It’s been an exhilarating year of birds. Citing the words of the late, great John Lennon…so this is Christmas…and what have you done…another year over…and a new one just begun.
I’m proud to say that intoBirds have taken significant baby steps in just our first year of existence educating people about how we can better coexist with birds and wildlife.
And there is still so much more to be done!
intoBirds One Year Later
We’ve met some fantastic like-minded people during our exciting journey this year.
Meeting each person helped us learn something new about bird advocacy and conservation that we can pass on to our readers.
And many have become good friends.
Advocating for birds and wildlife is a non-stop passion.
Reading stories, news, science, and research, viewing artwork and sculptures created in tribute to birds.
It’s never-ending.
Advocacy Mission Never Stops
Once you make the decision that you are into birds, want to protect birds, and other wildlife and better coexist with nature your mission never stops.
I urge you to join such vital organizations like the Audubon Society, Birdlife International, The Peregrine Foundation and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to keep up to date about the impact of our changing climate and how it impacts birds.
Understanding about laws that threatened birds and wildlife so you can take appropriate action.
Learning about ways in getting your voice heard.
Taking time out to visit local nature preserves, animal sanctuaries, wildlife rehabilitators, and art galleries.
You learn a great deal from these people.
They handle birds everyday and offer great insight into the perils these animals face in the wild.
Dangers most often caused by humanity.
Remarkable People Inspired by Birds
The goal of intoBirds is to discover and tell stories about remarkable people inspired by all things birds.
We hear about people who do the most amazing things centered around their love for birds and we go out and find that story and bring them to you.
intoBirds believes the best way to educate people is to make a connection with people on a level that others relate to in some way.
If that connection is profiling an artist that paints amazing owls in tribute to an owl that left an impact on their life.
Or a birder who has a special bird patch in Brooklyn.
Or an ornithologist who co-hosted one of the most popular television shows of all time who once handled the most magnificent birds of prey and now turns his focus to backyard birds.
We make that connection.
Recapping 2018
Looking back in 2018, we’ve shared many stories.
But the ones we’re most proud of are the stories that are ours to tell.
Here is our list of 10 things intoBirds is most proud of in 2018.
Jim Fowler of Wild Kingdom
1. Meeting Jim Fowler, the former co-host and star of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.
It was a dream come true for us to meet our childhood hero and favorite zoologist and sit and talk with him about his new passion: bird watching.
You can read ‘Wild Kingdom Star Jim Fowler Shares Custom-designed Bird Feeder’ here.
Karen Kent and Majestic Owl Series
2. Profiling Karen Kent, an incredibly gifted artist who paints owls in a remarkably realistic manner.
Each owl takes on its own personality. And Karen weaves characteristics of her loved ones into the paintings.
Read our story, ‘Connecticut Artists Soars to New Heights with Majestic owl Series’ here to learn why she paints owls in tribute to an owl that left an impact on her life.
Christine’s Critters Helping Injured Birds of Prey
3. Spending the day flying a Red-tailed Hawk with Christine Peyreigne, a young falconer operating Christine’s Critters Inc., a Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education non-profit in Weston, Connecticut.
Christine’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and release as many injured birds of prey as she can handle.
We profiled many of Christine’s bird education ambassadors.
These are birds that are injured and cannot be released back into the wild.
Read our story ‘Female Falconer Gives Birds of Prey Second Chance in the Wild’ here.
Birds Fill Role as Educators for Nature
Each bird has a story to tell, and many are injured by the carelessness of humanity.
But in the tragedy of the birds not being released back into the wild, there is a second chance at life for the bird filling an important role of educator.
The best way for people to connect with nature, learn from past mistakes and coexist with nature is to see these beautiful injured birds of prey.
We can best learn from injured birds about the perils of using lead ammunition, rodenticide, throwing garbage outside our car windows, etc. by seeing the outcome of our behavior.
Birds of prey suffering broken wings and unable to fly, debilitating neurological impediments or dying violent deaths.
It strikes a chord.
CBS News and Good Morning CT
https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/06/20/snapshot-ny-raptor-rehab/
Christine’s story was so compelling that we pitched it to Good Morning CT and she brought some of her feathered friends with her for a TV appearance.
See the video below.
We also pitched CBS News and they visited Christine’s Critters and profiled Christine all her birds of prey in a beautiful segment airing on the evening news.
You can see the video below.
Many readers don’t know that intoBirds is built on the backbone of Hewitt PR and that we’re also PR and marketing consultants.
So if anyone has a product, service or cause they want to promote, please be sure to reach out.
Sponsoring an Eastern Screech Owl
intoBirds fell in love with one of Christine’s newest education bird ambassadors, Magma, a gorgeous red phase eastern Screen Owl with a permanent wing injury.
Magma suffered a wing injury in her nest as a chick, and her wing healed backward.
She will never fly again.
Christine’s Critters took Magma into their care, and she’s now one of their permanent education bird ambassadors.
The cost of caring and feeding birds of prey is quite significant and most wildlife rehabilitators, contrary to common belief, receive no funding form the government.
These important caregivers rely on their own money and small appearance fees to operate.
The work Christine’s Critter and other wildlife rehabilitation centers provide is invaluable so to show our support we sponsored Magma’s care and feeding for 2019.
We encourage others to do the same with their local animal sanctuary or wildlife rehabilitation center and make a difference by supporting those organizations that help birds.
Watercolor Birds
4. Taking time to laugh is important.
Especially since birders have been described as being serious about their craft.
So we profiled @sketchkvetch, one of our favorite Instagram accounts that features daily bird cartoons painted in watercolors.
Read our story, ‘Watercolor Birds Bring Steams of Laughter to Your Face’ here.
Birding with a Wolf
5. Birding with a wolf in Brooklyn and enjoying the wolf’s special bird patch.
The wolf is a birder extraordinaire named Heather Wolf.
She’s also the author of the book, ‘Birding at the Bridge.’
It’s a great read and we highly recommend this book.
We were delighted to spend the day birding with her in her special bird patch at the Brooklyn Bridge Park.
It’s a magical place that provides wilderness in the city against a backdrop of some of the world’s most historic landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and Lower Manhattan.
Read our story, ‘Birding with a Wold in Brooklyn’ here.
Art Light as a Feather
6. Admiring the artwork of gifted wildlife artist Pat Morris.
Artists select their medium, but feathers choose Pat.
She not only uses birds as her inspiration but transforms feathers into delicate works of art.
I was struck by Pat’s gift to paint birds.
Artist Helps Us See Nature
Her artwork gives a voice to nature and affords onlookers the privilege of enjoying wildlife they might not ever see for themselves.
She’s proof that art is not what you see, but what you make others see.
Read our story, ‘Art Light as. Feather’ here.
Birds and Bots That Coexist
7. Enjoying the magic that James ‘Jimbot’ Demski creates capturing the magic of birds in a fun, playful and creative way.
Harry Potter has a wand, and Jimbot has a paintbrush.
And with it, he creates magic.
His artwork takes you to another place in your mind.
And we adore it.
Read our story, ‘Artist James ‘Jimbot’ Demski paints Birds and Bots That Coexist’ here.
Cornell Lab of Ornithology
8. Sharing the news that Cornell publishes is easy for us.
Cornell interprets and conserve’s the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.
But taking part in the events they promote is our duty as citizen scientists who love and are into birds.
eBird
intoBirds proudly supports using Cornell’s e-Bird app for tracking bird sightings used for science and conservation.
Project FeederWatch
Taking part in Project FeederWatch but reporting bird counts at bird feeders across the country.
NestWatch
Participating in NestWatch collecting data used for tracking the breeding success of birds across North America.
Great Backyard Bird Count
Counting birds as part of the Great Backyard Bird Count global event.
Participants submit observations from more than 120 centuries documenting more than half the world’s bird species.
intoBirds Social Media Channels
9. Sharing bird photos and videos over Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube bring us great reward.
Every picture we share with a small fact helps to educate our fans. And help us grow and learn more about birds from all over the world.
#intobirds
Fans that tag #intobirds on their social media accounts are selected and profiled on our Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages.
We even profile the photos on the ‘SNAPS’ page of our website.
Most important, we profile photos from all types of people, including avid birders chasing the rarities, Audubon-type photos from professional nature photographers and backyard birders capturing birds they attract to their backyards.
Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. And check out fan photos on the ‘SNAPS’ page of our website.
10. Researching, writing and sharing the news that relates to birds and nature, as well as curating our own original content is the goal of intoBirds.
We welcome any leads and suggestions from our fans.
And we never know when we might find a story.
Birds Inspire Everyone
A few months ago Dan, my college at intoBirds visited a holistic health professional, Dr. Christa Whiteman of Hudson Valley Chiropractic & Wellness.
He admired a beautiful piece of bird feather art on the wall.
The person who created that art will be one of our upcoming features in 2019.
The love for birds is all around us.
Celebrating People Into Birds
You don’t have to be an ornithologist, birder, photographer, backyard birds or citizen to love and admire incredible warm-blood, egg-laying vertebrates.
We’re excited to profile incredible people inspired by birds.
So whatever you call yourself.
A bird watcher, bird enthusiast or just love birds…we all share a common trait: we are into birds.
Big Plans for 2019
In 2019 we plan to take intoBirds one step further.
We are adding an online store to our website and selling artwork and bird artifacts from gifted artists.
And intoBirds branded merchandise with a percentage of the proceeds donated to support bird causes and organizations throughout the country.
Stay tuned for more exciting news in 2019.
intoBirds is composed of three tireless individuals. Well, two humans, Dan and myself, and our brand ambassador cat, Sonja.
We’d like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday, a very Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with joy, peace, and birds.
So this is Christmas.
And what have you done.
Another year over.
And a new one just begun.
And so this is Christmas.
I hope you have fun.
The near and the dear one.
The old and the young.
🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵
Let’s all coexist in 2019!
-Renee
And please contact us if you have any story suggestions if you know someone inspired by birds for us to cover. We love hearing from our fans and introducing the world to remarkable people inspired by birds.