21: Explore Important Bird Areas via Opera: Interview with Filmmaker Ryan Moritz

We always hear how climate change impacts birds, but what does it feel like to *be* a bird living through this unfathomable change? 

Producer, songwriter, and filmmaker Ryan Moritz set out to answer this question. He’s spent the last five years filming, recording, and editing a work of art to help humans see today’s world through the eyes of birds. The final result was "Important Bird Opera": a migratory journey exploring "how climate change and other anthropocentric activities have altered the natural world."

In this exclusive interview, Ryan takes you behind-the-scenes of “Important Bird Opera.” Hear about his travels to film birds in Important Bird Areas, how he collaborated with poet Anjuli Raza Kolb for the opera’s libretto, and the personal birding experiences that inspired this one-of-a-kind work of art. 

Ryan’s “Important Bird Opera” premiered on New York City’s Governors Island in the summer of 2019 at the end of his artist-in-residency program with the NYC Audubon Society. Climate change is scary stuff, but Ryan’s work gives us hope—for the planet and for birds everywhere. 

BIRD SHIT WE DISCUSSED

USEFUL RESOURCES

• Watch “Important Bird Opera” by Ryan Moritz!
• The Leslie Science and Nature Center in Ann Arbor…check it out!
• Scott Weidensaul’s “Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds” >> A book about bird migration that inspired Ryan’s “Important Bird Opera”
• Farid ud-din Attar’s poem, “The Conference of The Birds,” which inspired Kola’s poem “Unflocked Heart” (the libretto for “Important Bird Opera”)
• In NYC? Check out Governors Island!

BIRDS WE MENTION (in order)

• Great Horned Owl
• Bald Eagle
• Wild Turkey
• Turkey Vulture
• Steller’s Jay
• Common Raven
• Laysan Albatross
• Sandhill Crane
• American Robin
• Eurasian Hoopoe
• Yellow-Crowned Night-Heron