Cornell's Lab of Ornithology

 This July our daughter was picked for the Lab of Ornithology's Young Birder Event. She was first notified that she was selected as a young birder back in 2019 when she was still in Middle school, only to receive an email an hour later that it was an error and she was only on the wait list as an 'alternate'. Needless to say we were a bit disappointed. The next time around the pandemic intervened and the lab had to postpone its event for a couple of years. Third time was the charm and she finally attended the event this year and it was fabulous! This also gave me an opportunity to visit Sapsucker woods which I've only watched on feedercam for many years!

 

The lab is an amazing resource for anyone interested in birds and 8 years back my daughter and i got started on our birding by watching many of their educational videos. One thing led to another and we were doing feederwatch regularly, taking lessons from the lab, participating in Backyard Bird counts, and Merlin and eBird have become our favorite app on our smartphones.

As part of the event, parents were invited to attend the keynote by the lab's director Ian Owens. I hope the Lab actually recorded his keynote and will publish it widely as it was truly inspirational! I was so glad my daughter got to hear him and I wish more people will hear his message as it was filled with realism and optimism. There were two key messages that I heard that resonated with me and hopefully with my daughter

1) The problems of the world are too big that they cannot be solved by one person or even one type of person. At the lab they bring together people with a wide range of skills - birders of course, but more than that they needed biologists, conservationists, computer scientists, story tellers, educators, and communicators. There is a role for everyone and the best ideas come from working together across disciplines.

2) Bending the curve - this was his most important message to the youth in attendance. There is still time to reverse the loss of biodiversity! Very often we hear in the news that it is already too late w.r.t climate change. While it is important to raise the alarm call it is also important to show that there is a path forward and not all is lost. If there is no hope for the future why do we bother telling our kids that they can make a difference! We need to get more people excited about the future and bring them into the fold so we can figure out solutions for the planet. Ian Owens and the Lab offered that vision. In a time when the world seems to be polarized between climate apathy and climate anxiety, even I needed to hear this talk to feel hopeful about the future.

 

 

As I walked through Sapsucker woods I thought of the past 8 years when my daughter's forays into birding got me hooked as her co-traveler. I know it is time for our paths to diverge and I don't know what lies ahead for her as she starts thinking about college this year, but coming here at this time was a timely boost of confidence and enthusiasm for her. She said that holding the snowy owl specimen in her hand was deeply moving and exhilarating at the same time. 

 

The famous woods around Ithaca were once leveled down completely as farmlands but have now become wild again in the past 100 years. It's not too late... yet and I hope she keeps this note of optimism and hope in her heart as she looks ahead to the future.