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Birding, Outreach, and Building an Ecological Identity
721 Plays4 days ago
On this episode of the Bird Joy Podcast, Dexter Patterson and Jason Hall sit down with Sharon Dorsey, an urban naturalist, wildlife biologist, educator, and founder of SharInNature, to discuss birding, outreach, and the power of building an ecological identity.
Sharon’s work centers on helping people notice and connect with the ecosystems that surround them, especially in cities and everyday spaces. Through birding, research, education, and storytelling, she encourages people to see themselves as part of nature rather than separate from it.
In this conversation, Sharon shares her journey into wildlife biology and fieldwork, her experiences studying wetlands and shorebirds, and how her scientific background informs the way she teaches others to observe the natural world. She also discusses her writing, including her book Shorebirds: A Compare and Contrast Book and her contribution to Been Outside: Adventures of Black Women, Nonbinary, and Gender Nonconforming People in Nature.
The episode also explores Sharon’s work through SharInNature, her approach to community outreach, and how representation, storytelling, and everyday observation can help people build deeper relationships with ecosystems around them.
Whether you’re a longtime birder or just starting to notice the wildlife in your neighborhood, this conversation offers inspiration and practical ways to reconnect with the natural world right outside your door.
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Transcript
Season Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to season four of the Bird Joy podcast. Your hosts Dexter Patterson and Jason Hall are back with more birds, more bird joy, and plenty of laughs along the way.
00:00:11
Speaker
Each episode brings new stories, fun conversations, and a whole flock of good vibes. We're happy you're here. We really miss the homies and we hope you enjoy this season.
00:00:23
Speaker
You ready? Let's go. All right, folks, welcome back to the Bird Joy podcast. I'm Dexter Patterson here with my amazing co-host, Jason Hall.
Meet Sharon Dorsey
00:00:33
Speaker
And today, folks, we are joined with Sharon Dorsey, an urban naturalist, wildlife biologist, educator and founder of Share in Nature. Sharon helps people notice, understand and connect with nature in everyday spaces, especially urban environments. She is also an author and contributor to books that explore ecology and identity. Through birding, research, and storytelling, she encourages people to build what she calls an ecological identity, a way of seeing themselves as a part of nature. We are very excited today to talk about her journey, her research, her writing, and how birding can open up doors to deeper relationships with ecosystems around us.
00:01:18
Speaker
Sharon, welcome to the Bird Joy Podcast. Thank you for having me, Dexter and Jason. Happy to be here. Yay! This season, bro. yeah We just keep bringing in these, you know, we just keep teeing up these superstars. Sharon, buts let's talk a little bit about your path into nature.
Early Influences
00:01:36
Speaker
Can you take us back a little bit, your early experiences with nature and maybe specifically birds?
00:01:42
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question to kind of lay the foundation for who I am today. I'm super fortunate to have grown up in Baltimore, Maryland, just outside the city in the suburbs of of Baltimore. And my high school actually is called a magnet school where they have certain specialties, almost like you major in ah in a focus in high school. My school was called Western School of Technology and Environmental Science. So, you know, right there in the name, path I'm going down. Yeah.
00:02:09
Speaker
There's actually two types of sciences we had at that school. One was more of a research-based classic environmental science. I actually took the path for environmental environmental technology, more of the applied hands-on science. That looked like having our own greenhouse at my school where we grew plants and had a hydroponic system where we had rockfish in an aquarium.
00:02:33
Speaker
Their poop gave us nutrients and water to to water our plants and grow different kind of herbs and flowers to sell you know for our student body and staff. And then i don't know if the plants came back to the fish. This a cycle. Seeing that firsthand in high school was notable experience to just learn how everything is connected.
00:02:51
Speaker
And then from high school, I was fortunate to continue on my my studies at George Mason University in Virginia, Northern Virginia. i studied environmental science with a focus in ecology.
00:03:02
Speaker
And again, it kind of had more of a plant focus there with wetlands. In urban ecosystems, it's really important how urban wetlands function as like a sponge in a filter system before rainwater runoff come into a main body of water.
00:03:18
Speaker
the The wetlands function as a way to kind of trap nutrients so that nutrification or like over-nutrification of a water body does not happen. So learning how how wetlands actually benefit from too much nutrients. So seeing how they grow, they multiply, and just kind of looking at how a variety of species respond differently to water and nutrients. So it's kind of in the soil, ecology, hands-on, getting my hands dirty in high school and college. And it wasn't until graduate school.
Academic Journey and Research
00:03:45
Speaker
And that happened right around 2020. Really well aligned with Black Birders Week, I have to say. Crazy, crazy timing, man. Amazing how that got everybody, right?
00:03:55
Speaker
Things happen for a reason and I was applying to schools. I was looking at Virginia Tech and was kind of cold emailing professors, looking at their biography, see who would align with me. And there was a professor doing endangered species work, particularly with piping clovers. And i didn't know what a plover was. i didn't know they were endangered. that's what followed me. I sent my email. He responded back to me pretty well.
00:04:16
Speaker
And by summer 2020, I had kind of confirmed I'd be attending Virginia Tech to study this bird. And that was, again, well aligned with the proliferation of social media folks like yourselves identifying as birders, claiming space in this field. And I just felt so supported in all my self-doubt and apprehension about pursuing this new thing was just like, ah, alleviated. Because I like, oh my gosh, I'm going to this new scary world during COVID, no less. Sure. But could at least see myself and so many of my peers and like new virtual friends. That's kind of like the early beginnings of how I came into particularly shorebird ecology and how you guys didn't know it, but you two were part of my path to getting confidence as I started grad school. Let's go. She's coming off the jump, making us blush. I know. I know. I'm like, yeah, a little teary over here, you know? Yeah. Listen, listen, Dexter and I are known to love a good shorebird too.
00:05:10
Speaker
I mean, we both have a love the piking plovers. He texted me when he got one on the lake shore over there. You know, I've seen him up in New York at Rockaway Beach. And it sounds like you from high school kind of knew which roads you were going down. And it and it sounds like it was a lot of curiosity, a lot of experimentation of getting your hands dirty, you know, so to speak. Yeah.
00:05:32
Speaker
And then you end up in grad school studying one of the most endangered birds on the planet. do Do you know when it like when in your brain you're like, listen, 100 percent, 10 out of 10, without a doubt, this is what I'm doing for my career. Like, like, what was that? What was that? Because it sounds like it was an incredible kind of continuum. But I just wonder when you sat back and you were like, yep, nope, not going to be a doctor.
00:05:52
Speaker
I'm not going to a lawyer. Let me know. Yeah. Yeah. I have to attribute some of my interests in the environment and nature in general to sports. um My background has been in soccer and track and field. I came for track meet this morning, actually. And just running outside, you know running through the woods for my warm-ups. My high school was so eco-conscious.
00:06:13
Speaker
We did not tear down any trees to build any fields. So we actually didn't have any sports fields, no football field, no soccer field. We would use existing infrastructure at a local college to have our competitions there. But that meant for our practices, we would just run around our neighborhood, the the trails near high school.
00:06:29
Speaker
So I think my interests... in nature and why I chose that as a career and not medical field, not legal field, was just the early exposure and joy and tranquility and peace. In the second home, I kind of found through my practices always being outside and seeing the trees change color, noticing the birds, seeing geese poop on the ground. have to avoid those in the soccer field sometimes. I know that. I'm glad you kind doubled down on that question, Jason. really think sports kind of led me to nature, actually.
00:07:00
Speaker
Love it. And you are doing outdoor sports So it's just, it's funny. always tell people it's funny what happens when we start to pay attention to everything around us. You're already out there. You're already doing something you love. Just being outside makes you feel great. And you just started adding to that joy. I really, really, really love that. I love that. so Love that too, because when we were interviewing Sam Dejanette, we were talking about when they build spaces for folks, but they only assume that people of color want to be outdoors for sports. And it sounds like your high school shout out to your high school, like doing an amazing job of saying, yeah, we out here. But hey, Sharon, there's also this part of the outdoors and something in there allowed them to foster your curiosity there, even though you were out busting it, you know, running through the forest or on a field like there were moments for you to stop.
00:07:50
Speaker
And like that's. That's what it should be for everybody. It's like if you're out at football practice, there's no reason why that's the only time you can be outside. Do those players know that there's other things in the outdoors for them to do? So like, I just, I think that's an incredible story. I think it's an example of how we should pursue, quote unquote, the outdoors for for everybody.
00:08:12
Speaker
her Nature is everywhere. So yeah, even if you're on the baseball diamond, maybe not quite in a swimming pool indoors. never know. You get some gulls, maybe show up at your pool, something like that. Sometimes with house sparrows sneak in into buildings too. I've seen some sparrows inside of some coffee shops, so they'll make their way inside. Listen, I'm not going to pretend like I haven't accidentally nudged a bag of birdseed open in the middle of Home Depot when I saw the sparrow. I mean, listen, homie got to survive. looking out for hoing exactly Sharon, you often describe yourself as
Being an Urban Naturalist
00:08:45
Speaker
an urban naturalist. What does that term mean to you? Being an urban naturalist is really all encompassing of all aspects of nature. I think I'm more than a birder. I think I'm more than a wildlife biologist. I really do try to notice the flora and fauna. I'm not an expert, but I do notice and appreciate and try to look at the variety, diversity of the species, if yeah if I know the species, but also just the the features of it, how it looks, how it smells, how it feels.
00:09:16
Speaker
And I think that's part of being a natural is being curious and not always knowing the answer, but just being curious enough to investigate further and and note your observations. And being in Baltimore, that's where the urban piece comes in, that a lot of folks downplay the green spaces in and around Baltimore. I'm so fortunate to live near the Gwynn Falls-Leakin Park forest system, as well as Patapsco State Park forest system. And the the buffer, the forest buffer that's provided for those river bodies is just is great.
00:09:43
Speaker
There's paths, paved paths, as well as foot trails and dirt paths. I think people don't notice the green spaces in Baltimore like they should. and it's my job. I feel it's my job um as someone that loves being outside and is generally a pretty inviting person to invite others, my friends and my network out with me when I do explorations, different programs I lead.
00:10:04
Speaker
I try to show them here's a place you can go. I'm bringing you here today, but as well within your your means and access level to get here on your own. I'm not really one to go, you know, too far from 20 minutes from the heart of the city. I don't really go hiking in Shenandoah or to Great Falls in Virginia because that's not my backyard. For me, it's it's the pockets around the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Like I said, the Patapsco State Park System. And there's just so many resources and people, good rangers, good good interpretive guides. So I think i think once people kind of get over the the fear of just being outside in general, um they'll realize it's a lot more in urban spaces than they originally thought.
00:10:40
Speaker
I love that because when I know when I first started really nerding out about birds, it took me to places in the city that I literally didn't know exist. And I was like, there's no way like this thing, this beautiful space has been five minutes from my house the whole time.
00:10:57
Speaker
This park has been here the whole time. This wetland, this, you know, all I was like, it's, it's wild when you just start really get out there and realize like even in a city and Madison is nowhere near Philly or or Baltimore on the bus line, five, 10 minutes away from you all the time. Like there are so many opportunities to go explore. And I love that that's your emphasis because so many times people just don't think that birds are in the city. it was like, it is so crazy because they are. And so many other things. so I love that you're paying attention to everything. I've been using a seek app more, trying to learn some plants and trying to learn different trees and different things like that. It is really cool when you start to open it up a little bit more. And and I tell people all the time, birding isn't about the birds. It's everything. It's that that entire outdoor experience. Love it. Yeah. And I saw you, I saw you out with my homie Ranger Bree on Instagram.
00:11:53
Speaker
Brianna. Yeah, Bree. Shout out to Bree. She was a ranger at John Hines National Wildlife Refuge here in Philly for a while. And then she, then she dipped on us, which, you know, I gave her a lot. We stole her to Maryland. Yeah, yeah, I know. And I know she's doing some really awesome stuff now too, but. Just seeing that made me smile. I think I commented on it. Like I just, I just, that's one of my favorite things is seeing people that I know either in person or know them through socials getting together and like just being out there. What's your favorite part about, or tell me about some special times where you've helped people recognize the diversity or the value of the green space in their own city or neighborhood or their own
Community Engagement
00:12:34
Speaker
park. That's the part that I think Dexter and I really love is people come into a place that they've been hundreds of times before, but you show them something new. Talk to us about what that's like in Baltimore. Yeah. I want to answer that question, but also come back to the community, the breeze and some other folks I've met virtually, but have done some like bird meetups or just, you know, to meet them in person as well. Cause now she has her own business. Shout out to deeply rooted outdoor education program around Baltimore in the DC area. And she's always like a continuous to be a learner alongside me, encouraged me to take workshops. The one we went to was the Maryland Biodiversity Project, I think.
00:13:12
Speaker
On a field trip to Eastern Shore of Maryland to learn more about shorebirds and waterfowl water fowl and um around folks that know their stuff. They're really intelligent. But she we knew that we had to look out for each other being the only black people in those spaces. And um I just love learning alongside her and being she's a mentor of mine for sure. i'm glad she's closer to my home now.
00:13:32
Speaker
um some other folks I feel some type of way about it, but I'm glad you got it Even having stopp exist existing friends out in nature is wonderful. but Bringing new people into the space, or into spaces that they have driven by for a long time, haven't done a walk there to slow down. had a short stint also at a national wildlife refuge called Patuxent Research Refuge. It's another Fish and Wildlife Service property.
00:14:00
Speaker
And I was intern there for a couple of years, about like just over a year. And I remember meeting people that grew up in a town called Bowie, which is predominantly black. It's in Prince George's County, Maryland.
00:14:11
Speaker
And they would always say, I always saw the sign for National Wildlife Refuge on the highway, but I just never stopped. And I just never found the path. And I just never, there's always some reason why they didn't take that exit. Wow. It is a little off the beaten path and the sign is deceiving. So there needs to improve accessibility and they know that. I really think that my presence as ah a Black intern, as a i a community engagement intern, and having a face of someone from the community, even though not from PG, but from Baltimore, close enough, it helps people feel more invited. And like I would host programs to show my face, hey, I'm the run the ranger leading in the walk today. And I think that brought more folks out to feel more comfortable to go on the walk.
00:14:53
Speaker
And again, the number of times I'd heard from those adults and some of the youth from a local HBCU, New York State University, we brought some kids out that were doing a photography class. And the professor really saw value in having a nature-based photography lesson and having kids with the cameras just capture and notice and show juxtaposition of you know their home life versus life in nature. and having, I love reaching youth especially because get the the spark early. So those moments were really special to me. And I think I led two walks with with their class, fall semester and a spring semester. And the fall semester folks had told the spring semester students to look forward to that day, look forward to that field trip. So it was a really good time.
00:15:36
Speaker
So I love that they kind of spread the word and excitement amongst their student body. So I think my time at Patuxent Research Refuge, working with the community of Bowie was a really impactful time for me and really solidified that. Once I finished my time as an intern, I want to keep doing this in some capacity. So that's kind of what I do to this day. Love it. When people see, I mean, that that's representation.
00:15:59
Speaker
A lot of folks, they see somebody like you and like, oh, okay. Okay, I might pull up for that. no no I don't know. I don't know about anybody else, but um I see a familiar, trustworthy face. I'm going to go hang out in nature with Sharon. So thank you for doing that because we're that's how we change the access conversation.
00:16:19
Speaker
That's how we show people what's around them, even in their their neighborhood. Thank you for doing that. Your background, Sharon, you've you've worked in wetlands, you've done shorebird nesting things, you've done passerine banding, program evaluation. How has that variety of research shaped the way that you kind of observe and talk about ecosystems today? I think having a variety of experiences has really helped me adapt to maybe what my audience who I'm working with or talking to. can find a touch point with everybody. I really think, I i say yes to opportunities that present themselves.
00:16:55
Speaker
I haven't really... I haven't really like pursued anything intentionally until my LLC, but a lot of things that came my way, the shorebirds, I kind of stumbled into that. The wetlands, I kind of stumbled into that. The passerine banding was a product of having to prepare for my shorebirds. I can't handle these endangered shorebirds until I handle birds in general. So I'd love to talk back about, come back to kind of how that, how you kind of get experience with with wildlife handling and how do you kind of go about that. So let's come back to that little bit The program evaluation was also an opportunity to work with a nonprofit who is doing nature-based programs, but wasn't really evaluating the impact or knowledge received by the students. They were going on walks, talking about nature, but were they really retaining knowledge?
00:17:41
Speaker
the information, were they really being influenced by what's being said? So I helped them develop a really simple, like 10 question survey on what the work of one of my professors who does human dimensions work and just try to do a pre-walk survey and a post-walk survey. And just to kind of gauge what are the students retaining? Are we really making an impact? And I also helped, I thought that would help them with their grant writing. If they want more money to ask for more money to help fundraise for their initiatives, it's good to show that the work doing is making an impact through data. And that was a successful project I did in Roanoke, Virginia with a nonprofit back in like 2020. one at 2022 is all blending together now in grad school. That was an opportunity for me to take environmental education to a deeper level, um not just teach it, but assess the teaching. So i um I would love to do more things like that. I haven't had a chance to do one since. I thought that was a cool opportunity to kind of blend a lot of things that I love, working with the Black program, working with youth, getting kids in nature, and then making sure they're really learning and getting something of value from the program and the time we have with them. Love that that. was a great answer to that question because I was listening a little bit and Dexter helps us prepare some questions here and stuff like that. And I'm like, yeah, you know, that's a lot of different things. How do you roll that all in to So I love that. I love that answer. It seems like it was a very focused output and you were very thoughtful about how you wrap that in. um Let's jump to your book, homie, because I'm always surrounded by all these fancy authors on this podcast, including you two. I got to step my game up for real. Yeah, Jason. Yeah. It's your book, Shorebirds, a compare and contrast book that helps readers see some patterns and behaviors.
Shorebirds and Education
00:19:24
Speaker
Yeah, love it. There it is. Look at that. spi Oh, I didn't know that. till We can link that for sure. Yeah, we definitely will. We definitely will. Wow. But this book, right? Short birds are something that are pretty intimidating for a lot of folks, but it looks like you are trying to break it down in a way that makes it fun and accessible. So what inspired you to write it and and what do you hope people get from it This opportunity came to me.
00:19:51
Speaker
I'm very fortunate. It's published through Arbordale Publishing Company, and the publishing company was looking for more authors. They wanted to tell new stories about wildlife, and I pitched to them, I would say I'm a shorebird expert to to some, relatively speaking, And I know when I was in the field, so my research was in Long Island, New York, near Rockaway Beach a little bit, but it was was in Fire Island, actually.
00:20:16
Speaker
Fire Island, New York. There was a movie about Fire Island. It came out a couple of years ago. I can relate to some of those scenes in the movie. Fire Island was a fun, great, great beach. A lot of a lot of variety of shorebirds. And as a beginner birder myself, I found it difficult to distinguish anything that was not a piping plover. I knew my bird, but other things on the beach, I was like, is that a sandra? These gull species are so tricky. And when they're then they're juveniles with a lot of other species, they're juvenile, you can't always tell what they are because their full adult markings are not developed. And there's a lot of confusion. Even though gulls are technically seabirds, I don't talk about gulls in my book. There's other shorebirds like oyster catchers and rimbrols and sanderlings. So I just thought about when I worked with this publisher, how can I do kind of a simple compare and contrast some a lookalike species using some vivid imagery and and pictures to kind of show the variety of birds out there and to kind of help help, it's a children's book, but it is good for all ages. This kind of compare you know, the different features of of birds.
00:21:19
Speaker
But through that, it's also opportunity just to describe this this group in general. of Shorebirds are often migratory and do some, just like other migratory birds, just complete these physical phenomenal, like, performance. Like, how how do they go from, like, the Arctic down to the Antarctic? Mm-hmm.
00:21:39
Speaker
Plovers particular can go from like Canada to Mexico. you know Sometimes it's like, it's these little birds. How do they do that? So the book sprinkles in just different traits of that of that bird group in general, their migration patterns, their different ways of eating, how their bill shapes. Just like with other you know songbirds, shorebirds have different types of food that they eat. you know, the fish, the crustaceans, the little bugs under the sand, not so much plants or like seeds, but it's opportunity to do comparisons, to talk about broad characteristics of shorebirds.
00:22:13
Speaker
And at the very end of the book talks about ways to steward beaches. How can you make the habitats safer, healthier for shorebirds to survive, such as picking up your trash, again, leave no trace near at the beach, thinking about some beaches allow for driving on the beach. And that was a strange thing to learn in New York. Yeah. So just encouraging people to watch where they're either driving or ideal ideally not drive or watch where you're stepping. Respect any signage that says this beach is closed because of nesting season. you know Don't argue with the ranger. Don't argue with people there. Understand that this beach is shared space.
00:22:49
Speaker
And and my my preference would be that it's a shorebird space. you know We have other beaches we can go to. These birds are very, it's called having high site fidelity. They're really loyal to the same spot that they can go back to year after year. And as beaches change, as more development occurs, more piers, more hotels, they're losing their habitats, not just for breeding grounds, but their stopover as they get food along the way during the migration patterns. the end of the book breaks down some concepts for kids about how you can be stewards, um, shorebird stewards as well. So it's kind of the three parts of the book.
00:23:24
Speaker
I love that. I love that. And I was just thinking about, um, when I did visit Rockaway, Rockaway is a historically black community and I know the homies at and NYC Plover Project were working really hard to make sure that community was engaged and they understood why the beach was closed at certain times of the year and they are making incredible progress and there is nothing that warms my heart more than a historically black community putting their arms around the idea of protecting an endangered species. There's a lot of overlap there and so you writing this book both in English and in Spanish, you know, makes it accessible to a lot of community members where you're talking about people that drive on the beach. And i've I've seen it at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey, right? Like there's a certain level of entitlement that comes with that. And you're trying to teach people like, hey, like there's a better way to maybe do this. So it's just really nice to hear what you're talking about because I've seen it happen out there in different different communities. I think another reason why i asked the publisher to make it bilingual was another park I work with here in Baltimore is called Masonville Cove. It is in South Baltimore, just south of the Baltimore Inner Harbor. And it's a community that has historically been, it's a frontline community. It has faced a lot of environmental justice hardships. It's predominantly black and brown, high Latino community. And when I was working at Patuxent Research Refuge, I was co-located with Masonville Cove. I did programs with them as well whenever I could. And I loved getting to know the community. I loved all the free programming that they offer, usually in English and in Spanish, because they have a couple of rangers that are that are Latino. And i was was just thinking of them. like i just would love to offer this book for the Masonville Cove community as they're building this this They have this nature center that was built in 2013, the Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center. And prior to that, it was a ah dredge facility.
00:25:17
Speaker
you know as guess I'm trying to think of of Philly or Wisconsin, Madison, right? That's that's where you're at, Dexter. If there's like boats or like ah other other their ports, there's a port in Philly, right? Yeah, yeah. We yeah we have dredging activities. we have a whole history of where that stuff has been dumped, the damage it does. I fully understand that. Yep. So that was Masonville Cove previously. And I think in like the 80s or 90s, they finally started to, they really put a cap. They covered up all that really...
00:25:47
Speaker
and growth harbor waste and soil, and they started planting native grasses. So the campus has become is night and day from what it was in the 80s and 90s to what it is today, so that it's public space for the community human went to enjoy. I just love, again, highlighting that they are a newer community nature space, I think is a hidden hidden gem of Baltimore. And the community in particular is is a ah great community that's comes out to events that wants to engage with nature that does community science efforts around Masonville Cove. So I was thinking about them when I made the book in Spanish as well.
00:26:20
Speaker
Love it. Very intentional in the work that you do. You are also a contributor to Been Outside, Adventures of Black Women, Non-Binary and Gender Non-Conforming People
Collaborative Book Project
00:26:32
Speaker
in Nature. How did that project come about for you? Yeah, that's another kind of circle back to Black Birders Week connections, people like Brie.
00:26:40
Speaker
When I started in grad school, I was following people left and right on social media, following YouTube, following Brianna, following this girl named Amber Wendler. And Amber is another Black Birders Week a conspirator, right? And like part of the inaugural group.
00:26:55
Speaker
And I followed her and noticed on her her bio on Instagram that she is a grad student, a PhD student at fu Virginia Tech. And I said, oh my gosh, that's a school I'm about to go to. And she is like about my age. And I could see she used to run track and field just like I did back in undergrad. Checking all the boxes. Things were just aligning. And I said, I think this girl is friend. Like I think I'm just going to make her my best friend when I move to this new city. And um lo and behold, I meet her. I think i I DM her like that summer and say, hey, I'm a new grad student coming in to do shorebird work.
00:27:29
Speaker
i would I've been following you. I just love to meet you sometime. So, of course, we meet up for coffee or lunch, and she's just as amazing as I thought she was going to be. And since then, we've been best friends, long story short. But Amber and I are very similar in a lot of ways. I've already said how in some some ways we're similar, but she also is a yes person and will take we kind of get opportunities directed her way and make the best of it.
00:27:53
Speaker
So she was approached. She's also super involved with community engagement, storytelling. She did work in Puerto Rico for her her um's thesis, her her dissertation on the Puerto Rican toady and is a great storyteller about the Puerto Rican struggle and their identities around their wildlife.
00:28:11
Speaker
um And so her name is getting out there. And I but i don't know, i think it was a Mountaineers publishing company, Mountaineers Books. They reached out to her and said, Amber, you're just an amazing individual. We would love to write a story about you or they write a story for us we'll publish it.
00:28:26
Speaker
But sometimes publishing companies don't realize how much work it takes to write a book. And when you are in the middle of your PhD and you were just trying to like get through your analysis and your field seasons and imposter syndrome on top of all that, she was like, and i ah she's really smart about this. She's like, I cannot write a book about myself right now. But her counteroffer was to invite 19 other people she knew make this collaborative book project for us each to tell our own stories about our experiences in nature. And that's how the collaborative effort came about. And of course, when she was selecting people, she reached out to me and said, Sharon, I'd love to have you be a contributor to this book as well. And that's how 20 total women, non-binary, and
00:29:15
Speaker
gender non-conforming people came together through kind of like a Google Doc, Google Drive, you know, very much a virtual space collaborating. Whatever way you can make it happen, right? We use technology, right? The best we can, if it works, we put together this book in about, I think, a year and a half. I think it was, i remember the launch was October 2023. That's when the book came out And it was a great, it was great to to see it in in print. Great to also have Dr. Carolyn Finney, the renowned dr Carolyn Finney wrote the foreword for our book. And the illustrator who made this amazing cover and some other kind of sectional, section break imagery throughout the book was another Black artist. I didn't know her work previously, but it's really beautiful.
00:29:59
Speaker
i don't have the book in front of me because I just gave it it to my friend on on loan. That was a project that, again, I love being a community with people. I love when people think of me for collaboration opportunities.
00:30:11
Speaker
And I love that the book is on Barnes & Noble. um i think Amber has seen it at different nature centers across the country she's visited and road trips. Oh, this book is here. This book is here. I think it's smart. Fantastic.
00:30:23
Speaker
It's smart that we have 20 different authors because we can each tap our own network to amplify, to promote, to spread it. and we're all across the country, people in California and people you know like like me in Maryland on the East Coast.
00:30:35
Speaker
I think it was an amazing project to work on. um We're thinking about doing like ah an anniversary like a tour or like ah a resurgence to celebrate and kind of re-amplify it again in a couple years. But that was an amazing product I only got to be involved in because I knew Amber, because I had DM'ed her, because I applied to tech. I did just think things always happen for a reason and people come into your life at the right time. Shout out to Amber Wendler. She has now finished her her her dissertation. She's now doctor Dr. Amber Wendler.
00:31:04
Speaker
Put some respect on it. Put some respect on her name. Yes, that's for her. And all of Blackbirders Week folks, you know, y'all are amazing. yeah Jason, you were in a book similar to that with ah People the Planet Needs Now when Dudley put that together with all those amazing folks from all over the country. yeah yeah very Very, very, very awesome. Yeah. And it's a great way. I have another homie that's writing a similar book from what I understand, but I can't reveal it yet. There is a great power in doing that, that storytelling from 19 different people. And how do you think that really helps folks build their own ecological identity or their own connection to nature?
00:31:46
Speaker
Yeah, the stories in the book are so varied. And I really think it encourages people to know that their story could be that 20 or 21st or 22nd chapter of our book. You know, anyone um could have been in this book.
00:31:59
Speaker
i love that. Anyone and everyone has a connection to nature. And some people write about it. They write about it in different ways. People will talk about their... they're actually on a backpacking trip. You know, they're literally in nature the whole time through this, through their story, the things they observe, the things that they struggle with. And that's one way to engage with nature and and identify the backpacker. um Other folks, you know, maybe are in school and they're not in nature, but they're studying it and they're looking at pictures or video, like trail cameras. And, you know, they are identifying as as a researcher, um but still really care about nature.
00:32:33
Speaker
So I think it just shows whether you are physically in that space, you are just um thinking about that space, thinking about nature, you you can foster your love and your care for it and curiosity curiosityity about it. And I, yeah, I just think it was an amazing project. Yeah. and i And I have not heard that term super often, ecological identity. It would be a great...
00:32:59
Speaker
I think workshop exercise for folks to say, based on your experiences in life, what do you think your ecological identity is? So um I love that. I love that term. So, and I was also going to say the book, I gave away two copies of that a few weeks ago, or couple months ago, we had a indoor birding event and I, Dexter will tell you, I am a collector of books from authors that I admire and Then they sit on my bookshelf after I've looked at them and or read them and then they don't help anybody else. We had a bird outing and I was at those. Those two were snatched up quick.
00:33:33
Speaker
We had a bird outing in West Philly and it was super awesome. So yeah, shout out to the homie. Shout out to the book. I just think you all are doing incredible work. Yeah. Thanks for spreading the word and sharing knowledge. I love giving books away. i love the best.
00:33:47
Speaker
It's the best. think I gave Bird Brother by Rodney Stotch. That's another one I gave away too. I gave it a dimensi of mine. That was so good. And I think the second book I had, I think it was Dr. Ray Wynn Grant's book.
00:34:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. The bear biologist. Yeah. Well, she does more than bears too, right? She got her own podcast. She'd be out there doing some wild stuff. Mutual of Omaha now. Yeah. yes yeah But her biography um I gave to another friend of mine. i think they were undergraduate students. They're kind of just coming out, you know, have their degrees, but giving them examples, like a representation of people that are, are, look like us, that are doing amazing things that did not imagine that they'd be doing what they're doing now when they were, you know, in their early twenties. I wonder too, if there's a ah black or indigenous naturalists library, like some organization that's putting together something like that, because I think we all do it inherently ourselves as we build our own ecological identity. It's just somebody out there, give us a shout out, right? If you know of such a resource, because that would be incredible. I love that.
00:34:47
Speaker
Speaking of your work, Sharon, Share in Nature and a lot of the community outreach that you're doing, what what inspired you to create Share in Nature and what gaps were you hoping to address
Founding Share in Nature
00:35:00
Speaker
through that work?
00:35:00
Speaker
Yeah. So as I wrapped up my time as an intern doing community engagement work with the Fish and Wildlife Service, I was honestly kind of like gearing up for a career potentially with that federal agency.
00:35:13
Speaker
And I have other peers, shout out to Deja Perkins, another BlackBerry's Week OG and friend of mine from way back in the day. i would see people like that make LLCs or make businesses and and make websites that promote their services. I said, you know, like, I love that. And I think I have things to offer and in my community. so let me just jump in this. It's a little scary. It's little intimidating. Business, entrepreneurial, entrepreneurship. And I...
00:35:39
Speaker
told myself for my birthday, which is April, April 2024, I'm going to gift myself my my business. So I did all the paperwork and everything aligns, paid what I had to pay, all my my taxes whatever, and launched Share Your Nature LLC, which is it's the same name as my Instagram.
00:35:55
Speaker
And I just wanted to have kind of an entity separate from my life as a potential federal employee so that there would be no conflict of interest I knew that certain things that I'd heard from people like Brianna, right, someone who's been worth the service for a long time, that it's good to have a separation between yourself as a public servant and your private self. And so I just wanted to have that set up before I started a position with the Fish and Wildlife Service so that I can say, before I was before i was a public servant, already had this business, so you can't tell me I can't do this stuff. That's kind of the the foresight I tried to employ based on experiences and and tips from my peers. And um the business itself is really kind of a contract-based system where if people or organizations see a value or have a desire to host a nature-based program, I employ a variety of skills and interests and try to my best to match their needs.
00:36:55
Speaker
So that has looked like working with the the Maryland I guess the National Aquarium. They had um a workshop for educators, for teachers, and wanted ways to incorporate more ecological concepts into their classrooms in engaging ways. And you can look these things up, but having a hands-on workshop can be more helpful.
00:37:16
Speaker
So I had a contract with the aquarium to host this event with these educators. It worked out wonderfully and kind of just kind of learned some things through working with with each partner, whether it be the aquarium, the Maryland Zoo.
00:37:29
Speaker
There's a group in the Baltimore Harbor called the Waterfront Partnership. I've had to work a lot of work with them because they're trying to revitalize the harbor. And again, it's very urban space. A lot of skyscrapers, a lot of industry, a lot of boats, lot of tourism.
00:37:42
Speaker
yeah A lot of new folks coming into Baltimore to explore. And the Waterfront Partnership wants to have more nature spaces in their building. They've already built a couple new parks that are very eco-conscious, very bird friendly, a lot of native plants to attract you know native birds. And they want to have people like me activate those parks and have more free programming for the community.
00:38:02
Speaker
and so I work with the the partnership. they'll They'll contract me to do programs at their spaces. So I really just am feeling a need that different organizations have because their staff don't have the capacity to do it.
00:38:14
Speaker
And I i do this my part-time, kind of my side hustle. I have a full-time job as well in the private sector, not in the federal government anymore, unfortunately. okay But um yeah, it really, it allows me to have like ah a five to nine right after my nine to five. And it brings me a lot of joy and it allows me to build community, build partnerships and hopefully foster new passions and people around Baltimore. We need it.
00:38:39
Speaker
Yeah. And you don't got to explain that five to nine to me and Dexter. Podcasts, homies, the author. We both got our own, non you know, nonprofit birding orgs. And, you know, it's just it's that stuff means a lot. And um I wonder, we were talking about how people form the ecological identities. Right. And. We didn't really ask you exactly what your ecological identity was, but I'm actually more interested in as you move between your private job and then you're five to nine, right? And you're out there interacting with folks. How do you help? Like, what kind of questions do you ask people to help them start to build their own ecological identity? And do you even frame it like that for them? Like if you're meeting some homies at the Baltimore Harbor, which I love that place, the the the inner harbor there.
00:39:27
Speaker
take my family down to the aquarium all the time. of course, I'm outside looking at goals. I just imagine coming up to somebody down there for a non nature related reason. Like, how would you approach them to help them start to build their ecological identity in that space? Yeah. And I guess like I would just define it as like how you as individual connect or like integrate yourself into your environment.
Encouragements for Nature Engagement
00:39:47
Speaker
And ideally, it's in a positive way, right? You can be researching it. You can be like backpacking through it. You can be observing it. You can be journaling about it. I think when I lead programs with people that are really kind of just starting to see nature as something that they can engage with and not in an extractive way, I try to ask them,
00:40:05
Speaker
What brings you joy about this space? um You know, what could you do around your home that could be enjoyable for you and not not a labor? What things could you do to improve some some of some wildlife or um like planting native grasses, native plants?
00:40:24
Speaker
putting a bird feeder, putting up some window decals into your your windows to prevent bird collisions. you know What types of things do you already like to do? And could you make a little bit more ecologically conscious? How do you like to show up in nature? Do you like to just walk for fitness? um While you're doing that, could you take moments of mindfulness to just feel the wind, smell something? everyone has to be like a birder, but what can you do slightly differently to just engage with nature a different way and hopefully in a positive way? Yeah.
00:40:56
Speaker
I love walking. Again, I started off running outside being a trail runner. But then there's times it's good just to walk slow. It's good just to to notice the different shades of a bark on a tree. Why are some trees holding onto the leaves? Why are some dropping their leaves? Just slowing down. I love mindfulness in nature. And I think in the times that we're living in right now, the stress, the anxiety, the frustration, like it's good to see nature um as a space.
00:41:24
Speaker
to just remember a bigger picture and larger things are out there and that it's such a healing space. And, you know, we want to preserve that. We want to keep having these spaces that are calm and tranquil and not having, know, highways running through all the forests that we have. So I think it becomes like a simple question becomes really deep, really fast. Sometimes asking someone, you know, what do enjoy about nature? You kind of get into like, how can you protect it at the end of, at the end of all this? How can you steward it better in ways that are meaningful to you and are ways that are sustainable for you? You don't want to ask someone to do something that is, again, too laborious for because they won't do it. But what's something you already do that you can shift a little bit differently? If you like decorating your house, add window decals to your house. That's kind of the thoughts around that question. love that. It makes me laugh too because I'm still trying to figure how to run and bird at the same time because I can't hear the birds over my own dry heaving and breathing and get my life together. I love Walking is better. I have a homie here in Philly, Nicole, who leads walking groups for Black women and folks around the city. And once she became a birder, she would get yelled at because she kept stopping to look at birds instead of them getting their steps in. So I love that. I love that. And driving and birding is definitely guilty, like, gotta be careful with that. I got a rough lady hawk out here. Yeah. I got one on the back of my truck that says I stopped for birds. So hopefully people leave me alone. Yeah, I got bumper sticker so people don't think I'm crazy.
00:42:52
Speaker
I have a disclaimer, disclaimer. I'm not an erotic driver. we Just guiltll looking at that vulture or Osprey or you know something flying overhead. Yeah. I mean, I can tell too, Sharon, you really do take pride in and getting people who may be new or are curious about nature outside and and really kind of creating spaces for those folks. So For somebody that wants to build a deeper relationship with nature or they're curious about getting outside, but they feel intimidated or they're unsure where they should start, what type of advice would you give to them?
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah, that's a very valid fear, really valid apprehension to have around exploring a new space, starting a new activity, a new hobby. Anything new can be a little intimidating. I definitely feel safer in community. i think we're fortunate to have a robust number of nonprofits and community orgs that are very local to a a certain area that go on nature walks, that go on trail hikes.
00:43:50
Speaker
I'm also um a volunteer leader with Outdoor Afro, and we lead at least monthly, if not more frequently, nature of va events all around the country. And I work with the DMV you know, network. And that's a space, again, you kind of meet through this app and you register for events and just kind of go and meet up with with the leader that can kind of walk you through, can answer questions, they can tell you what kind of equipment or tools, if you're going backpacking or camping, you know, those types of tools you may need. For my events, I'm fortunate that I actually offer binoculars for people because, shout out to Knox Provisions. I'm one of their naturalists as well. And they've given me a a demo kit to use for my my events. Yeah.
00:44:29
Speaker
Chris and the homies out there are awesome at Knox Provision. So that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So I think um for people that want to just engage with nature kind of recreationally, that's my advice for them. But I also wanted to talk about people that maybe want to study and like be an ecologist, biologist, more of the scientific data collection route and Coming back to some of my early experiences with learning to be a biologist through the passerine banding ended up doing in Virginia Tech, but also at Masonville Cove. So as I mentioned before, we all talked about piping plovers are endangered and you need permits to do any kind of wildlife handling research, especially with an endangered species. And before my professor could sign off on me going up to New York and holding birds all summer,
00:45:14
Speaker
He needed to prove that I had handled, I think, 30 or so was the requirement for this permit from USGS, US Geological Survey. And i said, well, Jim, i I have no experience. You know, what what do I do? And he says, well, fortunately, there's some professors at Virginia Tech that also do passerine banding. I think they're working with how House Finches, House Finches for like ah looking at some biology or disease in them.
00:45:42
Speaker
So I learned about mist netting for the first time, how v researchers will set up these really sheer, almost like a screen door, you know, net with multiple trowels and and pockets so that, they kind of set them up along a forest edge so that birds kind of flitting through the forest and for food, just kind of run into this net, fall down, and we carefully, very, very carefully extract them from the net. So I learned from that professor the delicacy of, of working the bird's legs and wings and body out of the fine mist nets and then holding, you know, the sparrow with like, you know, the banners grip, the photographer's grip. It's kind of learning the the vernacular and feeling like, okay, i'm I am a scientist now. I know like birds, you know, stuff were bird terms. But then I had to realize, I don't think,
00:46:29
Speaker
Piping plovers you know fly through trees like that. we don't We don't use the same approach to capture birds. My my birds I've been working with. So although I was learning how to hold birds, I had to then relearn another tactic for trapping our our um piping plovers to assess their... really track their population. We put these color bands or sometimes metal bands on their legs. and then would identify like that bird throughout the season and see how they're growing, and then their chicks, you how they're growing. And then we'd see them come back year after year with those same flags, flags or bands. But with the piping plovers, we would just deploy a really simple, almost like a cartoon, Wiley the Coyote box and a stick approach.
00:47:11
Speaker
um And a again, this is all permitted and this is kind of the protocol that a lot of shorebird nesting, that's used for speech nesting birds rather. We would just kind of set up the box over top of their nest and wait for them to come back and incubate, sit on their eggs. And we just pull the string so the box would fall on them and the box had a... um opening at the top and just pull them out. This very much is starting to sound like a Wile E. Coyote Roadrunner operation here. Exactly. That's what I'm imagining, but I love that you were out there doing it. That's just a really, really incredible story, like having to translate that skill, right, and get that from what you learned in the forest out into the fields and on the beach and then be able kind of explain that journey to people like your own apprehensions, your own fear and how you overcame that. So it's just a great example. Now, we are at the best part of the podcast, the lightning round. So I hope you're ready. We're gonna ask you some really, really running stretches on. Yeah, get ready. So these are meant to be quick, couple word answers at most just right off the top of your head. And we'll see where your where your reflexes lie. All you ready? I'm ready. You could choose one, wetlands, forests, or grasslands.
00:48:29
Speaker
Which ecosystem do you feel most connected to? Wetlands, for sure. It's smelly, but i like I like it. An ecosystem function, you think, does not get enough attention. I know it's lightning round.
00:48:43
Speaker
I've already talked about the filtering of of of wetlands and and the grasses, but i I have to double down on that. I think the sponge, the absorption of of nutrients by wetland plants is is such an important feature. They're like the the the liver, for the lungs. guess the liver of the ecosystem. The liver,
00:49:02
Speaker
Filtering out the all the impurities. yep. Yeah. All right. The species that taught you the most about how ecosystems really work. What came to mind first was a great blue heron, also kind of a wading bird. They interact with the environment in different ways, through how they eat, how they wade through the water, and how they like roost. So yeah. Awesome. Great blue. One urban ecology myth you would love to clear up.
00:49:28
Speaker
That urban parks are dangerous and you know deadly. There are some parks in Baltimore that have bad histories, but they're really working to to rewrite those narratives. But not all urban parks are dangerous. All right. What energizes you the most? i think I know the answer to this one.
00:49:42
Speaker
Fieldwork, data analysis, or community engagement? Yeah, definitely community engagement. Fieldwork for the close second. I think the rest of the podcast made that clear. What is one sign of an ecosystem's health you notice right away when you step outside? The lack or presence of life.
00:50:01
Speaker
You know, there's a variety of species chirping, walking through. if it's an advent of life, that's very, very bad, of course. A research question you still find yourself thinking about.
00:50:12
Speaker
Why aren't there more Black people studying wildlife ecology? Hey, I hear that. That's some deep research. Right? A climate change impact you are paying close attention to right now? um The hybridization of Blue Jay and that Gray Jay down in Mexico, Texas and how Yeah, the Green Jay, I think it is. The green jay, yes, the green jay blue jay. How species are evolving way faster than they're supposed to historically. So that's concerning to me because they have there's no niche for them. so I think the hybridization of species as a result of climate change is going to be something i' paying attention to. yep ranges are moving. It's going to happen. Jeff Goldblum says, nature finds a way. All right, last one.
00:50:54
Speaker
Finish this sentence. Ecological identity begins when blank. It begins when you become curious about nature and how you can give to it and not to stay from it.
00:51:08
Speaker
Fantastic. Great. love this You made it through the lightning round. It's a lot of pressure. i know yeah It's a lot of pressure, but you did it. Listen, we always running out of time here. Sharon, thank you so much for sharing your journey, your research and your writing. This conversation really highlights how birding ecosystems, outreach and story can reshape how people see themselves and the natural world. Thank you again.
00:51:33
Speaker
Thank you so much. Thanks, Dexter. Thanks, Jason.