Field notes

My Own Place on Earth

Early this summer, I traveled north of the Arctic Circle to a weed-rimmed pond in the Brooks Range, where I recorded a program about the remarkable little creature called the Wood Frog. Hidden along the water’s edge, crowds of these mottled-brown frogs filled the air with a mating chorus that sounded like a hundred ducks quacking all at once.

Inconspicuous and often overlooked, the wood frog ranges to the far edge of the boreal forest, further north than any other amphibian on our continent. The key to the wood frog’s success is its ability to survive subarctic winters by freezing solid—no movement, no breathing, no heartbeat—for up to 7 months. This amazing adaptation is of great interest to scientists seeking to learn how an animal can survive freezing, which might provide answers to problems like extending the viability of transplanted organs. Also during the busy summer months, I recorded programs exploring the lives of shorebirds, loons, muskox, brown bears, and albatrosses.

This spring I returned to Australia to record a new series of Encounters Down Under programs. One of the first is about parrots, because Australia shares with South America the world’s greatest diversity and abundance of these extraordinary birds. From the remote outback to the biggest cities, brilliantly colored parrots fling over the treetops and perch in the high branches. I also recorded programs about the Wombat, Giant Lizards, and two iconic birds of wild Australia, the Kookaburra and the Magpie.

Australia is known for the incredible richness of its bird songs, and one of our programs is about the Lyrebird, which some consider to have the most beautiful voice of any bird in the world. If you listen to this program you can judge for yourself.

In November, I traveled to the Brooks Range to record three programs--Cold, Night Sky, and The Winter World. During protracted midwinter nights, the far north is one of our planet’s best places to peer up into the vast and star-filled universe, to reflect on what we know about the infinite space that surrounds us, and to confront the immensity of all that is unknowable. I loved making this program because it took me on a journey beyond anything I could have imagined, yet it made me feel more grounded than ever in my own place on earth.