Bay Nature on the Air Debuts New Videos on Bay Area Public TV

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

— published May 09, 2011

Berkeley, May 5, 2011 -- Now in its fifth year on public television, Bay Nature's short video series Bay Nature on the Air has enlightened audiences around the region with its entertaining and insightful glimpses of the natural world of Northern California. On Monday, May 9, Rohnert Park-based KRCB-TV will release four new videos in the series to Public Broadcasting Service affiliate stations around the region. These new spots celebrate several common but often misunderstood inhabitants of the Bay Area's parklands and open spaces: tarantulas, western fence lizards, western rattlesnakes, and the turkey vulture. 

Bay Nature on the Air is a series of two-and-a-half minute interstitial spots (airing between full-length programs) that highlight the incredible variety of flora and fauna around us. 

Each of the new videos is hosted by beloved Bay Area naturalist Michael Ellis, and offers a fascinating snapshot of these local creature's habits and habitats. In "Teetering Turkey Vultures", for example, viewers will learn a quick shortcut for distinguishing a soaring turkey vulture from a hawk (hint: it's in the title of the video!). 

A frequent contributor to KQED-FM's "Perspectives" series and proprietor of the international tour company Footloose Forays, host Ellis combines irreverent humor with encyclopedic knowledge to give us insight into the lives of these wild "next door neighbors". 

The series was inspired by award-winning, Berkeley-based quarterly magazine Bay Nature, which recently celebrated a successful first decade of publication. Serving as a gateway to the natural world of the Bay Area, Bay Nature is dedicated to "bringing Bay Area residents closer to the remarkable and incredibly diverse natural world that surrounds us right here where we live," says publisher and co-founder David Loeb. 

The new Bay Nature on the Air spots, along with the ten previous videos in the series, were produced by San Francisco-based BaciPix, and directed by Rick Bacigalupi. All the videos are also available for viewing anytime on Bay Nature's nature portal website, BayNature.org and on YouTube. The website also features listings of nature-related events around the region and hundreds of articles on local nature. 

Contact:
Beth Slatkin, 510-528-8550 x207
beth@baynature.org