By Jared Teutsch, Executive Director
On a chilly spring morning in April, Birds Georgia staff and volunteers gathered at Heather’s House, a residential facility in southwest Atlanta, run by the Heather Ivy Society, for women living with HIV. With a cacophony of bird songs for a soundtrack, the team spent the morning uprooting English ivy and installing a beautiful pollinator garden. Mountain mint, lyreleaf sage, spotted beebalm, butterfly weed and a host of other native plants were planted to attract insects on which birds feed. Set in a beautiful, wooded yard, the garden offers residents and their children a tranquil space to relax, decompress, and enjoy the flowers, pollinators, and many birds that visit this beautiful garden.
At Birds Georgia, you’ll often hear us say, “Everyone is a birder, they just may not know it yet.”. Through the lens of birds, we are helping people across Georgia gain a deeper understanding of the natural world and healthy ecosystems and encouraging them to get outside and explore their surroundings.
Open any news app, and you’ll see that depression, anxiety, and other mental and physical health issues are increasingly common in our local communities. Birding and spending time in nature has been linked to enhanced mental and physical health, and who among us does not need the sense of peace and tranquility that birding and spending time in nature brings?
Community engagement at Birds Georgia is a big umbrella that covers lots of programs, including field trips, Georgia Bird Fest, and community events, but at its heart our community engagement team is working intentionally to introduce people who may not typically be served by conservation organizations to the myriad of physical and mental benefits of birding and spending time in nature.
A 2022 study conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revealed that over 70 percent of birders in the United States identify as white. Birds Georgia is committed to changing this narrative. Making birds and nature more accessible for all was one of the driving factors behind our organization’s rebranding last year, and it remains relevant today. After all, Birds Georgia’s mission is to build places where birds and people… ALL people… thrive.
Using GIS technology, Birds Georgia created a socioeconomic map using the City of Atlanta’s neighborhood planning units based on median income overlayed with a map of eBird checklists. Not surprisingly, we found a direct correlation between areas with lower median income and areas with very few eBird checklists. For those who are unfamiliar, eBird is a free, online database run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in which hundreds of thousands of birders from across the world record their sightings, track bird migration, and share information in real-time about birds they see.
These maps allowed us to identify parks, greenspaces, and neighborhoods within these under-birded, under-resourced areas where our programming could be useful. Then, we began building partnerships with organizations already working in these communities to connect with residents, listen to their needs, and learn what types of programming and information would be useful to their communities. Through these partnerships, Birds Georgia is introducing new people and new communities to the joy and mental health benefits of birding.
Here are just a few examples of our community engagement team is working to make birds and birding accessible for everyone:
- For the past several years, our community engagement team has partnered with St. Mark’s AME Landmark Church and Beloved Community Inc., a local community partner working in the English Avenue Community on Atlanta’s Westside, We heard from residents that there is a strong desire for information and training on controlling invasive plants and weeds, how to plant and maintain native gardens, and how to manage wildlife in public spaces. Our community engagement and conservation teams have been bringing tools and programming to the community, and we are providing guidance and resources on how to refurbish and repurpose local greenspaces. We have conducted similar work in Adams Park and the surrounding Cascade Heights community.
- Through an innovative partnership with Skyland Trail, our community engagement team is introducing the benefits of outdoor recreation and birdwatching to the mental health sphere through programs or events. Located in Atlanta, Skyland Trail is a nonprofit residential mental health treatment organization for adults and adolescents. We are partnering with Skyland Trail to host field trips for clients and patrons who would benefit from outdoor leisure and education, providing them with tools to benefit their overall physical and mental health by enjoying the outdoors. With a focus on using birding as a tool for success, we strive to make birds and nature more accessible to all Georgia individuals and communities.
- For the past several years, the community engagement team has been working with the Refugee Women’s Network, leading birding hikes and educational events for refugee and immigrant families who have resettled in Georgia. Many of these women developed a love of birds in their countries of origin and are thrilled to learn more about the birds here in Georgia. Introducing them to the joy of birds and spending time in nature provides mental health benefits and camaraderie for these women, many of whom are survivors of war, conflict, and displacement.
- Another key initiative involves empowering youth stakeholders to lead community projects through our Teen Trips Program, fostering environmental stewardship and engagement among younger generations. By investing in these projects, we are working to create lasting impact within communities and ensure that future generations are equipped to care for their local environment.
“It has been truly heartwarming to witness the therapeutic and adaptive benefits that peaceful recreation in our natural spaces can have on rehabilitation and acclimation to new environments,” says Sheridan Alford, director of community engagement. “Through these initiatives, Birds Georgia continues to expand its reach and impact to make birds and bird watching accessible and inclusive for all Georgians. By inspiring environmental stewardship, fostering community connections, and empowering individuals to advocate for healthy greenspaces in their own neighborhoods, we are working to spread the good word about birds and birding to people across Georgia.”
