“Don’t be distracted by her”: Central Park birder Christian Cooper’s fascinating story

In 2020, the world was introduced to writer and birding enthusiast Christian Cooper when a white woman called the police on him in Central Park with the false accusation that he was threatening her. Cooper reflects on that moment three years later. "That incident was not about her," he said. "It was about the racial bias that it revealed." Cooper is in the spotlight for a different reason now, his true passion—birding. He tells Salon's D. Watkins about hosting a National Geographic travel show "Extraordinary Birder" and his memoir "Better Living Through Birding," both of which allow him to tell his story as a former Marvel employee, a lifelong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and how birding is an outlet for him.

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