Birding Takes a Place in Popular Culture
Tree of Life – Bluebirds ©Ro Mottsmith
In recent months, birding has rapidly grown in prominence in American popular culture. It seemingly began with the release of Listers, a feature-length documentary about competitive birding. The film follows Quentin and Owen Reiser, two brothers who become birders by spending a year living in a used minivan and traveling the country to compete in a “Big Year.” Listers was released on YouTube on August 19th, and has since captured the birding world by storm. With 2.2 million views, it seems as though birders everywhere are talking about the documentary, relating to the adventure and unfiltered authenticity of the Reiser brothers. The brothers were later interviewed on The American Birding Podcast, which releases episodes weekly through the American Birding Association.
In late September, Hallmark released a movie titled Adventures in Love and Birding, which follows the romantic entanglement of a divorced high school teacher who falls in love with a birdwatching enthusiast. The pair must navigate a romance trope typical of the Hallmark franchise while also engaging in a birdwatching competition. The film received harsh critique from some birders, who felt its scientific inaccuracies could not be overlooked. Regardless, the release of a full-length film in this genre dedicated to birding is an intriguing development.
On October 2nd, the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League released a video on their official Instagram account, in which members of the team discussed birding topics such as warbler identification and how to distinguish a grackle from a starling. The video has received over 100,000 likes and been distributed across various social media platforms. Still, the NFL had more in store for birders when Amazon Prime Video released a short documentary of former superstar runningback Marshawn Lynch birding in Central Park with the vice president of the New York City Bird Alliance. The video quickly went viral, accumulating tens of thousands of views on YouTube and Instagram.
In late October, birding made it to late-night television when a comedy bit involving a “professional ornithologist” (actress Paula Pell) and actress Maya Rudolph aired on the show, Late Night with Seth Meyers. The two actresses debated the identification of a Tufted Puffin, with Pell dressed in humorous “birder” attire. While the clip is fully sarcastic and portrays birders as an exceptionally nerdy bunch (perhaps accurately), the bit is the latest example of the recent popular culture fascination with birding. The abbreviated clip above has been viewed by over 75,000 people.
Integrated with the rise in birding popularity and its presence on social media is the growth of birding in younger generations. In the past five years multiple youth birding groups have formed in our region, including the Sacramento Valley Young Birders Club, Davis Senior High School Birdwatching Club, and the Birdwatching Club at UC Davis. These groups are quite popular and offer opportunities for young people to get outdoors, learn from birding experts and conservation biology professionals, and connect with like-minded peers. The Birdwatching Club at UC Davis currently has more than 300 members. The excitement and camaraderie in these groups is inspiring, and will surely produce the next generation of hardcore birders and conservationists.
This continued rise in birding popularity has reached other aspects of our culture, including art. A local example is the work of Ro Mottsmith of Davis, who makes bird images from cut paper and ceramic tiles. Perrone visited their workshop recently and was astounded at what he saw—images that were beautiful, colorful and varied, and all were birds local to the Sacramento Valley. Most of the pieces include local flora or other creatures along with the birds.
Mottsmith learned birds from two YBA members, dad John Mott-Smith and UC Davis professor Rob Furrow, who formerly taught a birding class in the Bay Area that Mottsmith attended. Mottsmith’s mom, Susan Shelton, is an accomplished local artist and encouraged their talent and dedication to accuracy. Mottsmith watches birds and turns them into art for much the same reason many of us pursue birding—it’s peaceful, calming, fun, and even humorous to see the antics of birds, and a welcome break from our busy, complicated lives.
This work must be seen to be appreciated. Tiles with numerous birds are on a reflecting wall at the end of the path to the COVID memorial in the Davis Cemetery. Dozens of tiles are soon (January) to be on benches at the Yolo Basin Foundation teaching headquarters on Chiles Road. Some of Mottsmith’s ceramic birds are at the Pence Gallery gift shop in Davis and the Crocker Art Museum store near the Capitol in Sacramento. Mottsmith maintains a website and Instagram, and can be contacted directly for questions or commissions at rm@finestructure.llc.
The popularity of birding is growing fast, and the impacts are evident both locally and nationally. Yolo Bird Alliance is excited by this growth and the potential for future birding, conservation, and media projects that can engage and inspire the public. Conservation happens from the ground up, and widening appreciation for and protection of wild birds will only continue to strengthen our efforts.
–Zane Pickus and Michael Perrone, Conservation Chair