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Recently, I discovered a love for nature documentaries. There's something really amazing about seeing footage of places you wouldn't normally get to see, or things that are rare or impossible to observe on your every day walk in the woods. While I am really not a fan of television in general (we don't have TV and never will), I do have a hearty appreciation for the art of good film. One day, my husband brought home a couple seasons of Marty Stouffer's Wild America series from the local library for family movie night. He explained that it was a favorite show from his childhood, and declared Stouffer his hero. I had not seen Wild America nor heard of it, because I grew up with 12 Canadian stations and poor reception from our antenna(which was actually fine because I ended up playing outside most of the time). I am thinking now, however, that I really missed out on Wild America. After watching those episodes, we loved it so much that we got the complete 12-season set for a family Winter Solstice gift. On long rainy days, or when the kids are home sick, we like to curl up now and then, and enjoy peeks into the lives of the scarcely-seen animals around us.
I decided quickly that Marty Stouffer is a hero of mine as well. A father of two young children, he frequently brought them along to observe the critters he was filming. They even got to help their father raise and rehabilitate injured and motherless birds and a grizzly bear cub! In a society where there are very few jobs that make allowances for one's children to participate, I was impressed that Marty Stouffer just brought his family along with him. The series covers nearly every animal, reptile, bird and fish in North America in depth, and some excellent messages of wildlife protection and habitat preservation are woven throughout. The other thing I really appreciate about the series is the background music. A lot of outdoor documentaries seem to have this heavy metal, extreme-edge, overly dramatic background music. It makes you feel like you're at a monster truck rally, rather than watching animals out in nature. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm sure monster truck rally music has it's place of belonging in the world. However, in this setting, it's all wrong. Wild America always has well-suited music. Rollicking fiddle music for wild turkeys, serene piano and flute music for meadowlands and birds, and some great banjo tunes for swamp animals are just a few examples.
Marty's own story is pretty inspiring as well. He started out filming animals with his brothers and rehabilitating animals at home, and decided to make the leap and pursue his passions rather than stay with the family business. Here's what Wikipidia turned up: "At age 18, Marty traveled to Alaska on his own with an 8mm movie camera. He became trapped by snowfall in a remote valley, but survived by hunting and trapping local wildlife. He returned home and with the warm reception of his unsophisticated movie of his adventure in the north, decided to pursue a career in wildlife documentary making. In 1970, Marty graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in English. From there he traveled to Africa to film a new documentary. While in Africa, he was confronted with massive and wasteful killing of animals and returned to America with the intent to produce films that argued for nature conservation."
With some patience and awareness, there are many opportunities to observe wildlife on your outdoor adventures. Even though my children tend to get very excited and sometimes loud out in the woods, we have still been fortunate to make some good critter sightings from time to time. Here are a few I've managed to photograph over the last few years. My kids still talk about the time we saw a black bear cub in Idaho to anyone who will listen!
I've never known a youngster who wasn't interested in animals. They're fascinating. I believe that educating children about wildlife is a sure way to foster understanding and respect. I also think it's important to know a little bit about the creatures we share our habitat with. Going out in nature and observing is really the way to do this, but it can also be fun sometimes to have your interest sparked first and gather some information before you head out there. Wild America has a lot to offer in the way of sharing observation of animal behavior and habitats, and highlighting some critters we might have otherwise overlooked or just not known were there.
For more information you can check out this link, What is Wild America? There is also an official Wild America interactive website with lots of facts, footage and educational ideas.
So, for your next family movie night, or rainy day snuggle-up time, look for "Wild America" at your local library, video store, or Netflix. A delightful experience awaits.
And to further pique your interest, here's a season guide and listing of all the episodes:
Season 1: Watching Wildlife, Swamp Critters, Wild Dogs, Mountain Monarchs, Time of the Grizzly, At the Crossroads, Bighorn!, The Wolf and the Whitetail, Living With Wildlife,Wild Babies
Season 2: Animal Oddities, Born to Run, Owls-Lords of Darkness, Hog Wild!, Antlered Kingdom, Wild Wings, Wild Cats, The Man Who Love Bears Part I, The Man Who Loved Bears Part II, Backyard Wildlife
Season 3: All-American Animals, Feathered Jewels, Ringtailed Rascals, Canyon Creatures, Wolverine Country, Fascinating Fishes, Wild Refuge, Fishers in the Family 1, Fishers in the Family 2, Photographing Wildlife
Season 4: North Woods Lynx, Woodpeckers-Nature's Hammerheads, Designs for Defense, Cutthroat-Yellowstone Lake Cutthroat and Yellowstone River, Cutthroat-Grizzly Creek, Killer Mice, Controversial Coyote, Remarkable Reptiles, Tracking Wildlife
Season 5: Pennsylvania Whitetail, Woodies and Hoodies, King of Snakes, Family Feud, River of the Bears, Wild Texas, A Prairie Park?, The Grouse and the Goshawk, Otters of the Adirondacks, Growing up Wild
Season 6: Swamp Bear Part 1, Swamp Bear Part 2, Beautiful Blues, Timberdoodles of Moosehorn, Minnesota Mink, Season of the Seals, Wild Turkey Part 1, Wild Turkey Part 2, Snakedance, Managing Wildlife
Season 7: Cliffhangers, White on White, Family of Foxes, Peculiar Plants, A Multitude of Mollusks, Marmot Mountain, Old Man Muskrat, Chipmunks of Yosemite, Bobcat, Evergreen
Season 8: Bushytails, Cottontails and Kin, Birds of Peace, Birds of Prey, Weasels: Sleek and Savage Part 1, Weasels: Sleek and Savage Part 2, Olympic Odyssey, Badlands, Shenandoah Springtime, Attracting Wildlife
Season 9: Valley of the Elk, Dancers of the Dawn, The Incredible Shrew, Pretty as a Quail, Meet the Marten, Beneficial Bats, Birds of a Feather, Call to Courtship, A Nest is Best, Shades of Gray
Season 10: The First Ten Years, Magnificent as a Moose, The Truth About Turtles, Prince of the Pond, The Prickly Porcupine, Those Smelly Skunks, The Amazing Armadillo, In the Forest, Whitebark, Kids and Critters
Season 11: Billion Dollar Bass, The Beauty of Butterflies, Belligerent as a Badger, Headgear, A Tale about Tails, Some Feet Have Noses, The Eyes Have It, Colors in Nature, Wild Wyoming, Home is Where There's Habitat
Season 12: Zoom in on Wildflowers, Year of the Mustang Part 1, Year of the Mustang Part 2, Queen of the Ice, X-Rated Imports, Wings Over the Marsh, People of the Bison, Cute as a Cub, Just Little Varmints, The Bill Makes the Bird
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