The Price of Beauty: Extinct Soundscapes
No matter where you live on this planet, there is a moment every day when you can listen to the world wake up. The sounds of insects retreat with the fading darkness, and the birds begin to sing. We call this phenomenon the dawn chorus, and it happens every day in the hour before sunrise. Somewhere in the world it is happening right now.
These songs fulfill a promise to survive. Birds that made it through the night sing to defend territories, attract mates, and reaffirm their places in nature’s symphony.
Today, however, these voices have a price: a multi-billion dollar songbird trade is contributing to the decline of over 500 songbird species who are trapped in the wild, smuggled across borders, and sold in wildlife markets around the world. This trade supports people’s livelihoods and cultural identities, but its cost to nature and songbirds leaves us with a simple question: can we control ourselves instead of them?
YouTube Playlist: The Price of Beauty: Extinct Soundscapes
From the Creative Conservation Lab and Ecotone Studios: over 500 songbird species worldwide are facing threats from the wildlife trade. Made from a selection of their voices, these “extinct soundscapes” represent what nature could sound like if we take collective action to protect these birds.
Represented Regions: North Africa, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Continental Europe, and the Neotropics.
YouTube playlist: Northern Africa
Listen to the songs of birds threatened by the wildlife trade in Northern Africa. Rebuilt from archival audio, this dawn chorus represents what nature once sounded like, and what it could sound like again.
- Moussier’s Redstart
- Common Bulbul
- African Chaffinch
- White-crowned Wheatear
- European Serin
- Spotless Starling
- Western Orphean Warbler
- Crested Lark
- Desert Wheatear
- Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin
- Hawfinch
YouTube playlist: Central Asia
Listen to the songs of birds threatened by the wildlife trade in Central Asia. Rebuilt from archival audio, this dawn chorus represents what nature once sounded like, and what it could sound like again.
- Blue Whistling Thrush
- Crimson-winged Finch
- Trumpeter Finch
- Gray-crowned Goldfinch
- Indian Golden Oriole
- White-throated Robin
- Blue Rock Thrush
- Rufous-naped Tit
- Common Rock Thrush
- Bluethroat
- White-winged Grosbeak
- White-winged Snowfinch
- Brambling
Listen to the songs of birds threatened by the wildlife trade in continental Europe. Rebuilt from
archival audio, this dawn chorus represents what nature once sounded like, and what it could sound like again.
- Blue Tit
- European Goldfinch
- Bluethroat
- Common Nightingale
- Common Redstart
- Eurasian Blackcap
- Eurasian Bullfinch
- Bearded Reedling
- European Pied Flycatcher
- Redwing
Listen to the songs of birds threatened by the wildlife trade in the Neotropics. Rebuilt from archival audio, this dawn chorus represents what nature once sounded like, and what it could sound like again.
- Red Siskin
- Slate-colored Seedeater
- Lined Seedeater
- Chestnut-bellied Seed Finch
- Large-billed Seed Finch
- Lesson’s Seedeater
- Ruddy-breasted Seedeater
- Yellow-bellied Seedeater
- Wing-barred Seedeater
- Grey Seedeater
YouTube playlist: Southeast Asia
Listen to the songs of birds threatened by the wildlife trade in Southeast Asia. Rebuilt from archival audio, this dawn chorus represents what nature once sounded like, and what it could sound like again.
- Orange-headed Thrush
- Long-tailed Shrike
- White-rumped Shama
- Ruby-throated Bulbul
- Van Hasselt’s Sunbird
- Javan Leafbird
- Black-naped Oriole
- Javan Green Magpie
- Mountain White-eye
- Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush
- Common Tailorbird
- Javan Blue Flycatcher
Credits and big thank you’s!
Created by Dr. Ben Mirin, Founding Director, Creative Conservation Lab and Ecotone Studios for The Price of Beauty Project, supported by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria and EAZA Silent Forest
Contributing Recordists:
- Andrew Spencer
- Arend Wassink
- Arnoud B. van den Berg
- Ben Mirin
- Brice de la Croix
- Carlos Godinho
- Christian SW
- Dag Österlund
- Ding Li Yong
- Dominique Guillerme
- Eric Hansson
- Esperanza Poveda
- Fernand Deroussen
- Frank Lambert
- Gauthier Gallee
- Gonzalo Peña Sánchez
- Guilherme Melo
- Hans Matheve
- Jack Berteau
- Jacobo Ramil Millarengo
- Jarek Matusiak
- Jelle Scharringa
- Jérémy Calvo
- Jerome Fischer
- Johnathan Hruska
- Jordi Calvet
- Jorge Leitão
- Josep del Hoyo
- Juan Sebastian Ulloa
- Lars Edenius
- LW Dickens
- Manuel Oudard
- Mike Catsis
- Mike Nelson
- Oscar Campbell
- Panji Gusti Akbar
- Patrick Franke
- Patrik Åberg
- Paulo Narciso
- Per Alström
- Peter Boesman
- Reklamacja
- Rosendo Fraga
- Santiago Caballero Carrera
- Stanislas Wroza
- Taylor Brooks
- Teet Sirotkin
- Thomas Bergman
- Uku Paal