#birding while black

[bcstag]

“It’s not really about her and her poor judgement in a snap second. It’s about the underlying current of racism and racial perceptions that’s been going on for centuries and that permeates this city and this country that she tapped into.” —Christian Cooper

That the victim and perpetrator of this incident share a last name is symbolic of the reality of black oppression; every attempt to harm a Black person or take a Black life is an instance of America attacking itself. Christian Cooper is an exemplar: he is a Harvard grad; he had been president of the Harvard Ornithological Club; he has edited for Marvel; his LGBTQ writings are revolutionary. Two points must be drawn from this: 1. that Black people’s excellence offers them no protection from systemic racism, and 2. that Black people do not need to be academically exceptional to live. Uneducated Black people, disabled Black people, Black people with criminal records—all black lives matter.

I defer to Black voices—watch Christian Cooper’s interviews, listen to the heartbroken communities bearing the grief of George Floyd’s, Ahmaud Arbery’s, and countless others’ deaths.

[kny111]

my first couple of bird friends that I familiarized with were the common pigeons, and the sparrows of ny. they’re really amazing birds. i learned through the pigeon how incredible birds are at spotting humans even if they change clothes and all that. at one point id have food for them on the firescape and noticed some regulars right away and they noticed me (judging by their comfort level). i dont wanna pick favorites but because i got so good at mimicking the sparrow’s call we became good friends. they’re very receptive to communication with humans. there would be times when id have a bad day or some and the sparrows.. idk how to explain this behavior but felt like they’d come by and do stuff to make you feel better if you spoke to them. and they’re such a common bird throughout the states that when i go to another state and speak to them it’s as if our convo never switched locations.

[kny111]

I’ve been birding for over 5 years now wow, so many stories I wished I coulda shared here before tumblr got all fucked up during its reacquisitions or w/e you wanna call the changes that fucked up what made it moderately accessible to disenfranchised folks. A few months ago I took the next step in that and tried to blend my love for astronomy and stargazing with birding but usps never delivered that package, tried to set up a complaint but their systems basically said “we said we delivered it, that’s that“. It kinda discouraged me from continuing with birding while black but I still be talking to the birds every now and then. A part of me thinks they did that to rile me up since I’ve done black activism or something and there was a lot of talk of black bird watchers a few months back when that white lady called the cops on a black bird watcher for doing something he aint even do, basically weaponizing her white womanhood against him using the slave patrols of nypd. I’ve gotten alooooot of shit for my activism that I no longer speak of on these platforms since they’ve taken this shit over as well. If you thought the white owner of wordpress buying tumblr was gonna make this place any less racist or remove that alignment with whiteness and white supremacy you’d be as wrong as I was when I thought things would change on here when they sold yahoo to someone who knew about blogs. It all seems to go in line with how we still see a lot of right wing extremists, white supremacist, porn bots and blogs reign supreme over the needs and specificity of black activists.

[toknowtheland]

"Coloring the Conservation Conversation" by Dr. J. Drew Lanham, ornithologist, conservationist and distinguished professor at Clemson University. Presented by the Wege Foundation. 

This was posted before, but still relevant, especially for Black Birders Week

[toknowtheland]

Sparked by a racist incident last week in Central Park, the new initiative aims to boost recognition and representation of Black people enjoying and studying the natural world.

Sad at the circumstances which bred this, but grateful that these initiatives are happening.

[what-is-this-rubbish]

Free Binoculars for Black Birders! organized by Emma Mooney and Hugo Alvarez

The birding community is overwhelmingly white and we want to change t… Emma Mooney and Hugo Alvarez needs your support for Free Binoculars for Black Birders!

Super cool initiative! Looks like they’re working with REI to try to get some bulk discounts to make each dollar go farther too. Imagine how many pairs of binos $15,000 could buy...