Question: 

Is it possible for visually challenged people to enjoy birdwatching?

Response:

It is safe to say that one does not come across that many blind birdwatchers out there.  But it is also true that many of the world’s best birders probably hear and list more birds by their calls and songs than by seeing them.  Take the case of one Juan Pablo Culasso, Uruguayan who was born blind but can identify more than 2,000 different kinds of birds by their song.  One of his favourite birding places is the tropical cloud forest of the Western Andes in Columbia.  Some of his prized singers include the Sepia-brown wren and the Golden-crowned flycatcher.  But the big story is that Juan Pablo and his partners in Columbia have developed birding trails that are helping others who are blind, or have low vision, to visit the cloud forest of San Antonio and enjoy the birds of the region.  The route consists of six separate locations in the popular Kilometro18 district, named for its location along a highway that connects Cali with the port city of Buenaventura.  It offers accessible roped paths with obstacles removed, tours with specially trained guides, audio recordings of 50 common birds, and even poles with bar codes which provide short audio descriptions of the birds in the region.  This important bird area is home to 300 avian species, and Culasso says it is the first birding tourism route for people with visual disabilities in the Americas.  One visitor described it this way.  “It’s wonderful, because it gives you as a blind person, autonomy.”  And when nature is accessible, Culasso says, everyone wins.

David M. Bird, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology, McGill University www.askprofessorbird.com

David M. Bird is Emeritus Professor of Wildlife Biology and the former Director of the Avian Science and Conservation Centre at McGill University. As a past-president of the Society of Canadian Ornithologists, a former board member with Birds Canada, a Fellow of both the American Ornithological Society and the International Ornithological Union, he has received several awards for his conservation and public education efforts. Dr. Bird is a regular columnist on birds for Bird Watcher’s Digest and Canadian Wildlife magazines and is the author of several books and over 200 peer-reviewed scientific publications. He is the consultant editor for multiple editions of DK Canada’s Birds of Canada, Birds of Eastern Canada, Birds of Western Canada, and Pocket Birds of Canada.  To know more about him, visit www.askprofessorbird.com or email david.bird@mcgill.ca.