Spring 76: Back to Dayton

Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Dayton, OH
very, very hot and humid

I arrived Dayton yesterday evening, for another exciting summer with Blue Sky Project. This year I have a new position: Community Artist/Investigator, which gives me freedom to explore a variety of community collaborations.

Though I was here briefly in April, there's something powerfully recapitulating (full-circling?) about being back in Dayton in deep summer heat. It was in Dayton one year ago that I was first inspired by fellow artist John Pena to create A Bird a Day, and here that I made some of my first field-recordings, a prelude to the official project start in October.

I am encouraged to realize that the same birds who were mysterious, exotic, anonymous sounds last year are now distinct, named whose songs I recognize: Song Sparrow. Cardinal. Robin. Purple Finch.

It's nice to have the chance to compare a distinct "before" and "after" with this project!

Despite the old friends, I do hear a new bird for today. Several of these little guys with long angled wings keep wheeling swiftly overhead; I believe they are a kind of swallow, though I await the arrival of my field guide in the mail to verify this: