What is it about birdwatching that is so appealing? Maybe it’s the difficulty of recognizing birds, delighting in their beauty, pursuing them to add to our lists, the chance to get away from our everyday stress, explore the world, or simply to connect with nature.
Have you given it much thought? We’d probably all provide different responses. Nonetheless, at the core we’re probably all the same.
The reality is that each and every one of us has the ability to do something highly effective and yet relatively easy for bird conservation. And that is to share our love of birds with some of the individuals that we meet every day.
Pledge to Fledge, the renewed worldwide grassroots birding awareness campaign, aims to do this.
Pledge to Fledge encourages birders all over the world to actively share their passion for birds with as many people in their life as possible.
Pledge to Fledge seeks to promote birdwatching throughout the world while also spreading awareness of bird preservation concerns. The most effective method to accomplish this is to invite enthusiastic birders to familiarize non-birders to birds and the sport of birdwatching.
To do this, we are partnering with the American Birding Association, which is one of the most dedicated groups of birders in North America.
Pledge to Fledge devotes two weekends every year to motivating birders to take a friend, a neighbor, a family member, or any other “non-birders” out birdwatching for the first time to genuinely see and appreciate birds.
Our social media platforms enable both birders and participants to submit images, videos, and anecdotes about their birding adventures. The opening weekend is March 24-26, 2023.
Birders of all skill levels should take part in Pledge to Fledge to promote appreciation of birds, birdwatching, and bird protection in their local community.
We encourage birders to make an online pledge to indicate their support for this crucial effort and to highlight the birding community’s concern for bird protection. There is power in numbers!
We will be publishing more information on our website to assist birders in their efforts to spark the interest of others in birding.
There are several ways that all birders can contribute to the Pledge to Fledge purpose. Here are a few examples:
- Make an online pledge – With a few clicks, any birder can publicly show their support for increasing bird awareness and protection.
- Take your friends for a walk around the community or to a nearby park – you will be astonished at how many questions they have for you. And many of their responses will most likely also surprise you. Do you recall your first encounter with local birds?
- Host a Backyard Birding Blitz. You can introduce common backyard birds to a captive audience by assembling a group of friends to break bread and drink their favorite refreshments while learning about birds. This is also an excellent moment to discuss backyard bird protection, such as local plants, proper feeders, avoiding chemical usage, and so forth. You may discover that everybody is a secret birder!
Every birder can help protect the birds in some way. Pledge to Fledge gives us the platform to work together to define the future of birdwatching and bird conservation, and nowadays we can build strong movements by using social media.
Everyone of you has the experience and passion to fledge a new birder. Just show them the birds, and nature will take care of the rest.
We strongly encourage you to try it out. And on the Pledge to Fledge Facebook page, we’d love to hear your story and see your images and experiences.
So please get out there and ‘fledge’ a new birdwatcher, and then let us know about it!