Access Birding

Access Birding Empowering nature organizations to improve access and inclusion for disabled birders.

Have you ever been made to feel silly by another birder? 😕It’s not a good feeling.Especially in a group setting.Especial...
09/04/2026

Have you ever been made to feel silly by another birder? 😕

It’s not a good feeling.

Especially in a group setting.

Especially when the leader does nothing.

Especially when you’re a new birder, new to this group, nervous, neurodivergent, disabled, female, q***r, BIPOC, younger than everyone else, questioning if you belong here…

You do belong in birding! Because if you enjoy wild birds, you’re a birder. The birds don’t care what we call them. 🌿

If you ever bird with others, and especially if you’d like to support others to feel like they belong in birding, swipe for some simple ideas to help shift the social environment so that repeat demonstrations of knowledge or skills are not prioritized so aggressively. 💙

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Sharing bird joy with disabled birders and allies at Indiana Dunes Birding Festival last week was a delight! 💙I was invi...
05/21/2026

Sharing bird joy with disabled birders and allies at Indiana Dunes Birding Festival last week was a delight! 💙

I was invited to be the Saturday headline speaker and was thrilled to share a new talk, ‘Adventures of a Disabled Birder’, to a room full of birders. Many of the stories came from trips around the Lower 48 while researching ‘A Field Guide to Accessible Birding in the United States’, which will be published by Princeton University Press in January 2027.

Several birders with various disabilities came to chat with me afterwords about my story, and how they found their own story within it. One even said I’d reframed the disability identity so well that she felt like she could claim it for herself now. 💙

I co-led two accessible field trips too, including a spectacular morning on the wheelchair-friendly observation tower. The sunny day was filled with joy and birds (swipe to see), and several beginner birders who felt they could join us because…

The festival organizers had me consult and train their outing leaders (months ago) on writing more specific outing descriptions that include key accessibility details. A lack of information is the biggest barrier for disabled birders, and the number of people who commented on the improved descriptions reinforced this! 😄

Meanwhile, I got to connect with FIVE Certified Access Birding Outing Leaders! (Swipe for a photo with three of them!) So excited for the accessible birding spaces they’re creating after taking this 30-hour course. 💙

And Indiana Audubon is serious about accessibility: they also had me spend a day onsite at their bird sanctuary after the festival, consulting on access improvements to their trails, bird blind and indoor spaces. Yes! 🙌🏼

Photos thanks to .greco and

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Begin where you are, and keep going. 🙌🏼Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your new inclusive birding program isn’t going to be ...
04/23/2026

Begin where you are, and keep going. 🙌🏼

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your new inclusive birding program isn’t going to be perfect the first time you lead it. The trail access improvements don’t all have to happen at once.

The important thing is to try, and learn, and keep trying. Being frozen by a fear of failure just means exclusion continues.

What’s one thing, no matter how small, you can do this week? Next month? By the end of this year?

Send this to an organization or an individual who needs some encouragement! 😃

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