Finding Safety and Joy in Nature with Philly Queer Birders
Photo courtesy of Troy Bynum
by Claire Brennan, FOW Communications Coordinator
Happy Pride! To celebrate this special month, Friends of the Wissahickon is proud to partner with Philly Queer Birders (PBQ) for a birding hike on Sunday, June 29. Register here.
We’ll meander along Forbidden Drive and keep our eyes peeled for some year-round favorites: cardinals, blue jays, hawks, great blue herons, wood ducks, and woodpeckers.
One of the best parts of birding is sharing it with other like-minded members of the birding community. The reality is, not everyone is afforded the same standard of safety and accessibility to enjoy nature. Thanks to groups like PBQ, members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community have a place they can be sure is welcoming of all queer identities, hone their birding skills, and share “bird joy” with their community.
Ahead of our walk, we had the pleasure of sitting down with the founder of PBQ, Elise Greenberg to learn a bit more about their fantastic organization.
How did PBQ come to be?
I started PBQ in March of 2021, at the height of the pandemic. It was a time for me when I was getting more serious about birding and lacking community—queer community in particular—because of all the restrictions. Fifteen people showed up for our first meet-up which is kind of wild.
[Creating PBQ] was really about wanting to surround myself with queer community in a safe way, in nature and share in this newish hobby at the time, which was really bringing me a lot of joy. Also, to create safe spaces that were not only physically safe in a pandemic sense, but also for people in an inclusion sense.
What is PBQ’s mission and who does it serve?
Our mission is to welcome queer birders and allies of all birding abilities to explore Philly’s green spaces and enjoy birds together while creating and fostering queer community. We’re not exclusive to people who identify as queer. We are open to anyone who is an ally or not totally sure of their identity.
What sort of challenges do queer people face when enjoying the outdoors and where do groups like PBQ come in?
It’s a question that comes up for people a lot, like ‘why do you need that [queer spaces and groups]?’ I think its because for one, people might not feel they can be their full selves in a group that they don’t know is explicitly welcoming of queer identities.
So, if someone is in a visibly queer relationship, they might not feel comfortable holding hands with their partner, for instance. But in a queer group, that might be something that they feel more comfortable doing.
Also, people that don’t typically feel comfortable going out in groups that they don’t know they’re safe in, might not know as much about birding; so, our group seeks to make every single walk beginner friendly. We always go over how to use binoculars and point out common birds.
Queer people often want to surround themselves in queer community for these reasons. You can do that in nature. The political landscape now makes all of this even more important.
What’s your favorite part of running PBQ? Your favorite part of birding?
I think my favorite part of PBQ is when you get on a bird and everyone very audibly gasps and cheers. And it doesn’t matter what kind of bird it is. We’ve seen male cardinals that are absolutely gorgeous and everyone gets so excited.
I love seeing people come back again and again. I love seeing folks who have never birded before join us.
I’ve seen people who have linked up as friends at our meet ups and come back together to another walk. That’s what we’re seeking to do: connect people with a shared interest and hobby. Bringing this joy to our community brings me a lot of joy and energy. I also meet a lot people, some of my closest friends are people I’ve met through PBQ.
My favorite part about birding itself is that is very meditative for me. If I’m going out on my own, it’s very centering and grounding. It gives me a mission when I go outside.
We strive to be free, and only do free events and that’s really important to me. Creating that third space that doesn’t cost anything. I’ve really loved seeing intergenerational queer community. We have much older people who are queer, which I think is so important to learn from and be around so that’s been really wonderful.
What do you want folks to know about your group?
We are a pretty informal, small group of organizers. We’re all very passionate about doing this. But, as the group has grown, it’s sometimes hard to do a ton of walks each month. But we are part of this community of birding clubs: inColor Birding Club, Feminist Birding Club, Bird Philly. We all partner and work together and make the Philly birding scene special.
What can Philadelphians do to support native birds and their habitat?
Migration starts to ramp up in March and as the weather starts to change come April, millions of birds are migrating every night, through Philly and landing in Philly. As a city, it’s really important that we try and keep most of the lights out at night, within reason of course.
Window strikes are one of the top things that kill birds during migration. So putting bird safe stickers on your windows, drawings, anything on your window that shows that it’s a reflection the sky and foliage.
If you’d really like to get involved, there’s’ a group called Bird Safe Philly that monitors Center City and a few other areas for bird strikes during migration. You can help find injured birds and bring them to rehab.
Having native plants supports their habitat. Observing from a safe distance is important. Not playing back bird calls [on birding apps] will prevent confusing them, especially during migration and mating season.
How has the birding scene changed since the pandemic?
There are a lot of “pandemic birders” which I think is a term that can be used affectionately or not-so affectionately. It’s an outdoor activity that, when all is said and done does not cost that much to get into, you don’t even have to go out with binoculars to enjoy birding. Philadelphia Public Library even has birding backpacks that you can take out.
It’s this kind of thing that once you start, you notice so many birds that its hard to not get distracted. The height of the pandemic brought a lot of new people to the scene and a new perspective. A lot of affinity-based birding groups have popped up, there are a lot of queer birding groups all over the country and the world now.
There are also a lot of groups for Black, Brown, and POC, partially born out of Christian Cooper’s experience: the Central Park birding incident. Historically, birding has been viewed as a hobby for older white men, that it’s expensive, and exclusive. It doesn’t have to be that way. And with all these new perspectives, people who are trying to reach out to communities who haven’t historically been served by their local birding groups or just haven’t gotten into birding, more and more people come in.
There’s more of a big movement towards being inclusive and welcoming to disabled birders, there’s the adaptive birding groups, for those that use mobility aids, and blind birders groups. There’s been a huge shift and focus on access.