Acadia Experts Help Bird Country Take Flight
Zoe D鈥橝mato found inspiration for Bird Country during a winter walk in the woods.
鈥淚t was quiet, and I realized birdsong is the voice of nature here,鈥� D鈥橝mato says. 鈥淚f we moved quickly, we could give it a stage.鈥�
外流影片 faculty and students played major parts on that stage to help make the vision a reality.
D鈥橝mato and Tracy Bennett, who recently produced a 36-episode series called Wild Nova Scotia together, wanted to explore Nova Scotia鈥檚 birds in more depth.
鈥淏irds are a gateway,鈥� D鈥橝mato says. 鈥淭o enjoy them, you have to be in nature and be present. Then you want to protect it.鈥�
鈥淚t was a lightning bolt moment. Tracy鈥檚 an avid birder, and I learned a lot filming Wild Nova Scotia. It felt like the perfect, meaningful project. Within weeks, we were ready to go.鈥�
鈥婽he result was Bird Country, a new documentary screening in Wolfville at 7 pm on April 1 at the Al Whittle Theatre as part of the ACC Film Series.
Inspiring Care Through Storytelling
In the face of so much difficult ecological news, D鈥橝mato and Bennett set out to tell an inspiring and uplifting story about birds.
鈥淲e focus on helping people fall in love with one small piece of the ecosystem,鈥� Bennett shares. 鈥淚f people start to care about it, they鈥檒l want to protect it.鈥�
They faced several challenges making Bird Country鈥攎ost notably, wildfire restrictions and the difficulty of filming birds.
鈥淲e had to rewrite about five different story elements because we weren鈥檛 allowed in the forest,鈥� Bennett notes. 鈥淚t was a tricky time to produce a nature documentary.鈥�
There was also the difficulty of getting a 鈥渂ird in the hand.鈥�
鈥淏irds in the wild are terrible at sitting still for their close-ups,鈥� D鈥橝mato says. 鈥淭racy鈥檚 connections introduced us to scientists whose work brought them physically close to birds. That meant we could offer an intimate glimpse into lives most people will never witness first-hand.鈥�
Many of the researchers who offered this up-close look into the life of birds came from 外流影片. When asked why, Bennett says it was because of the university鈥檚 focus on nature education.
鈥淎cadia excels in nature education,鈥� she says. 鈥淢any top bird biologists in Nova Scotia came through Acadia.鈥�
Acadia Researchers Take Front and Centre
Acadia research stories frame Bird Country, grounding it in local expertise. It begins with Professor Emeritus Dave Shutler鈥檚 (Biology) decades-long research on tree swallows nesting near Wolfville. The film concludes with recent Acadia Master鈥檚 grad Linda Hutchinson鈥檚 (鈥�26) work on how light and mercury affect the Leach鈥檚 storm-petrel.
Hutchinson studied storm-petrels, a threatened bird species, on Acadia鈥檚 Bon Portage Island鈥攈ome to the province鈥檚 largest storm-petrel colony.
Her research examined how different wavelengths of light affect birds鈥� navigation. When they leave the colony, storm-petrels are attracted to coastal lights, causing them to fly towards and land in populated areas instead of towards the ocean鈥攁 phenomenon called 鈥渟tranding.鈥�
鈥淭hey can get stranded on docks or roads,鈥� Hutchinson explains. 鈥淭hey often get hit by cars or eaten by predators because they鈥檙e disoriented.鈥�
She adds that storm petrels have unusually high mercury levels compared to other birds in the same environments. Researchers are still studying how this heavy metal affects the birds.
While Hutchinson鈥檚 Master鈥檚 research focused on adult birds, in Bird Country, she and a group of Acadia undergrads conducted an experiment to examine how different light colours affect juvenile storm-petrels as part of the film.
鈥淲e placed juveniles in a box with two arms, each with a different colour of light. We observed which direction they chose,鈥� she says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 some really cool footage of the cameras going through the experiment box. They did a great job of explaining it in the film.鈥�
They focused on juveniles in the experiment because they鈥檙e most likely to get stranded, so understanding their preferences has the most conservation impact.
Tracking Birds, Connecting Worlds
Hutchinson will join a panel of experts after the Bird Country premiere at the Al Whittle Theatre to answer audience questions. Also on that panel will be Lucas Berrigan (鈥�18), another Acadia Master鈥檚 grad who did his thesis on the Swainson鈥檚 Thrush.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a common, but often unseen bird in Nova Scotia,鈥� Berrigan says. 鈥淚t has a beautiful, ethereal song.鈥�
Berrigan鈥檚 Master鈥檚 research involved tagging the birds with radio transmitters to understand how they navigate their annual migration to South America. That led him to work with Motus. Motus, part of Birds Canada, is an international network tracking the movement of birds, bats, and insects using tags and receiving stations. The resulting data aids conservation efforts.
As Motus鈥檚 Manager of Technology and Web Development, Berrigan blends his biology background with a lifelong passion for technology. In the film, D鈥橝mato and Bennett follow Berrigan as the Motus team installs tracking stations and tags birds in Labrador and New Brunswick.
Collective contributions to celebrating conservation
The film also features Acadia students Alina Rutherford, Silver Marshall, Laine Mosley, Catherine Potvin, Gretchen McPhail, and Caleb Gibbons. Rounding out Acadia鈥檚 contribution is Professor of Music Nicholas D鈥橝mato鈥擹oe鈥檚 husband鈥攚ho composed the film鈥檚 theme music.
The co-producers say they鈥檙e both nervous and excited for the premiere.
鈥淚t feels like an important time to celebrate conservation,鈥� Zoe D鈥橝mato says. 鈥淚 hope the film feels uplifting and gives people a sense of hope and agency.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 about reminding people that we don鈥檛 just live in towns with businesses and cars,鈥� Bennett adds, 鈥淲e live on a planet with a fragile system we鈥檙e all part of. It鈥檚 time to wake up and see what we have to lose.鈥�
D鈥橝mato adds that the film also gives scientists a platform.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e heroes in their own way,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e in the mud doing the critical work. If more people understood what they do, there鈥檇 be much more support for it.鈥�
Bird Country is produced by Firefly Digital Media in association with Eastlink Community TV and supported by the Nova Scotia Film and Television Incentive Fund and Canada.