Quench'd: Birding

Quench'd: Building Community with Binoculars and Birds

March 1st, 2025 | by Devin Cowens

Devin is one of Bivo’s ambassadors, and we are so grateful to her for spreading the Bivo love among her communities! We are excited to share her Quench’d piece today, as we really just love her passion for life, her communities, and her activities. Today, she shares with us her passion for birding, an activity she picked up a few years ago and has dove in deep ever since!

I’d been dying to see the sandhill cranes up close. It was my last day in Florida and nothing yet. I woke up at 5:45 am and was on the bike at 6:17. My legs were a little sore from 6 days of nonstop riding, with unforgiving headwinds in the blazing sun.

It was so foggy this morning that I could only see about 40 feet into the distance at any moment. The air was cool, and the gravel and sand felt wet from the morning dew. I turned into the wildlife refuge and must have been the only human for miles - it felt a little eerie. I was comforted by the familiar sound of gravel crunching beneath my tires. Then it happened.

I tried to slow down without making a sound; my brakes nearly screeching from the wet sand that had collected in them. I immediately noticed their size; thick body and long legs and necks, with this bright red patch on their forehead that slightly covers their eyes. I pulled out my phone and quickly decided to snap a photo, while also fumbling to grab my monocular before they scurried away like I’m used to with most birds. I started recording a video…and they just stood there and looked at me like, what are YOU doing HERE?

I’d been dying to see the sandhill cranes up close. It was my last day in Florida and nothing yet. I woke up at 5:45 am and was on the bike at 6:17. My legs were a little sore from 6 days of nonstop riding, with unforgiving headwinds in the blazing sun.

It was so foggy this morning that I could only see about 40 feet into the distance at any moment. The air was cool, and the gravel and sand felt wet from the morning dew. I turned into the wildlife refuge and must have been the only human for miles - it felt a little eerie. I was comforted by the familiar sound of gravel crunching beneath my tires. Then it happened.

I tried to slow down without making a sound; my brakes nearly screeching from the wet sand that had collected in them. I immediately noticed their size; thick body and long legs and necks, with this bright red patch on their forehead that slightly covers their eyes. I pulled out my phone and quickly decided to snap a photo, while also fumbling to grab my monocular before they scurried away like I’m used to with most birds. I started recording a video…and they just stood there and looked at me like, what are YOU doing HERE?

My name is Devin Cowens (she/her) and I currently reside on the ancestral lands of the Muscogee Creek Nation, today known as Atlanta, GA. I’m a connector, community organizer, Earth Steward, event planner, ultra runner, avid cyclist, and bikepacker. I’m also a huge bird and native plant nerd.

I am founder and co-organizer of Radical Adventure Riders ATL, a cycling community for trans men and women, cis women, and gender expansive folks of all experience levels. I’ve been riding bikes for 13 years, and got into birding in the fall of 2022.

A fellow RAR ATL co-organizer also organizes with the Atlanta chapter of the Feminist Bird Club and invited a few of us on a bird walk at a nearby park and lake. I still remember the first time I viewed a great egret through my borrowed binoculars…at first I thought it was a plastic bag hanging from a tree branch across the water. The following spring FBC ATL and RAR ATL would be co-leading a biking and birding overnight together to Panola Mountains outside of Atlanta!

My name is Devin Cowens (she/her) and I currently reside on the ancestral lands of the Muscogee Creek Nation, today known as Atlanta, GA. I’m a connector, community organizer, Earth Steward, event planner, ultra runner, avid cyclist, and bikepacker. I’m also a huge bird and native plant nerd.

I am founder and co-organizer of Radical Adventure Riders ATL, a cycling community for trans men and women, cis women, and gender expansive folks of all experience levels. I’ve been riding bikes for 13 years, and got into birding in the fall of 2022.

A fellow RAR ATL co-organizer also organizes with the Atlanta chapter of the Feminist Bird Club and invited a few of us on a bird walk at a nearby park and lake. I still remember the first time I viewed a great egret through my borrowed binoculars…at first I thought it was a plastic bag hanging from a tree branch across the water. The following spring FBC ATL and RAR ATL would be co-leading a biking and birding overnight together to Panola Mountains outside of Atlanta!

For any birder, folks always ask you - “what bird did it for you?” or “what bird gave you the spark” - it was that great egret on the cool winter morning in South Atlanta. I was mesmerized by their majesticness and how still they sat along the water, patiently awaiting and planning its next meal.

Over the next few months, I would bird wherever I could - by myself, and finding others to tag along with. I messaged a few Black women on the internet who lived in Atlanta who were avid birders and asked if I could hang out with them - 3 of which I now bird with regularly!

