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Urban Birding, Motherhood, and the Power of Community with Indigo Goodson-Fields
710 Plays2 months ago
The vibe is SOOOO right this week with our homie Indigo Goodson-Fields. Indigo comes to hang with us from Brooklyn, NYC, where she is a birder, poet, bird guide, writer, educator, and bird model (with Bird Collective). We spend some time talking about how she curates her community in ways that enrich her own mental health as well as the community around her. This includes leading “Birding, Poetry, and Power” outings through Field Meridians as well as those more quiet and reflecting moments in Prospect Park or the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. We break down what it means to find your space and your community in nature, especially in the most well-known city on the planet. Indigo brings us inside the life of a new mother, navigating the caregiving responsibilities while still trying to find time to fill up one's cup in nature. This can be through the reflections on the intertwined lives of Eastern Bluebird and Brown-headed Cowbird mothers or the arrival of a special Yellow-breasted Chat in her local patch.
Join us this week as we find that unique Bird Joy with Indigo, and give her a follow if you want to get to one of her upcoming outings in 2025!
Be sure to follow our podcast on Instagram at @thebirdjoypod and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Introduction to Bird Joy Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the bird joy podcast. I'm Dexter Patterson and I'm Jason Hall. And this is the podcast for all the bird nerds and the homies out there who want to find a little bird joy. Yes. Yes. A little bird joy. And we've been sharing a ton of it this season in the bird joy podcast. Are y'all ready for a little bit more? Let's go. Let's go.
Guest Indigo Goodson Fields Introduction
00:00:21
Speaker
Well, well, well, who do we have today? Let us find out. Another glorious episode and today we are bringing you our homie Indigo Goodson Fields, our homie from New York City. Hey, what's up? How you doing?
00:00:43
Speaker
Good. You know, I don't sleep that well since the little one. The spirits are high. You don't. Season two, Jay. Season two is the gift that just keeps on giving, man. It really does. It really does.
Finding Joy in Seasonal Traditions
00:00:57
Speaker
Hey, hey, it's December 1st. I can use the word gift now, right? Like, nobody's going to attack me or anything, right? Like, I can't get festive now, right? Listen, I don't know about you. I had my Christmas lights up the day after Halloween. I really don't, I really don't mess around, right? I needed some joy this fall and people was like, it's not even Thanksgiving. I was like, listen, I need, I need my Santa, you know, I need some lights, you know, my little snowman. So yeah, this is continued that theme and having you on today and to go. something that we talked about for a little bit and Dexter and I were happy to finally touch base with you and get you on. So I like to introduce you to the masses, the masses that listen to this podcast and then we'll kind of jump
Indigo's Background and Birding Community Involvement
00:01:44
Speaker
into it. So folks, if you don't know, all right, this homie that we have here is a tremendous soul, a tremendous human being, indigo is a writer,
00:01:54
Speaker
educator, poet, and birder living in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up. She's another California soul, much like myself grew up in Hayward, California, and has always loved the outdoors. That's right. She holds a bachelor's of arts degree in Africana Studies from San Francisco State University, Master of Arts in International Studies from Ohio University. She is an active member of a number of online birding communities, and she leaves a large and quite diverse array of of community birding events, which we're going to talk about today. because they are all fantastic. She is a contributor to a couple of publications, the other Almanac and Mold Magazine, also of which we will talk about
Bird Collective: Fashion Meets Birding
00:02:32
Speaker
today. And last but not least, she is, I would say, the best model for bird collecting.
00:02:37
Speaker
but right you She's got the best vibe of all the all the bird collective models in my opinion. And it brings it brings quite some, it's an interesting combination of New York and California swag, I feel to that. Welcome Indigo. I hope I did that justice. We are so happy to have you here today with us. Thank you. That was a beautiful introduction.
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think when I first saw the bird collective stuff, like I was seeing people wearing the gear and then the first time I went to their website, I saw you and I was like, he's my people. I was like, wait a minute. This is awesome. It's like you go to a lot of these traditional burning brands and stuff and you just don't see people that look like you mean Jason, our listeners. And I always love just seeing the way they represent the birding community. So shout out to the Bird Collective, you know? Yeah. I love me some Bird Collective. I've probably started birding maybe a week before I started modeling for Bird Collective. Wow. Right into it. It was so natural. I was like walking down the street with my binoculars. So one of the co-owners of Bird Collective is my neighbor.
