Freya Mcgregor News Today

One in three birders experiences accessibility challenges to participation in birding, according to Virginia Tech researchers Emily Sinkular and Ashley Dayer.

<p>The researchers used a nationwide survey of U.S. wildlife viewers to compare the challenges and needs for birders with and without disabilities. Along with co-authors Freya McGregor, research associate in the <a href="https://fishwild.vt.edu/">Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation</a>, and Morgan Karns ’23, they analyzed open-ended responses using models of disabilities, or different frames of reference, to better understand how to talk about and t...

Birding is the act of observing and identifying birds in the wild as a form of recreation and citizen science.

Birders across the world band together to record the number of birds in their communities from Dec 14 to Jan 5.

Wissahickon Trails is taking a closer look at its pathways and preserves in an effort to increase accessibility for trail users.

According to Freya McGregor, a 35-year-old birder and occupational therapist specializing in blindness and low vision, the term “birder” was once reserved for those who were more serious than the hobbyist “bird watcher.”

On an average morning, Susan Glass can sit on the patio at her condominium complex in Saratoga, California, and identify as many as 15 different bird species by ear: a Steller’s jay, an acorn woodpecker, an oak titmouse. For her, birding is more than a hobby. “Birds are my eyesight,” said Glass, a poet and an English professor at West Valley Community College who has been blind since birth. “When I check into a hotel in Pittsburgh, I might remember the rock dove and t...

For some blind birders, avian soundscapes are a way to map the world around them. Increasing noise pollution is imperiling that navigation.

Its easier than you might think to make birding more accessible to more people

Most access challenges can be overcome, and the benefits of time in nature should be shared as widely as possible.