Atlantic Flyway

I surround myself with extinct birdsbecause it’s it’s a reminderof what wasi can think aboutthe history of those birds but i canalso connect the history of those birdsmy ancestorswho worked some of these fields andwho helped to build this countryas bondaged peoplewho probably looked skywardto see endless flocks of birdsthat provided inspiration in many waysfor liberationi grew up in a littlecounty in the western piedmontcalled edgefieldedgefield is nestled against thesavannah river and i grew up on a familyfarm sobirds werebest friends andconfidants[Music]to imaginethat bird flying through the air forthousands of milesand as that bird’s flying it’s beingpulled bymemory by instinct by stars byall of the things that we know and manythat we don’t knowthat causes it to settle or to go onthat wimbrell’s eye view that wimbrelcould look downand see davao bankand recognize that landscape as a saferesting place as a place to refuel forthe rest of the trip so that it can makemore of itselfthat that’s an emotional thingto me and it’s something to be proud ofand it’s it’s something for us to tohold on to it’s something for us tofight forpart ofthe miracle is that these birds cantravel thousands of milesthat they’re dodging storms andperegrine falcons and all kinds ofthings that they’ve been built forthey’ve been built for thatwhat worries meare those factors that they haven’t beenbuilt forwe think about the past and what musthave beenofevening skies being darkenedby wimbrel and plover andother shorebirds coming in to roost in aplacethat we marvel over tens of thousandsthat at some point in time there werehundreds of thousandsand millionsmeans that we’veexacted an enormous tollon our environmentwhen i think aboutthat bird all ofthat time and effortthat evolutionary miracle compressedinto that wimbrelit delivers a different sort ofmotivation for wanting to conservepart of the reason that it’s importantfor meto workfor homefor my southern homeis because i believe it has to happenhere i believe recognitionreconciliationand repair reparation has to happen hereit has to happen here the recognition ofof what occurredthat the nation was built on the backsof othersand on this this pain it wasn’t just asouthern thingbut here in south carolina it was soevident and it still exists on thelandscapethe repair comesthe reparations come in seeingin partthe nature that existson top of that pain and despairthat nature is reclaimingwhat was torn apartthat the birdsare sort of these wonderful messengersthat help usresolveto be betterthat we can gather around those birdsand we can saythis is what wasit was terriblewe ought never let that happen againthat instead of seeing brown backs bentoverfurrowswe can watch the feathered backs ofbirdsprobing crabs from burrowsi want usto gather around nature in these waysif it happens herein the souththen there’s hope for everywherethe disparate histories ofof black and whiteof enslaved and freeof of landowner and being bound to land by forcethat that history can’t be denied itcan’t be shut outand we can’t just watch birdswithout that history in mind and so it’simportantfrom time to time to take yourbinoculars downand to see the wider viewthe wetlands we conservethe forests that we can servethere ought to be a way to inspirepeople to understandthat partnershipswith peoplematterculture mattersthose great rice fields and rice marshin the south carolina low country in theace basinare placesof great painsome ways noware redeemedas places of great beautywhere birds fly freeand so that flyway is tied together notjustin spacebut in timeand it’s up to usnowto determine what happens in the futurewe have some of that controland it’s our obligation to exercise it[Music]umto go from oneto a dozento tensof thousands is jaw-droppingit’s overwhelming in the best waybecausei didn’t know that that still happenedthat that still existed forsomething like a wimbleseeing thisis like some great discovery it’s it’ssort ofalmost like a de-extinctionemily dickinson talks about hope beingthe thing with feathersthis is the prime exemplar of thati don’t think there is anybody thatdoesn’t love a beautiful thingand whatthosetens of thousands of birds areyou can close your eyes in those callsand you have to be amazed you have to beastoundedand you have to be proud to know thatthat’s here[Music]do[Music][Music]you

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