The many joys of birding in Uniondale

Uniondale native Christian Cooper — an avid bird-watcher with a memoir and a television show documenting his journey — gave a presentation at the Uniondale Public Library last Wednesday about the joys of birding and why it remains a great hobby to take up.

“I encourage you all to bird as much or as little as you want, as much pleasure as it gives you,” Cooper, 61, told the audience at the library.

Birding is the act of observing birds in their natural habitats, and it’s a hobby available to everyone, Cooper said. He added that people who are sight-impaired can listen to the different chirps and songs of different birds, people with physical disabilities can bird-watch from a wheelchair on accessible paths, and even homebound people can see different birds by looking out of their window.

Cooper’s considered an expert on birding, having written a memoir, “Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World,” which was released in June of 2023. In the memoir, he detailed the many facets of his life, and how birds have played a major role. His Emmy-winning one-season show about birding, “Extraordinary Birder,” is on Disney Plus and National Geographic, and he is also releasing a children’s book, “The Urban Owls,” in February.

During his presentation at the library, Cooper outlined his seven pleasures of birding, all of which give him his motivation to continue looking for birds.

The first is the beauty of birding, Cooper said, as he displayed numerous photos of bird species that can be seen around the world and are unique in their own ways. He shared his excitement over the opportunity to see many of them in person, including the sword-billed hummingbird in Ecuador.

“When you see it, you think it can’t be real, you think it can’t exist. And yet, it’s here,” he said. “It is on the same planet as us. It’s really amazing.”

The second reason is the joy of being in a natural setting, Cooper said. Looking for different birds means birders end up in different venues, from tropical forests to the “seemingly barren peaks of Antarctica,” or even in surrounding parks and neighborhoods, he said.

Describing the joy of scientific discovery as a third reason to bird-watch, Cooper shared a story about how a Costa’s hummingbird checked out his leg hair as possible nesting material, allowing him to see firsthand the natural habits of the bird, which was “the coolest thing ever.”

Birders also take joy in collecting a list of all the unique birds they get to see, and Cooper explained that thrill exists year-round with the migration of different species.

For birders, the joy of hunting, without the bloodshed, is another reason to take up the hobby. Cooper said he loves the thrill of finding a new bird and the fun in observing it in nature.

“I didn’t have to shoot it,” he said. “I didn’t have to kill it. I got to track it down and hunt it without killing it.”

Identifying a new bird is another joy because it’s like putting a puzzle together, according to Cooper.

“You’re paying attention to a whole bunch of different things, the sound it makes, the color, the pattern, the size, the behavior, the habitat, all of those things are cues that help you figure out what kind of bird you’re looking at,” Cooper said.

The final joy is called the unicorn effect because finding a new bird is “as if the unicorn stepped out of the forest,” Cooper said. “The great thing is, you get to have that thrill over and over again when you’re a birder because there’s always some new bird you haven’t seen.”

Cooper said he became interested in birding when he was 9, remembering watching birds at Mullener Pond in North Merrick. He grew up in Uniondale, and attended Walnut Street Elementary School, Turtle Hook Middle School, and Uniondale High School, where he graduated in 1980. He is a Harvard alumnus who settled in New York City, where he spent nearly 30 years as an editor — first as an Associate Editor at Marvel Comics for just over nine years and then as a Senior Editorial Director at Health Science Communications for almost 20 years — before dedicating his life and career to his longtime passion of birding.

Cooper said he was happy to share his passion and knowledge with the library audience, and he encouraged everyone to start birding.

“If we want to protect the world’s diversity of birds, we need a diversity of people who care about the birds,” he said.