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Heeding The Messenger

in Conservation / Director's Blog / News by Su Rynard October 17, 2020 0 comments

The Jackman Humanities Institute Program for the Arts presents:
Heeding The Messenger (Songbirds and the Scale of Climate Change)
Friday Nov 6, 2020
in cooperation with the IHPST, Victoria University, and Cinema Studies Institute,
University of Toronto

Heeding the Messenger is a one-day interdisciplinary event inspired by, and culminating in, a screening and round table discussion of Toronto film-maker Su Rynard’s 2015 documentary film The Messenger. Echoing the mythical role of birds as divine messengers, the film sets out to discover what we should learn from the recent and rapid decline of migrating songbirds around the globe. In concert with scientists, naturalists, activists, museum curators and concerned citizens, Rynard follows the migration routes of songbirds to critical points of observation–from downtown Toronto to deforested Costa Rica, drought-ridden Turkey, and Manhattan’s 9/11 memorial–seeking insight into the ecological and environmental causes and consequences of songbirds’ decline.

Heeding the Messenger brings together STS and sound studies scholars, participants in Rynard’s film, and the director herself to explore the themes and issues raised in the film and by the plight of songbirds in general. Engaging local and global perspectives, speakers and participants will speak to multiple aspects of contemporary climate change, offering a multivocal and multifaceted account of affective and ecological dimensions of the Anthropocene.

Birds in Flight
10:15 Welcome
Iris Montero (Brown University) Into the Archive of Trans-species Migration in Greater Mexico
Kristoffer Whitney (Rochester Institute of Technology) Migratory Birds, Shifting Habitats, and the “Lost” Science of Phenology
Rachel Mundy (Rutgers University) Song at the End of Modernity
12:00 Lunch Break
The Messenger
13:00   Screening of The Messenger, a documentary by Su Rynard
15:15   Roundtable Discussion
Su Rynard (Film Director) / Bill Evans (Old Bird, Inc.) / Michael Mesure (FLAP) / Chris Guglielmo (Western University) / Alejandra Martínez-Salinas (CATIE) / Çağan H. Şekercioğlu (University of Utah) Bridget J. Stutchbury (York University)
17:30   Conclusion

All events are free and everyone is welcome. Please register here: https://messenger.eventbrite.ca to receive the link to the online event and documentary screening

Event organized by Lucia Dacome, Angelica Fenner and Rebecca J.H. Woods in collaboration with Oana Baboi and Sarah Qidway.

Lucia Dacome is an Associate Professor and Pauline M.H. Mazumdar Chair in the History of Medicine in the IHPST. Angelica Fenner is an Associate Professor in the Cinema Studies Institute at Innis College and in the German Department of St. Michael’s College. Rebecca J.H. Woods is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and in the IHPST.

Pesticides Make Migrating Birds Lose their Way

in Conservation / News by SongbirdSOS December 14, 2017 0 comments

Guest Blog post by Dr. Bridget Stutchbury

Pesticides are widely recognized as a risk to birds that forage in agricultural environments especially during migration. Since many current use insecticides are potent neurotoxins, we speculated that they could have behavioural effects in small songbirds landing in agricultural fields during their journey north if they consume tainted seeds or granules when they stop to fuel.

So we designed a study to test whether low level exposure to 2 widely used insecticides – imidacloprid (a neonicotinoid) and chlorpyrifos (an organophosphate) could disrupt the migratory ability of a wild-caught songbird. White-crowned sparrows, a common seed eater, were captured on migration and held in captivity at the Facility for Applied Avian Research at the University of Saskatchewan. After acclimation, we exposed the birds to either a low or high dose of either imidacloprid or chlorpyrifos at concentrations they could realistically encounter in the environment, and tested their orientation in a series of Emlen funnel migration trials before dosing, during the 3 day exposure, and during the recovery period.

What surprised us was how sensitive and rapid the effects were, particularly to imidacloprid.

The birds showed a significant loss of body mass and signs of acute poisoning (lethargy and loss of appetite). The migration trials also showed that birds completely failed to orient or changed their northward orientation, whereas controls continued to behave as expected. While the chlorpyrifos treated birds did not show toxicity in terms of weight loss, they too lost their migratory orientation. In the wild, we calculated that these effects would be seen if the birds consumed just a few treated seeds or granules mistaken as grit.

We were encouraged that most birds survived, and could recover following the cessation of dosing, but the effects we saw were severe enough that the birds would likely experience migratory delays or changes in their flight routes that could reduce their chance of survival or cause a missed breeding opportunity.

Since these chemicals are used over vast areas of North America and the timing of application directly overlaps with spring migration, the results of this study raises serious concern about the risk of increasing use of seed and granular pesticide treatments to millions of migrating songbirds.

*****

The study is a collaboration between Margaret Eng, PhD Candidate, Dr. Christy Morrissey, Avian toxicologist, University of Saskatchewan and Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, Biologist, York Unniversity.

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Here is the article published in the peer-reviewed Scientific Reports. Stutch.Morrissey.Eng_et_al-2017_Sparrow toxicity IMI CPF_Scientific_Reports

Media coverage:

The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/29/common-pesticide-can-make-migrating-birds-lose-their-way-research-shows

Daily Mail UK http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5130721/Controversial-pesticide-linkied-songbird-decline.html

The Messenger Canadian Campus tour kicks off

in News by SongbirdSOS September 21, 2016 0 comments

Toronto, ON (September 21, 2016)

The award-winning documentary The Messenger is teaming up with Bird Studies Canada to tour Canadian University and college campuses this fall. The tour kicks off this evening at Dalhousie University in Halifax. Each screening will be followed by a discussion led by local conservation and biologists. For more information on campus locations, dates and times, see https://songbirdsos.com/screenings/canadian-screenings/

Confirmed campus locations and dates include:

September 21 – Dalhousie, Halifax, NS Hosted by professor Cindy Staicer.
September 27- McMaster University – Hamilton, ON Hosted by Instructor Greg Zilderbrant
September 28 -Ottawa University – Ottawa, ON Hosted by Professor Scott Simon
September 29 – University of Saskatchewan, SK – with Professor Christy Morrissey and Kiel Drake from Bird Studies Canada
October 2 – Mount Allison, Sackville, NB, followed by Q+A with Bird Studies Canada and Environment Canada
October 2 – Fleming College, Lindsay, ON hosted by the City of Kawartha Lakes Environmental Advisory Committee with Director Su Rynard and FLAP’s Michael Mesure in attendance
October 5/6 University of Victoria, followed by Q+A with Dr. David Bradley of Bird Studies Canada
October 21-23 The Antigonish International Film Festival, NS – Home of St.Francis Xavier Univeristy
October 25 The University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC followed by a Q+A with Dr. David Bradley of Birds Studies Canada
November 9 Queen’s University, Kingston ON
November 9 The University of Guelph, ON followed by a Q+A with Dr. Ryan Norris and others
November 10 – The University of Windsor, ON
November 10 McGill University, Montreal, QC, presented by Le Nichoir
November 15 Lakeland College, Vermilion, AB
Date TBA – The University of Western Ontario, ON
Date TBA – The University of Regina, SK
Date TBA – York University, Toronto, ON with Bridget Stutchbury

“We are delighted to be introducing The Messenger to students and educators across the country” says Director Su Rynard. “Since its premiere at Toronto’s Hot Docs Film Festival, The Messenger has wowed audiences the world over at more than 30 international film festivals and played in over 100 Cinemas. We are really pleased the film has been so well received. We hope it is will inspire people to make a difference for not just birds, but the planet too.”

The Messenger is an international story with high stakes global consequences. The film argues that the decline of songbirds is due to human activity, signalling an uncertain shift in an already fragile ecosystem while warning the uncertain fate of songbirds might mirror our own.

A Hot Docs 2015 ‘Top Ten Audience Favourite’ The Messenger has received several awards including The Best Conservation Program from The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival plus a Canadian Cinema nomination for Best Cinematography in a Feature Documentary and Ontario Nature’s Carl Nunn Impact Award.

Filmed on three continents, The Messenger features a number of Canadian scientists including biologist Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, (Author Silence of the Songbirds and Professor, York University) Erin Bayne, (Biology Professor, University of Alberta) and Dr. Christy Morrissey (Avian Ecotoxicologist, University of Saskatchewan) and citizen scientist Michael Mesure from FLAP. More on the film participants here. https://songbirdsos.com/featuring/

Without a doubt, The Messenger is the most outstanding film I’ve seen on birds. The fact that it is so strongly science-based, so emotive in its pitch, so beautiful in its design it captivates me and everyone who has had a chance to see it.” – Steven Price, President, Bird Studies Canada

A free study guide will soon be available for educators who wish to use The Messenger in classroom discussions.

Campus organizations wishing to request a screening as part of the tour should send request a screening here.

