Bird Notes from WHRO

I get up early sometimes for travel and I happened to catch a little 5-minute program on a Sunday morning called Bird Notes. It's a mellow short-form program with a tempo that reminds me of Bob Ross (in a good way). Long segments of the program are comprised of example bird sounds, so it has a very natural spot in the early morning. But for his avian-appreciating ways, he was listed by Elkhart country parks [HERE] as a suggested podcast.

When not in the radio studio, Dwight Davis likes to go afield with his binoculars and watch birds. "Birdnotes" is a result of his long-time interest in birds, a short feature that can be about almost any aspect of bird life, from migration to coloration to birds in art to song. In many ways he is a birder turned DJ, not a DJ who took up birding. His biography on whro.org is pretty short:

Dwight Davis has been working in classical music radio since 1973. A graduate of Norview High School and Elon College, he served in the Army, then taught science, until an opening appeared at WGH-FM. With no radio experience, he was, by his own admission, not a particularly good announcer. But his love and knowledge of music held him in good stead. He came to WHRO-FM in 1983, and is the Host of Morning Classics.Though by nature not a morning person, Dwight has been a morning host for most of his radio career. In addition to his "Morning Classics" and the Sunday afternoon "From the Parlor" programs, his "Bird Notes" feature on Sunday mornings has an enthusiastic following.

Despite his educational background Dwight managed to get into a email spat with Karen Davis (no relation) of the website United Poultry Concerns. This is exactly as funny as it sounds and yes you should read about it [here]. Dwight off-handedly disparaged the intelligence of turkeys and Karen, being a completely different kind of birder, took umbrage and felt the need to defend her feathered friends.

Davis is a Program Director at 90.3 WHRO where he also hosts Morning Classics, a mix of bright classical music with breaks for news traffic and weather. IT starts at the staggeringly early 5:00 AM slot running util 9:00 AM. He also hosts From The Parlor, which airs every Sunday at 3 PM with a smooth and slow blend of Pre-WWI popular music, opera, and the odd polka. It's possibly the only program mellower than birdnotes. That's also well-described on the WHRO site:

Dwight Davis takes us back to a more genteel time, when music was made in the home. Enjoy songs that were sung around the piano after dinner, works played on the old upright in the parlor, and great singers from the past. Pour a cup of tea, settle into the horsehair sofa and enjoy an hour of music from times gone by