Dreams come true! Birds really do bring people together, and it’s through writing about the people side of birding—in particular about women in birding—that I am traveling to Brazil as a guest to speak about just that topic.

Earlier this winter I was invited by the organizers of the annual Avistar Bird Fair (taking place May 17-19, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil) to speak about women in birding as part of this year’s theme of elevating female voices in the world birding scene. I’ll be presenting individually on my writing about women birders and birding culture, and as part of a roundtable with professional birding guides Judith Mirembe of Uganda and Tati Pongiluppi of Brazil discussing the challenges of being a working mother in the world birding scene.

My solo presentation will focus on my dozen years of writing for birding media, what I saw missing initially in coverage (things I wanted to read about), how I identified ways I could remedy the content vacuum I saw, the community I fostered among sources and outlets for stories, the changes in the international birding scene that I’ve observed along the way, and all of the above through my lens as one woman birder sharing the voices of many other women birders.

And it’s the network of women birders I have to thank for this opportunity. I credit Tati Pongiluppi for sharing my name with Avistar organizers, and the email I got from her asking if I were interested and available to come to Brazil is one I will treasure always!

You can follow my adventure later this month on my Instagram page, and I will be posting the recording of the roundtable when I get home (I am not sure how I will record my solo presentation, so that remains to be seen). Thank you for your support and interest!