The Birdsong Project: Your Impact
The Birdsong Project: Your Impact
As we prepare to launch Volume III of “A Guide to the Birdsong” (click here to be amongst the first to hear when we launch!), we wanted to reflect on the first two volumes and examine their real impact. So far, thousands of people from all over the world have taken part in this project, by backing it on Kickstarter, buying the album, or purchasing a poster or t-shirt.
Now, six years out from the launch of Volume I and our first round of donations, we are proud to share some of the results of these collective efforts.
Vol I: A Guide to the Birdsong of South America
The first volume, “A Guide to the Birdsong of South America,” was released in 2015. The project had its humble beginnings in Robin’s small Amsterdam flat; his partner recorded the Kickstarter video, his friends and family spread the word, and his parents posted out the vinyls!
Right away it was clear that the project had struck a chord: the first album beat its Kickstarter goal by 150%, the project was celebrated in media coverage from the BBC to Billboard, the album received over 2 million streams on Spotify, and we sold out of our stock of vinyls, t-shirts and posters.
Thanks to the incredible response and support, we were able to donate an initial $21,000 USD to three NGOs working in important conservation efforts in the region.
1) Protecting the home of the Jocotoco Antpitta in Ecuador
Our first partnership was with the Fundación Jocotoco, an Ecuadorian NGO that manages a network of 11 nature reserves; protecting some of the country’s most precious ecosystems and threatened species. We supported their work to protect the Critically Endangered Jocotoco Antpitta, a species featured on the album and only found in the Tapichalaca Reserve.
The initial profits from Volume I of $7,000 USD were donated to pay the salary of Franco Mendoza, a local expert on the species and one of the lead rangers at the reserve.
2) Helping to save the Saffron Cowled Blackbird
Thanks to the ongoing streaming and sales of Volume I from 2015 to 2020, we were able to partner with another NGO working to protect the region’s birds.
In 2018 we donated $8,000 USD to help fund Aves Argentinas’ comprehensive project to save the Endangered Saffron Cowled Blackbird in the regions of Corrientes and Entre Rios,
This was a priority project for the organisation and the BIrdsong project donation helped fund key initiatives to bring this beautiful species back from the brink including species monitoring, a nest protection programme and a national communications campaign. You can find a detailed report on the project here.
3) Supporting local communities & conservation in Colombia
In response to overwhelming demand we did a vinyl repress of Volume I in 2019, and its sales allowed us to partner with yet a third organization doing urgently needed work to protect these birds and their habitats.
In 2020 we donated $6,000 USD to SalvaMontes, a Colombian NGO working in the northern-central Andes.
We helped them fund the running of their new Los Magnolios reserve, home to the incredibly rare Ventanas Magnolia tree (only 25 left in the wild), a critical species for ensuring the wider survival of the whole ecosystem.
Your donations helped create an income for a new ranger at the reserve. The person who was hired was a local farmer who had been living right on the edge of the protected area, but had been forced to cut down one hectare of forest every three months to sell as fuel in order to survive. He will now earn a wage looking after the reserve, as well as working on a local reforestation programme to reforest the surrounding area.
Vol II: A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America, & the Caribbean
The second volume of The Birdsong Project was released in 2019, and was an even bigger hit than the previous volume! Our Kickstarter campaign smashed its target by 317%, we clocked up almost 350,000 streams on Spotify in the first month alone, and sold out of all the vinyl records plus a repress. The album was featured in important media outlets including NPR’s ‘Morning Edition’ (12 million daily listeners) and Reforma, one of Mexico’s leading print newspapers.
In just one year the album raised over $24,000 USD, allowing us to make donations of $8,000 USD to three separate organisations from the region, each with a unique approach to conservation.
1) Guide Trainings on the Caribbean Birding Trail
The first organisation we partnered with was Birds Caribbean, an NGO working across the region to raise awareness, promote scientific research and engage with local partners.
Our donation of $8,000 went toward the “Caribbean Birding Trail”, a project designed to train local guides, restore sites for visitors and demonstrate the economic benefits of birding for local communities.
More specifically, the money will go towards the next Caribbean Birding Trail Interpretive Guide Training Workshop, which will be in Turks and Caicos Islands. The islands are facing serious threats from development on their smaller islands and cays. Birds Caribbean’s local partners asked for such a session to train guides and encourage the government to invest instead in sustainable tourism.
2) Educational outreach & scientific research in Costa Rica
In Central America we supported La Asociación Ornitológica de Costa Rica’s education and scientific programmes.
With our $8,000 USD donation we helped to fund workshops in schools, for example in Talamanca, Limón – covering the costs of materials such as guidebooks and binoculars as well as supporting the staff to travel to this and other workshops. We also helped fund the first edition of the Zeledonia scientific magazine and the latest official list of Costa Rican birds.
3) Critical support during COVID for bird rehabilitation and re-release in Mexico
Finally, in Mexico, we partnered with the Fundación Ornitológica TXORI, an NGO doing targeted work in rescue, rehabilitation and re-release of endangered birds. The Birdsong Project’s offer of support came at a very difficult time for the organisation, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Birdsong donation of $8,000 USD was critical to helping the foundation and the birds it looks after, survive. We helped the organisation pay for medicine and food for their birds
We also supported the construction of a new aviary as well as the first steps to creating a zootechnical manual, critical to Txori’s future release programme.
Looking Forward: A Guide to the Birdsong of Western Africa
Emboldened by the incredible international response to the project, and inspired by its potential for real impact on the ground, this year we registered Shika Shika as a non-profit organisation in France.
As part of this new chapter, we are thrilled to announce the launch of a crowdfunding campaign starting on September 20th to produce the third volume in the series. The Birdsong Project is migrating over the Atlantic to an incredibly diverse and rich region for both music and birds: Western Africa.
Be amongst the first to hear when we launch the Kickstarter!
Watch this space!
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