Name: How to Make Birdwatching More Inclusive
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New York City Audubon's Christian Cooper shares stories of his early days as a birdwatcher, and offers suggestions on how to get involved in birding and make it more accessible in your community.

Step One: Start paying attention to the birds in your area.

New York City Audubon's Christian Cooper shares stories of his early days as a birdwatcher, and offers suggestions on how to get involved in birding and make it more accessible in your community.

How to Make Birdwatching More Inclusive

Step One: Start paying attention to the birds in your area.

Nature

How to Make Birdwatching More InclusivePublished: June 8, 2021Christian Cooper: My dad was a biology teacher, so nature was always big in our household you know, in some form or another. For some reason, my parents decided I needed to do the 4H program one summer, which is where you build things out of wood. I had zero interest, but I had to choose whether I was going to build a footstool or a bird feeder. And I was like, “Alright, I guess I'm building the bird feeder.” So I built that.And when it was done, I put it in the backyard, filled it up with seeds and all these birds kept coming and I got really interested, including this one bird. And I thought I had discovered a new species because it was a crow with these big red patches on the shoulder of the wing. And I was like, “Oh my God. I found a new species of crow.” Of course, it turned out it was a redwing blackbird. But, you know, I was little. What did I know? I learned eventually.And then right around that same time, both my parents were teachers so they had the summers off. They packed me and my sister and themselves and the family cocker spaniel into a Volkswagen VW camper cramped thing for three months of the summer, going cross-country camping. We didn't have a lot of room and we couldn't bring a lot but one of the things my dad brought, as a biology teacher, was a field guide to the birds. So, you know, a lot of driving, a lot of hours passing through cornfields, not a lot to do.So I was flipping through one of the few books we had. And, you know, I had a pretty good memory back then not a lot else to cram things out of it. So by the time we got to the West Coast, a bird would fly by and I’d go, “Oh, look, Mom and Dad, there goes a magpie.” And they’re like, “How in the hell does he know that?” Because I remembered it from the book. So the combination of those two things just kind of sparked the interest.You know, if someone of color does show up at your bird walk. At your Audobon society or whatever group it is that is into the outdoors, make them feel welcome, make sure they know that they belong. I've been trying to get kids in underserved areas exposed to birding and birds in the outdoors.A lot of these kids don't think in those ways. They don't think that that's accessible to them. They don't think that it's something that they should be involved in. And I'd like to get them out there and show them, “Hey, look, this is yours, too, and it's here in your backyard, you know.” Some of them live right on Central Park, which is an amazing birding spot. Others of them may just have some little pocket park, but there's birds there, too. You've just got to try to tune into it.Just start paying attention. That's the first step. Whether you have binoculars or not find a water source in your whatever little patch of ground it is and just plant yourself there and watch for a while and see what comes by to bathe and to drink and try to figure out what you're seeing. Are they the same kind of bird? Or are they male and female? And then you're going to want to get your hands on binoculars, and also a field guide to help you sort these things out. Maybe you know somebody who has a pair of binoculars, who’s getting rid of them, because they’re upgrading. Take them. Even without them you can start birding.

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How to Make Birdwatching More Inclusive

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