00:03:49
Speaker
And it was like, her husband was out like, oh, you bird? And I'm like, yeah, bird. That's so cool. I saw her leaving the house with a bird collective shirt. And she was going to the park to go shoot it. And I'm like, I can wear that. The universe makes no mistakes. I say that to people all the time. I never knew that. That is such a fun nugget. That is such a fun nugget.
00:04:13
Speaker
So organic.
Starting the Birding Journey
00:04:15
Speaker
I like to imagine all of the people that you've influenced by saying like, Oh wow, I can, I can actually use these, this apparel to connect with the community. Cause they, I think bird collective does a pretty good job of telling stories. And again, we'll talk about some of this with some of the bird outings that you do. But yeah, that's so funny. Like you just, just being you just with the knocks rolling out of the house, getting ready to go get some burden in and the homie was like, Oh, you bird, you bird. How many times have we had those conversations? Like we see other people with birding stuff and we're like, you bird homie or, you know? Yeah, our people get fired off you. That universal stuff, you know? What's up? What's up? You my people. I love that so much. Shout out to Bird Collective, man. We love Bird Collective. And all the homies out there rocking it. I feel like they speak to the joy. That their stuff, you put it on, you're like, I'm going birding. I'm a birder. You know what I mean? It just makes you feel good. It's kind of like a uniform. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:15
Speaker
I love it. So rumor has it a friend got you into burning in like 2020. Is that true? Yes. Tell us a little bit about how that came about. Describe the scene. So, you know, they call a lot of people pandemic burners that started burning during 2020 and people have a lot of stories like, you know, I was in lockdown.
Details and Beauty of Birding Moments
00:05:35
Speaker
I also got the window. I started seeing and started hearing birds. Mine was not like that. My friend Angie drove up from Philly to my front door and handed me some binoculars. And I'm like, what am I supposed to do with this? What is happening? And I knew she had gotten into birding and I was happy for her, but I just, I didn't see it for myself. And so when she handed me these, we walked to Prospect Park. And as soon as I got a white throw to Sparrow,
00:06:08
Speaker
in my binoculars, and I'm like, what's this? And I saw all this detail, which happens with sparrows in general. Like sometimes people aren't really like looking, looking at them. You know, and I saw the white and I saw the yellow and I saw the sparrow, and I'm like, oh, this bird is beautiful. And then after that, I was hooked.
00:06:26
Speaker
It was no longer just a little brown bird. wow like You were like, wait a minute. I will often tell people binoculars bring you into the scene. yeah right like It brings you into the story. like You're in there with you. You just see way more than you typically can with your normal eye. And that's when you start to say, wait a minute, that sparrow does not look like that other sparrow. They do not look the same. So i love hearing I love hearing stories like yours when you talk about that moment in those binoculars, because it does change you. I see that, Jason, and you can speak to that. I see this with members all the time. i I've never used binoculars or didn't know how to use them properly. And then all of a sudden they lock in on a bird for that first time, whether it's the white-throated sparrow, whatever it may be. And you see that joy just go, oh.
00:07:15
Speaker
It like pops off of them like real quick when they when they get on that
Local Birding Adventures
00:07:19
Speaker
bird. I fell hard. I used to go out every single day. Yeah, I was going to ask. like So then like that's the moment you see this sparrow. You're like, oh, OK, I'm in this world now.
00:07:31
Speaker
like Like what was the rest of the day like? Did you like go home and like have to explain yourself to your friends and family? Like, listen, I need to tell you guys something about myself. I am now a birder. Like, how did that go? I believe there's a post on Instagram memorializing that day. Well, I'm like, oh, I'm officially a birder now. like not even knowing the scope of everything but feeling so instantly connected. I grew up and we grew up watching a lot of nature documentaries. I always loved being outside. I was a member of the garden previously so I was there just like watching leaves change. I would be there every season maybe observing the same tree or the same plant and just looking at those subtle differences. So yeah once I'm realizing the detail in these birds and the amount of species. I was out like seven days a week.
00:08:21
Speaker
It's a big learning curve. So you're just like, it is what else don't I know? Even when I see a new bird on like the, what bird is this Facebook page? I'm like, I didn't know this existed. And I'm still just like finding lifers in my, my patch, like Brooklyn Botanic Garden, kind of like a sight birder there. But I'm just like surprised how many species are new to me that will show up.
