Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater on Ornithology

interview by Emily Strong

MXMO (Musicians By Modus Operandi) is a new column that focuses on the hobbies, habits, side-projects and signature idiosyncrasies of the artists we love and respect. For this first issue, Soundcheck sat down with Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg to discuss his other great passion: birds. Meiburg studied ornithology at the University of Texas at Austin, and his love of birds is evident in his music and daily life. This is a drastically edited portion of our conversation.

Soundcheck Magazine: So how did you get into ornithology?

Jonathan Meiburg: I always sort of liked birds, but it didn't go any farther than that. But then I got this weird fellowship after I graduated to do a study of community life at the ends of the earth. So I got on a plane to Tierra del Fuego when I was 21 years old! After a couple of weeks in Tierra del Fuego, I realized that the Falkland [Islands] were close, and that they had several species of penguin there. So I thought, “'Well, I really oughta go see some penguins, if I'm going to be this far south.'” So I was there for a couple of weeks, just talking to people and walking around the one little town—--basically, everybody who lives in the Falklands is in this one little town called Stanley, except for the military base.

At the boarding house I was staying in, I met this ornithologist named Robin Woods, who was doing a survey of this species, the Caracara, on the outermost islands, and he needed an assistant. I was there and I was free, so I pestered him until he agreed to take me along. So for seven weeks after that I was on this boat with Robin and a couple of other people, going around these outermost islands of the archipelago, looking for this species, surveying them on their breeding ground—--which meant that, not only did I see them, but the world's largest colonies of Black-browed Albatross, and Rock-hopper Penguin, and other island endemics. They have a flightless duck, and a little wren that looks more like a mouse. I had no idea the world could be like that.

I wasn't converted into studying birds overnight from that, but it certainly made a huge impression on me and I started noticing birds after that. Because, as it turned out, all of the places I went that year had really wacky birds. I hadn't put that together; I didn't know why that happened, but after I came back, I started to piece together the pieces of that year, going, “'Well, why was this like this? Why did this happen?”' I saw so many things that I didn't understand, but I especially found out that I kept thinking about the birds and wanted to know more about them. I wanted to know the names of all of them, and how they were related. I just felt like I didn't have enough pieces of the puzzle. So that's how I ended up studying birds.

SM: So, I read that you have a guitar that you got in Australia for $40.

JM: Yeah, yeah, I got that in Tasmania that year.

SM: Ok, so here's my question about that: The first time I saw Palo Santo with a cockatoo on the front, I was like, “Huh. Why a cockatoo?” They are in no way related to Shearwaters, or Austin, or anything that I knew about your band. But then when I read about your Australian guitar, and that you wrote most of the album on that guitar, I was like, “'Oh, is there a correlation between the two?”' [Ed. Note: Cockatoos are endemic to Australia.]

JM: Uh, no.

(both laugh)

JM: That just happened to be a really awesome print that we found...

SM: Aren't all the prints in the album Frohawk lithographs?

JM: No. They're from different sources. A guy named Verner did that particular one of the cockatoo.

SM: So, the bird on the inside cover is a Frohawk [lithograph]?

JM: Yes. That's a Greater Akioloa, which is an extinct Hawaiian honeycreeper.

SM: Why did you choose [these particular prints]?

JM: Probably just because I liked that image. Underneath the [second] disc we've removed the birds from the branches. It was intended, not just as '“Get that funky bird out of the way', but I wanted to say a little something about landscapes when the animals aren't there.

SM: So the significance of the empty branch is that those birds are [extinct]?

JM: Yeah, he's gone.

SM: But in terms of the species you chose to put on the cover, you just liked those prints?

JM: Yeah, well, I didn't just like it. I looked through hundreds of images, but there was something about this particular one that had the feel of the record to it. And also, [they both] have this branch, and “palo santo” means “holy stick” or “holy tree”. And here [points to album cover] you have this branch that's sort of coming out of nowhere and it has this gilded lichen on it. And also, weirdly, those three mountains in the distance— the view from one of the two campsites in the Galapagos [Islands] where we worked is almost exactly that. It was looking at the Island of Isabella, two of its volcanoes, and the island behind it, the island of Fernandina. And I swear, it looked just like that. It was really eerie to see it like that in that illustration. And that [illustration] is obviously not from the Galapagos.

SM: So why did you choose Shearwater for your band's name?

JM: Mostly because I thought the name was nice.

SM: (laughs) Ok!

JM: But I do like them. I am fond of them. I was happy to see them. They live a really long time, and they live outside of most people's experience, too. Most people will never see one, even though they're extremely numerous. It's in the world with us, but it's not of our world. I've sort of retroactively tried to find things that I like about them to make it fit in with the band, but honestly, I was amazed that that name wasn't taken. It seems like a natural. A lot of people have taken cool bird names. I was so relieved that it wasn't taken because almost every band name you can think of has been. Just don't hate it: that's the best you can hope for these days!

(both laugh)

SM: Ok, so, is there something else that you want to say, or talk about?

JM: As far as birds go, we've been talking about a lot of extinct birds, and really fancy birds that don't live around here, and yet, one thing that I've enjoyed more than almost anything else about being interested in birds is just being able to appreciate them wherever you are. I got a National Geographic bird guide shortly after I came back from that trip and just started reading it—just kind of flipping through it, idly. I would just start noticing things around me, and there's a little thrill that's hard to describe that comes when you see something, know what it is, and maybe know a little something about it. And then you start noticing it all the time. Like those [Monk] Parakeets that are nesting up in that pole right next to us. A lot of people don't know there are Parakeets in Austin.

SM: Well, and there's a whole colony of Amazons that live in Austin.

JM: Get out!

SM: Yeah! They escaped from some breeder or smuggler back in the '70s, I think.

JM: Where are they?

SM: I think they spend a lot of time down by Lake Austin—.

JM: Red-Fronted Amazons?

SM: No, they're Yellow—. Well, I don't think they're Double Yellow Heads, but they might be. I think they're Yellow Naped.

JM: Oh, ok. A lot of people don't even know there are parrots in Austin.

SM: I know. Well, and it's funny because I'll be talking about my parrot, or parrots in general, and someone will go—--

JM: “'I saw a green bird...”'

SM: Yeah! And I'll be like, “'Oh yeah, it's the Amazons.”'

JM: “Really?!” Yeah, there are green birds flying—--when you start seeing them, you see them everywhere. How could anybody miss this? See, this whole world opens up for you that otherwise is just sort of closed to you. People don't see it. It's just like the Shearwaters that we don't see normally, even though there's so many of them around the world, just because that's outside of the places where people live. Most people are just as separate from the world as the birds that live around them, even right next to their house. Most people hear [a dove's call] but don't know that's a White-Winged Dove, even though that's a sound they hear every day. It's a world that's there and that will interact with you if you want it. It's there if you want it. And I love that about loving birds and being interested in them. It just makes life richer, and way more fun and interesting.