Ep.08 - Adrianna Nelson - Serious Leisure ”Bird Nerd”

On this episode of Appalachian Outdoorosity, Dr. Joy James, a professor in App State's Department of Recreation Managment and Physical Education, interviews App State Biology Alumna, Adrianna Nelson about her passion for birding. 

 

Show Notes

https://today.appstate.edu/2020/06/26/nelson

http://ww.appalachianaudubon.org/

https://highcountryaudubon.org/

https://www.inaturalist.org/

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

https://www.citizenscience.gov/

The Big Year -

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1053810/

 

Transcript

 Becki Battista Welcome to Appalachian Outdoorosity, where we encourage you to get outside and keep going outside. Here we will share Appalachian State stories that entertain, inspire and inform listeners about living an active outdoor lifestyle. Each episode features a story with the goal to get you outside and keep you going outside to improve your overall wellness. This podcast is presented by The Hope Lab, where our purpose is to investigate the role of outdoor physical activity, exercise and play on health, environment and human development.  The vision of the Hope Lab is to continue developing the foundation for promoting and supporting outdoor physical activity, exercise and play through interdisciplinary research. Feel free to check us out at hopelab.appstate.edu. Hi, my name is Becky Battista and I am a professor in Exercise Science at Appalachian State University and a self-proclaimed physical activity addict. I'm your host for the Appalachian Outdoorosity Podcast today. On today's episode, team member Dr. Joy James, a professor and recreation management, interviews App State Alumni Adriana Nelson. Adriana tells us how her curiosity of birds shaped her outdoor experiences and interests in Appalachian State University. Joy James We're here with Adriana Nelson, who is a biology major at App State. Adriana, what I'm going to do is have you introduce yourself. Tell where you're from, why Appalachian State University, why you're here. And then if you could tell us about your favorite outdoor activity. Adrianna Nelson Okay. Yeah. So, I'm Adriana and I'm from Bristol, Tennessee. So, it's just kind of on the other side of the mountains. I picked Appalachian for several reasons. One, I wanted to be a biology major and App State offered a concentration in ecology, which is really what I want to focus in. So that was nice and I really wanted to do that. And one of the professors here also does work with birds, which is kind of my...that's my big thing. And of course, I liked all the outdoor activities right in Boone and the nearby areas. I came for the mountains like everybody else did. Joy James For people who might not be familiar with what your activity is, what do you call it? Adrianna Nelson So, I am a birder and some people say bird watcher, but the serious people say birding, they're birders. Joy James I wanted that clarification because sometimes I think my mom, she's a bird watcher, she has the feeders up. And so how is a birder different than my mother who watches birds? Adrianna Nelson I think it just depends maybe on your own definition of it, but I like to actually go out and look for different birds at different times of year that might be migrating through or breeding. And I like to look at their different behaviors. It's more of a whole inclusive activity where you look at different parts of their life cycles and you’re more serious about it instead of just casually watching what may come to your yard. Joy James Gotcha. As you and I were joking before the interview, we called you a bird nerd. Yeah, that's an appropriate word to use. And you would honor that. That's not an insult. Adrianna Nelson Yeah, it's not an insult. Joy James All right. So how did you first get interested in the outdoors? