Many of us are familiar with one fateful moment in Christian Cooper’s life, thanks to a short video he filmed on the morning of May 25, 2020, while he was birding in Central Park. That video depicts a white woman calling the police, making false accusations against Cooper and determinedly invoking race in her request for police presence. Fewer of us may know the rest of Cooper’s extraordinary story, and “how a life spent looking up at the birds prepared him, in the most uncanny of ways, to be a gay, Black man in America today.” In his bestselling memoir, Better Living Through Birding, Cooper imparts birding tips and ignites a passion for birds of all feathers, globe-trots readers through Africa, South America, Australia, and the Himalayas, and shares what it’s meant to grow up and live as a Black, queer nerd and avid birder in the US.

Join avid reader and beginning birder Audrey Dunn for a series of thoughtful discussions focused on getting to know the man behind that viral video. You can pick up your copy of Better Living Through Birding at Toadstool Bookshop, where a portion of the book’s sale will be donated to Outdoor Afro. Participants in this course are also encouraged to join us at the Harris Center on February 16 for our annual Great Backyard Bird Count. (Separate registration is required for that event.)

This group meets Tuesdays, February 6, 13 & 20, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. via Zoom.

Cost: $60 for Harris Center supporters / $80 for all others.

Space is limited, and registration is closed. For more information, contact Audrey.

Our Environmental Studies Institute (ESI) programs are designed for adults with a passion for lifelong learning.

Audrey Dunn is an ardent believer that nature is for all.