23 Feb Celebrating Black History Month: Dr. J. Drew Lanham , A Birder With Heart, Humor, and a Whole Lot of Insight
Black History Month gives us a chance to reflect on people whose lives and work broaden our understanding of nature, culture, and belonging. One such person is Dr. J. Drew Lanham, a wildlife ecologist, poet, storyteller, and beloved voice in conservation whose work, scientific, literary, and deeply human, reminds us why we fall in love with the outdoors in the first place.
Dr. Lanham grew up on a family farm in Edgefield, South Carolina, where the rhythms of the land, the fields, forests, birds, and insects, were his earliest teachers. He fell in love with birds as a child, watching everything from blue jays to wild turkeys, and even lying on his back in the pasture just to see if buzzards would think he was dinner. He laughs now thinking about it, but that fascination never left him.
Today, he is a distinguished professor of wildlife ecology at Clemson University, a respected researcher, and soon-to-be Poet Laureate, known for blending heartfelt observation with sharp humor and unflinching honesty. His scientific work, especially on songbirds like the Eastern Bluebird, is deeply respected, but it’s his way of storytelling that makes him unforgettable.
What sets Lanham apart is not just his expertise, but his ability to blend science with poetry and personal experience. In his essay “Birding While Black,” he wryly points out that bird watching in America is “one of the whitest things you can do,” and that, as a Black birder, he sometimes experiences the sport quite differently than most people around him. He recalls a stranger driving up while he was birding, telling him about “the niggers who used to pick cotton” in the area, and pointing out he was carrying a gun. Lanham’s voice doesn’t shy away from the sting of that encounter, but he often meets it with the same wry humor he brings to all his writing.
His humor is subtle but profound, even as he confronts serious truths about race and belonging. In another reflection, Lanham talks about the bird called a hooded warbler, a tiny yellow bird with a striking hood, and imagines what it must be like for that bird to wear its hood “and not be threatened” or “profiled for wearing it.” That image, playful at first glance, becomes a powerful metaphor for his own pursuit of belonging in nature.
Even as he highlights the challenges of navigating sometimes hostile spaces, Lanham never loses his deep love for the natural world. He describes birding not just as a hobby, but as a communion, a way to slow down and truly witness the world around us. He writes about watching birds sing their songs and how, in those moments, he can “exhale” in a way everyday life seldom allows.
Lanham’s work has resonated far beyond ornithology. His memoir The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair With Nature is both lyrical and insightful, offering readers a window into the wonder and complexity of human and natural histories intertwined. His voice helped inspire Black Birders Week, a movement that celebrates Black nature enthusiasts and calls attention to the need for greater diversity and inclusion in outdoor spaces.
At Barn Owl Garden Center, we believe that gardens and birdwatching are acts of hope. They are ways of nurturing life, creating habitat, and finding peace in an often chaotic world. This Black History Month, we celebrate Dr. J. Drew Lanham, for his science, his words, his humor, and his courage in sharing the full breadth of his experience. His work challenges us to look deeper, laugh a little more fully, and recognize that nature is richer when all voices are part of the story.
