On The Marsh
(released in 2006)

These nine original flute compositions written, performed and produced by Jon Sherman, are a celebration of California's salt narsh community and thirteen birds that you might hear when visiting this endangered habitat. Since the 1850's, over ninety percent of California's original coastal wetlands have been lost and many of the remaining wetlands are in danger of further degradation or destruction. May these songs, which include the authentic bird vocalizations of Western Meadowlark, Red-winged Blackbird, Killdeer, Least Tern, American Kestrel, Osprey, Clapper Rail*, Song Sparrow, Belted Kingfisher, Common Yellowthroat, Savannah Sparrow, Willet, and Canada Goose, inspire a renewed wonder and communion with one of the most endangered habitats on Earth.

*Reclassified as Light-footed Ridgway’s Rail in 2014


"On the Marsh is a wonderful example of how man and nature can live together in harmony. Featuring the authentic sounds of thirteen different bird species one might hear at a California salt marsh, Jon Sherman's flute playing glides and soars around their sounds, forming a united sound of bird and man. The songs are peaceful and beautiful, just as it is being out in nature – or in this case, out in a salt marsh. Jon is a true role model when it comes to shedding a light on nature’s delicate eco-systems, encouraging us to remember the beauty and the importance, beckoning us to play our parts - to preserve and protect."

- Lisa D. Smith, The Big Blend


"Of all the places along California's magnificent, 1,100-mile coastline, the most fragile and least appreciated are the wetlands. They are where the earth suckles the sea, a nursery of unbelievable fertility. If the planet can be thought of as having nests, its coastal wetlands are those nests. They are the places where much of the Earth's food chain is born."

- Richard O'Reilly


"Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps."

- Henry David Thoreau