Audubon celebrates more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming communities for long-time bird lovers, those who are just learning about the delights birds offer, and everyone in between.
Monday, October 21 marks the start of Birdability Week 2024, an annual event launched by Birdability, a nonprofit organization working to ensure the birding community and the outdoors are welcoming, inclusive, safe, and accessible for everybody through education, outreach, and advocacy. From October 21 to October 27, festivities include virtual workshops, panels, and interactive activities celebrating birders with disabilities and other health concerns.
Birdability’s mission is to share the joys of birding with people who have disabilities and to ensure birding is accessible for everybody. The nonprofit focuses on people with mobility challenges, blindness or low vision, chronic illness, intellectual or developmental disabilities, mental illness, and those who are neurodivergent, deaf or hard of hearing, or have other health concerns. In addition to reaching current birders, the organization strives to introduce birding to people with disabilities and other health concerns who are not yet birders, so they too can experience the magical world of birds.
The weeklong event is supported by the National Audubon Society and was inspired by movements toward a more inclusive birding community, including #BlackBirdersWeek, Latino Conservation Week, and Let’s Go Birding Together.
Event schedule, information, and registration links found at https://www.birdability.org/events/birdability-week-2024.
Find free online resources at Birdability.org on leading an accessible bird outing, learning about inclusive language, and actions organizations can take to be more inclusive. This site also provides the Birdability Map, a crowd-sourced map of accessible birding locations, with details of each location’s accessibility features to help birders with disabilities find birding spots that accommodate their needs.
Sign up for the Birdability newsletter and follow the organization on Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) @birdability to stay up to date on events and resources.
Accessible Birding at Llano Seco
This is a wheelchair-friendly accessible trip open to everyone, including people with mobility challenges. This is a great location to see an abundance of wintering waterfowl and shorebirds. The Llano Seco viewing platform is wheelchair accessible. There will also be the option to walk down the flat gravel road to the back of the public refuge to get more views of wildlife. The trail is 0.5 miles each way and features a bench to sit down near the halfway point and again at the end of the trail. This will be a slow-paced trip suitable for people of all ages that want to see the abundance of migratory birds that visit the Sac Valley’s wetlands each winter. Besides a variety of ducks and geese, we may see Sandhill Cranes, Long-billed Curlews, and Loggerhead Shrikes, as well as raptors such as Bald Eagles and Northern Harriers. Leaders: John Seid and Jared Geiser
Llano Seco Unit
7 Mile Rd
Chico, CA 95928
8:00am – 10:00am
Hosted by Altacal Audubon Society
To register, click here and then click on the Zeffy sign-up link for this trip.
Accessible Birding at Horseshoe Lake
This is a wheelchair-friendly accessible trip open to everyone, including people with mobility challenges. We’ll meet by the Horseshoe Lake Parking Area (E) in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park, on the NW side of the lake (lot closest to Monkey Face). This will be a slow-paced trip suitable for people of all ages. A short wheelchair accessible trail connects parking area C with parking area E along the south shore of Horseshoe Lake. The Chico Community Observatory and an accessible fishing pier can be reached from this trail. Participants that would like to do more walking on this field trip will have the option to walk around the whole lake. This area of Upper Park offers a nice blend of habitats. Oak woodlands and open grasslands make up the surrounding area, while Horseshoe Lake provides a nice wetland habitat supporting a wide array of bird and wildlife species. Besides the more common species—such as Red-winged Blackbird, Great Blue Herons, Western Bluebirds, and woodpeckers—sometimes we get some surprises! Past sightings here included Phainopepla, Lark Sparrows, Lewis’s Woodpecker, and less common raptors such as Northern Harrier, Kestrel, and Peregrine Falcon. Leaders: Oscar Rodriguez and Jared Geiser
Horseshoe Lake
1456 Upper Park Road
Chico, CA 95973
9:00am – 11:00am
Hosted by Altacal Audubon Society
To register, click here and then click on the Zeffy sign-up link for this trip.
In its second year, the annual event offers opportunity to share resources and ideas to help the birding community be more accessible, inclusive, and welcoming to “everybody and every body.”
Virginia Rose found her passion for birds—and a new purpose in life—from the seat of her wheelchair. With Birdability, she's working to bring birding's benefits to others like her.
It's easy to create a friendly and encouraging birding community when you keep these pointers in mind.
Let us send you the latest in bird and conservation news.
