Image by: Robert Furness

The broch on the island of Mousa where many a storm petrel reside in the summertime.

Twitching for storm petrels

From: Ari Daniel Shapiro
Length: 04:00

Every year thousands of storm petrels summer on the remote islands to the north of Scotland. The arduous journey to see the small seabirds demands more than a birdwatcher’s interest — it requires the tenacity of a “twitcher,” someone who travels far to find rare birds. I made that trip, and this is that story. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: Twitching for storm petrels
From: Ari Daniel Shapiro

Broch2_small Mousa is a small island of the east coast of Shetland. It's home to thousands of storm petrels, small seabirds that produce a beautiful churring sound with a little hiccup at the end. They live in an ancient stone cynlindrical abode known as a broch, and fly to sea to eat fish. Tom, the tour operator, is a colorful islander who has spent most of his adult life telling tales about the broch and their inhabitants. This piece features Tom as the main character, and we're on the tour looking for the petrels with him. It's interwoven with narration about the larger story of the connection of these birds with their natural and human environment.

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Piece Description

Mousa is a small island of the east coast of Shetland. It's home to thousands of storm petrels, small seabirds that produce a beautiful churring sound with a little hiccup at the end. They live in an ancient stone cynlindrical abode known as a broch, and fly to sea to eat fish. Tom, the tour operator, is a colorful islander who has spent most of his adult life telling tales about the broch and their inhabitants. This piece features Tom as the main character, and we're on the tour looking for the petrels with him. It's interwoven with narration about the larger story of the connection of these birds with their natural and human environment.

Broadcast History

Weekend Edition Sunday: 29 November 2009

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

A twitcher is British slang for a person who will travel long distances to spot as many hard-to-find birds as possible. Their goal is to add as many birds as possible to their growing lists. One such bird: European storm petrels. These small dark birds spend the summer on the Shetland Islands – a spray of 100 or so islands north of Scotland. One way to find them is to take a ferry from Shetland’s main island to the smaller, unpopulated island of Mousa -- in the middle of a damp and chilly night, then stroll about in the mud for a few hours. Sounds like just the journey for a twitcher. And, apparently, reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro.

OUTRO: