Last Saturday, my fellow intern, Mo, and I held our pilot birding event at Crissy Field. I was so anxious before the event, worried that there wouldn’t be that many birds to watch, that the weather would be unforgiving, or that it would be hard to make sure everyone had an enjoyable time. However, as we held our event and chatted with our participants, we learned that perhaps birding isn’t necessarily just about bird-watching, rather it’s more about the commenting bird-watching can foster. We did get to see some birds (though we learned that May-June isn’t really the best time for birding in our area), but what stood out to me more than the birds were the conversations that bird-watching prompted. We discussed environmental conservation, bird-related fun facts, and general hopes for improvements in regard to environmental issues, and I was grateful for the event for providing the platforms for an enjoyable—but also educational—experience. 

One aspect that was brought to our attention during the event and that my fellow intern and I had been struggling with was mapping out the path. The full loop of Crissy Field is four miles, and furthermore, Crissy Field doesn’t really have the best ways to cut the loop short due to the lack of alternative paths. Our pilot-event route was linear and for participants to get back to their starting point, they would have to return exactly the way they came. Thus, we are currently considering more flexible alternatives that not only will make our event more accessible, but also help foster more of that community bond that my fellow intern and I had experienced.