.