David Busse will present his 18-minute film and discussion on the beautiful Bank Swallows of Lake
Michigan bluffs. He is a 4x Emmy Award winning filmmaker and video producer, traveling from
Milwaukee to present to the RPG.
Beyond Our Senses explores the intersection between life and perceptions. Each spring, thousands
of Bank Swallows return to the Lake Michigan bluffs to build colonies, mate, and raise their young.
Guided by extraordinary perceptions like tetrachromatic vision, magnetic senses, and aerial mastery,
they navigate predators, rivals, and the relentless demands of survival in a hidden world beyond
human perception.
The filmmaker shares the story of his obsessive quest to document the swallows, leading him to
daily check-ins, surprising moments in nature, deep research, and collaborations with scientists,
writers, and conservationists from New York to Ireland. He learns to see the world with fresh eyes,
discovering key behaviors in the footage that he had overlooked many times, and culminating in a
moment with his family at the dinner table that he never could have planned.