To book an interview or request an appearance by the filmmakers or the participating scientists, contact:

Joanne Jackson, Producer, SongbirdbirdSOS Productions Inc.,

Email: joanne@songbirdsos.com

Phone +1 416 801 1118

For US inquiries please contact Jeff Tamblyn at Kino Lorber. Jeff Tamblyn (edu@kinolorber.com) 212-629-6880

For more information visit www.TheMessengerDoc.com

JOIN THE MESSENGER ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/SongbirdSOSfilm/

Twitter — @themessengerdoc

#BirdFriendly

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90 MIN English, (or English with French subtitles)
Directed by Su Rynard

Written by Su Rynard and Sally Blake

Produced by Joanne Jackson, Sally Blake and Martin de la Fouchardière,

Diane Woods and Su Rynard

SongbirdSOS is a Canada/France co-production
Produced by SongbirdSOS Productions and Films à Cinq/ARTE

Produced with participation from the Ontario Media Development Corporation Film Fund,
CBC, ARTE, Canal D and the Rogers Documentary Fund, Canada Media Fund, CNC,

Telefilm International Co-production office, Rogers Telefund, Procirep-Angoa
and the Documentary Organization of Canada.
Developed with the assistance of the CFC-NFB Documentary Program, OMDC,

National Film Board of Canada & David J. Woods Productions.

US Distribution Kino Lorber, International Sales ZED

Distributed in Canada by SongbirdSOS Productions Inc.

Marketing and promotion assistance by Telefilm Canada.

Special thanks to First Weekend Club, Women Make Movies, Hot Docs Deal Maker,

Sunnyside of the Doc and National Outreach partner Bird Studies Canada.

Soundtracks – where do they begin?

in Director's Blog by Su Rynard March 15, 2015 0 comments

Many elements go into the creation of a good documentary soundtrack, but one key ingredient is great location sound.

I confess I feel a bit sorry for location sound people because they only get feedback when the soundtrack is BAD. As a Director I’m guilty of rarely saying “sounds great” – because we take great sound for granted, ironically, as if it is a natural occurring phenomena. Yet there is an enormous amount of skill and talent required to obtain great location sound.

In a film about songbirds, you can imagine how important location sound is to the final soundtrack. On The Messenger documentary we primarily worked with Jason Milligan. I truly believe that Jason has “dog ears”. By this I mean an aural range beyond the average human.

A super important element of location recording is not just the “sync tracks” i.e. recording the sound that happens in tandem with the image, but recording location ambient sound.

Because the birds would be different everywhere we went, we had to ensure that we recorded the unique sounds of every place we filmed.

Here’s a sample of an ambient track of Purple Martins songs and calls that Jason recorded for us while we were filming with Bridget Stutchbury and The Purple Martin Conservation Association in Erie PA.

Bridget Stutchbury passes a Purple Martin to location sound recordist Jason Milligan

One of the very special audio events we recorded was in Ithaca New York during fall migration.

We were filming with Bill Evans, who designs and constructs his own microphones dedicated to capturing the night calls of migrating birds. A wonderful scene with Bill Evans is featured in our upcoming documentary SongbirdSOS to be aired on David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things. Below is a sample of the these night calls our sound recordist James MacDonald captured that evening.

Listen carefully, each species of songbird has a different call. They are only a fraction of a second long, and happen randomly ever ten seconds or so in this recording.

James MacIntosh records Bill Evans and friends.

James MacDonald records Bill Evans and friends.

Back in post production, all of the elements of location sync sound and ambiences have to be edited. The first step is to sync all the sound – matching back to the picture, then the sound is imported into the edit suite. When our picture edit is locked – the edited sound is exported back out to another sound editor, who polishes it, takes out the umm and ahhs and clicks and pops, and prepares it for the mix. A super important element of location recording is not just the “sync tracks” i.e recording the sound that happens in tandem with the image, but recording location ambiences. Phil often mixes and merges these “categories” For example, a sound from the wilderness might be sampled and transformed into music, or a musical tone he created in studio may sound so organic, it feels as if it was part of the natural landscape. This is all done on the computer – and here’s what the soundtrack layouts looks like.

One of the most important ingredients of a great sound track is music.

During our editing process the picture editors often work with temp music. This means pulling music that has the right rhythm, pace, emotional tone / feeling and / or instrumentation from one’s own music collection and cutting it into the soundtrack temporarily.

