Nature documentary about bird research in Canada
WorkCabin Creative is wrapping up production on a new 15-minute documentary film about one of the most remote bird banding stations on Earth and the unique challenges faced living and working there.
Filmed over two different seasons spanning three years the documentary began life with one focus but later evolved due to the impacts of weather, storms and high water. The documentary is a result of almost 100 hours of footage captured by environmental visual storytelling filmmaker Gregg McLachlan.
Since 1960, the Long Point Bird Observatory has been operating a research station at the extreme eastern tip of Long Point, Ontario where scientists study bird
migration. The tip itself is the longest (about 40 km) freshwater sand spit in the world and is the last remaining wilderness in southern Ontario. Long Point is also designated as a Globally Important Bird Area (395 species). Because of its remote location in the middle of Lake Erie, weather and waves are constantly shaping and reshaping this landscape.
The new documentary, The Bird House, tells the story of the demise of a historic rustic wood house located at the tip that once housed the families of lighthouse keepers, and later housed biologists and volunteers working at the tip for LPBO.
In 2022, about 10,000 birds were banded at the tip, representing between 70 and 80 species.
The LPBO research station at the tip was the first in the Western Hemisphere. It began consistently collecting data and banding birds in 1960 and it led to the foundation of Birds Canada, a globally relevant non-profit charitable organization championing understanding, appreciation and conservation of birds.
