"I Don't Know Why, Birds Just Make Me Feel Calm"
I get asked why I take so many photos of birds. A lot of people out there take a lot of photos of birds, but I doubt they get asked why (or how) as often as I do. I assume it’s because the birds in my photos are never doing the things birds enjoy: sitting on branches, flying around, pooping on stuff. Instead, they are often being held, sometimes in my apartment or car, and on one occasion, being walked on a leash while wearing a diaper.
I like birds, and I have for a long time, but I would not have described myself as a bird lover. I liked looking at them and knowing which ones were which, but that was about it. I never thought owning a bird seemed like a good idea.
*That stance was tested (and then broken) when a budgie flew in our window about 8 years ago. I tried to find its owners, and when I couldn’t, I planned to find her a new home, however, my son decided she had already done so, and asked if we could keep her. Now we have two budgies, neither of which is the one who flew in our window 8 years ago. So that is how it all started, with Orson (If you’re interested I got into the story of Orson and his birds here).*
If you are autistic or know someone who is, you are probably familiar with special interests. I’m not qualified or interested in explaining why or how you/they have these intense interests, I’m just going to talk about Orson’s, and how he turned it into a family interest.
As of today, I would rank his interests like this: number one is birds, next it’s probably 19th-century ocean liners, followed by the subway and trains (a lifetime favorite that led me to my Railfan series) then it’s sea creatures and insects and South Park.
His interest in birds picked up during COVID. I can’t remember exactly how it started, but during the lockdown, it expanded beyond our bird and began to include ALL birds. He wanted the books and the binoculars and feeders and the art. I think it’s very common for parents of autistic kids to lean into the interests and we are no different. I always considered railfanning (riding the subway for fun) like taking him to soccer practice or whatever. I don’t really want to ride the J train back and forth over the Williamsburg bridge, but he does and you do that kind of thing for your kid. With birds, it was different. We all like birds, including his little sister, so we went for it. We are officially weird bird people now.
Last year I was looking into summer camps for Orson. I hoped the NYC Audubon Society (soon to be renamed because of John James Audubon’s enthusiasm for slavery) might have some sort of summer camp program. I explained what I was looking for to a helpful employee and she mentioned that we could volunteer for what they called “The Transporters”.
The Transporters are an all-volunteer group of New Yorkers who arrange and execute the delivery of injured and sick birds from all over the city to The Wild Bird Fund on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
So, starting last summer, we added ourselves to an email list that sends out an alert when a bird needs a ride. We’ve probably done close to 20 pick-ups since we started, and I began photographing them immediately. We joke about how we are like an ambulance for birds, but the truth is, because we don’t have lights and a siren, we’re more like an Uber for a bird whose insurance won’t cover an ambulance ride.
Not long after we started doing transports I asked the NYC Audubon Society to put me in touch with some of the other volunteers so I could start taking their portraits too. I’ve been doing that for a few months now, and it’s been really fun to meet and photograph this super diverse group who all have this one big thing in common.
When I decided to write this post I asked Orson what it was he loved so much about birds (this is a kid who will walk past a Tiger and a Gorilla at the zoo just to get a closer look at a chickadee on a picnic table). He thought for a bit and said "I don't know why, birds just make me feel calm" and I feel calm when he is calm, so I guess less directly, birds make me feel calm too. So now we are surrounded by birds. We live with them, we visit them, we rescue them and we take photos of them.
Travis
While writing this I was listening to:
As a keen birder (or birdwatcher as we tend to say in England) I loved this post. I was a huge bird nerd as a kid so I can relate! I still am, but I don't obsess over binocular brochures like I used to... Does Orson's interest extend to actively going birdwatching somewhere (ie the thrill of seeking them out and seeing something in particular), or is it more of a fascination with them as creatures when he is up close to them?
Connecting with The Transporters sounds very cool. I'd like to find a similar organization once we move maybe. We have a story to tell about how we helped a Cooper's Hawk that slammed into our window here once, but that's for another day...
Great post Travis, and I also enjoyed looking at and reading about your Railfan series. The things we do for our kids that enrich us in return! Do you ever find out how the birds that you've transported fare? Or do you do your ambulance work and then move on...?