Support Team Nuthatch
at New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding 2023!
New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding began in 1984. Teams compete in a ‘Big Day’-type event, raising money to support conservation.
In 2022, Team Nuthatch was the first team made up entirely of birders with access challenges who competed in this event! We even won our category and were able to share our message from the podium.
Birdability’s Team Nuthatch is back in 2023! Help us continue to break barriers, provide much-need representation, and help ensure that birding truly is for everyone and every body!
We could use your help! We are aiming to raise $10,000 to continue to support our network of volunteers around the US who are working to ensure that birding truly is for every body in their local communities - including the Captains representing Team Nuthatch this year!
We are proud to have re-opened our volunteer Captains network in 2023 and share that we are actively growing this program. Your donations help Birdability continue to build a welcoming and collaborative virtual community of passionate individuals who connect, create, and learn together. If you are interested in becoming involved as a Captain we invite you to learn more about what’s involved!
Whether you have the capacity to join as a Captain now or in the future, your support of Team Nuthatch will help ensure that those who are looking for community and those who are willing and able to participate have a place to connect and be valued!
We thank you for your continued support of Birdability and for amplifying the message that birding is for everyone and every body!
Would your organization or business be interested in sponsoring Team Nuthatch?
Meet Team Nuthatch!
Nicole Neigel (she/her) is an autistic birder with severe chronic pain and illness. She loves empowering other disabled birders to find the same joy and passion for exploring the outdoors that she does. She works as a bird rehabilitator and nature educator at a nature center where she inspires others to appreciate birds and the outdoors.
Karaleah Reichart Bercaw (she/her) is a disabled birder that has birded in all 50 states, Europe, and Central America. She is a passionate advocate for integrating mindful birding into her clinical practice as a licensed clinical mental health counselor specializing in the treatment of chronic illness and trauma recovery. Her disabilities include lupus, Sjogren's syndrome, and GAD65 autoimmunity.
Kalina Eskew (they/them) is both a disabled birder and an ornithologist. As a PhD student in Ecology and Conservation Ecology, they love to share their passion about birds with people of all ages and abilities! They have both physical and mental disabilities including fibromyalgia, hypermobility spectrum disorder, PTSD, and autism.
Gary Herritz (he/him), 42, was born in Wisconsin. He volunteers in Mississippi as a Survey Coordinator and Beach Nesting Bird Steward with Audubon Delta. He is an award-winning bird photographer and has two children. Gary is a recipient of an organ transplant and he is Immune Compromised, he also experiences PTSD, anxiety, and depression.
Thank you to this year’s Team Nuthatch for being wonderful representatives and sharing themselves with all of us! We hope you will join us in celebrating them and wishing them luck in New Jersey Audubon’s ‘World Series of Birding’!