Rare Air

listen to the Alder Institute's sound series about species at risk

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Documentary, drama and music about the endangered Piping Plover
 Title  Description
Piper's Adventures 

An episode of Rare Air for kids and grown ups. Piper's Adventures is a radio play about a year in the life of a Piping Plover. It is  performed by members of the Belanger Drama Troupe, from Belanger Memorial School, in the Codroy Valley, Newfoundland.

The Ballad of the Beachy Birds More Rare Air for the  family. The Ballad of the Beachy Birds is a song cycle about Piping Plovers. It combines traditional childrens' music with novel lyrics sung by students from St. James Elementary School in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland.
Just Enough to Count part 1  Just who is the Piping Plover, anyway? Where does it live? What is its life like? Why is it endangered? In this segment, we find answers to these questions, and become acquainted with the Piping Plover in Newfoundland.
Just Enough to Count part 2 In this segment, we join biologists on the west coast of Newfoundland, as they scour the beaches for plovers during the 2001international Piping Plover census. As we search, we meet a Piping Plover scurrying along the shore.
The Geomorphology of  sand dunes  Memorial University geomorphologist Norm Catto enlightens us on sand dune systems in Newfoundland and Labrador.  We learn how dunes are not so much a "thing" as a process and one easily destroyed by ill conceived land use plans. 
We also consider the link this rare landscape feature has with a rare bird species: the Piping Plover.  Plovers breed on sandy beaches and their future is linked with the availability of sandy beach habitat. As heard on Open Air.
 L'Écologie et la conservation des pluviers siffleurs à la frontière de leur environnement Documentaire français au sujet de le pluvier siffleur au Canada Atlantique et à St. Pierre et Miquelon.
Species at risk in Labrador
 Title  Description
Rare Air sampler Overture to The Alder Institute's audio series about species at risk in Labrador. This sampler includes a variety of voices you will hear throughout the series.
Species at risk in Labrador 

 Joe Brazil talks about species at risk in Labrador in his address to the Wildlife Habitat Stewardship Workshop held in Northwest River, Labrador March 4, 2002

Brazil is Chief of Endangered Species and Biodiversity
in the Inland Fish and Wildlife Division of the Department of Tourism of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The workshop was organized by Allan McNeil and Richard Nuna, stewardship coordinators for the Labrador Inuit Association and the Innu Nation.

CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE: Caribou: history, practice, spirituality Across most of Canada, woodland caribou are threatened. Both woodland caribou and their more numerous counterparts - migratory, or barren ground  caribou - have been integral to the lives of Innu in Nitassinan. In this episode of Rare Air, we hear about caribou from Stephen Loring of The Smithsonian Institution; Denina Andrew, from Sheshashui; and Greg Penashue of the Innu Nation.
An interview with Fran Williams, of the Okalikatiget Society Janet Russell, of the Alder Institute, and Allan MacNeil, of the Labrador Inuit Association, talk with Fran Williams.
 CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE: Landscape, culture and extinction in Labrador A family discussion at the home of Annie Michel, Sheshshui, Labrador. In Innu-Aimun and English.
Le carcajou Jean Huot, de l'Université Laval, parle de le carcajou.
L'arlequin plongeur Jean-Pierre Savard, de Le Service Canadien de La Faune, explique un'année dans la vie d'un canard arlequin
A wolverine myth François Bellefleur regales us with a wolverine story, in Innu-aimun. Peter  Armitage recorded Bellefleur in 1982, and provides a commentary on the story in English. Andras Mach holds the copyright to this recording.
CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE:Innu elders discuss the Red Wine Mountain caribou herd In Sheshashui, Labrador, elders Inum Abraham , Michel Jack, Pien Penashue and Mathias Pone  discuss the tiny, threatened Red Wine Mountain caribou herd. They are in conversation with Natalie D'Astous, of the Institute for Environmental Monitoring and Research. This discussion in Innu-aimun and English. Etienne Andrew translates.