Grammy-Winning For The Birds: The Birdsong Project And The National Audubon Society Partner On First-Ever Summer Of Birds Programming

Organizations Wrap Aspen Programming With The Aspen Center For Environmental Studies (Aces), The Aspen Music Festival & School, Carbondale Mountain Fair, Plus Community Partners Tayler And Tessier And Paradise Bakery

Birds Walks, An Educational Talk, Live Music & More

All Shots Courtesy of Mike Fernandez

Friday, August, 9th 2024 — The Grammy-winning team behind For the Birds: The Birdsong Project and committed bird conservation non-profit the National Audubon Society recently wrapped a summer slate of educational and community-focused event programming in Aspen, Colorado with a collection of local organizations, collaborations and free events. 

The events themselves were put on in collaboration with The Birdsong Project and the National Audubon Society, and included the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), the Aspen Musicl Festival and School (AMFS), the Roaring Fork Audubon Society, and the Aspen Valley Land Trust.

On Saturday, July 27th., a string performance with music from The Birdsong Project was performed by AMFS performers with music from George Gershwin, Andrew Bird and more plus an educational talk beforehand from the National Audubon Society’s Chief Scientist Dr. Chad Wilsey at ACES at Hallam Lake. 

“Birds have inspired art for millennia with their multi-colored plumage, their long-distance migrations, and their birdsong. Birds also tell us that they need our help. Through the Birdsong Project we can inspire people across the western hemisphere to protect birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow,” says Dr. Chad Wilsey, chief scientist at the National Audubon Society.

Two additional pop-ups took place in Aspen on Saturday, July 27th in collaboration with AMFS, starting with the famous Aspen Saturday Market, where The Birdsong Project and Audubon had copies of the GRAMMY-winning For the Birds: The Birdsong Project 20LP vinyl box set on display and available for purchase, as well as information on how to support birds by becoming a National Audubon Society member.  

Known for their designs inspired by Colorado’s fresh spontaneous beauty and incorporating a timeless casual elegance into their hand-crafted jewelry made from ethically sourced materials in Carbondale, Colorado, Taylor and Tessier also had their limited collection of jewelry dedicated to the Aspen Summer of Birds featuring a swallow bird at the market too. Taylor and Tessier are proud supporters of the National Audubon Society.

Later Saturday evening, long-running Aspen favorite Paradise Bakery served a very special blueberry yogurt renamed “Birdsong & Blueberries!” in support of Roaring Fork Audubon in celebration of the occasion. 

That night The Birdsong Project and Audubon took over the plaza outside the beloved Paradise Bakery and delighted the public with a musical evening arranged and performed by AMFS students as a jazz ensemble. Together, they performed the complete scores of Charlie Parker:

- Bird Feathers

- Bird's Nest

- Chasin' The Bird

- Koko 

- Ornithology

- Yardbird Suite

- Bird Of Paradise

- Happy Bird Blues

- Bird Gets the Worm

- Bluebird

That Sunday morning there was a morning bird walk with live music in partnership with the Roaring Fork Audubon Society, Aspen Valley Land Trust + AMFS Performers at Coffman Ranch, Carbondale.

Two of the valley’s youngest birders came out for the festivities — nine-year-old Forrest Abley (who will be 10 this month) and 14-year-old George Waaler — recounts the Aspen Times.

A birder since five years old and a future ornithologist, he has seen about 300 birds. “Birds are amazing. You don’t have to like birds, but birds are amazing creatures because they help the environment,” he told the paper.

Waaler, an incoming Glenwood High School freshman, told the Times he just saw his 500th bird. And they recounted, “A birder since 9 years old, his favorite bird is the buff-breasted flycatcher. And his favorite Colorado bird is a yellow-breasted chat because they make cool noises.”

“Birds are crucial for their part in the ecosystem, like insect control and lots of reasons,” Waaler said. “But it’s fun to just watch them. Quite rare birds and chasing birds is the most fun part of birding, I think.”

Later on at the Carbondale Mountain Fair local musician Natalie Spears partnered with the AMFS alumni quartet to create and play an original song called “Hymn of Wild Things,” which she was originally inspired to write after seeing a pair of Sandhill Cranes very close to Coffman Ranch in Carbondale. 

“Birds are such a big inspiration in my music,” Spears said. “They bring me into this world beyond myself, and inevitably the music follows.”