BIRDSTORY

BirdStory

A 501(c)(3) dedicated to conservation awareness through media and film; their future is inherently connected to ours.

BirdStory is a nonprofit organization supporting independent, innovative and impactful creative media that raises awareness of the wonder and urgent plight of birds and helps us understand how their future is inherently connected with ours in the face of climate change and biodiversity loss.

As filmmakers we must respond to the polycrisis upon us with provocative, fresh productions that bring new audiences into the fold of knowledge and activism. Birds of America: How Birds Save Us, our flagship project, harnesses our collective passion and provides a template for how wildlife films can (and must) more effectively support conservation efforts and tell powerful, true and life-affirming stories that change the way people think and act - while still entertaining.

BirdStory establishes a new working paradigm. As an independently-funded production, BirdStory owns the Intellectual Property rights and retains full creative control of all media. During the filming of Birds of America: How Birds Save Us, we're able to use footage in an astute impact campaign that functions as an organic marketing tool and also, through collaborations with allied conservation partners, creates an ecology of positive change – inspiration and awareness that lead to activism.

Advisory Board

Dana Beach

Founder of the South Caroline Coastal Conservation League, recipient of the Order of the Palmetto among many other accolades. Author of "Coastal Sprawl: The Effects of Urban Design on the Aquatic Ecosystems of the United States". Author of "Deveaux" and Co-Author of "A Wholly Admirable Thing". Passionate birder.

Hank Parker, PhD

Writer, U.S. Naval officer, deep-sea salvage diver, senior executive and research manager at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, consultant on homeland security, expert on biohazardous threats to the U.S. food supply, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and keen birder.

Ken Mwathe

Policy and Communications Coordinator, Birdlife International, Africa, coordinating policy action for birds and biodiversity in 26 African countries while linking with local communities. He used the platform provided by Crimson Wing to stop soda Ash development at Lake Natron, Tanzania.

Stella Cha

Former Director, Media Impact Partnerships and Producer at The Nature Conservancy; currently an independent producer and consultant for natural history films.

Hannah Payson

Executive Director, Center for Business, Government and Society at Tuck Business School, Dartmouth University. Previously, Hannah worked for Lloyds of London, expanding it's corporate social responsibility efforts with a focus on environmental sustainability, ethics and values, diversity, and global reach.

Gus Christie

The Executive Chairman, Glyndebourne Opera, UK; actively initiating Carbon Neutral initiatives including the rewilding of Glyndebourne estate. Former wildlife filmmaker.

Carolyn Finney, PhD

Storyteller and cultural geographer; author of "Black Faces, White Places: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors"; former Advisory Board member of U.S. National Parks and Fulbright Scholar.

Bryan Watts, PhD

Director of The Center for Conservation Biology and the Mitchell A. Byrd Research Professor at William and Mary college; a passionate birder and deeply committed scientist who has conducted/directed over 250 research projects involving birds within the mid-Atlantic region.

Scott Weidensaul

A Fellow of the American Ornithological Society, Scott spearheads a number of major research projects focusing on bird migration, and has written more than 30 books on natural history including Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds, a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

J. Drew Lanham, PhD

A distinguished professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, a popular author, poet and speaker - as well as a lifelong birder - Drew was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2022 for his work combining conservation science with personal, historical and cultural narratives of nature.

Chris Rimmer

Emeritus Executive Director of the Vermont Center for Eco- studies; an ecologist, wildlife biologist and behavioral biologist, Chris is the widely published co author of studies on Caribbean songbird migrants, especially Bicknell's Thrush and on the effects of mercury concentrations.

Rebecca Roth

Executive Director of the National Estuarine Research and Reserve Association, she advances the mission of the 30 site reserve system by working with Congress and NOAA; a land use planner by training and veteran coastal management and public administration professional.

Sy Montgomery

Sy's film and TV work and 34 books for both adults and children, including The Hawk's Way and Soul of an Octopus, have garnered many honors and aim to reach as wide an audience as possible at what she considers a critical turning point in human historv.

Chris Elphick, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; his work's overriding goal is understanding how best ecologists can guide management decisions to reconcile conservation of biodiversity with human activities - in particular Saltmarsh Sparrows; passionate ornithologist.

Paul Webster

Producer of many award winning films including Atonement, Spencer, Motorcycle Diaries, Pride and Prejudice, Eastern Promises, Radioactive and Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos.