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Spring Migration & Black Birders Week Recap
655 Plays5 months ago
This episode is dedicated to all of our listeners and supporters. Dexter and Jason recap an amazing spring, including Black Birders Week 2024! They get in and out of our amazing bird moments, which include finding a Blackburnian warbler in Central Park with Indigo-Goodson Fields and Emmy winner Christian Cooper. This included a trip to Queens to find Piping Plovers with the NYC Plover Project, culminating in a Black Excellence in Birding Gala! Dexter describes what it was like to bird in Madison with the founder of Black in NPS Week, Ms. Nicole Jackson! They cover key moments like Dexter's amazing spring getting onto his first American Avocets and the long-awaited nemesis bird, the Cerulean Warbler! It is incredibly evident that birding is for EVERYONE in this episode… including babies in diapers! Rounding out with stories of the homies hanging with Golden Eagles and Peregrine Falcons from the Hoo’s Woods Raptor Center. Heading into Juneteenth, they discuss their week and summer plans. Overall, this episode is meant to BE A CELEBRATION OF THIS COMMUNITY. Thank our listeners for their journey thus far. The community is growing because of you all!! Please continue spreading Bird Joy where you can, and keep listening! Huge shoutout to Black AF In Stem for another great year!
#Birding #BirdJoy #TheBirdJoyPod #Joy #Community #Smile #Birds
Be sure to follow our podcast on Instagram at @thebirdjoypod and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Introduction and Father's Day Greetings
00:00:00
Speaker
What's good, bro? What's up, man? How you doing? Man, happy Father's Day, Jason. Oh, likewise, good sir. Happy Father's Day. Yeah, so yeah, we record on Sundays, and today just happens to be Father's Day. What a
Spring to Summer Transition and Audience Interaction
00:00:14
Speaker
lovely day it is. Good to see my fellow black father over there on Father's Day. I missed you, my guy. I miss you too, man. I miss you too. i was your How was your spring in your early summer? Was life good? Was it grand? you know You know how it is with spring and we set ourselves up to give us a little flexibility going into peak migration so we could soak it up and be there for our clubs and this time of year.
Gratitude for Community and Podcast Growth
00:00:41
Speaker
It feels like we're being pulled in like a million directions sometimes. You know it's magical.
00:00:46
Speaker
It really is. I mean, anytime you get to sit down with the homies or and and in our case for the last few weeks, be able to observe our audience and interact with them on socials and just see how the pod is doing. Like I, I got to give a shout out to all the homies out there that are listening. Like y'all have been great. yeah You just really, I think inflamed this sense of community with Dexter and I and And we're just so proud to be here and represent y'all. And it's made this spring a memorable one for sure. Absolutely. Man, I can't think of a better way to say welcome to the bird joy podcast. I'm Dexter Patterson. And I'm Jason Hall. And this podcast is for all the bird nerds, all the bird homies out there that want to find a little
Origins and Impact of the Podcast
00:01:34
Speaker
bird joy.
00:01:34
Speaker
In the homies specifically, I love that you that you gave them a shout out right away because like it has been a homies. it is We were talking about this a little bit before we started before we jumped on the call to record, where it was like, we started this podcast, bro, because we like had this yearning to share some bird joy with the world. yeah And we're like, mastermind and behind the scenes and like recording and like plotting and scheming. All this joy that we're going to generate for the world. And then all of a sudden we started just getting like so much bird joy in return. We talked about the community and the homies. Oh man. Like the messages, like us texting back and forth, like we're just getting them. And like, I look forward to that so much. And like so many people, they talk about how
00:02:24
Speaker
we're now a part of their routine or their daily life and we're bringing them joy. But bro, how much joy are they bringing us? That's all I'm saying. It's immense. Every, every DM, every comment, we see it and we try our best to respond. And it really validates the fact that there is a large community out there of beginner birders, of birders of different backgrounds, BIPOC birders and Dexter and I are just, we're just trying to represent as best we can. And all of the kind words, the kind feedback, especially when you're sharing your stories of your bird joy, it really, really brings the whole thing together. and And really, that's what we want this podcast to be a representation of that community in a place where you guys can come regularly for joy. And I think we're doing it. I think we're doing it.
00:03:16
Speaker
This place, like this is this space is for you and and it's so beautiful. like I want y'all to, please don't stop doing that.
Audience Engagement and Topic Suggestions
00:03:24
Speaker
Continue to share those those stories with us. It's like fuel. It really is. Bird joy is fuel. like You know what I mean? Where are we going next, bro? Cause, uh, I need some more, like keep, keep sharing this stuff because it has been beautiful. I also, I want to hear from, from all the homies out there. Are there topics? Are there things that you want us to talk about? Guess that, you know, maybe we should be chatting with because that's gonna be like this next phase of the pod. We're going to start bringing people on to share their, their stories of bird joy, because
00:03:57
Speaker
If we've seen it, you go to you go to the Birdjoy Pod IG and you look through those comments and you see all the Birdjoy that's being shared, the Birdjoy that's been shared in the DMs with
Black Birders Week Inspiration and Christian Cooper's Journey
00:04:09
Speaker
us. like It's out there and there are so many amazing stories. You talked about this, Jason, with that was part of your inspiration is like you want to be able to like uncover these type of stories that are out there. So I know you're just like happy-go-lucky right now, seeing all of this unfolding in front of your very eyes, brother. That's right. and i And you know, the wild part is there's probably so much still in the bank, too, in terms of topics we can cover. I mean, just this spring, I mean, we got to we got to talk about Blackbirders week. We got to talk about Springbird joy. We got to talk about what we're looking forward to for the summer. We got other episodes planned and like this is where I think we need to be in this pocket regularly. So I appreciate everybody that listens regularly. um
00:04:54
Speaker
I love the stories of hearing like, hey, I listen to you when I go grocery shopping. I listen to you guys when I do my Saturday morning walk. you know I listen to you guys on my way to work every Friday. like That is amazing. And we are so blessed and honored and just very, very thankful and grateful to all of you for listening. so Amen. Amen, man. One more time for the people in the back. I'm loving this. So you mentioned Black Birders Week. That wrapped up. It was only like two weeks ago. I know. It seems like it was like yesterday because like all the anticipation and... I know. Oh, there's all the homies all over the world, all over the globe, just kind of celebrating and and making the impact. And I'm looking at all the stuff you're doing and everybody else, you know, all the homies. And I'm just like, dude, just thinking about it has me just happy again. right? Like it's like, it's only a week. Everybody needs to know like that week inspires the entire year inspires like everything. It's fired his podcast, the connection. Like, I don't think we connect if it isn't for that week and Christian no getting us all together and bringing us down there. So they wait wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You mean Emmy winning? Oh, yeah. on that one
00:06:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Daytime, Emil. That's right, that one. That one. Yeah, yeah. That one. I just want to make sure everybody knows we got to put some respect on it. Yeah, yeah. We got to put some respect. Yeah, respect. That's right. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Oh, my name.
00:06:30
Speaker
ah We are so unserious today. Oh, man. I get excited when I get, no we talked about another podcast. Like I get excited when I see my people winning. You think about what he went through in 2020 and his whole mind frame, talk about it being inspiring. yeah Just watching how he handled it with grace. And that's bird joy. When I think about how he handled that and in the learning experience and how he was like, you know what? I'm going to make me some lemonade and I'm going to be a man that I am. And I think ultimately that's the biggest thing that I respect most about him is he didn't let that experience take him outside of his body, outside of his character. Yeah. He led, continues to lead our community and man, grateful to have a person like that, that we can lean on every once in a blue moon and I'm not going to be blow Christian up like that. I know he listens and he cares about us and he's here for us. And man, I am happy for that man. It was so lovely, man. When I saw the post come across, you know it was just such validation for those of us that have that have met him, followed his story. Yeah, it was it was it was party time. and And it actually translated into the mainstream media too. A lot of people were reminded of the story.
00:07:43
Speaker
And a lot of people came to Instagram for different, you know, different, uh, content creators were sharing this of like, remember the homie, they got accosted. but yeah in me Boom. How about that? Right. yeah How about that for clap back? Right. So that, um, you know, to me was really special seeing it slide back into the mainstream media again to remind folks that like number one, it does take some bravery to address these issues in public. and And Christian did that. Right. He came to that place and did that. But then the flip it on him like that. You remember back in the day, ah the old, the old like Busta Rhymes and be like flip mode, you know it yeah you know, my daddy told me to flip it on
Birding Events and Community Building
00:08:22
Speaker
him. Like it was like, you know, like, yeah, right. like I was like, dan
00:08:26
Speaker
He was like, I was just burdened, and you want to act a fool, and now I got a daytime Emmy. So how about that? And the New York best-selling memoir that just hit paperback like two days ago. You know what I mean? Like, come on, man. Disney Plus, Nat Geo show, like, come on, man. Ridiculous. like we got to like you know Talking about Black Birdies, we got to spend, in Philly with our In Color Birding Club homies, we got to spend two different days with him. And it was a treat, man. a treat. It was a treat. I mean, don't be jealous. Don't be jealous. No, it was beautiful. you know It was so beautiful. So we get like 35 homies together to go up from Philly.
00:09:07
Speaker
Um, fills up fast. Right. And I didn't think about this too much, but Indigo asks, right. And, you know, and to go, Indigo Goodson fields, he was, he was leading us on this journey that day. You know, she asked, Hey, can some homies from New York? And I'm like, yeah, bet. You know, and she's like, I'm cool with the big group. And I was like, if you're, if you're good with it, I'm good with it. So we rolled out with 35 and we probably had another 20 people from the Bronx, Brooklyn, Harlem, and Queens. Beautiful. Bro. It was. deep. We were in the park and so we, we get off the bus, right? We leave Philly at like five AM, get off the bus at like seven 15 on central park west and 77th and everybody's just kind of glazed over because we all were up early, right? Trying to get our bearings and we roll up and quit. Christian's just chilling right there on the corner.
00:09:57
Speaker
Indigo is coming in. She's got the squad, her kid and her husband with her and um the homies from New York start showing up. So we're rolling through the park. We're walking straight into the park and we're going to the Ramble. which is the spot that the incident happened at. yeah yeah And yeah. and And like, you know, central park is beautiful. There's all these just amazing pieces of stone and work and our architecture and these trails that weave into these little micro habitats. You know, we start the morning with like Baltimore Orioles singing over this pond and skyline in the background. And then we'd go through this little like tiny little trail through this little archway. And we come out on this big,
00:10:34
Speaker
like walk away, like asphalt walk away. We're going up the hill and I don't know where we're going. I'm just following indigo. We're birding, we're vibing, you know, catbirds everywhere. And Christian's talking in mid-sentence. He's like, black, Bernie and warbler, which is his favorite bird, right? We learned that on his show. yeah Yeah, right. His favorite bird. I didn't hear it, right? Cause there's people talking, you know, we're chilling. And, and homie is like, he looks up and there it is just hopping around up in a tree with a, with a black pole warbler and I didn't even honestly, I didn't even care about the bird. I was just watching all the people. So we come around this corner, we get a better spot. We got like 50 people lined up. Right. And I'm standing in front of them they're looking over my head behind me to look at this bird. And I hear Christian telling them where it is. Some of our other bird leaders are out there telling them where it is. And I'm just looking at everybody's face. ah Right. People are just melting with bird joy. Like, yeah, it started by you hearing Christian scream out. Like, literally, he was in mid conversation. Like, I feel like if there's like he will pick that sound out of anything. Right. And being able to pick it out of a bunch of people talking is probably a New York City skill set, honestly. Right? Because there's always people around. But everybody got on that bird. We spent probably 20 minutes in that spot, watching the black brain and the black hole just pop around, making sure everybody got to see it. Right? And they got to see it with Christian. Community in action, baby. Oh, it was amazing. I could not. I literally, I was like, did somebody pay this bird? I'm literally going to tell me.
00:12:08
Speaker
One of the most important symbols of getting out into nature in this decade for us and his favorite bird is with us in his patch. We finish up with the bird. We walk another probably 80 yards and he stops and he goes, this is where it happened. We were at the spot. We were at the spot. Wow. So we were at that spot where it happened. We all kind of stopped for a minute and just kind of felt it because we just had that black Bernie and joy. And it was like, well, damn. Right. Yeah. Yeah. yeah It was it was crazy is that day he was all. um The only reason he was there is to maybe see the black Bernie and Warpler. Right. He was there to get some bird joy. dude Right. Oh, dude, that is dude, that
00:12:51
Speaker
That's not anything, yeah. Remember I told you, yeah, yeah, yeah. Head blowing up right now. You know, right? You know, so like, ah everybody got to feel that, feel like they are now being part of this reclamation of that space and in some small way to say that we're there with him. And because of his speaking up and speaking out on this, we were able to share that bird joy in that space and reclaim that space with fifty black and brown folks right now. Meanwhile, five minutes later, what are we getting in that same spot? Great cheek thrush, right? Bird leaders. Jeff pulled that one out because somebody somebody on the trail that saw us birding that liked the vibe was like, hey,
00:13:30
Speaker
If y'all want to see some cool birds, there's a gray cheek thrush right up there. Y'all got to look for it. But yep, right. We got on the gray cheek thrush. We birded the rest of the park, man. We met up with other homies that Christian knew we had Swainson's thrush everywhere. It was just. It was it was just a beautiful morning. Every corner we turned, there was a new landscape. Right. And everybody was vibrant. Wow. We finished that hot back on the bus, go to Queens to get some lunch. And then we went to Rockaway Beach with the and NYC Plover project and we met with them.
00:14:03
Speaker
with Chris O'Leary and Mel, and um we got people their life for piping plovers and oyster catchers, great blackback gulls. Wow. It was insane, dude. It was insane. And the wild part is the um place where the plovers are protected there in Rock and Far Rockaway Beach is surrounded by mostly a black and brown community. And there's a lot of conversation ongoing around, like, How do you empower that community to also want to protect these birds? Right. Because they have to close the beach for a little bit and that's not great for everybody. And I can understand how that looks. And so there's a lot of work being done to try and bridge that gap and and hopefully bring some of those eco tourism dollars to that community, create some agency for that community. And the best part about that, bro, we're talking before we go look at the birds and they're they're telling us about some, you know, some of these dynamics are within the community and how to keep the bird safe, how to keep the people happy and accessing the beach and that's it.
00:14:57
Speaker
We finally started looking at the birds and these three young black men come up and you could tell they were just chilling, right? It was it was Sunday. It was just vibing. It was just walking. board walk it's It's an absolutely beautiful beach. Absolutely gorgeous. And they were like, yo, what are you all looking at? And I'll be honest. I'm not sure they would have walked up to us had we not been a large group of black and brown folks. Right. Be honest. There's like, there go my people. What they on over there, you know, we got all three of them in the scope for like five to 10 minutes. They were like, you know, I would have never seen that.
00:15:31
Speaker
Plover is so little, I'm like, yeah, man, that's why that why the beach is closed down. They just need a couple months. Their babies are the size of a quarter. And they were like, you're lying. I'm like, bro, show them a picture on my phone. He was like, that's insane. And I was like, yeah, that's that's what this whole thing is for. It's like they're super endangered and they're choosing to nest here in your community.
Empowerment and Representation in Birding
00:15:49
Speaker
And so they were like, yo, this is so dope because, you know, I got them looking in the scope to get in that intimate view. So like that whole experience going from Central Park with Christian to meet up with the piping clover homies out there and far Rockaway beach was so meaningful to a lot of people. And honestly, like I couldn't ask for, for a better day. Really nothing went wrong. People were amazing and like that. Bro, you can see the bird joy emanating from your body right now. I literally, it doesn't even, like talking about it, it doesn't, because I haven't spoken about it. I made a couple of Instagram posts for our birding club, but I couldn't explain to them like that moment of seeing the black burning, or that moment, showing the homies at Far Rockaway Beach, the piping clovers. So I- What an experience. Yeah, it was, from that moment, think about it. That moment that we all saw that on the news, the way our hearts probably sank, you know?
00:16:45
Speaker
It's triggering for me because during that time it was so much, is all oh yeah george you you had Ahmaud Arbery, and you know, Breonna Taylor, and like there was so much stuff happening. And then that was just like triggering all these other emotions at the same time, bro. I'm about Woosah, like that was like a yeah moment of like,
00:17:09
Speaker
yeah o yeah every day i had the woosa You know mean? And like birds, I always tell people birds save me on so many levels during that time period. Oh, it was intense. You know, the, just the, the division, the ten the tension, you could, every day you could just feel it. It was just in the air. Beanie Siegel, Philly shout out, you know, you could just feel it in the air. You know what I mean? right yes Yeah. like like Literally. and it was If I didn't have birds, bro, I don't know if I'd have made it through that time. The whole human being that I'm trying to be, you know I always tell people I'm a work in progress. That time period did a number on a lot of people. We talked about this in the mental health thing. I just don't know what kind of person I would be if I didn't have birds yeah throughout that whole time period. and Just to hear you talk about that and I can't imagine 40, 50 people of color getting put on the black vernian by Christian with that amount of bird joy. But then the bird alone is a special bird. It's the only bird with an all orange throat. It's so unique in that thing. There's not another bird that has an all orange throat like that. That's right, man. like and it and it's You can just see it. Once you see can't unsee it. It felt like a little bit of a Disney movie a little bit. Right. And it's kind of this kind of the moment in the movie where everything comes together and there's restitution and reclamation. Right. And so I honestly got to stop talking about I'm going to start crying or something like i this. It was just it was it was great, man. That was the beginning of our Blackbirders week. And then at the end, we had an event, our Black excellence and birding gala and sneaker ball.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, so everybody was looking fresh. We had on the Tuxedos, I had on some SJs, everybody had on just their finest and some fresh
Impact and Organization of Black Birders Week
00:19:00
Speaker
sneaks. And we had Christian being interviewed by um Karina Newsom. So she came up, she's she's Philly native, so everybody else relax in Atlanta and otherwise, all right, she's from Philly, so calm down. Having her interview him and a crowd of about two hundred people everybody well fed they got to tour the private bird collections we got to look at some extinct birds at the head in the collections finishing the week off with that and everybody getting to just hear him you know that created a lot of buzz because he you know he told us he was nominated for the Emmy all that stuff and so then that then
00:19:35
Speaker
finally coming out a couple of weeks later that he did win the Emmy. It's like it was just, it was like two and a half weeks of bliss. And I, and I really, we cannot leave this podcast episode without giving just extreme flowers to the folks over at black AF and STEM, just right fifth annual, amazing, um, supporting groups all across the country that are doing different things. the way they stay organized they stay on message bring us new faces new voices all the time like just blowers to them if you don't follow them black af and stem on instagram they're supporting other organization i think black and neuro is either
00:20:11
Speaker
either just pass or is about to come up black and neuroscience, right? There's black and marine science, right? There's a black and national parks week. It's just amazing stuff. Shout out to them. Cause they were also a supporter of the event. And um yeah, I'll be honest. I don't know how we're going to top that next year. I, I mean, that was That was a week, man. It was a week. It's beautiful when you, yeah, shout out to Black AF and STEM for sure. You talk about how they inspired all these other movements. We already talked about how they inspired us. They connected us. they You talked about that moment of posting on what was then Twitter and then all of a sudden realizing, wait a minute, I am not the only homie out here. And we are like literally all over the place. And Black Brothers Week for me,
00:20:57
Speaker
was just like, has always been something where I was, wow. You know, as a little kid, always, I look for that representation and I never really saw it. Growing up, you don't see people that look like us, that look like our friends in nature, let along nerding out about birds like we do on this podcast. I start thinking about Black Birders week. We've talked about this. It's how I met you. It's how I met so many other people. It's also like one of those moments where like you feel like seen, you know what I mean? Like as as as an, you know, as an educator, as somebody that, you know, I always try to do my best to like, I can have a class of 50 people yeah and I always try to, by the end of the semester, know the names of all 50 students.
00:21:40
Speaker
right And there's a reason for that is because like I grew up in an educational system where I rarely felt seen or heard or thought of or or anything. And i I take this approach as an educator and the same way I run my birding club from everybody is different. There's no one size fits all approach. you know I tried to understand that like life circumstances are different for every single student, just like they are every single birder. We know that as leading burning clubs, differently abled folks, people from different backgrounds, different socioeconomic backgrounds. Like I look around and I come to our events and I'm like, this is America. Like I'm like, look at this. Isn't this what America is supposed to be? Like in
Representation and Diversity in Birding
00:22:26
Speaker
this diverse, beautiful melting pot of community and ideas that everybody kind of works together for the greater good and as the whole. yeah
00:22:36
Speaker
And it's kind of beautiful. And like that's what Blackbirders Week does for me is just like every week I'm like, man, I just get to bask in the glory of the people. And it's a beautiful thing. And this week was no different this year, five years in. And it's like, I actually got to go birding with one of the organizers of Blackbirders Week and Nicole Jackson. She was in town in Madison. So you know, I was not going to let the homie come through and not take her birding. That's awesome. So got her on a black pole warbler and like some cool birds. What was so cool about it was it started raining. yeah The rain scares off a lot of people. It does. It didn't scare off Nicole. It didn't scare off me. It didn't scare off a woman to drive from Milwaukee. who heard that Nicole was coming in town to give a talk for the Nature is Everywhere conference. Like this is nature a national nature conference was hosted in Madison that week. And Nicole was one of the one of the the speakers for that. And this person drive from Milwaukee because she wanted to to see the talk. She wasn't able to attend the conference, but she wanted to go burning with her. Hey, so it's raining and better. And here we are, me, Nicole and a couple of community members just going through one of my favorite spots. I like pick the spot and we just led this walk together and just think about 40, 50 people and 100 people. And it's sometimes we talked about on the pop up events where you might have a couple people and to get.
00:24:02
Speaker
Yeah, that intimacy of burning is a little bit different. There's a lot more attention you can spend with every single person there. And and for me, I cherish those moments because like I know I'm going to make some sort of memory with all of them. yeah And for me, that's what matters. yeah yeah ah Just think back on that walk, that was one of my favorite things that happened. And later that day, we were supposed to have our group event, but due to rain, our event was outdoors. We had to reschedule it for the next day. And unfortunately, Nicole couldn't make that part. But the next day, we held our annual Black Brothers Week event for the BIPOC Burning Club of Wisconsin. We collaborated with a couple other organizations. Remember we talked about that power of the collaboration. yeah um So we collaborated with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, formerly Madison Audubon, and also the Feminist Bird Club of Madison for
00:24:59
Speaker
an amazing Black
Inclusivity and Young Birders' Experiences
00:25:01
Speaker
Birders Week event. We obviously celebrated Black Birders and all the birds we love, but we did it in a really unique way this year where we partnered with the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance to host our event at one of their protected wildlife sanctuaries. And it was one of their newly acquired properties. just ah It's close to the public. um The public has access to it, but you have to like you know yeah have like a ah conversation. Let's just say that. You can't just show up and just, yeah you know yeah there's people that live on the property and yeah these people donated. They donated this land, bro, to be protected in perpetuity for wildlife. and it's it's um all
00:25:45
Speaker
I can't remember the amount of acres, but I believe it's around almost 800 acres. But it's just an amazing place. It's just beautiful prairies and woodlands and wetlands. And it's part like the land is also adjacent to a state natural area. So it's like it kind of like expands on even beyond that property because it's adjacent to all this other stuff. And bro, we had almost 100 people there of all walks of life. like you know we had bro When I talk about every generation of birders, bro, we had a little black boy running around in his do-rag in a diaper. You know what I mean?
00:26:24
Speaker
ah ah So like when I say all burden is for everyone, you could have a diaper on and a do-rag, and you could be grandma sitting with her granddaughter with multiple generations. So like it was just one of these just, if you can imagine it, they were there basically. And we also partnered with an organization called ah the Who's Woods Raptor Center. And they do wildlife rehabilitation and they say they save raptors and and different birds. And they actually came and they brought some of their birds, bro. So they brought a golden eagle, oh god a peregrine falcon.
00:27:03
Speaker
ah a saw-wit aisle, and a great horned aisle. I'm not jealous at all. Bro. How is that Golden Eagle though? like Probably going to butcher the name, but it was Wapaha. I believe his name is Wapaha, and Wapaha was 26 years old. a vet. So he was actually retired by whenever you take on birds and you take them out to do demonstrations and you rehab a bird and like basically the bird's been determined that it can't go back into the wild. The government says, hey, it needs to make a certain amount of educational appearances to be this type of bird and all that good stuff. He's been doing it for 20 plus years. So now he's retired and he only has to do special events.
00:27:44
Speaker
So I was like, wow, is that Arvin? He's at Black Birders Week, you know what I mean? So that may that was like really exciting. But like we we talked about the little boys. Remember Roman? I'll tell you about Roman. Yeah, yeah. so Guess what bird is Roman's favorite bird? The peregrine socket. Man. And Roman knows everything you can know about a peregrine falcon. and most And most birds are praying. It's so funny because as the as the falconer, as the as the caretaker is going through her presentation and she's interacting, just phenomenal job, by the way. Shout out to Who's Raptor Center. And she's asking all these questions and guess whose hand is going up right away every time.
00:28:27
Speaker
Every time. This little black boy knows every freaking answer. She's like, I cannot tell you this. She said, I've been doing this for 20 plus years and I've never ever had a person, let alone the kid, know the answer to all these questions. Let's go. That's it. That's it. That's right. I'm like, you ain't met Roman, boy. Everybody just like, you know, he just puts the, he turns bird joy into like, he takes it to a different stratosphere. You know what I mean? like yeah The fact that he got to see that and he got a picture of the, of the, of the actual bird. They got the meat and it was his favorite bird. She's like, I want you to have this and like, I get a picture of Roman Holden, like his Perican Falcon picture. But it was beautiful, bro. We went through and for many of these people, they were families and and a lot of of the black families there, it was their first burden experience.
00:29:18
Speaker
And they were bringing their kids and like, we encouraged that we had a barbecue, we had food and yeah there was a bald eagle nest on site. So people got to see three immature bald eagles in the nest. And are they surprised at how dark they were? Yeah. like just kind And then they also saw the Golden Eagles. So then there was like, well, what's the difference between the Golden Eagles and the Immature? And it just, oh, it was so beautiful, bro. And like I just think back on like the inspiration from the week, it just like culminates into clubs, like movements. Look at what we've started in. And I hope they
00:29:56
Speaker
understand that what they did will never be done again. And like, thank you because those types of memories, bro. Like, I'll be looking at, looking, I got another little picture and I want people to imagine it. may I'll probably, how about I send you some of these pictures you can throw them in a little, little video. do it yeah yeah wait man We've been doing some cool stuff with the socials. But also like the little black boy pointing up in the air. And what he's pointing at are the eagle is the eagle nest, because he saw it. Because the guy was like, we' shout out to Chris, our guide. He's like, we're coming up to it. And he saw it, the little black boy. He's like, there it is. And it reminds me of the little boy you told me about in your club Andre. He just sat there with the bald eagles and yeah you know had his own little news segment on the spot about it. Those memories, man, Black Birders Week, 2024, five years in, epic. That's all I can say. Andre is actually on his way to Acadia National Park, I think, with the
00:30:58
Speaker
with Audubon, with their young birders camp. Is it actually on his way up there? I gotta check in. I just remember that. I gotta find out did Andre see a puffin? Young birders camp. I love this. Yeah, yeah. This is a bunch of cool stuff. You think Andre ever thought that he'd be going to a birders camp to see a possibly see a puffin? Probably not. But you changed that possibility. That's why representation matters, folks. Andre is at camp because that's why it matters. That's why. Yeah. Sure does. Sure does. And shout out to his mom.
International Outreach for Black Birders Week
00:31:29
Speaker
She, she saw that spark and she made sure she was fanning that flame. So shout out to me, man, that whole week. Like I just, I, I feel like you and I just explained our experience with it and our two cities, right? There was stuff going on. all over the country. I can't imagine if maybe at some point we can get some folks on to talk about their different experiences in different cities because I don't know that we share enough of that afterwards. And I think the folks at Black AF and STEM do as much as they possibly can to amplify all of this. Maybe being able to hear from people directly on what that is, is really going to be a beautiful thing because I think it gets more people
00:32:08
Speaker
Um, excited about it. Right. Cause I'm already thinking about next year. Like, what are we going to do? but you was what are We like, so we had this, we had this amazing, uh, we had this amazing event with, with Christian, right. And at the academy of natural sciences here in Philly. And, um, one of the questions was about how do you expand black birders week internationally? And it was from our names, Marilyn Como, I think she's a, uh, conservation scientist who's here for a few months up at Hawk Mountain studying raptors. And she was talking about just how like, how do we get this into different sub-Saharan African nations because the same things don't apply, right? Like there's not black folks in a lot of those countries are the majority.
00:32:51
Speaker
How do you take something like this that creates so much joy? and She was very emotional about it because she she had not been in a room with that many other black naturalists, scientists, bird lovers. And then she's thinking, well, how do I go home and bring this to my home country? you know what i mean and even though there may ah not have not been an event with christian cooper that was largely based around the racism and systemic oppression here in the united states there are other things that those communities struggle with right when it turns in terms of getting access to nature so
00:33:22
Speaker
It's something i think folks should start to think about right because even last year when we had david lindo that the urban burger from europe he was out here with us during black birders week he had the same reaction but his thing was. Well i've only met like four or five other black birders and all of your actually out on the trail. Which blew my mind. He's burning, because at the time he was telling us this, i mean we had him down at the beach you know looking at Godwits with us, with me, and it was like four or five other black folks. right which he's never he he had He had never done that. Now I'm thinking like,
00:33:53
Speaker
this message that Black AF and STEM procures every year for us, this kind of point of celebration. How do we keep it going? What's next? And honestly, it's not one of those thoughts that makes me tired. Now, granted, I'm not in Black AF and STEM. I don't have to organize all of this stuff. I know they work very hard to do so. But in my head, I'm just thinking, like what's next? Can we imagine a world where one day instead of 50 homies going to Central Park, 50 homies get on a plane and go to Tanzania? Man, let's go. ah we're like we're like even Even if it was like, hey, let's ah you know we'll get 50 folks on ah on a plane and we'll go to Chicago, meet up with the BIPOC homies in Chicago, the homies from Madison come down, and we have a try event.
00:34:36
Speaker
with three
Spring Migration Highlights and Nemesis Birds
00:34:37
Speaker
clubs, right? Like that. Homies in Detroit. Yeah, it's great. There's always been this talk about like a Blackbirders bird. Conference. Yeah, conference or festival. We have all these birding festivals all over the nation, right? And so like, I think we should think about it a little more on how exactly we would do it. But the pieces are starting to come together because each group is getting stronger, more set in. You know, more resources being given, being supported in a better ways. It's possible. I think the closest one right now is the Black Belt Birding Festival that they have down in Alabama. alaba I think it's the Alabama Audubon. I'm still a little bit on a high from Black Birders Week and I'm not going to. Same, bro. Same. And i I love that it's like it's kind of right on the heels, like kind of peak migration or right after peak migration. So like you're already just like losing with bird joy. You know what I'm saying? Just like bird joy everywhere. Speaking of migration, it's spring migration. Yeah, peak migration's over. we're We're into nesting season. And I love it because you know I'm starting to see the little babies out there and things like that. Thinking back on the spring migration, what was what was your bird nerd spring migration moment?
00:35:51
Speaker
Hmm. I mean, I talked about this on another podcast, we're going to see a thrush, thickness thrush and ending up seeing it, but really not that not being my favorite moment. My favorite moment was being surrounded by like four singing Swainson's thrush that I'm not ever going to I'm never going to forget that. And that spot, you know, every time I go to that spot now, that's what I'm going to think. And I'm probably going to go there every spring now, regardless of whether or not there's a big nose thrust, just because it was a quiet, beautiful forest. And like that part to me was great. I was with a great friend of mine. um But honestly, like that was my personal moment. Right. Like just for me, it's springtime really.
00:36:30
Speaker
I mean, listen, I took 50 people to go see a black burning warbler with christian cooper in Central Park. So um like like yeah how do I top that really, you know, like it's really going to be tough for the rest of my life to top that moment of community. The bird was awesome. Black burnians are always awesome. um My eyes and my brain, like if I ever have any issues with memory, I hope that's one of the last things I forget, is that five to 20 minutes of pure, unadulterated community and bird joy with Christian and Central Park. What about you? Yeah, we did talk about it. We were on the ABA podcast, and yeah you talked about the Bicknell's Thrush, and I talked about finally seeing a my first American Avocets, and during that podcast, everybody's just like, gloating about all these cerulean warblers that they've seen. yeah And I was like, oh, by the way, I've never seen one. yeah And they were like, oh my god. I saw one. And what was so cool about it is it was because of Rita and another one of Rita's pop-up events. She is decided to do a pop-up event. at a spot literally less than like, it was like 37 minutes away, bro. It's a state forest, a state natural area and they breed there. And she's like, I've heard, she's like, I've been to this place before and I've heard the bird, but I never got eyes on it. So I never counted it. And she's like, I want to go back. And she had, what was so cool about it, she had this story about her and her brother and her brother joined us and they used to go camping at this place when there were kids.
00:38:08
Speaker
And it's changed so much. And they were talking about when they were there as kids, you could see all the little trees that had just been planted. And then like now they go back 20 plus years later and it's a forest, you know? And I remember going to this campground that didn't have all this lush forest or anything like that. So imagine her, like, I was like, that is so wild that that full circle moment for Rita and to be there with her for her to get, I don't know, I think she said it was like life bird 347 for Wisconsin. She a true G for Wisconsin. Oh, Rita was like, y'all better come out here and get good. Yeah. Yeah, so like she on a different level of bird light excellence you knows ah see you need we see we understand about that like But we saw bro and then I saw the bird and I got the group on the bird and was so cool to be able to do that to not only get it after like being on the ABA pod and talking about it. and it was two
00:39:08
Speaker
Yeah, it was another one of those birds like the Avocet that just I just evaded me. And it's not because I don't bird, right? Like it's just like there are certain birds and like birders. I promise you, drop it in the comments. I promise you, it's like a bird that every bird that listens to this podcast knows that like just evades them yeah and for no reason. like you You think it's personal. It's not personal, right? ah You're like, these birds just hate me. You know, like, you know how many times I hear people say this bird hates me or that bird hates me? Yeah, happens all the time. All the time at Nemesis Berry, man, it gets it gets all of us in the wild part is you think you're gonna have one nemesis bird? No.
00:39:49
Speaker
yeah After you do the first one, another one will keep popping up on your needs list yeah every time you try to go see it. But that that is just a reminder to folks that these birds don't owe you nothing. And they knows yeah the moments that you do actually get to finally see them, I promise you will probably be better than when you anticipated. you know Yeah. And like I i got said, man, you know, as bad as I want to see every single bird immediately, yeah I know it's not realistic and it's not personal.
Birding's Role in Mental Health
00:40:18
Speaker
So trust me, bro. When I saw all those avocets, I sat down on the beach. It was freezing cold. I sat down on the beach, bro. And I was like, you talking about like, let me shut up talking about Blackbirders Week. I might cry. Like I was sitting there emotional because I was like,
00:40:33
Speaker
Not only did I see these birds, but I saw them in such a unique way. They were out in the freaking lake swimming. Wild, I've never seen it. And I was like, but also before that happened, I went through this range of emotions of thinking that they were gone again because I didn't see them on the beach, which is like typically how everybody shows just birds. They're walking right along the beach. And like, I pull up and they're not along the beach. And I'm like, they're gone again. You know, it's personal. You got it. You got it. You got it. Yeah, you got it. So it was just a spring of lifers and memories, bro. It is that memory. Like you said, I hope I never forget some of that stuff. I forget so much stuff, those memories. It's weird. I could look at a picture of a bird that I took, a photograph, and I can tell you where I was.
00:41:18
Speaker
I was feeling well, it's weird. Like it transports me there immediately. And some people are just like, dude, do you got like a photographic memory? I said, when it comes to the birds and the experiences that I have with birds, pretty much. Yeah, I do. It's because it's like it's like other things when you have to put effort into it, you form those those synapses in your neurons. Right. And so even if it's as simple as, all right, I got to wake up at 4 a.m. and drive two hours to the marsh. And then I got to walk to this spot and I got to be listening. Let me listen to the song while I'm going to sleep. Let me study the plumage. Right. Maybe it's a weird fly catcher or something. So that when you finally see it, it's like it's like those scenes, you know, and like Power Rangers where they all link up together and form the big.
00:42:02
Speaker
Warrior, you know, it's like all those synapses link up together. Everything comes together because you got it. And then that dopamine hits that dopamine hits and those endorphins hit and like and that solidifies it. Right. So then when you look at that picture, those same synapses fire. Right. About this with birding and mental health. And not just someone just sent me an article that came out a couple of years ago around the science of why birdsong reduces stress. So maybe I'll maybe I'll share that in this podcast show notes. I know exactly what that feeling is, brother. I have the same thing. I see stuff pop up on my Facebook or I'll just be messing around in old photo catalogs and I'd be like, oh, man, I forgot I saw that bird there. That was awesome. That was a great day. What was that taco place I went to like?
00:42:48
Speaker
you know like i just like You get transported back to the whole experience, right? And being able to do that with other people too is amazing. I understand. Am I the only one? like You see a bird in a certain spot at a spurt at a certain location. And when you go back to that spot, do you just stand there and wait and think the bird's going to show up? No, you know what I do. and i ah Probably sound like an idiot when I when I do it is like sometimes I'll do birdwalks and I'll be it'll be like the middle of winter and I'm you know We're out there looking at ducks or something at John Hines and I'll be like, oh, you know This is also the spot in the summer comes, you know, this stuff grows up in the middle of water and I saw her Sony and God right and everybody's standing there in January like I don't care that you saw her Sony and God like in August like It's cold out here. Show us some ducks. Cool story, bro. Yeah, right. Like, I'm like, you know, you know, I'd be like, oh, it was an asteroid, a flycatcher on this little walkway last year like that. People don't care. What I like to do is try to tell them, like, when I'm doing that, I'm trying to say like, hey, all seasons in these spots, all seasons can give you something. So even though like today we're looking at weird waterfowl come back through in May. because we'll be here again and you'll see some wild stuff that's totally different. Once you get people to kind of run the cycle on a single space for all four seasons, their, their, their minds kind of blown sometimes. Cause then you look back and you say, Hey, as a bird club at this refuge, we saw 162 species last year. That's wild. Yeah. I understand a picture having a thousand words and a thousand memories when it comes to birders. Cause I think a lot of us feel that way.
00:44:16
Speaker
I love it, man. And those memories, man, it's been a lot of memories this spring and yeah black birders week and with the podcast two months in just
Juneteenth Reflections and Celebrations
00:44:27
Speaker
reiterate. Thank you and all the listeners for the support comments. Um, please keep them going. Uh, we want to hear about your bird nerd moments. sharing let us know. Suggest topics, you know, some suggest some topics for some future episodes and don't forget to subscribe and review the podcast that helps us grow, helps us get out in front of more people so we can share some more bird joy. Man, this has been fun, my guys. It's been great. It's been great. We're heading into what, Juneteenth next week. So yeah I like to, I like to reserve Juneteenth as a, as kind of a, I like to reflect on that day and, and do it and in different ways that I like to reflect. So it's, you know, it's in the middle of the week this year. So not a lot we do as a bird club that weekend, we're going to a wildflower preserve. So that should be great. But that day, like, I hope everybody gets out and just find some moments of peace. yeah And I like to think about, and it's going to sound super corny. Yeah. That's right. I love that shirt.
00:45:24
Speaker
dear ancestors I understand the assignment. ah love it I love it. I love it. right like the hermit triage That's right. For me, that assignment is making sure that I'm finding as much joy in life. and particular nature outdoors on that day. Because I always like to think back to the fact that as enslaved folks were receiving that news, right, in particular, the folks down in Texas that were getting it last, there were birds singing somewhere. And somebody had a moment to sit down and listen to that, maybe didn't know what it was. But it was their first time listening to those birds sing in a moment of
00:46:02
Speaker
freedom, intended freedom. That is where I like to have my head that day. And so usually doing some sort of service and most of the time I'm doing stuff for the for the bird club. What about you guys? You guys doing anything this week? You know, that day is, is really special for me and for us because Juneteenth of 21 is when Jeff and I went out on a birdwalk together and decided to start our club. It was wild, bro. We did not plan it to be on Juneteenth. It just happened to be Juneteenth. we burn It was one of those where it fell on the weekend, and we're out there. Somebody planned it. Right? Somebody lined it up. Yeah. We birded literally for three hours on Juneteenth, and by the end of that, we were cheesing. And and I looked over at him, I'm like, bro, we got to share this with more people. He's like,
00:46:50
Speaker
Let's go. Basically, you know, in three years, that'll be our three year anniversary coming up here next month. So our first, our first event was July. We decided create our club three years ago, basically in a couple of days. Yeah, on Juneteenth. so Happy anniversary. Thank you, my brother. So you know what? definitely don't be on burden I'll be doing a pop up somewhere. You know, I'll let people know no I am definitely going burning on Juneteenth. And I know my ancestors will be proud that I'm out there yeah enjoying the land as it should be, because this is our land is as much as anybody's.
00:47:26
Speaker
That's damn right. That is damn right. You know. That's right. I don't have to go to work that day, so I'm going to be doing something to keep my mentals and my dentals fresh, right? Yes. Man, it's been fun, man. I want to thank everybody for joining us today on the Bird Joy podcast, where we just spent a little time reflecting on spring migration, the amazing week that is Blackbirders Week, and all that bird joy that has been flowing over these last few weeks, man. Any other thoughts, my brother? Nope. Just want to say thanks again to all the listeners. Stay tuned. We're going to have some new episodes. We're going to have some guests. We're going to keep growing. And again, we appreciate. Yeah. Appreciate all of you for procuring this bird joy, sending it back our way as you get it from us. And please, by all means, send it to the community around you. All right. We can all make a difference out here and bringing bird joy to black and brown spaces and faces. And so let's keep doing it.
00:48:25
Speaker
Yes, sir. Man, it's been a good one. Until next week, enjoy your Juneteenth in the start to summer. Nestor season is
Closing Remarks and Future Events
00:48:34
Speaker
upon us. So go enjoy it. Go get yourself some bird joy, as you would say. All right, brother. Yeah, so please like, rate, share, podcast. You're in the Philly area. And colorbirding.org will have some events going on this summer. And what about the homies in Wisconsin? Yup. Check us out. We got some stuff coming up still and throughout the summer going into the fall. You know, we bird 12 months a year by Pac burning club.org. All right, brother. I'll talk to you later. Peace.