Mother birders, the title doesn’t exactly spring to mind much if you’re a birder, as the birding practice isn’t designed for caregivers of small, easily distracted (and disruptive) kids. No disrespect to kids, either!

We mother birders existed as women who birded, before children entered the picture, and our interest in birding doesn’t count less if we are less able to participate in the more visibly recognized birding practices of walks, festivals, committee and board membership, listing, rarity pursuits, photography or birding travel. Maybe it’s a trope, but mothers are experts at improvising and our application to keeping up a birding practice is no different.

Meet five women from across North America who combine being a parent with a well established and serious birding practice. Each woman adds something new to birding within her lived experience as a mother, and the birding community benefits from their innovations. You can read the article in the July 2022 issue of BWD (formerly Bird Watcher’s Digest) where it appears in the Bird Like a Girl column.

Thank you to Ariel Zane, Vanessa Miot, Julie Frend, Tonya Anderson and Mariel Abreu for their participation in this story, and thanks for reading!