The news these days is often depressing at worst and frustrating at best. It’s easy to let it get us down. Never fear… The News Blender has you covered. Once a week we feature Something Good and, in return, all you have to do is tell us something good that has happened to you this week, something you are thankful for, a joke, a cute animal story, an inspiring tale of heroics, a Random Act of Kindness… SOMETHING good.
Today’s something good is birds.
You probably remember the incident in Central Park a couple years ago that involved a woman named Amy Cooper calling the police on Christian Cooper. Christian, no relation to Amy, was in the park birdwatching that day when the woman called 911 to report his presence there. She said she was going to tell the police an African American man was threatening her. In actuality, he had merely asked to put a leash on her dog so the dog did not scare away the birds. He was recording on his cell phone during the exchange and, when the police arrived and figured out what was going on, he was sent on his way unharmed. The video was then released by Christian’s sister and went viral.
Amy lost her job and was charged with making a false police report. Christian was the voice of reason during the aftermath, speaking firmly both to the racism that led to the police being called and to an acceptance of Amy’s public apologies. He declined to cooperate with the prosecution as they pursued charges against Amy. Her case was eventually dropped after she attended a class on racial biases.
Christian has come out of that episode in his life and will be making more episodes… of a show on National Geographic called The Extraordinary Birder, according to The New York Times. Six episodes featuring Christian teaching the public about the amazing birds he finds are planned and will air on the National Geographic channel or Disney+.
An announcement from National Geographic said, “Whether braving stormy seas in Alaska for puffins, trekking into rainforests in Puerto Rico for parrots, or scaling a bridge in Manhattan for a peregrine falcon, he does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above.”
Christian told the Times that when he was approached by National Geographic a year and a half ago about the idea of doing a birding show, he was “all in”. The show will be set in the US and feature Christian birding in cities, deserts, rainforests, as well as the rural south.
He said, “I love spreading the gospel of birding.” He told the Times that he is looking forward to encouraging more people “to stop and watch and listen and really start appreciating the absolutely spectacular creatures that we have among us”.
Christian has been captivated by birds since he was 10 years-old and saw a red-winged black bird on Long Island, where he grew up. He listens to bird songs wherever he goes and says that “it adds another dimension to how you exist in the world.”
He still goes to the Central Park he loves, often around daybreak, to try to catch a glimpse of the more than 200 bird species that inhabit it. Eventually, we may get to ride along on one of those early morning trips and watch birds that we otherwise might not get to see.
Lifelong birder Christian Cooper (@blackburniannyc) will take us into the wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds in his new show, The Extraordinary Birder. pic.twitter.com/2ZwTlZ3JmN
— National Geographic TV (@NatGeoTV) May 16, 2022
Birds are a good thing and so is something good happening to someone who was wronged. Now it’s your turn… Tell me something good.
