The Pandemic Shines a Spotlight on Birds and Black Birdwatchers

As humans retreat from each other during the pandemic, we are becoming more alert to the biodiversity around us. Many of us have also become more aware of the challenges faced by Black nature lovers, such as the birdwatcher in New York’s Central Park who in May posted a video of a White woman calling the police on him after he asked her to leash her dog.

In Oklahoma, Joseph Saunders has long loved nature photography, but he credits the BlackAFinSTEM Collective with sparking his interest in birds. (The group organized Black Birders Week from May 31 to June 5 after the park video went viral.) “Learning to identify birds by sight and by call while I am in the field adds another layer of gratification,” says Saunders, who found the yellow-crowned heron, American white pelican, and northern cardinal pictured here near Hefner Lake in Oklahoma City.