The Black Excellence in Birding gala celebrates those thriving in a traditionally white hobby

To Sean Stallworth, birding feels almost like watching the closing moments of a sports game.

It’s a new feeling for him; Stallworth loves nature but calls himself more of a “bug guy.” When he went out on his first birding trip a few years ago with the Philly-based and Black-led birding group, In Color Birding Club, he was open to watching some beautiful birds, but he didn’t understand why people were so passionate about it. He found out pretty quickly.

“Everyone saw a bird, a rare bird, and the intensity of the group, all coming together, everybody was being quiet and it was like, don’t make no noise. It was serious ... it was like the last 30 seconds of the basketball game. It was like the clock is running real fast and every dribble is magnified. It was just like that,” he said.

“That excitement, that joy that it brought people out of doing something that they love ... to me, that was everything. I was like, oh, this is different.”

“It was serious ... it was like the last 30 seconds of the basketball game.”

Stallworth is the community engagement liaison for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, and the leader of Drexel’s celebration of Black Birders Week, a national virtual celebration that centers Black people in the predominantly white birding scene, which began Sunday.

To end Black Birders Week on June 1, Drexel is hosting a black-tie sneaker gala, called Black Excellence in Birding — An Evening with Christian Cooper. The gala will spotlight local birding groups such as In Color and Philly Queer Birders, allow visitors to explore the Academy’s ornithology collection, and view the immersive “Under the Canopy: Animals of the Rainforest” exhibit.

The gala, which will be Drexel’s third annual Black Excellence in Birding celebration (but first officially calling for your best sneakers), will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Tickets are $55, and can be purchased at the Academy’s website, ansp.org.

Stallworth, who is from West Philly, always wanted to have an excuse to wear Jordans with a tuxedo after watching Will Smith wear the combination on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He said that the galas have felt like going to church; he gets reenergized after connecting with people and feels better going back into the world.

“It’s a real community here,” he said.

Cooper, the New York Times best-selling author and Emmy nominee who became known for the 2020 Central Park birding incident, will be the event’s keynote speaker. Black Birders Week was started the same year by a group of Black scientists and birders, including some from Philadelphia, in response to a white woman calling the police on Cooper after a confrontation when he was watching for birds.

» READ MORE: Black birders take flight with help from Philly scientists

Cooper said that it has been surreal to watch the growth of Black Birders Week and the rising popularity of birding with Black people because of something that happened to him in Central Park.

“Like an out-of-body experience. It’s kind of strange. You never think that something in your life is going to matter to anybody but you or your immediate circle of friends and family,” he said.

When the incident was leading news coverage, Cooper often wished he could hide away and ignore it all; he said paparazzi were waiting for him outside of his apartment as if he were Princess Diana. But he realized that wasn’t the right way to handle it.

“Breonna Taylor can’t talk about what happened to her. Ahmaud Arbery can’t talk about what happened to him ... George Floyd can’t talk about what happened to him. But I can. And so that responsibility was then something I either would take up or shirk,” he said.

Both men hope that birding continues to grow in the Black community, and suggested that people curious about giving birding a try reach out to local birding groups.

“If there’s one group of people in this society who deserve to have their gaze uplifted with the vision of freedom, it’s us.”

Cooper insists that you don’t need to go on an exotic hike or own a pair of fancy binoculars to start; he confessed that he’s never actually bought his own pair, his have always been gifts or hand-me-downs. Cooper said that even just going outside, looking up, and taking notice of the birds you already recognize, such as robins and pigeons, is a great start.

“In our society, where there’s so much dumped on us, we need it more than anybody else to get out there and take in the nature and have that relaxing, almost meditative healing [to] go on. And, besides, birds are the ultimate symbol of freedom. They can fly, go anywhere. And if there’s one group of people in this society who deserve to have their gaze uplifted with the vision of freedom, it’s us,” he said.