The Third Annual Week of the Black Birders Rises to Higher Heights

Adé Ben Salahuddin was a co-organizer of Black Birders Week 2022. He gave us his reflection on the events of the week.

Almost seven days before Black Birders Week 2022 began, I stood with science educator Dara Wilson inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. We just finished recording a set of basic birding instructional materials for a Black Birders Week-themed page on the museum website. Over our heads, a set of screens revolved between black-and-white images of African American grassroots organizations and their members, both familiar and unnamed. It is ordinary people who build communities to protect and lift each other up in the face of discrimination, which is now a concern.

It is for the same community and encouragement reasons that Black Birders Week was first organized, in 2020. The now annual, premier online event was created by Black AF at STEM Collective, a group of young Black biologists and nature lovers. The goal is to bring greater representation to the world of birding in response to incidents like this one in Central Park in 2020 involving Black birder Christian Cooper. That conflict highlighted the vast barriers, dangers, even animosity that Blacks often face when we are outside. As I mentioned in last year’s coverage, Black Birders Week has evolved from a collective reaction to a painful situation to a celebration of people in our communities who have found joy, inspiration, and peace in birds and nature.

This year’s overall theme, “Soaring to Greater Heights,” is a nod to the continued growth and expansion of Black Birders Week. Each day from May 29 to June 4, the week’s activities and online discussions explore a different theme emphasizing the steps in the birding journey. Both the participants and organizers reflected on their own experiences, painting a mosaic of birding through different cultures and perspectives across the African diaspora. For example, on the first day over 100 people from the US, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa saw the introduction and demonstration of their birding experiences. using the hashtag #BlackInNature.

Herpetologist and Week co-organizer Chelsea Connor began collaborating on the BirdNote Daily podcast with an episode about the Black Heron, which featured the clever approach to bird fishing and its symbolism in local cultures throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The next two days, titled #InTheNest and #LearningToTakeFlight, featured a couple of webinars exploring the important role of mentorship and community in creating new breeders, from the points of view of both mentors and novices (moderated by Deja Perkins and hosted by Cornell Lab; archived here). Later that week on Thursday’s #FlyingTheCoop, viewers were taught the tropical sights and sounds of a virtual bird walk in the Bahamas before focusing for a presentation by Canadian teacher-turned-wildlife photographer Jason George and the his journey into dyslexia.

A New Dimension: In-Person Events

Where this year’s events have really moved beyond the formula of previous years is in offering personal events. Since outdoor gatherings remain a safe and popular way for people to physically interact, it is only natural that people seek to find themselves on the paths and find communion with nature in their surroundings. Environmental educator Nicole Jackson and urban ecologist Deja Perkins, both longtime co-organizers of the Week, hosted four bird walks (and a raptor demonstration) in their communities in Ohio and North Carolina in throughout the week, in addition to contributing to virtual panels. Additional events include a nature walk hosted by Outdoor Afro of Southern California, and a bird walk in Pennsylvania led by environmental educator Brianna Amingwa.

In New York City, I had to help build and attend five bird walks in local parks and greenspaces. I started my Friday with a mid-morning venture through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, led by Chaz Faxton and Indigo Goodson. We saw many common birds in the city such as House Sparrows, Blue Jays, and Northern Mockingbirds – even a Baltimore Oriole – but the biggest thrill came after the official walk and about half of the 25 attendees took a moment to look in a field. Suddenly a Cooper’s Hawk dived right from above and snatched a new European Starling we had been looking at earlier, about a dozen yards in front of us. (Pro-tip: whenever you think you want to leave is always when surprises happen.)

Although the birds were the focus, I found it more memorable to meet other birders and enjoy moments together in the same physical space. After a solo afternoon stroll at nearby Prospect Park, I headed to Marsha P. Johnson State Park to meet with Roslyn Rivas, a Bronx-based wildlife biologist and friend from college who led the bird walk there that night. that. This particular event, titled Birds and Brews, is curated in partnership with Brooklyn Brewery and focuses on a young adult demographic. Jenna Marie Otero, an environmental education assistant at the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, led the bird walk + bar night collaboration. Nearly 20 people came, a racially and ethnically diverse group of almost entirely first -time birders, with several veterans among them. The walk itself is only about 35 minutes – Marsha P. Johnson State Park is a relatively small space – but participants enjoyed highlights such as a flock of Double-crested Cormorants basking themselves on the East River.

Back at the Smithsonian, Dara and I are on Explore More! Gallery that helps museum attendees examine owl pellets and stray feathers under microscopes. A little Black woman, probably no more than 4, holds a magnifying glass to her face as her mother helps her gently separate the small, slender bones of the owl’s food from the dry gray fluff that wraps. theirs.

I watched him examine and compare the different elements, using a pictorial sheet on the table in front of him to help tell a bird’s skull from a rat’s leg. I beamed under my mask, excited that I could help bring this experience to this young anatomist in the making.

Across the room, an old Black man from New Orleans happily showed Dara videos of Ospreys near her house, the beautiful predators that boast massive orange-scaled catches. “It’s good to know that I’m not the only Black person who loves birds!” he calls us after he leaves.

Standing in that space and looking out of the room, I took advantage of that moment. Just a few months ago, I started picking up my new binoculars to look for birds in a small pond near my house. Now, in a week, I’ve been to seven different bird walks in multiple states, added over a dozen new species to my eBird list, and most of all I’ve made new connections with dozens of people. And as a surprise coming home after all the work and travel, I found out The community building aspect of Black Birders Week has finally begun to take root in my hometown of Connecticut while I was away.

“It’s good to know that I’m not the only Black person who loves birds!” the man called us to the Smithsonian.

True, brother. It is true.

Adé Ben-Salahuddin is a co-organizer of Black Birders Week 2022. He is an aspiring undergraduate-level evolutionary biologist and freelance science educator whose favorite birds are still all gone (terror birds and moa). You can follow him Twitter at YouTube for videos about prehistoric life, the people who study it, and how we talk about it.