– Guest blog By Kate McFarland | Introduction by Wouter Vansteelant
Introduction
“Why does your research matter?” More often than not, when researchers get this question, it is rooted in a utilitarian expectation that research should deliver practical insights or actionable perspective. Much of BirdEyes work is also funded and designed to deliver hard answers to applied questions, like how to improve the conservation status of black-tailed godwits. Yet our ultimate motivation and ambition is of a different – nature: to investigate and inspire awe in birds as knowledgeable, learned and even cultured creatures. In the blog below, Kate McFarland explains how she got to know the research of BirdEyes, and why it matters that we take birds seriously as conscious decision-makers. We were delighted with Kate’s perspective, that beautifully resonates with our mission to interpret the world from a bird’s perspective. Kate McFarland is a Center Associate at the Ohio State University’s Center for Ethics and Human Values. She has volunteered for various bird-related causes and initiatives, including Lights Out, the Bird City Network, and World Migratory Bird Day, and previously served on the board of Columbus Audubon.
Looking back into the eyes of birds
Meet Frank
The first bird to capture my heart was Frank, a great blue heron in Columbus. Frank was easy to recognise, sadly due to a leg deformity caused by discarded fishing line. After moving near the Olentangy River in Columbus, I met more herons. Even without such distinguishing physical characteristics, they were easy to perceive as individuals; they had their own territories, daily rhythms, and personalities.
Herons were conspicuous; other birds were harder to get to know. In this context, I came to appreciate the power of tools like rings and transmitters. At the same time I was familiarizing myself with the Olentangy’s avifauna, I had accepted a job at an ethics center and started researching environmental ethics. One of my influences was Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac. Leopold recognized that ringing birds helps us to see them as unique individuals, musing over the ability of “Chickadee 65290” to outlive six “classmates” ringed in the same year. Today, satellite transmitters reveal birds’ entire migrations. Technology is accused of disconnecting humanity from nature, but it also enhances our ability to empathize with birds as protagonists of epic journeys.
Birds, language, and meaning
My work in ethics influenced my thinking about birds, as did my earlier doctoral work in philosophy of language. I had argued that many philosophers ignored important aspects of the social function of language, including small talk. As I listened to birds, I thought about the analogy between philosophers who disregarded “trivial” conversations and humans who dismissed the vocalizations of other species as nothing of substance. Surely birds are not wasting their breath; the meaning of their “speech” deserves understanding, too.
Never alone
But no words of philosophy are as compelling as looking into a bird’s eyes. When I watch a bird as she scans her surroundings, it is undeniable that she is a fellow conscious being, inspecting her environment (including the onlooking human) and reacting with awareness. That sense of shared existence convinced me that I’d never feel lonely with birds around.
When Covid lockdowns arrived, the local birds proved me correct. That experience gave me confidence to leave after borders reopened, on a personal quest for quiet car-free living. Although I travelled alone for months in foreign lands, I didn’t worry about loneliness. Wherever I went, I trusted the birds for company. My quest led me to islands like Schiermonnikoog and Vlieland, where I often visited shorebirds on the mudflats, many of them sojourners like me. They inspired me to discover the International Wader Study Group and attend its 2025 conference in Groningen, where I was introduced to BirdEyes’ work.
Refreshing alternative
In learning about BirdEyes, I was most struck by the recurring theme of understanding birds as both unique individuals and creatures with complex communication systems and social lives. Musical works like Solanum embrace the power of tracking technologies to reveal birds’ individual lives and, in turn, foster empathy. Studies of vocal communication in spoonbills and godwits enhance our understanding of birds as social learners and perhaps collective decision makers. Many presentations portrayed migratory birds as conscious agents, choosing when and with whom to fly – authors of their own stories.
My view is that protecting birds requires seeing the world as birds, as well as seeing these fellow sentient creatures as subjects of moral concern. Yet even within bird conservation communities, the birds themselves can feel detached from day-to-day work, like mere abstractions. Indeed, the phrase ‘bird conservation’ itself may frame birds as inert, part of the landscape to be “conserved,” rather than active participants in a changing world. BirdEyes impresses me as a refreshing alternative that keeps the birds’ perspective front and centre.
Read about Kate McFarland and her affiliation