00:08:43
Speaker
yeah I don't have to leave my neighborhood to like see the yellow-breasted chat. you you Now you bragging. That's not something that just gonna pop out and say, you might hear one here and there, but wow, yeah. Jason's talked about this, the joy of exploring his patch. A lot of lot of my bird friends talk about burning in your patch or when we talk to people, we say, hey, you don't have to drive super far away or go to all these, you know, exotic locations to see birds. We'll say, hey, go out on your patio, go out in your front yard, walk around your neighborhood. or your patch talk about just the joy of, you know, we talk about burning, being open in these windows to the wonder, talk about the joy of finding that new bird in the patch somewhere around you that that's a part of your life. Like that day to day joy of just paying attention to birds that are around you.
00:09:41
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm in Flatbush, right? New York City. Everything is so walkable, and also I have a baby. So I have a stroller, rarely getting on public transportation. So basically, even outside of birding, if it's not walk in walking distance, I'm usually not showing up. I'm not
Birding with a Baby in Urban Spaces
00:09:57
Speaker
coming. in A lot of the trains and buses are inaccessible. So the fact that, which was a condition on us, my husband and I living here, I need to be walking distance to the park.
00:10:05
Speaker
I have to be able to bird. I'm lucky to live right between, like right next to Prospect Park, 20 minutes from the garden and those so two green spaces right across the street from each other. So if someone is posting something or there's something spot in the park and I'm at the garden, I can hop over, which is really dope that everything like my doctor, my hospital, everything is in walking distance to these green spaces. And I'm someone who really loves to be able to get coffee or a snack and then continue birding, um to use like a nice restroom and facilities. I got to change diapers and then keep birding. So the fact that I'm able to kind of, you know, grocery shop on the way to bird, on the way back to bird, all of that stuff is really important to me. Like I cut through the garden birding on the way to get to my son's doctor's appointment. You know like you gotta to find a way to incorporate it. So I really appreciate when species that are new to me stop by. I'm like, hey, I might not be able to come to you, but you know, these are pretty big, relatively big areas. We also have Greenwood Cemetery that is a bit further of a walk. The garden is like 50 acres and the park is bigger than that. And I think greenwood might be bigger than that. So between those three spaces, we can always get like a vagrant species. I actually saw a rusty blackbird for the first time at the garden, which, you know, when you're birding long enough in the same patch, you're gonna start seeing something new, you know? Like you have the regulars that you know are showing up, which like the tufted tip mouse who didn't come like all last year,
00:11:46
Speaker
Seeing them again, like because I didn't know when I first started birding that that was even an option, that you could get hella of one species and then they just wouldn't stop by your patch. like They are somewhere else. Same thing with the Black cap chickadee, we didn't get those really at the garden last winter. So there's just like the joy of of having these returning species that you thought were going to be commonplace. um And then there's just like, yeah, when you see like a yellowbill cuckoo, like in your patch in a place that you frequent all the time. That is amazing. You're just like, thank you for showing up. Thank you for letting me see you. I appreciate it. bro, don't that sound like how Christian fell when the Eastern Phoebe popped up on his roof? Yeah. Yeah. you yeah like That sounds so similar. Like it's, there's this sense of like gratitude, especially when you're urban birding, right? Because you know, the bird has to make certain decisions to navigate the space that you live in, right? Versus maybe flying over some open forest, you know, somewhere else on the, on the Atlantic flyway. But you mentioned like that, you know, like gratitude is one part of it. And I wonder, like, If you're birding on your way to your child's appointment, right? Or on the way to and from groceries, like what is that, what is that given? Cause it sounds like it's kind of part of your everyday, even if you're not doing a specific birding trip, you're always birding. So like, what what is that? Like starting in 2020 and then being now like doing it all the time. Like what is that giving you on a, on a daily basis?
00:13:17
Speaker
Everything so the binoculars stay under the stroller. They're always there. My dad also gifted me like a little handheld scope so if I'm Traveling and I can't like but I was like be too heavy because you know, we taking carry-ons only we're not paying back Yeah You know, I got that scope in my pocket. Like I always got that thing on you on the train. You like getting a quick, like, is that an egret? Like you're always keeping everything. I will say, though, birding can also be like a vulnerable activity to do. I have a baby. Both my eyes are being occupied. I'm standing still like I can't whip them out everywhere and instant instantly start to burn. Like I got to keep my head on the slope.
00:14:01
Speaker
yeah um Especially at the park. In the garden, it's a bit more closed, the smaller space. Usually less people, I feel more comfortable looking. But sometimes, because also in that area, there's a lot of pigeons, it's like an intersection of like five different fast food brands. And you know, a lot of french fries to be eating. There's balls and there's pigeons. Yeah, we just talked about galls. And french fries too.
00:14:30
Speaker
There's also an American Kestrel. It's like, you'll look up and it's like Wendy's and then a rental car. Like a large apartment building and American Kestrel is like right on top of it. um But so you can bird from a lot of different spots in the neighborhood. Sometimes I'm walking just down the street and I have to, I have to check. I have to see what it is. It might be a house finch in front of a house I've never seen. Something that wasn't a housebarrow chilling in front of. So yeah, I gotta stay ready. I gotta to stay ready. I gotta assess the situation. Is it safe for me to like really be occupied and be trying to get the details of a bird? Yeah. I love it. I also love seeing how you smile so big when you say the word green space. That just makes me happy. That was something I was just thinking about just now. I was like, she says green space and she smiles really big. That makes me really happy. Jason talked about a little bit that you've been asked to lead a lot of different bird walks for a number of organizations. And I love that you're talking about your perspective as a mom and going out and birding. What would you say, though, that you feel is the most important on a bird walk? You know, describe your perfect day of birding with other people if you're leading. So it depends on
Bird Walks with a Poetic Touch
00:15:39
Speaker
the or, right? Like, what are they asking of me? What kind of space are they trying to curate? Like, what's the vibe? You know, sometimes people just want you to point out birds, ID birds. And then sometimes, like, the the program that I was doing was like Field Meridians, the birding poetry and power. For that one, I had to write a poem every... every walk, which was a challenge for me to produce a poem from a prompt I wrote about some kind of connection between neighborhood, community, humans, and the birding community that are
00:16:15
Speaker
present in the same location that are occupying the same space that also, for instance, might be migrating from the same countries and really drawing those parallels and what comes up for people in that. I might be facilitating a discussion around that. We're excited when we see birds come from the Caribbean, from Latin America, like how do we feel about people? who come from these same places. Or maybe there's a bird that you saw when you were living in Jamaica and now you see them in New York and you're really excited and that brings you to a different place and space. Yeah, I like to facilitate those conversations, just what comes up for people when we're talking about certain keywords and concepts and a prompt. And then I give people the space to write their own poem or draw. like they We have reflection time after. And the the creative things that people come up with is amazing. And then we get to share that and then I'll read what I wrote that's about that particular topic. I really like that. I also like when sometimes we do group introductions in ah in a larger circle and then sometimes I give people like an icebreaker and then they pair off so they get to know at least one person a little bit deeper besides like name and where you're from. So I really like that because maybe you're not going to remember 30 people's first names. but You'll remember, you know, I had a prompt about like a second home because we have birds that winter here and maybe spend the rest of the year somewhere else. We don't know which one the bird feels like is their primary home. I heard that bird identifies, like we might call them subtropical, but they might be like, yo, I'm Canadian. So we don't know. For people, for them to to draw that parallel in their own life, like for me, you know, I'm from Cali. I'm also, I've been in New York for 10 years. My mom is from Kingston, Jamaica. My dad is from Jersey City, Jersey. You know, I feel a connection to these places. And there's a lot of people in New York who can relate to that. I love like someone could really vibe like, oh, like you spend time at Columbia, me too. And you kind of come away with a friend and then I tell people and on my walks, I'm like, yo, this ain't golf. You can talk.
00:18:22
Speaker
You can talk to other. We're really trying to like, we'll let you know if we're listening out for a call, but like, I want y'all to come away with a connection. Like, it's really about community as well. because And I love solo birding sometimes. Especially in the winter, I'm all snuggly and I'm not snuggly. Oh, let's sell anymore because my baby. Yeah. Yeah. When you're when you're in a larger group, I want you to feel like, OK, we have this common interest sometimes depending on who I'm leading a walk or there are not people who self identify as birders. It might be their first time out. And I tell folks, like, you know, you might not you might not like the birds, but you like the squirrel.
00:19:01
Speaker
Or you like the the bushes, or you just like the the fresh air, so you're coming away with something else, even if it isn't like an intense passion for birding that that I came away with. You know, I want you to appreciate the the steps, the movement, or the sitting. Sometimes were we're in one place birding.
00:19:19
Speaker
There's so many things you can take away from the experience. So I want people to have like an appreciation for the outdoors, for the green space. There's so often where I'll post something on my IG stories and some will be that someone will be like, that's in New York? Like guys at this bird, animal, bush, scenery, waterfall, like whatever it is, my friends said New York City tourism should pay me. And I'm telling people. We might have to tag them like Ike said. know It's not just about buildings, and I love the city. like I love living in a city, and I also like that I can take two steps over and be in this native floor garden, in at Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Now, I still hear the ambulances and the fire trucks.
00:20:02
Speaker
Especially in my neighborhood, you know? But to be able to tune in and out, like sometimes it's like you turn it off and you're just hearing like birds, squirrels, chipmunk, raccoons. And then you tune it back on and you're like, okay, there goes an ambulance, someone's honking, someone's yelling, like, but all in the same space. That's such a great way to describe urban birding, right? And in my opinion, a really healthy way to describe it, right, is to kind of accept the space for what it is and get the most out of it. And I had another question prepared about the Field Meridian's bird outings because, and you kind of touched on it, right? Like you said, some of the people that you take out are not, they don't self-describe as birders, right? and And I'm thinking if I'm one of those folks and I'm looking
00:20:47
Speaker
And, you know, the old algorithm shoots me your Instagram panel on that outing. Like the word birding may not get me, but poetry empowered us. And like, how have you, you know, i ah thank you for describing how you lead those kind of walks, right? With the prompts and the, and the poetry and the reflection, but like, what is the feedback been from people that aren't birders around like,
00:21:10
Speaker
continuing to look at birds because maybe they came out for just the poetry and now they are writing poetry about birds, right? um like I know you did one in the spring and you did one in fall, but like how is that how is that feedback coming from the community? Yeah, we did three in spring-ish, like a sabbatical. Like a two month break and then we continue to in between in the summer I led with an with an art exhibit that I was a part of um Somewhere else but kind of a similar style because I was asked to be a part of this art exhibit because of my poetry Also people who might not be there for burning like they're on the island to see the art exhibit But then we're like, okay, let's just look at these bars falls real quick Since we're here, I get such good feedback. I think even people who the reflection time like sitting in silence for a bit on a log or on a park bench with kind of permission to be creative and take this time out to to think of anything like some people I had a group of like five people who wrote a poem together, which was dope and people who just have made a little sketch They say my excitement is contagious because they might have seen that bird before, but like me getting excited, you know, even about like a boss spray or... and Did you say hot spray? Did you say red winged bug?
00:22:34
Speaker
that you know people are sometimes people are like like me when I first saw Pinlet you know when I first saw Golden Crown Ruby Crown it's like this little bird I must have walked by you like 200 times before like pointing that out to someone on the walk it's like okay we've seen 25 species I'm at Prospect Park all the time like i I picnic here and I run here and I had no idea that I was in the midst of this many different species Because like I said, like who that that nonprofit I was leading is very hyper local. Like it's Crown Heights community, Flatbush community. So it's also people who like me who their whole lives are kind of in walking distance and and the event is in walking distance. So it's like, yeah, I've used this park and the park is everything to everybody. the People are getting married in the park. People are breaking up in the park. you know
00:23:30
Speaker
to have this space where my husband and I, one of our first date was, I saw the cedar waxing for the first time and he saw for the first time too. But it's like, yeah, i when I walked past that spot, now I'm like, oh, my husband and I, we had a date over there and the cedar waxing landed. i love it right over us, you know, a beautiful, beautiful bird. So you have all these associations and I think it gets you to think about like, what else am I not seeing? And to kind of appreciate all the other little creatures that are living in the park, like us bunny rabbits.
00:24:02
Speaker
It's like, oh, like y'all are out here, too. Like a lot of a lot of other animals are out here. So I think people leave with that appreciation, even if they don't take up birding. But a lot of people, they like the bird and they like the experience. So, yeah, I love it. I always, always find myself. I tell people burden forces you to kind of be in the moment. and live in the moment. And I think when I think about you, when I hear you talking about the reflections, it feels like you're trying to get people to live in the moment. And that is really powerful. and And one of the reflections in one of your fall events was about the brown-headed
Bird Behavior and Poetic Reflections
00:24:38
Speaker
cowbird. And this is a quite complex species. A lot of people judge it really harshly or say they don't like it because of, you know, it's a parasitic behavior. Right. Where it lays its eggs and other birds nest. And sometimes that could lead to those birds own chicks not surviving. Did you choose that species to reflect on? Was that intentional? Yes. So, so I i write the problems for that program. And I also, when I write the prom, I'm not thinking about the poem I'm gonna write yet. Like the prompt is like, okay, in Blackbird or spaces, we've talked about a lot of other concepts and have related to birding. So I'm just like thinking of of more things that we can draw the parallels and kind of empathize or relate to what's happening. So I wrote that and like a lot of other prompts, I don't know what poem is going to come from it. And the poem that I wrote for that prompt makes me cry like every time I read it. Don't get emotional ah because i'm I wrote the poem from the perspective of a um Eastern bluebird who comes home and sees this spotted brown egg and who realizes what had happened to her fifth blue egg and then realizes she's called to raise this child. child burn
00:25:59
Speaker
It's their babies, you know? It is their babies. Yeah. And like, though she understands, you know, what this other parent has done to her family, it's kind of like, well, because I was such a good nest builder and because my, you know, bird partner and I are good parents, we were selected to raise this child. And at the end, you know, she falls in love with the little baby from how to help. like she raised them and and that's her baby. I think the poem is called, They My Baby Now. I love that. That's so powerful, man. That's so powerful. They My Baby Now. Do you know us these anywhere? Or do you have any way people could go read it if they wanted to read it? I believe Field Meridian's has the curriculums for each program on their nature school website. So you can download it and you can see the poems I've done for each on that website. Like I did a poem about like a blue jay and a. I'm trying to see. I mean, listen, listen, I mean, a burning poetry book wouldn't be something I would not purchase. I'm just trying to let you know. I mean, listen, I mean, listen, I mean, because it's not because I, I got emotional when you started talking about getting emotional about the Brownhead account because I've never thought about it like that. Right. I've also never thought about it from the perspective of. as the brown-headed cowbird mother having to leave your baby somewhere because that is, that is your nature, right? Like, you know, I don't want to anthropomorphize anything, but like there's decisions that have to be made and we can't pretend like birds don't feel fear.
00:27:37
Speaker
or joy or any of those other things or anxiety, right? um They do, their actions show that they do. So I love that you are doing that and having people really try to find that relationship to a very specific bird or a very specific species or situation.
00:27:54
Speaker
And I did that disclaimer with the program, but it's like what I'm asking you to do is to, you know, really be almost think of them as, you know, multifaceted sure individuals. The way that I was interpreting it, it's like, yeah, this was hard for her too. And she was studying you. She was making sure that y'all were good parents, that your dress was sturdy, that your young survive. And it's like, I need to be really serious about who I'm picking to raise my child.
00:28:23
Speaker
Yeah. Cause I mean, that's, that's part of the process. Right. And I think a lot of us do it a disservice by only thinking about it as this, you know, parasitic activity, which has negative connotations, but there's a lot of, there's a lot of bird species that that do this, the old world cuckoos do this. Right. So, cause that, that still has these themes around parenthood and decisions and survival. And, um, you bird with your
Rediscovering Joy in Birding with Challenges
00:28:44
Speaker
baby a lot. And I read the article that you wrote in the other almanac, uh, which is, which I'm going to say it the way I read it, baby bird. Thank you. Right. Um, and, and it was, it was so good. It was, you know, it kind of took folks through the process of like, what kind of birdie you were before you had a child. And then what kind of birdie you had to be after you had a child and and trying to find ways to reconnect with that joy through a different situation. Right. And, um, and you mentioned some of it before about being in the park and like, Hey, I gotta have a person with me that but depends on me. I gotta be safe. Right. I can't. and just be stuck in the binoculars for 90 seconds a clip. The part I thought was interesting was your trip to Ithaca with your with your partner and with the baby. And and so you know I was nervous for you when I was reading the first paragraph of that story. yeah But like talk to people about what you learned on that trip about who
00:29:44
Speaker
who you could, I'll say still be, oh you know, as a mom now, as an additional facet of your person, who you could still be as a, as a birder after that trip. Like, how did that change your outlook on, on this at all? If any personal, I almost canceled that trip.
00:30:02
Speaker
I was like freaking out. like This is something I had agreed upon being a pregnant person who had not been a parent before. And like I would talk to my husband, like is this possible? like Is it okay to cancel? Like I like i said, I'm i'm in Flatbush. There's a lot of people. like I might walk by 300 people before I get to the park in a very short time.
00:30:25
Speaker
and and cars and all and, you know, being seen by a lot of folks. I talked about in the article just being worried about, you know, New York drivers might hit you sometimes and you have a stroller and a little precious baby. And it's like, I don't want to leave the house, much less go birding. I'm like, no, I need to keep him safe. So when the the date was approaching,
00:30:45
Speaker
And I'm like, I don't even go outside with him really. And now I'm on an eight hour drive in a rent a car. It was, it was, I was terrified. I was terrified. My husband's very encouraging though. Like we can make this work. You know, when you set up, I'm i'm a primary caregiver. This is my full time job and burning, of course. But you, you get like your initial routine when you first have a kid and it's like, okay, the the bottle's here, baby warmer there, yeah a bottle warmer, not baby warmer. Then to uproot that and take the show on the road? Like how does this work? We don't have our dishwashing machine that sanitizes or you know all of these things. Really being like agreeing, okay we're gonna do this. I don't know how we're gonna do this but we're gonna make this happen. And then the the motel we stayed at too was so amazing. You open the
00:31:37
Speaker
curtains and there's bird feeders like first thing in the morning and you just see all these birds just at your window. It's really a hotel kind of made for a motel made for birders. So I was like, Oh, maybe we you don't have to leave once we got up there. But it's like changing diapers in the rent a car and running in the store if we need something pulling over to like clean him up if he spit up or if he needs to drink because at that And he can't really drink and ride in the car at the same time. It's too dangerous. But then once we arrived and and you know the motel was so beautiful and just like, I didn't realize there were accommodations that were set up for birdies in that kind of way. There was plenty of of bird feeders throughout the property. And then I got to go to, I think it's called Sapsucker Woods, right right across from the Cornell Lab of Orontology building. like We're in the parking lot of Cornell Lab of Orontology. It's weird to be there and to be having a bird list in the same place the bird list was invented. Right? But again, it's like that gratitude, like, OK, we're here and we're like here here. And I have to shoot content. Y'all know.
00:32:50
Speaker
from, like, you know, Justin's, like, strapping Nisha onto his chest, because I got to be on the camera. Yeah, I got you. And Nisha, he not on the camera. Yeah, so we're just, like, my husband and I working together and making this happen. we We drove to, like, other areas of that. Oh, I can't remember the name of the lake, but it's like a region that has a lake. So you sometimes you're doing, like, lakefront birding. Sometimes you're in Sapsucker Woods. Is that the DB Lake that Ike was talking about? Maybe.
00:33:18
Speaker
He's talking about some lake area, B.B. Lake, I think he called it, that was on campus, because Ike is on campus there at Cornell. Yeah, I'm not sure. Not all of it was so close to the actual Cornell Lab of Orthology building. Sometimes we have to drive like 20 minutes, but I had missed a lot of spring migration because I was in the hospital giving birth. Still burning though, still burning. Understandable. Still burning from the window. Yeah.
00:33:44
Speaker
But I was just like, dang, like, I'm not going to see these species that I normally would see. So to kind of drive north and have a second shot at seeing some spring migrants. And we don't really have a lot of eastern bluebirds in New York City proper. So I got to see them just killing on the ground upstate, not upstate, and they don't kill me.
00:34:08
Speaker
You better get it right. Right? Yeah, it just made me feel like, okay, this is possible. I can care give. I can, of course, have my son's interest in health, paramount, and also bird. So that was like the biggest test for me. And once we were experienced just like heating up bottles and feeding in a really small motel sink, We're like, okay, when I go back and I'm walking 10 minutes up the street, it's going to be okay. I can still bird. I bird at least twice a week, midweek. And then when I can convince Justin, I can go on the weekend and bird as well, so i ideally like three days a week is great for me. Being able to multitask and bird in a new way to make sure he's comfortable and I'm also just like getting what I need from but birding to be in a good space to care give for him. I love it. So what it's sounding like is birding kind of fuels you so you can pour into everybody around you from your husband to your baby, to your community, to everybody.
Birds, Travel, and Cultural Connections
00:35:21
Speaker
So I love that. I love that you're you using your bird joy as fuel yeah um to just bathe everybody and all your joy and your smiles. And thank you for sharing that with the world. We need more of of that. We need more of that. And hearing you talk about traveling, that travel experience, um you've had one heck of a travel, you've traveled quite a bit. Let's just say that, Ghana, Sudan, and Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea, all these places across Asia, Europe. You have ah you have quite the expanded perspective on the world. That has to feel like a gift, I would think. But in particular, the P and&G trip was, you know, you went to explore heritage and you're unabashed blackness. It makes me think of birds who find themselves off course or in strange places, um asked to fit in while all the while wondering where is home um and struggling to survive. Do you draw any lessons on life and um your community from birds? are there Are there things you wish the birding community appreciated more? You know, sometimes mixed species flocks look similar. They're not the same species, but they blend it in and they they eat together or they wait together. um That's like me being in Papu in the beginning before I was a birder. But seeing so many and before I was a birder, I was still like I love animals. so I was still like looking at all these different species, not really knowing their their proper names. but really being in a country where most people are my complexion and everybody almost everybody has an afro, which is not that common in a lot of places.
00:37:04
Speaker
Like being in in the mall and just, and you know, in that same way, like people, there's not a lot of black folks from the African diaspora. Cause I have to specify like Pacific Islander black folks who are making that trek to PNG. So a lot of people are looking at me, they might be like, oh but they're like, nah, she must be popping cause who else is over here? So like just that like concept of of blending in and
00:37:35
Speaker
Sometimes I travel to places and you stick out like being in Istanbul. It's like everyone's just looking at me. Look at my hair. i look be like okay yeah I'm definitely out, but but having the inverse of that experience and just like the calmness because there's places in New York where I stick out a lot too. There's certain train lines. where I'm gonna be, people will have all eyes on me. So to travel that far and people not really, their first instinct not really be being like, you're from somewhere else. Now, once I spoke, ah then people are like, okay, you don't sound Papuan, but you also don't sound Australian. why
00:38:15
Speaker
know and You want jumping on the birds like the crocodile hunter.
00:38:25
Speaker
and i get big with you but I like traveling where I'm going to see other black folk and ask them about their experiences. You know, especially a place like Port Moresby, PNG, where if you look up the city, it's a lot of negative things.
00:38:44
Speaker
You know, and there's some anti-blackness within that lake and a lot of majority black countries and cities where it's like, oh, it's dangerous. It's dangerous. It's dangerous. And I'm like, let me go. Let me go and see for myself. And I think that as well is like being privileged enough to make that trip and experience what little you can of a culture in, you know, two weeks. is so important for me. Even, you know, as an international studies major emphasis in Africa, when I was living in Ghana, I stood out a lot, especially with with my afro. I'm tall. These are things that were just like notice and commented on.
00:39:23
Speaker
Quite frequently, being in in Sudan, it was like very similar of like people assuming I was Sudanese because there's not a lot of foreigners there. Being in Cuba also really similar, especially by myself, because I wasn't speaking English to anybody else. Yeah, it it does feel like there is some comfort in a physical similarity. so I talk about that with like the mixed species flock prompt that I had for the most recent one. like When you speak the same language or you share the same field markings, how does that make you feel like safe in a community? so that that's That's a big reason why I like traveling and just to like see places for myself, hear from people directly. That was so well put and I, and I hope that leaves people in a place where they can think about their place in
Gratitude and Community Importance
00:40:10
Speaker
community. Not only that, the last conversation around PNG, but just this entire conversation around how we interact with one another in general and how we can do that when we bird. And I think people are going to get a lot of things they can bring back to their own communities that you mentioned today, these moments of reflection, understanding where you come from.
00:40:28
Speaker
And honestly, homie, I just want to say thank you. Like, this was such a good conversation. I felt this vibe when we brought in color birding to New York. And you were like, what do you want me to do? And I was like, I just want you to set the vibe. I just want you to. because it's so important to welcome people in a way that is genuine. It really creates a sense of safety and people can then focus on what they're there for, which is finding joy and community through the birds. So just thank you so much for giving us some of that information today. An hour is never enough time. Thank you so much, homie. Thank you. Thank you for continuing to show people what a birder is too. On this podcast, we try, we want people to know like you can be this dope full-time mom and educator and poet and all these different things. And you are still a birder with your fly Afro and all everything, you know? Everybody just needs to know, you are a birder. If you're paying attention, all those people you said may not identify as birder. They may not identify as birder, but if they're paying attention now because of you, guess what? They're birder. We owe you for that. I got events coming up. Y'all look at the Instagram, I post them, come through, come bird with us. Yes. And all the New York folks, if you're out there and you're hearing her voice, she said, come through. So please slide, please slide. Well, I want to thank everybody for joining us today on the bird joy podcast. We hope you enjoyed exploring the world of birding with us and indigo today. Shout out to the BIPOC Birding Club. We have some events coming up, obviously this winter. Y'all know how we do. 12 months a year. BIPOC Birding Club.org. Yes, yes. And shout out to the homies since Philly and color birding.org. We also will be doing some cold weather. Weird duck.
00:42:24
Speaker
Weird goal. Birding outings this winter. And like we mentioned before, we encourage you to check out Indigo's Instagram, which we'll put in the show notes and you can see the events that are going to be happening all around New York. I encourage you to attend and find your community, find your flock, find your joy. Again, Indigo, thank you. This was lovely. Please share, subscribe, you know, all that good stuff. Shout out this podcast, all your fellow birders. Help us spread a little bird joy. oh