In creating The Messenger soundtrack composer Phil Strong worked in tandem with the picture editing process, often creating music for the scenes as they evolved.

Composer and sound designer Phil Strong and Picture editor Eamonn O’Connor at a spotting session in Phil’s studio.

More on Jason Milligan http://www.documentarysound.ca/

Jason Milligan is a two time Gemini Nominated Sound Recordist (for “The Take” and “Memory for Max, Claire, Ida, and Company”) based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who specializes in recording sound on location for Documentaries, Lifestyle, and Reality Programs. Jason has travelled extensively around the world and worked in Argentina, China, France, India, Japan, Jordan, the Netherlands, Peru, Saudi Arabia, St. Vincent, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Stutchbury Tracks Tiny Songbird Migration with Geolocator

in Conservation by SongbirdSOS September 23, 2014 0 comments

Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, Ornithologist and author (Silence of the Songbirds) was one of the first scientists to use light logger geolocators to track tiny songbirds. Watch this exclusive SongbirdSOS video of Bridget retrieving a geolocator from a Hooded Warbler for the first time.

Bridget told us how it came about…

I started tracking migratory songbirds in 2007, after discovering that light-logger geolocators had been miniaturized to only 1.5g by the British Antarctic Survey. For the first time ever it was possible to attach this device to songbirds and, if they returned the next year, re-construct their start-to-finish migration routes and timing. At this size it was only safe to track relatively large songbirds that weighed over 50 grams but most songbirds weigh far less than 50 grams. As with any technology, the geolocators were soon made even smaller, allowing researchers to track smaller songbirds.

In 2010 I had the good fortune to test the smallest tags at that existed at that time (0.6g). The tags were built by James Fox from the British Antarctic Survey. I wanted to know if it was possible to track warblers, which typically weigh less than 15g. In the spring of 2010, after receiving permission from the US Banding Lab to do a pilot study, I caught five Hooded Warblers at my long-term study site in northwestern Pennsylvania. It was with some trepidation that I gave these little birds a relatively large piece of luggage to carry for the next year. I followed them carefully over the next months to make sure they were healthy.

You could not tell that a male Hooded Warbler was carrying a geolocator unless you happened to get a really good look at his back. They sang vigorously, chased other males, mated with their females, and all five males successfully raised a family. That August, just before they were about to depart for their winter-time migration, I recaptured three of the males and I was pleased to notice that their weight was healthy and that they were moulting their feathers normally.

Then came the long nine month wait. The next year two of the five males returned to re-claim their territories in May and seemed no worse for the wear. Amazingly, Director Su Rynard and her SongbirdSOS documentary crew was there when we captured the first warbler ever tracked with a geolocator! After analyzing the light data I discovered that this bird, 2430-41205, had flown south to the Florida panhandle, across the Gulf of Mexico, and spent the winter in central Nicaragua. In spring, he flew up to the Yucatan peninsula, across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi River valley back to his exact same 100m x 100m territory in Pennsylvania. Even after tracking several hundred songbirds, I still find it amazing that such a small bird can travel so far and with pinpoint accuracy.

What become of this infamous bird? Bridget’s colleague Dr. Ron Mumme from nearby Allegheny College has been studying Hooded Warblers in her backyard forest ever since. He reports that this bird survived to make a second round-trip the next year and again nested successfully, although he has not been seen since.

The second Hooded Warbler Bridget tracked also wintered in Nicaragua and has nested on the same breeding territory every year since 2010. He was at least two years old when first banded, which means he’s flown the 7000 kilometre round-trip at least four times in his lifetime for a total of 28 000 kilometres!! He wasn’t spotted in 2014, and a new male has laid claim to his territory.

Bridget reminds us that Aristotle believed that migratory swallows buried themselves in the mud over the winter like frogs. In many ways that seems far more likely than a little 12 gram bird flying over half-way across the globe.

bridget stutchbury

Heeding The Messenger

Related posts:

Pesticides Make Migrating Birds Lose their Way

What surprised us was how sensitive and rapid the effects were, particularly to imidacloprid.

Related posts:

The Messenger Canadian Campus tour kicks off

Related posts:

Soundtracks – where do they begin?

Many elements go into the creation of a good documentary soundtrack, but one key ingredient is great location sound.

Because the birds would be different everywhere we went, we had to ensure that we recorded the unique sounds of every place we filmed.

One of the most important ingredients of a great sound track is music.

Related posts:

Stutchbury Tracks Tiny Songbird Migration with Geolocator

Related posts: