To document the abundance of knowledge, experiences, and insights of the Hudson Valley birders’ community for future generations

Beakuency: Meet Bird People in Hudson Valley! is now on Substack

Beakuency: Meet Bird People in Hudson Valley! is a radio program I have hosted since January 2023 on Wave Farm’s WGXC, a non-profit community radio station in Greene County. I started it because I was a beginner birder who had just relocated to the Hudson Valley in 2020, and I thought interviews could be a great way to meet local birders and learn from them. In retrospect, it’s kind of amazing how relaxed I was about launching this project, considering my complete lack of radio interview experience at the time. But I guess I wasn’t thinking too much. Also, I am not a native English speaker. I hope you don’t mind my mistakes and awkwardness in my interviews.

I think it’s a common experience for us to see a photo of family members taken before we were born, and have no idea who those people are. And to have neither of your parents bothered to write down those people’s names because maybe they took that information for granted, or maybe thought it was not important as they were not “historical figures”. When we think of history, we tend to think of famous people. But this is why I like local history museums. They remind us that every one of us is part of history. Their archives connect us with the lives of other people in our own community, and people who were here before us. Such connections give us a sense of belonging. That’s what I hope Beakuency to do, too.

Unrelated, but an example of “who are those people?” I know the bride and groom (my parents), they married in California in 1973, but that is all I know about this photo.

You never know how even the smallest piece of information could be helpful for someone looking into some specific type of history, such as family history. In the future, there may be someone who wants to know specifically about birds, birders, and nature conservation, specifically in the Hudson Valley of the early 21st century, for whatever reason. One of my goals is to make Beakuency interviews into a coherent, searchable archive that could be of use to that person, 50 years, 100 years later from now.

So I won’t let my inadequacy stop me from doing this. There is so much abundance of knowledge, experiences, and insights that birders are eager to share — they always are — in the Hudson Valley. What we have here is an amazing community of people that I now consider my people, even though I am not from here, and I am still an intermediate birder. I feel lucky to be here now to document it, even if just a small portion, and I hope you will enjoy it.

Now I am posting my interviews on Substack, which you can receive them as email newsletters. Subscribe for free at: beakuency.substack.com

Every time a new interview is published, it will land in your inbox. The newsletter has an audio play button (so you can listen to the interview with just one click,) and a transcript. It can also be subscribed on podcast apps.

I will transcribe my past and future interviews and post them there. When I live-broadcast the show on the radio, I also play a freeform mix of sounds made by birds and humans inspired by birds. On Substack, I post those music selections as bandcamp or youtube links. The live broadcast happens every 4th Saturday of the month at 11am ET, you can tune in at wgxc.org.

Birder Larry Steele at Roe Jan Park, Columbia County.