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An Inclusive Approach to Bird-a-Thon
A birding event designed with accessibility in mind
© Dan Pancamo
Bird-a-thon is Massachusetts Audubon’s biggest fundraiser. Teams of birders spend 24 hours competing to observe as many bird species as they can, to encourage people to donate. But Meghadeepa Maity, who helped organize Bird-a-thon in 2021, realized that not everyone can spend all day traveling to find birds. They started to think of other approaches. Meghadeepa, who’s also an organizer for Birdability, helped create an inclusive Bird-a-thon experience: a stationary count circle at a wildlife sanctuary. The event had a great turnout — and plenty of birds.
BirdNote®
An Inclusive Approach to Bird-a-thon
Written by Conor Gearin
This is BirdNote.
[Birdsong, ML 74916]
Bird-a-thon is Massachusetts Audubon’s biggest fundraiser. Teams of birders spend 24 hours competing to observe as many bird species as they can, to encourage people to donate. But Meghadeepa Maity, who helped organize Bird-a-thon in 2021, realized that not everyone can spend all day traveling to find birds. They started to think of other approaches:
Meghadeepa Maity: How can I incorporate what I do best, which is like, bring together people from various communities and people with different backgrounds and ability.
They’re also an organizer for Birdability — an organization that’s working to make birding more accessible to people with disabilities. Meghadeepa helped create an inclusive Bird-a-thon experience: a stationary count circle at a wildlife sanctuary. There were many details to work out, from parking to 24-hour bathroom access.
Meghadeepa Maity: And I think we took it one problem at a time. We made sure that we got the word out in as many diverse places as possible, not just like birding groups. I went to communities that I knew were looking for places to go during the pandemic who were feeling really, really stuck inside that summer.
The event had a great turnout—
Meghadeepa Maity: At least a quarter of the people who came, had never been to a birding event before.
And plenty of birds. Meghadeepa’s group observed 77 species over the 24-hour period—including a Yellow-billed Cuckoo!
[Yellow-billed Cuckoo, ML 8212]
Meghadeepa Maity: I was really surprised at some of the species we found from that spot were pretty cool. I guess you don't realize how much you miss when you're not stopping and listening quietly.
[Yellow-billed Cuckoo, ML 249808]
For BirdNote, I’m Conor Gearin.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Birdsong ML 74916 recorded by C. Marantz, Yellow-billed Cuckoo ML 8212 recorded by J. Kimball, and Yellow-billed Cuckoo ML 249808 recorded by W. Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote October 2022
Narrator: Conor Gearin
ID# meghadeepa-02-2022-10-18 meghadeepa-02
Conor Gearin
Writer NarratorSights & Sounds
