Trivia King Returns

Before I started doing Birdwise, I produced a live, call-in show called Trivia King. The series ran for three years. The last year, I served as a sponsor and responsible adult to the youth (including my youngest son) who operated the show. In 2009 when my oldest son, Riley, the original show host, was out of school (and out of work), we revived the show for three consequtive weeks in December. y. Check out our promo, it's a hoot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO0b3Ja-oys

Birdwise Producers win Audubon Award

Tom Schooley and I (Tim Sweeney) received a special award for education from the Black Hills Audubon Society for producing two years of Birdwise. I have to admit I have missed the show since we stopped producing in December 2007. At the same time, I recognize we were running out of steam and it was good to stop while the programs were still getting good rather than having the quality deteriorate. My latest videos can be found by searching Google Video. Look for an Olympia-based blues band called FishTrap doing original music and an amazing compendium of Thurston County Democrats citing the 2008 county platform shown before an audience of 2,000 people on April 17.

December 2007 Birdwise is final episode

Well, we decided better to stop before we got tired of doing it. Our last show focuses on you the birder and features interviews with birders at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, tips on good birding by Burt, a trip along the little William Cannon trail on Mud Bay and a few other farewell surprises. It's been great doing the show. I've learned a lot. Please support birding in your community. If you live in my area, join the Black Hills Audubon Society and the Friends of the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.
Birdwise Video Magazine - December 2007

November Birdwise premieres on TCTV

For the November 2007 Birdwise, Tom Schooley and I travel down to Centralia and walk the Chehalis River Discovery Trail where the willows by the river were loaded with yellow-rumped warblers. We also talked with Janet Strong, president of the Chehalis River Basin Land Trust, the organization pivotal in helping the trail become a realityl. Our bird or rather birds of the month are gulls. Burt Guttman talks about "brood parasites," those birds that use other bird species as a form of child care. Sheila McCartan updates us on a bluebird reintroduction project as well as provide us with the latest on area birding hikes. We also visit the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge Nature Store to get some tips from Dennis Weeks on what books would make good holiday gifts for your favorite birder. And of course, Featherman Phil Kelley drops in to give us the forecast for November birding.

The show airs on Thurston Community Television Channel 22, Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m. We will have a copy of the show posted on Google Video in another week.

November_2007_Birdwise.mp4
26 min 21 sec - Nov 27, 2007

October Birdwise now available online

Birdwise Video Magazine - October 2007 27 min 31 sec - Sep 24, 2007 The October Birdwise gets a bit more scientific than usual. Professor Guttman gets into the "selfish gene" discussion, in talking about the reproduction strategies of acorn woodpeckers. Dr. Scott Pearson of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife talks about his research into a subspecies of Horned Lark, the streaked horned lark in Western Washington. This struggling subspecies is found in open prairies which is diminishing in our region. Oh, and the bird of the month is the Brown Creeper. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2-_7KtkWm4

September episode begins run on September 2

Birdwise Video Magazine - September 2007
28 min 45 sec - Aug 28, 2007

Featherman Phil Kelley fills in for Birdwise host Tom Schooley (currently on assignment) for the September edition of Birdwise, Thurston County's video magazine on birds and birding. September's bird of the month is the cedar waxwing. Professor Burt Guttman discusses the two types of breeding strategies: birds who produce many precocial young capable of leaving the nest almost immediately and birds who produce fewer young but have to nurture them through a more dependent period. The show then covers the efforts that killdeer go through to protect their nest, including faking a broken wing (Filmed at Capital Lake Park). The September Birdwise also offers the usual news and calendar of events by Sheila McCartan. The show airs Sundays at 1 p.m. and Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 22. But you can watch it now (albeit in lower resolution) on Google Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--MbEdf-QLo

July and August Shows now available

The July and August 2007 episodes of Birdwise are now available through Google Video.

July 2007 show features fish hawks and mating habits with the bird of the month being the Osprey and Professor Guttman talking sex (mating practices of birds. Other segments in the July show cover bird baths and a tour of Tolmie State Park . As always, Birdwise offers birding news, a calendar of events and an avian forecast of what to look for in the month of July.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddxsn_wyglo

The August 2007 edition of the 30-minute monthly video magazine on birding features molting, wings of flight, the Nisqually Reach Nature Center and bald eagles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b44J3uII7R4