For my birthday in August of 2023, I shared with the internet that I wanted to gather some Black birders to join me for a birthday birding trip at Clyde Sheppard Park, a quaint, quiet neighborhood part in Decatur, just east of the city. 10 people showed up and it was one of my best birding memories to date! I then started the ATL Black Birders Chat, a GroupMe for Black folks in Atlanta who wanted to bird and host meetups. That led to me discovering The Streets is Cawing, a Black birders group which is the brainchild of my friend Corvia, that I now help co-organize with her! As of last fall, I am now a certified Master Birder thanks to a program I went through with Birds Georgia, the local non profit dedicated to building places where birds and people thrive. From that, I’ve been able to meet even more people that are birding from their backyards to far reaching places all across the state.

For any birder, folks always ask you - “what bird did it for you?” or “what bird gave you the spark” - it was that great egret on the cool winter morning in South Atlanta. I was mesmerized by their majesticness and how still they sat along the water, patiently awaiting and planning its next meal.

Over the next few months, I would bird wherever I could - by myself, and finding others to tag along with. I messaged a few Black women on the internet who lived in Atlanta who were avid birders and asked if I could hang out with them - 3 of which I now bird with regularly!

For my birthday in August of 2023, I shared with the internet that I wanted to gather some Black birders to join me for a birthday birding trip at Clyde Sheppard Park, a quaint, quiet neighborhood part in Decatur, just east of the city. 10 people showed up and it was one of my best birding memories to date! I then started the ATL Black Birders Chat, a GroupMe for Black folks in Atlanta who wanted to bird and host meetups. That led to me discovering The Streets is Cawing, a Black birders group which is the brainchild of my friend Corvia, that I now help co-organize with her! As of last fall, I am now a certified Master Birder thanks to a program I went through with Birds Georgia, the local non profit dedicated to building places where birds and people thrive. From that, I’ve been able to meet even more people that are birding from their backyards to far reaching places all across the state.

For any birder, folks always ask you - “what bird did it for you?” or “what bird gave you the spark” - it was that great egret on the cool winter morning in South Atlanta. I was mesmerized by their majesticness and how still they sat along the water, patiently awaiting and planning its next meal.

Over the next few months, I would bird wherever I could - by myself, and finding others to tag along with. I messaged a few Black women on the internet who lived in Atlanta who were avid birders and asked if I could hang out with them - 3 of which I now bird with regularly!

For any birder, folks always ask you - “what bird did it for you?” or “what bird gave you the spark” - it was that great egret on the cool winter morning in South Atlanta. I was mesmerized by their majesticness and how still they sat along the water, patiently awaiting and planning its next meal.

Over the next few months, I would bird wherever I could - by myself, and finding others to tag along with. I messaged a few Black women on the internet who lived in Atlanta who were avid birders and asked if I could hang out with them - 3 of which I now bird with regularly!

For my birthday in August of 2023, I shared with the internet that I wanted to gather some Black birders to join me for a birthday birding trip at Clyde Sheppard Park, a quaint, quiet neighborhood part in Decatur, just east of the city. 10 people showed up and it was one of my best birding memories to date! I then started the ATL Black Birders Chat, a GroupMe for Black folks in Atlanta who wanted to bird and host meetups. That led to me discovering The Streets is Cawing, a Black birders group which is the brainchild of my friend Corvia, that I now help co-organize with her! As of last fall, I am now a certified Master Birder thanks to a program I went through with Birds Georgia, the local non profit dedicated to building places where birds and people thrive. From that, I’ve been able to meet even more people that are birding from their backyards to far reaching places all across the state.

As someone who is always on the go, birding helps me slow down and notice the world around me. It quiets my mind, forces me to be more observant, and also calms my nervous system while maintaining my homeostasis. In short, it is both a joyous activity and an immediate stress reliever.

In addition to this, I’ve gotten deep into native plants and working on creating a wildlife habitat for birds and pollinators in my front yard. Birding has made me a better Earth Steward, climate activist, and notice my impact as a consumer…everything is connected and we all have a role to play in maintaining our ecosystem, and ensuring it thrives for the long haul.

I am now THAT friend - folks send me birding videos, pictures of birds, and I get asked a ton of questions (some I know the answer to, and some I don’t!) and it’s from me sharing and seeing my bird joy that has made it sort of contagious

In a world that has so much out of our control, with so many things happening that can be extremely overwhelming and hard, I’m grateful to have found birding as a place of solace, relaxation, community, and friendship.

As someone who is always on the go, birding helps me slow down and notice the world around me. It quiets my mind, forces me to be more observant, and also calms my nervous system while maintaining my homeostasis. In short, it is both a joyous activity and an immediate stress reliever.

In addition to this, I’ve gotten deep into native plants and working on creating a wildlife habitat for birds and pollinators in my front yard. Birding has made me a better Earth Steward, climate activist, and notice my impact as a consumer…everything is connected and we all have a role to play in maintaining our ecosystem, and ensuring it thrives for the long haul.

I am now THAT friend - folks send me birding videos, pictures of birds, and I get asked a ton of questions (some I know the answer to, and some I don’t!) and it’s from me sharing and seeing my bird joy that has made it sort of contagious

In a world that has so much out of our control, with so many things happening that can be extremely overwhelming and hard, I’m grateful to have found birding as a place of solace, relaxation, community, and friendship.