In partnership with the KSC Film Society, the Harris Center for Conservation Education continued the longstanding tradition of blending film with nature education by hosting “For the Birds: an Evening of Short Films,” in the Redfern Arts Center’s Putnam Theater.
Five short films, including a local film group’s collaboration with the Harris Center, were screened on Thursday, Feb. 13 to an audience of over 70 community members and students.
While four films were initially advertised for the evening’s lineup, including “The Art of Flying” (directed by Jan van IJken), “Sky Migrations” (a film by Charles Post, Max Lowe and Forrest Woodward), “Lights Out” (directed by Beatrice Moxon) and “Nightsongs” (directed by Elizabeth and Matthew Myer Boulton), a fifth film, “Cafė Y Aves” (directed by Roshan Patel) was added at the last minute.
The screening was followed by a lecture and a Q&A session by the Harris Center’s Bird Conservation Director and Land Specialist Phil Brown.
According to Brown, the film selection highlighted conservation efforts and threats facing bird populations.
“There’s a conservation crisis going on, and birds have been on a downward spiral as a whole in North America for over 50 years. Scientists have estimated that over three-billion birds have been lost from the population,” said Brown. “The human-created threats are a big part of that picture, but we also have a lot of science that points us towards what we can do to help.”
Brown encouraged anyone interested in learning about birds and bird conservation to connect with the Harris Center and participate in educational opportunities.
“We do our share of conservation science programs and research, and we offer over 150 public programs each year. Come join us on a hike or a bird trip or maybe a field trip or Zoom event,” said Brown.
Brett Thelen, who serves as science director for the Harris Center, said the turnout for the event was encouraging.
“It’s awesome to see this much enthusiasm. We had about 100 people sign up and about 70 came out tonight,” said Thelen. “I think we’d have had even more people show up if the weather was a little less gnarly.”
Thelen also reflected on the importance of engaging with birds and the natural world in order to appreciate them.
“I think any opportunity we have to be present with birds and the natural world, either in person or through film, gives people a greater appreciation for what they bring to our lives and the world around us,” said Thelen.
“We love partnering with the Film Society on these events. They provide this beautiful place, with this amazing film technology that we could never match at the Harris Center to screen these films, and it’s nice that we can bring the community and the college together for these events. We really love it and hope we can keep doing this kind of thing,” added Thelen.
The final film of the evening focused on the work of Harris Center Land Program Manager Eric Masterson’s work using audio technology to track migratory birds that pass by his house at night.
“Nightsongs,” a short film directed by Keene filmmaking team Elizabeth and Matthew Myer Boulton and their Emmy Award-winning non-profit film group SALT, focused on nocturnal migrations and the techniques utilized by Masterson to track migration activity taking place in his backyard.
According to Myer Boulton, the idea to collaborate with Masterson on a documentary short film was already in the works but specified after learning about Masterson’s use of audio technology to track nocturnal migrations.
“Our kids grew up going to the Harris Center, so it was always an important place for us.
We got to know some of the naturalists on staff and learned about this guy [Masterson] who was writing a book on hawks and had rode his bike on the route that many of the hawks fly on their annual migration,” said Myer Boulton.
“We reached out, originally thinking that we would do something about him or his bike journey, but we learned about this thing he had been doing for years with the audio tracking and thought it was a cool vignette and an interesting microcosm about caring, the natural world and a window into his passion,” added Myer Boulton.
Junior M.J. Butler attended the screening and was excited to see films about birds.
“I saw a poster on a bulletin for a bird night, and I like birds a lot,” said Butler. “I liked the film about hawk migrations a lot. I like this kind of thing and I’ll definitely come back for more of these.”
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
