Join BirdNote tomorrow, November 30th!
Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!
Witnessing Lifers While Honoring A Life Lost
Birds bring joy in unexpected moments.
© Greg Lavaty
In June 2024, environmental educator and co-organizer of Black Birders Week Dara Miles Wilson traveled to Camden, South Carolina to attend her cousin’s funeral. Despite the somber circumstances, two birds surprised her with unanticipated brightness.
This year, Black Birders Week is celebrating miraculous shades of brown by highlighting the beauty and importance of sparrows while also drawing parallels with the struggles and triumphs of Black birders. Learn more about how to participate in this week’s events here.
BirdNote®
Witnessing Lifers While Honoring a Life Loss
Written by Dara M. Wilson
This is BirdNote. I’m Dara Miles Wilson.
Grief settles in the body like an overcast sky on a windless day — heavy, unmoving. At least that’s how it felt on the day of my cousin’s funeral. On that June morning in Camden, South Carolina, the world felt hushed aside from my family’s tears. Our collective grief colored everything in lackluster grey.
Well, almost everything. Shortly after the procession began escorting my cousin to his final resting place, I spotted a flash of vermillion.
[Red-headed Woodpecker call, ML305955 ~2:48]
A Red-headed Woodpecker appeared mere yards away from me: The first one I had ever seen with my own eyes, or what birders call a lifer. Its vibrant colors were a bright spot on an otherwise dark day.
Later, while I walked in the woods on my uncle’s property at twilight…
[Eastern Whip-poor-will call, ML305955]
An Eastern Whip-poor-will called out from the trees, steadfast and distinct, as dusk thickened into night. Another lifer. Another extraordinary gift.
I didn’t expect to find joy as I wandered in the wilderness that evening. But joy, as it turns out, appears before us in the most unexpected places at unpredictable times.
As I remember my cousin, I hold tightly to this message from the birds I saw: joy does not wait, it simply arrives, even in the midst of sorrow.
[Eastern Whip-poor-will call, ML305955]
For BirdNote, I’m Dara Miles Wilson.
###
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Editor: Jazzi Johnson
Managing ProducerL Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Red-headed Woodpecker ML305955 recorded by Wil Hershberger. Eastern Whip-poor-will ML449428811.A1 recorded by Wil Hershberger.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2025 BirdNote May 2025
Narrator: Dara Miles Wilson
ID# WilsonDM-01-2025-MM-DD WilsonDM-01
