How blind birders tell a robin from a wren

Maitreya Shah heard the bird’s distinctive chirp in a nearby tree at a botanical garden in the Maryland suburbs. But he’s blind and couldn’t see it. With his arm stretched upward, he held his iPhone up to try to capture the sound as an app identified the bird.

“It’s a cedar waxwing,” the 27-year-old told his fellow blind birders as they walked on a paved path surrounded by grass and flowers at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Md.

Shah, who lost his sight in a childhood injury, was one of 11 blind people who tracked and identified more than two dozen bird species as part of a recent inaugural effort to get those who are blind or visually impaired into birding. The daylong blind birder bird-a-thon drew more than 200 participants who counted 200 species at parks, gardens and backyards in 34 states, including California, Florida, Idaho, Texas, Montana, Pennsylvania and New York.

“I loved it,” said Shah, a lawyer who lives near northwest Washington, D.C., about his two hours of birding. “I’ve never done this before and to be able to differentiate the birds based on their sound and identify them was big. I always thought birding was about seeing or watching birds, but I realized it’s also about listening to birds.”

Six months in the making, the idea for the blind birder bird-a-thon came from Martha Steele, 73, who lives outside Boston. An avid birder for 35 years, Steele had to adapt how she birded over the years because of usher syndrome, a rare genetic condition that caused progressive hearing and vision loss. Steele said she wanted to help introduce birding to blind or visually impaired people who may not have considered the hobby or felt shut out of it.

“People think they have to see to bird,” Steele said. “The word ‘birdwatcher’ implies you have to see to do it. People who are blind would say, ‘I can’t see, so I can’t bird.’ But that’s one of the things we’re trying to change. You can identify birds by their song.”

Although there’s an unknown number of blind birders in the United States, some birding experts estimate that there are likely only a few hundred.

In the D.C. region, the bird-a-thon event came together in a partnership with several groups. Those included the Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes, which helps blind and low-vision people do activities such as hiking, tandem biking and camping; the DC Bird Alliance, the local chapter of the National Audubon Society; and Birdability, a national nonprofit group that works to make birding accessible for those with health concerns or disabilities.

For experienced blind birders, it was a chance to introduce friends - both sighted and blind - to the hobby. Some participants had tried but with no regularity. Others said they had long wanted to try but were novices.

Sarah Presley, 57, who is blind and works as an accessibility specialist at a federal agency, said she joined the bird-a-thon after hearing about it through the blind athletes’ group. She said she’s always “loved to hear birds” and had dabbled in birdwatching a few years ago but wanted to learn more.

“Everybody else can look at a bird and see a picture and identify it, but that’s not something I can do,” said Presley, a Capitol Hill resident who was born with congenital cataracts. “I can hear them, but I can’t see them. This is something I want to get more into so I can learn to identify the birds I hear around me.”

Birding has grown in popularity in recent years, experts said, because of people spending more time at home during the pandemic, a desire to be outdoors and technology that has made it easier to identify birds.

For people who are blind, apps that help identify birds are a “game changer,” Presley said. The free Merlin Bird ID app identifies birds from uploaded photos, the sounds of bird calls, or descriptions of their markings, color, behavior and size. For those who are blind or visually impaired, the app provides a sense of independence.

“I have access,” said Shah, as he used Merlin on his phone to identify a mourning dove at Brookside Gardens, “as long as I have their sound and bird calls. Otherwise, I have to rely on sighted people.”

The birders who organized the recent event said they picked Brookside Gardens because it has a mix of migratory birds and native birds that are looking for mates at this time of year, and it has easily accessible walking paths.

As the blind birders walked in silence, the only sound came from the tap, tap, tap of their canes on the paved path. Then one of the organizers called for them to stop.

“Listen,” said María-Elena Montero, president of the DC Bird Alliance. Some of the guides couldn’t see the bird, but they could hear it.

A few held up their phones with the Merlin app. “Mine says it’s a great crested flycatcher,” one of the blind birders called out to the group.

Minutes later, another blind birder asked about a high-pitched piping sound coming from a nearby tree. Merlin identified it as a pileated woodpecker.

“It’s got a beautiful red crown,” Montero told the group as they stood on a path near a gazebo and pond, “and it’s flying toward us.”

The event wasn’t just about birds: It was also about enjoying nature around others with similar challenges.

“The fellowship with everyone’s blindness is different, but we can have a shared experience,” said Douglas Miller, 70, a retired tax accountant who lives in northwest Washington. He is blind due to glaucoma and a retinal deterioration.

As the group walked, Montero reminded them “if you hear something, stop and feel it.”

“Imagine what that bird might be saying,” she said as the group paused to listen.

One blind birder said, “it sounds like it’s saying teakettle, teakettle.”

Montero responded, “Whatever you hear that sears into your brain, remember it.”

Near the end of the roughly milelong walk, the birders paused for a group photo in front of a pond. One of the sighted volunteers said, “There’s some goslings over there by the trees.” Shah asked her to take a photo of it on her phone and send it to him.

Within seconds, he used AI to give him a verbal description of the photo. It told him that they were gray and fluffy, with spots of yellow and white. He asked the person, “Is it a family?”

She answered yes.

“Aww,” he said. “So cute.”