On Saturday, June 1, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will host its Black Excellence in Birding gala to celebrate the industry and culminate the nationwide celebration of Black Birders Week, writes Nate File for The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

Sean Stallworth, who didn’t initially understand why people were so passionate about bird watching, found out relatively quickly. 

“That excitement, that joy that it brought people out of doing something that they love … to me, that was everything. I was like, oh, this is different,” he said. 

Stallworth, who is the community engagement liaison for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and leader of Drexel’s Black Birders Week celebration, has witnessed the community bird watching brings as the gala reaches its third year.

This year, New York Times best-selling author Christian Cooper will be the event’s keynote speaker.

Black Birders Week was started in response to the incident Cooper endured in 2020 when a white woman called the police on him while he was bird watching.

He is pleased to see the growth and rising popularity of bird watching among Black people.

Read more about the emergence of bird watching within the Black community and the upcoming gala at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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