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Mapping Nature’s Stories with Calvin Feagans
572 Plays15 days ago
Dexter and Jason welcome Calvin Feagans, an environmental scientist, educator, and talented nature photographer, to the Bird Joy Podcast this week! Calvin shares how his passion for urban ecology and biodiversity drives his creative work, from the educational EnviroBytes to urban ecology report cards. He also discusses the challenges and joys of turning data into storytelling tools, mapping bird migration patterns, and reclaiming old industrial spaces for conservation efforts.
Throughout the conversation, the homies touch on themes like environmental stewardship, advocating for nature in urban spaces, and navigating the highs and lows of social media advocacy (including a few words on those inevitable trolls). They even reflect nostalgically (and humorously) on their shared love-hate relationship with R programming!
Get ready for an inspiring, educational, and joy-filled conversation that will leave you seeing urban green spaces—and the role you can play in preserving them—in a new light.
Be sure to follow our podcast on Instagram at @thebirdjoypod and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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Transcript
Introduction to BirdJoy Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the bird joy podcast. I'm Dexter Patterson and I'm Jason Hall. This is the podcast for all the bird nerds and bird homies out there. They want to find a little bird joy. Yes, it's all about the bird joy. And if you're listening today, you are ready. So let's.
Meet Calvin Fagans: Background and Expertise
00:00:16
Speaker
go let's go let's go today we are thrilled to have the homie calvin fagans here also known as biota and frame on instagram joining us today calvin is a nature photographer science communicator scientist environmental waste specialist and he has a deep passion for urban ecology and biodiversity. He has an MSC in environmental science and management. He was born and raised in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
00:00:46
Speaker
um so the same that makes jason pretty Happy we got some Pennsylvania homies on the line today. A BS in environmental biology that focus on soil science, plant ecology, and conservation biology. Man, homie is really about that life. Calvin, welcome, welcome to the BirdJoy podcast, my guy.
00:01:08
Speaker
And I'm excited. I've watched a couple of the episodes. And most of them, actually, not a couple, most to all of them. I'm winning the meet. So you know i I was waiting for my time. I was like, yeah, maybe one day. So we're here. ah Oh, man, we've been watching you. you know We've been watching you. And Jason and I, we've chatted about your you know about you in general um a few times. And and just like, we're going to have to talk to this homie soon. And it ain't no better way to do it than season two of the Birdjoy podcast, right?
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go, man. Cause like you, um, well, number one, I mean, Pennsylvania excellence, let's just talk about it. Right. I think you got to, I think you got the west side of the state covered. I got the east side of the state covered.
Engaging Audiences: Calvin's Social Media Impact
00:01:50
Speaker
I haven't been out to Pittsburgh for a little bit. Uh, really enjoy seeing a lot of the stuff you put out on the socials, right? They're always things that make me stop and think and read and I learned something. So whether it's your medium articles, captions and information surrounding your photography, a lot of the things we're going to talk about today, the EnviroBites, which is like my favorite thing to say. I don't know why. Like every time I can like scrolls across me on the screen, I'm like in viral bites, you know, like, so anyway, we're going to talk about all that today, man. We can't wait to dive into all of it and really understand, you know, how you got into it, where you're coming from. Let's go. Let's do it. You know, let's do it. First of all, how are you doing on me? I'm good. You know, long week, but you know, it's the weekend we're here. I got two, I got one more week and then I got 19 days to look forward to. Oh man. 19 days. What you going to do in 19 days? I'll probably make some videos, hang out with my dogs, hang out with my wife. Probably just go sit out in nature for a little bit, you know, kind of disassociate for a while. That's awesome, man. That's awesome. I'm looking forward to that too. I don't have quite as many days off, but like the days I do have off, I'm just like, listen, just just let me give my body back to nature for a few days. Like just I don't want to watch no news.
00:03:08
Speaker
I don't want to read any emails. I just want to, even though it's cold, like I love it. you Like I love getting out there and just like, especially in the winter, cause like sometimes the peopling aspect of life can take it out of you. So like when you get out there and like a quiet field in the middle of winter and like you can just chill, like that's really it. As long as you stay in warm, man, it's amazing. So looking forward to that for you and my
Science Communication and Social Media
00:03:30
Speaker
guy.
00:03:30
Speaker
Jason mentioned in the intro, you've got a lot of different platforms where you like to communicate to your audience, whether it's Medium, Instagram, Threads, you got an Etsy, all kind of contributing to your narrative of science and nature in the way that you like to communicate that and tell stories. You're a really good storyteller, which I appreciate. Did you know like kind of during your schooling, that science, like this science communication aspect of it, which has been a kind of a theme for us on on this podcast, where there's a lot of different people doing research, you know, a lot of the homies doing research, a lot of the homies in science, and you know, ornithology as a whole, communicating about the work that they're doing. and And you do a really good job on that. Did you know, like, along the way that that will play a big role, like, in your career?
00:04:21
Speaker
Um, no. And actually, like when I really first started in, you know, it was just, you know, the, the biotic frame page was just mainly, uh, you know, just me a way of sharing my stuff. And then I posted a couple of videos of me in the kitchen. Um, and then they just like randomly woke up one day and it just kind of took off. And at that moment, uh, you know, I just like wanted to do a little bit more with it. yeah I went down a little bit more substance. I had things I wanted to say and really convey to the public about the reason why I you know do what I do and and what really inspires me to you know go out there and want to take pictures or you know share them with the internet. and And I started running into you guys and a lot of other communicators online, and especially how you guys advocate for you know getting more BIPOC group involved in the in the environmental space. And you know that's something I resonated with. And I was like, I have all this knowledge. I have all this experience.
00:05:13
Speaker
So I have a little bit more that I feel like I can add to the conversation outside of just a picture to post. And the picture for me is a way to get people to engage or at least kind of get them over to to to my to my content. And then hopefully those that that do like to interact with the educational aspects of it do. um The memes seem to be the way to go as I go the curve fashion. But, you know, i I do appreciate the people that do stick around and, you know, read the environments and whatnot. ah When I started, it I didn't really think and science communication would really kind of be up that alley, especially given the current industry
Research and Content Creation Process
00:05:52
Speaker
I work in. It's a way to kind of keep me anchored and rooted and in my current ethos so of conservation and environmental stewardship.
00:05:59
Speaker
Yeah. And I, I really honestly love your honesty around, got to work, got to pay the bills, you know, yeah got a, you know, those initial vitiate videos. I think you shared were like, you work in your second job at night and you're like chopping up onions. Why are you like showing like pictures of owls? And I was like, this is crazy. Kind of off script here. Like I really appreciate.
00:06:18
Speaker
especially you being a, you know, you're younger than me. So a younger person talking about, Hey, you know, we all got to get out there in the world and we got to do things to feed our families and survive and, and being able to keep that eye towards what your beliefs are, what your intentions are. Cause it's not easy, right? It's not easy. And we all, you know, we all wish we could, you know, probably be fully self sufficient and financially stable in conservation careers. And it's not always possible, right? So you got to find your way there.
00:06:47
Speaker
I just want to put that out there. Like I really appreciate your honesty about that and your consistency and staying on target to meet that goal. So really, really appreciate it. But your medium articles, these are, they're not, I don't think you were doing them the whole time, but the ones that you have done are like really great. And they are, you know, all of them are less than like less than 20 minutes to read, but just packed with information. And I think the wild part is that. you research these on your own. Like you, you choose all these different subjects and you go out and get data. So like, you know, I was, I was like texting you before about the shorter hours one and like learning things about them. Like how do you choose your subjects for these kinds of things? And like, where do you go get your data? Like, how do you walk us through like that process on how you do that? Really? It's just kind of, you know, it's either what's kind of going on in the news currently, what might be local, or just, you know, kind of what's the talk of the town. So
Conservation Challenges and Ethics
00:07:39
Speaker
I, you know, I'll just give an example of, you know, there's another ah
00:07:43
Speaker
creator on Instagram that I talked with a lot. um And she's down in Florida, she works for the Audubon Society. She's, you know, she always will send me articles about the land grabs that are going on in Florida. So that's kind of, I would actually say that's probably kind of what kick started a lot of me shifting my content toward educational goals, right? You know, so it's kind of more of, you know, kind of what gets put and in front of my face. ah The shorter your dial one is actually one I did back in college when I was getting my graduate degree and I thought I would make it for a great article. That's where I get my data. It's ah it's a mix of nonprofit organizations that do surveys. I put a request in. You can actually do this. You can put a request in with eBird. It'll give you access to all their like all their observation data.
00:08:28
Speaker
I will say it does require a bit of scripting and knowledge program to really be able to access and utilize it. So there is a bit of a technical skill required for that. And I use R, or I'll use Python for that. But I'll go there. And I utilize it a lot. Bro said R, and I got a slash bag. I was like, wait, did he say R? Oh, I did. I did. Dang me, bro. Like, it was like a slash bag.
00:08:56
Speaker
for anyone that like ever has to deal with data in any scientific field like I don't know any other letter that is hated the most you know or more than are because like everybody like and I gave me like it gave me a few flashbacks too luckily I didn't have to use it as much as some other platforms but man We're definitely going to talk about it too, because what you put out there, like what you end up creating from this data is, is absolutely mesmerizing, particularly like the shorter your dowel stuff. Like there's, there's data there. There's, um, I didn't realize they were actually listed as kind of threatened or endangered and PA, but not necessarily federally. Like I thought that was wild. Right. And I think I actually learned that from one of your graphics on Instagram, but then was able to go read that in the.
00:09:37
Speaker
in the article as well like do you find like for things like the owl that people don't pay as much attention to its conservation of like a shorter owl because it's not federally recognized and like i didn't even know pennsylvania game commission even classified different birds like that you know like is that something you find that people don't even realize that that's a thing Yeah, and um yeah, so a lot of and and this kind of goes with um environmental regulations as a whole, right? A lot of people don't really recognize the the power that states have when it comes to environmental protection, especially like when it comes to conservation, I can use the American Martin as an example as well, it's expedited in PA, a Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, ah in New York, like it doesn't exist, but it is pretty abundant elsewhere. So it's kind of like another one of those situations where, you know, federally, I believe that's starting to endanger still federally, um but in PA, they're pretty much declarative state. There's efforts for reintroduction. PA doesn't have doesn't have the hottest record for i know for reintroducing species here, fortunately, so I don't know what we're doing wrong over here, but... Oh, we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. yeah
00:10:46
Speaker
But yeah, I think that that's, you know, the the short eared owl, and it's actually, they there's they had one of the largest concentrations over at the Philadelphia airport. um They used to do a lot of nesting in those open grass areas. And then, I guess, because of collisions and the potential hazards, they started putting mitigations for their nesting in those areas. And they've kind of dispersed since then. And I think since I originally did the research on that, there's only ever been two mating pairs of short eared owl. There have been sightings of individuals, um especially over toward my area in the Pittsburgh International Airport out there that way. They love airports, I guess. But je but they love the airport the area airports just because they're more cleared and it's kind of like where a lot of silly open land is. So when it comes to like the, you know, people don't really recognize that as an issue. And it kind of also kind of, it really circles back to another piece that I made when I buy our bikes with the bar out and the of the whole situation with the color. is that, you know, it's the same geographic areas where it comes from invasive and non-invasives, right? You know, they're abundant over here, they're they're welcomed over here, but out west, they're not, ah yeah then they they're not welcomed at all, so.
00:11:59
Speaker
Yeah that one is is that one is a hot topic too because we were on I think we were on the ABA podcast and they were saying like they were like yeah we're just gonna give hunters permits to go out and shoot these barred owls out west and I was like well are you sure the hunters can recognize the difference between the barred owl and the the spotted owl? What's the owl spotted owl? Yeah right like because they don't look like that I'm sure if you're a bird or maybe you can tell relatively quickly but like I just imagine like some like super gun happy person like getting ready to just fire off on a bunch of owls. like it was just pretty so It's pretty scary. Calling attention to those things the way you do is what I very much appreciate because I notice in it you don't you don't necessarily take a side all the time. You just kind of present the facts. This It's like really great. One of the things I read was the um potential usage of old mine sites or I guess treatment facilities to kind of provide additional space for the short-eared owl within the state. Like, is that something you heard about in your profession or otherwise? like is it Because I know those mindsets, they don't want people going in at all. Those offer like opportunity. like Are they safe for the owls? like is it Is there a bunch of stuff that has to happen before you can start trying to introduce populations to that space? like what do you How do you kind of see that going? And is that something people can advocate for with their local officials around the state? So um especially in PA, and I'll use PA as a pretty good example. And even people in West Virginia might resonate with this in Virginia, because all three of those states are a pretty mine-heavy states. A lot of what our infrastructure sits on top of are old and abandoned mines. A lot of our agricultural fields are old and abandoned mines. Now, there are some parts you you know parcels of land that are still held by either oil and gas companies or mine companies. And those lands, they're not being mined anymore. The the mine is shut down. They're not utilizing it anymore. they're And they're too unstable to build a home, you know, to put any sort of development on top of or something to buy and put their own home on top of it. So, you know, there is that opportunity to get back to the wild, you know, whether it's doing some sort of reforestation, which, you know, can kind of come into question of what the future with the weight of those trees when they get to maturity be too much and create the cold or is it making it into grasslands because you know you pretty much have stripped the tops of those areas already to bear bones so you know grasslands might be the the best move there though to rehab that area. um I think it's something that you should definitely be looked into and I work in that space. I work in the oil and gas industry. I drive through and I go to those active areas all the time. Mines you really don't see too much of they're pretty safe if you're you know for the most part I mean you will get you know there's always a risk of sink calls yeah I'm sure everyone likes the name of the Pittsburgh bus falling into a sinkhole. That was a classic one, COVID. just Not one, but two, actually. I'm sure that made Philly happy knowing that they're not over here.
00:14:55
Speaker
But yeah, so I think that, you know, things like that are are pretty important when we think about conservation and kind of reclaiming spaces that were once industrial and and making them habitable for critical and endangered species. a lot of There's a lot of opportunities there. It's just, you know, there's no tangible benefit for a lot of these companies or even people to really want to invest in that which is unfortunate. I think what I love most about you, Calvin, is you spark those conversations, no matter how if they make people feel uncomfortable or not. Jason talked about, can the casual hunter recognize the difference between this owl or that owl? And I can tell you right now, there are conversations happening in my state because the Sandhill Crane is doing so well. But that was not always the case. We almost took this bird for granted so much that we almost lost it. Oh, they call it the ribeye of the sky and all this other junk, right? like It's just like, come on. And it's like, yes, this bird is doing OK right now. But you want to you want to allow people and have a Sandhill crane hunt. This is this is what's happening. like We've been having these conversations in the state of Wisconsin for months now. And you want hunters are saying, hey, we won't be able to have a season for them. There are also farmers that that have legitimate gripes about the Sandhill crane coming to their land and eating their seed. So there there are real conversations that need to be had. And this is where I think about folks like you where we're talking about science communication, but also just elevating sometimes just elevating these issues to to a point to where we can have a conversation about them.
00:16:24
Speaker
I think you do a really good job about, hey, let's talk about this stuff. This might not be comfortable, but this is real and we can either ignore it. ah My mom always tells me, are you a part of the the solution or are you just going to be a part of the problem? You know, and and I get a lot of that from you where you're like, you know what, this man matters, man. Like this matters to your life. This isn't me trying to be woke or any of this weird stuff that people try to attach to this, right? This, this knowledge in these conversations. And like, what was the spark for you to say? You know what? I don't care. Attack me. I'm on social media. Let's let's have a conversation about that. Like, that takes a lot of courage, I will say this, um to even put yourself out there. But like, where'd that happen? where Where did that shift happen for you, bro? And that was that was pretty much me since my childhood. I was an instigator. I was um the youngest.
00:17:13
Speaker
I'm the youngest of three. I'll tell you that. I was the instigator, so. He out the room ready to go. Yeah, I mean, let's go. I mean, since my childhood, I'd always be getting myself in the in the fights or arguments or whatever. I'm hungry. I'm hungry.
00:17:32
Speaker
I never really cared too much about about what people you know people's perception. I mean, you can hate me, you can love me. It doesn't really matter too much to me. you know I'm going to tell you im gonna tell you how I feel and and what the facts are. and you know I don't take a stance. you know I never try to inject my opinions and into what I write or or how I speak, but sometimes you know so <unk> they they it bleeds into there or you can get in you can get an idea of of which way I lean. As conservation as a whole, i mean there are a lot of discussions you can have with ethics. and that's it's a difficult conversation to have there are some instances where you know you might have to are that conservation plan is you know maybe calling four hundred and fifty thousand. bar ows Unfortunately but is that really the solution well maybe maybe not i mean. sorry
00:18:17
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah Do we need to have ah another study or another survey done? From my understanding, that survey done with the barred owl was done by ah a lumber company. It was a consultant that pretty much did that survey of barred owls in my opinion. i'm not gonna I'm not trying to make any simulations here. But I know how some of these, I know how these companies work and the bar dial, though it's invasive on the West Coast, is still a federally protected bird. So if they have these nested, if they have these bar dials nesting in areas that they want to cut lumber, they can't, they can't offer it there. It's only in the benefit of the lumber company to say, Hey, we'll fund this study for you.
00:18:53
Speaker
in fine a correlation to say that the barred owl is suppressing the the northern spotted owl. However, you can also look at, you know, they're cutting down old growth forests, which the spotted owl relies on.
Importance of Urban Ecology
00:19:04
Speaker
So you know, you can, if doing all these cullings of the barred owl, is it really going to solve the issue with the spotted owl? Probably not, because you're still getting rid of its habitat that it relies on. So it's like kind of like those nuanced discussions that people really don't want to have. They want to take stuff for face value. Part of my job but even currently is to is to dig so dig for information. That's a lot of what I've always done, you know, both academically and professionally. I've always just been at the point where I don't care. It's like I'll come in the comments section. I don't do it for a living. I don't have sponsors. I don't look for sponsors. So yeah, you'll get smoke. I don't care. Like like I don't, I don't care. Hey, you may be made an example of just letting you, it does not matter to me. I mean, that's one of the reasons why I don't want to have like, you know, people always ask me like, Oh, do you, you know, you have this following, you know, are you trying to do anything more sense? Like, no, I'm just educating people.
00:20:01
Speaker
you know free I don't care. I'll do, you know, I'll use any kind of source of material that I need to do it. You know, I have the skills that I can utilize, as you guys said before, with like, you know, podcast equipment, right? You know, you use what works. And that's what I do. I don't need sponsors. I don't need design deals. Because once you do that, you know, you kind of lose authenticity of the of the brain you're trying to create. And people will say, Oh, he can't say that. That's that's gonna make people upset.
00:20:25
Speaker
It's make them upset, make them make them feel a certain type of way that gets them interested in wanting to research it more and and kind of do some self reflection as to kind of where they sit in this in in the, ah you know, in in the whole position of how we interact with the environment. That's, you know, honestly what a lot of why I talk so much about urban ecology is we're part of that, right? And we You spend a lot of time, but everyone spends a lot of time doing what they can to keep a lot of these creatures out. But you know they're part they're one and the same of us. you know we We have to share that home with them. yeah So yeah that's that's kind of inspiring. I mean, I was always like this. It doesn't matter to me. Pittsburgh has its own its own culture. Philly certainly has our own. um You can't just be coming in the comments and not and not expecting.
00:21:09
Speaker
something. yeah so you know It's just the way it is. Just to kind of pivot here a little bit, like that's that's the beauty of social media, if you can use it you know correctly. and and that's um It's a good tool, like Dexter said, to spur the conversation. right Obviously we live in quite divided times on a lot of different topics. um But that's why, like I said, like, I like that you, um, that you kind of just present the facts and like, even on the, um, the Instagram carousels, right? So the environment bites, uh, and the urban ecology report cards, right? Like both of those are number one, they're visually stunning. You kind of pull people in with photos, graphics, really key kind of poignant facts right off the bat. And you've covered everything from black bears to red wing blackbirds to Osprey's for our homies in Wisconsin.
00:21:56
Speaker
Like how do you, how do you decide which species or topics you want to feature? Like in, in, and walk us through, like you kind of wake up one day and you're like, I want to do an urban ecology report card on this creature. How do you go about that? I had a already pre-selected list and I kind of, I'm still working through the pre-selected list, but then going forward, it'll pretty much just be up to a vote post on my story of what people want. to see feature for those urban or urban ecology report cards. um Just because i want to you know everyone has different ideas of what they feel is important. And so I want to make sure that I kind of really convey you everyone's ideas or what they want to learn. Because there's a lot. I mean, there' there's there's so much so much detail when it comes to conservation, especially when we're talking about birds specifically. I mean, birds in themselves. I mean, there's subspecies of subspecies of birds that like you know you can really get into.
00:22:45
Speaker
So I, you know, right now I have a sub, you know, an R increase like the list, but going forward, it'll be definitely just ah the community decides and I'll, I'll make it. I love it. Involve your audience. That's what you're good at. Kind of having these two way conversations. That's what I always tell my students. We have to get away, like keep the social and social media.
Photography as a Storytelling Tool
00:23:05
Speaker
And sometimes. Those, those conversations may be uncomfortable, but most of the time it's about trying to get to the joy. And I think that's where you do a really good job. You're not, you're not afraid to feed the troll for a second, but you always get back to your joy. And I really appreciate that the joy or the education part. And ultimately that's what it's about. You're providing value to all these people and, and and you're educating people as an educator myself, music to my ears. I see this brother just like. unabashed all about the environment and nature and like you're flipping the script. Every time you put something out, you're flipping the script. You're changing the face of what a naturalist look like, what a scientist look like, what a nature photographer looks like. You're doing it, bro. I just want you to know we see it. We appreciate it. We love you. We like and I know hopefully the people listening to this podcast, if they don't already know who you are, they're going to check you out because you got some amazing stuff that you're putting out there into the world. and i appreciate it because it's not just about birds for you either. You love your birds. You're also talking about topics like climate change and land loss and using all like these visual maps like Jason talked about. And you also have like a medium piece that you did on like migration pathways and different things. So like are these maps created with the same data sets as those articles that you wrote about with the migration pathways, or do they require a different approach?
00:24:29
Speaker
um They're made with the same data set. so i combine you know with and that's like I try to make sure to make it a point to denote that you know these are projections. right you know Somebody else can take that same same set of data and run it through a different set of algorithms and and formulas and come out with a different output.
00:24:46
Speaker
But those maps are pretty much, you know, I pull all the data from, you know, a lot of some of the EPA websites, some of the MPS websites and like the Enviro Atlas, and then as well as using that eBird. And then I have, you know, i've I've worked in with GIS for a good bit of my career. So I'm very familiar with raster data sets and and elevation um and work with elevation. data. So being able to kind of combine all those and be able to create those graphics, it's a way for me to kind of add, you know, as you said, like add value to the conversation. And and that's whenever I would, you know, you said bring back the joy, like I'm gonna be honest, when I was just posting photos, there was not much joy.
00:25:26
Speaker
You know, it's just like, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to add a little bit more substance to to what I just the picture, but what does the picture mean? What's the, what's the story for that picture? We can, we can talk about, you know, we can do the typical, like, uh, walking out on the sunny beach and I saw a girl just sitting there perfectly. But like, that's not the story that I want to tell, you know, I want to, I want to tell the bird story, not my story. My story to me, it doesn't really matter. I was just there. That bird isn't always there or it might not always be there. And for our kids and our grandkids, they might not have the opportunity to see those type of things. Being able to to utilize the skills that I have to really put that information out there to get people informed, get people, try to get people involved and and start asking you know the bigger questions for just the future implications as to what it means for our for the next generation and and how we handle that for them.
00:26:15
Speaker
we we brother We appreciate you. We need this. You know, that's the gateways yeah for you. The conversation might be bigger than that picture. Right. Because you're you're you know, you have all this knowledge in your head. And for you, you're like, yeah, I can I can use my talent. Right. Like I can take these amazing pictures.
00:26:35
Speaker
But there's so much more I want to talk about this subject in this frame at this moment. There's so much more I want to tell you, but don't ever lose sight of the fact that it's the picture that is going to get the attention of the people you're trying to educate. yeah Okay. enough Yes. Yes. It's bigger than you, but the picture alone gets that person's attention that you are hoping to educate. Um, and that is the gateway to educating them. So please don't ever lose that because you're amazing photographer. That's what's going to get their attention and allow you to have that conversation. Oh yeah. And that's why like I dedicated a whole day just like wildlife Wednesday, you know, I'll i'll throw up, you know, that's why I do the urban ecology report card. I'll do like a random meme. Usually it's not that I try to associate it with the, uh, with the, with the subject, but it's not that they're just kind of go off the off the cuff. And I'm just like, oh, I kind of want to be a little controversial today. So I just like the one with the, like, I just kind of threw some jazz with like oil oil and gas industry, which pretty God that my employer never finds that page because we'll be in HR at some point.
00:27:37
Speaker
There's a couple people from my work that following, but they're they're pretty chill about it. I think it's good. I think it's okay to advocate for that stuff. yeah like you know and I got to say, like it went over my head because i you know you were mentioning some things you do with the coding and the data and I was just like, man, that sounds intense. And, but the output of these visually stunning maps, and I thought the migration patterns were really cool because you showed people like, here's all the different migration routes. You know, you got the Atlantic flyway, but then you took species and you took the data and you mapped it along that. They kind of show the average route of that species along that flyway. Right. Which is great because not a lot of people do that. I know sometimes other people put up graphics of like, uh, bird sighting hotspots, you know, through, you know, over time, the memes. I don't want to leave that because we got to give that a little bit of attention. Okay. So like, if you're listening to this podcast right now, I want you to go to my audit in front. I want you to scroll down until you see a meme about the grasslands because it makes me laugh every time I see it. All right. I'm not going to tell you what it is. This is your homework. I'm not going to tell anybody what it is. No spoilers. No spoilers. You're just going to scroll down.
00:28:42
Speaker
And it's going to make you laugh. It makes me laugh. And so don't you dare archive that ah you day on i be before January, you know, first or whatever, because the memes actually are so like, it just imagine like, I think, this road yeah.
00:28:59
Speaker
that's the that's the amazing part about the page is that like it's it's it's real serious data it's factual conversations it's great photography it's engaging and then all of a sudden you turn around and something makes you spit up your milk because it's just funny so like i encourage folks i don't want to derail a conversation but like Just go check out some of the memes they are. I think it's funny because you take memes that people are using for other, I'll say more unserious topics and you repurpose them for a serious topic. And it's a great way to keep people engaged. Like the one with moo dang, the little pick me, uh, hippo, like, like these are all
00:29:34
Speaker
it's great I hope people go and check it out like biota in frame. I'm gonna keep saying it, right? It's absolutely hilarious. um To get to your, you know, photography that Dexter mentioned, right? Like, it's a great addition to everything. And um you have kind of an interesting photography style. I know when you were doing the the items where you were like, you know, chopping food and then showing your showing your photography, you would you would sometimes switch to like either high contrast images or black and white images. Um, how did you find that style? Like ah number one was photography, something you were always into. And like, how did you decide like, Hey, this is how I want to present this thing. Cause it sounds like even when you were just doing photography in the back of your head, there was more of this idea of what you wanted the picture to convey about the species and less about you. So I'll talk to us about that. Um, yeah. So my grandpa actually was the one that really introduced me in the photography. So he's done it for years. I mean, he has, you know, every, like every grandfather, you know, they have that, they had that camcorder or whatever from like back to, you know, I'm a nineties baby, you know, halfway through, but you know, he has a camcorders and then, you know, he's he's always a tech savvy guy. So, you know, he got me into photography. You bought my first camera i and I've been doing it since about 2016. And then I started to get a little bit more serious around, probably around like what a lot of people started to like around COVID. you know, i rent I went out, rented a ah Sony Alpha a seven four camera and then 600 millimeter OSS system lens. Man, that rental price was I mean, it I got some great stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, but
00:31:04
Speaker
but that but but but the But the wallet was hurting at some point. and It was like, I like i couldn't afford to buy it. But you there was a point where I had to, I was like, all right, I can't rent this anymore. I couldn't work these long hours anymore to be able to afford it. um I mean, I got that. you know That's where a lot of those contracts. For me, you know when I first started, I was like, you know I want to get a very naturalistic look to it. But then I was like, hey it's not really me. you know' ah I guess I could say, like you know I'm kind of quirky.
00:31:29
Speaker
little chaotic. I kind of want to make more of an art, not just simply, ah you know, this is where I was at at this time. And I think that the, you know, the black and white contrast for me was a way to kind of just be able to sit there and focus more on the subjects and not so much the colors that you see. the The vibrancy of nature is is beautiful and all. I feel like sometimes it can take away from subject at hand that really makes you think about that subject so I think of like the white-tailed deer um like when you just look at it right you just see the brown the white but you don't really see the emotion of that deer or really what it's about people just look at deer and it's like oh <unk>s it's a deer you know that deer has a story um so the black and white contrast was
00:32:09
Speaker
And it was more for the portraits, the ones that had like, you know, a closer crop to them. So, you know, I just kind of liked that artistic styling. And then the high contrast ones, just about having fun in Photoshop and Lightroom, I was like, yeah, whatever, let's go for it. But something that was like a lot of people were like, hey, let's get this in color. And I'm like, all right, fine, we'll get this in color.
00:32:27
Speaker
I have been posting more color than anything. for i have i use I have all the presets for my black and white edits and in Photoshop and then I'll just tweak them as needed for each subject because you sometimes the highlights might be a little bit too high or or the blacks in the shadows have to raise a little bit because you might not be able to see the eye or something. so Yeah, nobody's asked for them back. I mean, I still, I still make ad room in that way, but they're just kind of sit in separate batch. But you know, I, you know, I got in that style, just because, you know, I just want to kind of give it note more of an artistic appeal to it, as opposed to just like, you know, here I am here, you know, this is where it was at. And I always say that, you know, when I take the photo, the photos kind of like, I know a lot of people
00:33:07
Speaker
will be different on this. A lot of people like to keep it natural. But for me, I just see the photo, you know, I take the photo and it's like my canvas. So I just kind of go, you know, when I do whatever I need to, or, you know, whatever, whatever's in my, in my eye of view, I think that it doesn't matter how you edit the photo.
Personal Joy in Photography
00:33:23
Speaker
It's about exposing people to something that they necessarily may not have the opportunity to be able to see themselves.
00:33:29
Speaker
It's bigger than the photo for you. Yeah, it is. And that's OK. Like, that's what's so awesome about it. I always tell my ah my students, I have a class that I teach. It's Documentary Photography for the Science. And I always tell my students, find your style, find your fashion and photography, find your repertoire and lean into the things that you love. Because once you lean into that, then you can tell the stories that matter to you. um and And ultimately, it's bigger than the photo for you. it's It's the story behind the subject. And the subject for you in Bioda and Frame is so many different things because we're all connected. And that's the language you've been speaking that I think that probably just lights Jason up, is like we're all connected. every single living species, everything that you photograph, we are all connected. And I think that is super cool. And what's something a little, not necessarily off topic, still on photography, but what's something you wish more people understood about nature photography?
00:34:25
Speaker
um That you don't need to have you know, you'll see I kind of joke a little bit, you know I know there's a lot of nature photographers out there do amazing work, you know, and they're they have that same dedicated passion that I do You don't have to have the most expensive setup. You don't have to have the best behind the scenes gla like I don't do any bts um' I'm one person, now I don't get the time to do behind the scenes. up you know I'm out there ah i'm out there to see nature, but you know people who do that, you know that's their livelihood. yeah They're there to show their photos, but also that's how they kind of get people home. But like you don't need you know all the glare and glare when it comes to photography. You don't need the most up-to-date equipment. What I shoot on now is still the Nikon D3300 that I've had forever. I just attach, you know, either 70-300 millimeter lens on that now, or I have a 400 millimeter and a 500. And I just use those and I go out and I and i still do my job. Unfortunately, my job, I'm i'm traveling a lot to to more rural parts and sometimes a long travel. So I haven't really, unfortunately, had the time in the last probably year to really go out and and have a good session. You can, like I said, you know, it's it's, for me, it's like a canvas of art. You know, I do a lot of heavy editing. You can do a lot with just even the most basic equipment. Like you don't need, you know, you don't need that that newest, that newest mirrorless camera to to really get out there and shoot. ah You can do it on a tool, man. yeah it's just your own nion coolla yeah who fakes that addict the I think the funniest memes are like, or the funniest ah reels and stuff for when people are like, Oh, your camera takes such good pictures. And then the the person just puts the camera down and is like, do it, take some pictures. You know? yeah And like, it's really about, and I tell this to people too, when we do, um, when we do bird outings and like, sometimes I'll have my big,
00:36:04
Speaker
camera gear with me or whatever, and I'd tell them exactly the same thing. Like, you know, I didn't start with this. i I got what I could afford at the time, and I learned on that. And I just, actually, when I first started birding, I don't know if I've told anybody this, but I went hard on the photography side. Like, I i almost forgot I was a birder. And i had to I had to pull myself back and be like, whoa. You know, because I started to create a lot of pressure for myself around wanting to have the perfect bird shot, because I followed and admired so many of these amazing photographers, a lot of them in Philadelphia.
00:36:34
Speaker
And I was like, how can I get that small and frame black and white warblers singing on a single branch shot and the perfect spring post dawn light, you know, like I was, and I was driving me nuts. I was spending money. I shouldn't be spending. And it was a lesson I learned. And I learned to kind of pull back and be like, no, I actually, I started doing this because I appreciate the
Urban Wildlife and Ecology Content Plans
00:36:54
Speaker
bird. I started forcing myself to not take my camera out.
00:36:57
Speaker
and just take my binoculars, which was anxiety riddled for a while. But eventually I got to the space of like, if I have my camera cool, I get the shot. If I don't, my brain gets to enjoy, you know, my brain just gets to enjoy seeing this bird. And if I'm with other people, even better, I get to create community around seeing the bird. So I really liked the way you said that of like, you know, you don't need all this stuff. And I want to implore to people, like the photography part of it is for you first. Right. yeah It's not for the audience and the Instagram and the likes and the whatever else. It's got to be for you first. If you end up being the greatest nature or wildlife photographer that the world has ever seen at the end of it, great. But it's got to start with you first. You know, like you have to love it. You have to love your subjects, I think, to be a good nature photographer. And that's and I actually feel that from you when you're posting things, because there's an intimacy there with your with the way you talk about it and the way you describe it. Would you say that you, you know, like an ideal day for you, like shooting photography is like getting up early and just being out all day. Like, is there a particular setting you like? Do you like to be in the swamp? Do you like to be in the grasslands? Do you like to be on the beach? Like what's your, what's your ideal photography day? My ideal photography day is early mornings and sometimes later nights. I do like the glow in the background. Recently, what I've been trying to do, and I kind of want to get a better wide angle lens because i've really been I was able to get a couple silhouette shots. I really like those. but i mean For me, yeah landscape i tried when I first started, I tried doing like landscape photography. and so if we know We get the landscape in there with the subject. I feel like everybody does. I struggle so hard.
00:38:31
Speaker
The people that do what people that do do that, God bless them. because that that that To me, that's that's what there's a lot of talent there, creative talent there. Yeah, it's the camera is just a tool, folks. And ultimately, it's about the the story. And I love that you mentioned, Jason, that early on, it's just about you. It's about you documenting your memories, that joy, like like the joy ah of of seeing these birds and and being able to actually get a picture of them because I can't tell you how many times I'm a seasoned birder. I'm a photographer. Sometimes you just don't get the picture. And that's OK. OK. It's OK. It's OK. All right. Don't beat yourself up about it. You know, that's that's the way I look at it. Calvin, also want to talk a little bit. Every time, Jason, we talk about this, our hours just like fly by. And like today is so good. Do you think there are more spaces for you to combine your enjoyment of nature photography and your urban ecology studies? Like, is that something you plan on kind of keeping intertwined as you go?
00:39:37
Speaker
Yeah, so um I'm hoping at some point, you know, when I start to get a little bit more free time, especially at work, you know, even my coworker actually gave me this idea of going to local, you know, just kind of going to local parks, local parks and some and when me and my buddy, my older friend, childhood friend, we used to do a lot of urban exploring. And this is kind of also what prompted a lot of the discussion that I I've had as I've gone through my educational career or academic career with urban ecologies, you know, go to these abandoned places and you see the amount of wildlife that just overtake these areas, you know, raccoons, birds, even, I guess, cats, and and I know people hate cats, outdoor cats, I get it, I get it. But you see a lot of these animals, brown hogs, like really overtake these areas and call them home. And that's the first time I actually, when I was in abandoned schools, the first time I saw a scarlet tanager, I was like, he oh, and then there's this bird, because I never, I haven't gotten a picture of one. But yeah, no, but he made this idea. and And so I hope that, you know, sometime in the spring, summer, when things start to light up, when my workload is, you know, I start, you know, my content, you know, they'll start to see some content roll out where I go to these public spaces and try to get photos of animals kind of, you know, just in the urban setting. And then also doing what videos, you know,
00:40:48
Speaker
I haven't figured it all out yet. It might just, you know, kind of giving, you know, how to do with the Urban Ecology Report cards with the animals. This would be more of like a video of me kind of like walking through, ah you know, maybe a a local park and kind of giving it an ecology score of, you know, how how friendly is it to to, you know, whether it's a native pollinator or and birds or mammals that that might fruit the ah be able to frequent that area. So it's kind of an idea that I'm working on, ah and that's where kind of where I'm hoping to elevate it, but for like the photography side, I kind of want to start being able to capture more animals in in the and the urban spaces. to really highlight the like, hey, you know, this is all around you, especially like if you're in the city, you know, a lot of people think, you know, oh, you know, there's just concrete everywhere. But I mean, yeah, there is still have doves, pigeons, you still have raccoons, you still have ground hush, chipmunks, squirrels running around everywhere, you still have a lot of those vagrants coming through those cities and you know, perching maybe on that on that little on a little oak tree that they planted in the sidewalk and hoping it grows and it won't. But
00:41:49
Speaker
you know passing through and and just you know sitting there. I mean, I've seen a lot of warblers. I've seen more warblers in the city than I have just kind of out by the riverside. So you know really just capturing the essence of of what wildlife really is in urban environments is kind of where I hope to take my take my photography next. And it will all be with my D3300 because I'm not allowed to rent camera gear anymore for a time.
Encouragement for Nature Enthusiasts
00:42:13
Speaker
d dvin any parting words for aspiring science communication folks any scientists nature photographers bird lovers out there any parting words for those folks Yeah, just be genuine and true to yourself and the work that you do and and don't focus too much on what other people are trying to do. You know, I know, especially with social media, everyone wants to compare themselves to each other or
00:42:36
Speaker
I'm worried about the perception of how you know your friends, family, or people might feel. Especially as someone that's BIPOC myself, you know one of my biggest hurdles was that you know and nature and environmental space is always viewed as you know a white person thing. yeah especially you And I'd say this message is more for for my BIPOC. You know, get out there and just enjoy it. there's no race There's no racial barrier to appreciating and loving nature. It's not weird. It's not, fault there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Showing love to nature doesn't make you any less of a person, you know, or any less cool of a person. Be nerd. and Go get your bird joy and nerd out about it.
Conclusion and Social Media Encouragement
00:43:13
Speaker
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Like seriously. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for being here and thank you for our listeners. Don't forget to check out all Calvin's pages and the work that he's doing. It's incredible, honestly, and and go learn, go learn a few things. Go learn a few things from the homie. Yeah. Yeah. I'll link everything in the show notes. But like I said, Instagram, biota and frame, scroll down to the grassland meme. Just check that bad boy out.
00:43:37
Speaker
i want say I will say I got a few more a few more of those on the old camera roll show grace even for the say don't worry don't worry i know i've been I've been looking at some I've been I have some love I went for the next big trend to kind of come around and I want to go to that post and I'm gonna set an alert on it. So that's new comments. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna do i want to say a um everyone Everyone keeps that listen, I think ah the first time I posted that photo is like it got like a crap ton of these I'm like did people just want to see a model on hay bales. I mean I got is this is this where we're going I guess I mean like if anyone out there wants to give me a modeling contract after you see it I kind of like think that what it is, but if you guys want to if you guys wanna give me modellin contract I mean I'll drop what I'm doing i mean nowll i'll do it
00:44:26
Speaker
in a fool This has been so good. Thank you, homie. Thank you for stopping by and thank you to everybody out there today for joining us on the bird joy podcast. We hope you've enjoyed exploring in the world of birding with Calvin today. This has been incredible brother. Shout out to the bypass lock. We got a lot of things going on. Check out it at five pocket birding club.org. Yes, yes, yes. And again, thank you from our homies out here in, in Philadelphia. We appreciate the Pennsylvania pride brought through with Calvin today for the homies in Philly and color birding.org. We hope you all are having a lovely season and we'll see you all soon. Yeah. Please share, subscribe and shout out the podcast. to All your fellow birders help us spread a little bird joy. Calvin thank you now. Thank you guys