What you should know about Black birders

Topical in the current climate in the USA. A reflection by a black birdwatcher.

What you should know about Black birders (The Conversation)

Birdwatching is open to all. Unless you are Black.

This is the message Christian Cooper received as he was birding in New York City’s Central Park last week. When Cooper asked a white woman to obey the posted signs regarding off-leash dogs, she called the police, claiming that her life was being threatened by an African American man...

Birdwatching is also a racialized hobby, where whiteness and white privilege work together to keep it non-Black. What this means is that the birders are white, may belong to white birding clubs and go on birding walks in woodsy areas which are seen as white spaces. If they are lucky, they may encounter a Black birder once every decade.

I am a Black birdwatcher, and I am also a researcher whose work focuses on how race shapes conservation, environmentalism and outdoor recreation. These fields are overwhelmingly white and noted for their lack of diversity...

>1 John5918: Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

I grew up in the American South. Raised by and in a family of racists and have worked to teach my children not to have that mind set. They are very liberal minded about non-whites. However, that is not enough. Much work is still needed.

National Audubon Society: Birding While Black: A Candid Conversation - Session 1
National Audubon Society: Birding While Black: A Candid Conversation - Session 2

Black birders focus on breaking down barriers to the outdoors (WTOP)

Black bird watchers, or “birders,” flocked to social media this week to spotlight their own presence in the outdoors — whether they bird watch as a hobby or as scientists in the field...

I'm in the UK and I don't remember ever meeting a non-white birder while bird watching. But that throws up awkward questions for myself. Would I have particularly noticed and remembered if I did? Should I have particularly noticed and remembered if I did? My instinct on the second question is in the negative; not at all sure about the first.

22134514::How to be an Urban Birder One of the things I missed when the Illmitz, Austria 'Bird Experience' was cancelled last year was the chance to hear a presentation by David Lindo. I always enjoy chatting with him about his newest book.

Of course he does a lot of his birding in cities, so more traditional birders may not run into him a lot, but if you get a chance to hear him speak, don't miss out.

https://theurbanbirderworld.com/about-david/

How to be an Urban Birder
David Lindo

And this one: The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature, by J. Drew Lanham - https://www.librarything.com/review/200332049

‘Birds are here for everyone’: how Black birdwatchers are finding a community (Guardian)

the second annual Black Birders Week – a series of events and activities meant to highlight Black birdwatchers, scientists and nature enthusiasts. The first week-long celebration grew out of a hashtag started by BlackAFInStem, a community of Black scientists who were responding to the video Cooper recorded of a white woman threatening to call the cops on him in Central Park. The hashtag grew into a space for Black birders to talk about their passion for the outdoors, share photos of striking birds and tell stories of their most memorable birdwatching experiences. “We want to get more Black birders out,” Christian Cooper said on Saturday. “I know historically there have not been a lot of Black birders, being one of the few and seeing not many faces like mine out there”...

‘It’s not just a white thing’: how Flock Together are creating a new generation of birdwatchers (Guardian)

The nature collective was set up to encourage more people of colour to enjoy nature. Here, they take our writer on a spotting trip through the wildlands of north-east London... In June 2020 they brought 15 people to this very same spot for the first outing of their collective, Flock Together, a birdwatching club that organises monthly walks for people of colour. Since then, they have regularly taken bigger groups of birdwatchers to woodlands across the south of England, from the Surrey Hills to the Essex marshes. They estimate that on each walk, 60% of the group are first-timers... They set up Flock Together last summer to challenge the under-representation of people of colour in outdoor spaces... a study commissioned by the RSPB found that two-thirds of Britons had found solace in watching birds over lockdown...

Their friends refused to join, thinking it was a “white thing”. Olanipekun, who turned to birdwatching when he was 28 to escape pressure from work, doesn’t blame them: the typical birdwatcher is still seen as someone white, elderly and middle-class. “Of course you’re going to think that’s not for you”...

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1100203220/christian-cooper-bird-watcher-national...

>11 qebo:

Good on him!

Birdwatcher Mya-Rose Craig: ‘The nature sector is decades behind in terms of diversity’ (Guardian)

The birder and activist on increasing access to nature...