I participated in a new program developed by Chicago Audubon Society in May 2021: a Bird Walk Leader Training (BLT).
I heard about this program from Antonio Flores – Program and Communications Manager – while I was on a bird walk at the North Park Village Nature Center.
The goal of the program was to engage and prepare Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to lead bird walks in their communities. It is no secret that the birding community has historically been predominantly white. Chicago Audubon Society and its partners wanted to equip BIPOC birders with the tools and skills needed to lead bird walks. This, in turn, would continue and strengthen the process of diversifying the Chicago birding community.
The BLT was an overwhelmingly positive – I would even go as far as say magical – experience. There were two training groups that met over an 8-week period. One group training took place at Washington Park on Tuesday mornings. The other group training took place at Douglass Park on Saturday mornings. I participated in the Saturday training.
On my first day, I arrived at Douglass Park at 8:00AM. It was raining, a little cold. I was nervous and thought it would be a bad day of birding given the weather. As soon as I stepped out of my car and walked to the meeting location, I felt an instant sense of warmth and welcoming. I was surrounded by majority femmes, and only People of Color. I knew that even though we might not see too many birds, I was excited to get to know other new birders, share knowledge and experiences with them, and build our community.
I won’t focus too much on the details of what we covered in our BLT or what birds we saw and didn’t see. Instead, I want to highlight the ways in which this experience was different and fulfilling for me as a Woman of Color.
Something that was unique about the BLT was connecting with and sharing my love of birds with other BIPOC. I loved hearing from other Birders of Color (BOC) about their familial and ancestral connections to birds. I connected with BOC about how much of a spiritual experience birding is – that we enjoy the intimate moments where we can watch an American Robin or a House Sparrow feeding their young. How we can’t imagine ever thinking that a creature that has survived and continuously adapted over millions of years to environmental change – either natural or human driven – as a “trash bird”. I am forever grateful for these personal and deeply meaningful conversations I had with many BOC during this training.
I think most, if not all, participants knew that we were there to support one another on our journey to grow and build confidence so we can one day bird in our neighborhood parks with our family, friends, and communities. Some folks were more experienced, and others had not even picked up a pair of binoculars before (binoculars are not necessary to birding and we need to continue to either provide binoculars for participants on our bird walks or do without them. The cost of binoculars should not prevent someone from enjoying birds.) Part of supporting one another meant that we respected where everyone was in their learning journey. This meant that we continued to be excited about helping someone identify a Red-winged Blackbird or Northern Cardinal. This meant that we kept our eyes on and observed all of the Eastern Kingbirds or Common Grackles even if we had seen them a dozen times before. Part of this was to respect one another and to also offer respect and gratitude for the birds that allowed us to see them that day.
Hands down, the best part of BLT was hearing all of the laughter among my fellow BOC. This was a community-building effort. We took the time to listen to each other’s experiences – either with birding or the exciting weekend someone had planned. We made jokes while observing. We made up mnemonics for bird songs that made more sense to us. We learned to identify blue-grey gnatcatchers by the Sharpie eyebrows they sport. I am so thankful for this new experience of developing connections and relationships with other birders. I’m excited to continue to connect with BLT graduates. We will be birding, laughing, taking up space, and growing this community fiercely.
Bird walk leader training group photo by Antonio Flores
