Bird whistles
We specially import a large selection of bird whistles, which the ornithologist François Morel hand-makes in his small workshop in the French Alps. Read more and watch a video from the production of bird whistles.
The ornithologist who became world famous
The ornithologist François Morel has been renowned for his bird whistles for the past 25 years. He was 6 years old when he decided to talk to the birds one morning and ever since he has been whistling, chirping and singing with them. Since 1975, in his workshop in the French Alps, he has hand-made a variety of different bird whistles which he exports to all over the world. Most recently, the Icelandic singer Björk has used them as instruments on her "Utopia" album.
Below you can watch three minutes of a French TV portrait of François Morel and his bird whistle production. (Don't worry, there’s subtitles.)
A unique piece of craftsmanship
A lot of manual work goes into the bird whistles. As you can see in the video above, François and his daughter cut, polish and glue all the whistles by hand. There is no automation in the making, and every single bird whistle is a unique piece of craftsmanship. Most of the whistles consist of wood, leather and metal, with the most commonly used types of wood being lime, beech and pine. Each bird whistle is placed in a small wooden box, which is also hand-made. All in all, it is a product that has a lot of love and thought put into it. François Morel has also chosen to call his company the "Quelle Est Belle Company" ("What a beautiful company").
You learn when you use the bird whistle
The bird whistles are often used in teaching at schools and nature centers. It is both fun and educational to mimic the birds song with a bird whistle. And there are whistles for all age groups. Some whistles are easy, while others are far more difficult. For example, it is easy to sound like a cuckoo, while it is much harder to sound like a chaffinch. You learn when you use the bird whistle. Let's take an example: If you are familiar with your robin bird whistle, you are also familiar with the sounds that the robin produces in nature. The ear gets used to the distinctive sounds, and can recognize them quickly. The nature experience takes on a new dimension when you can actually identify the singing birds. It's like nature gets a thousand new voices. You will send many warm thoughts to your bird whistle!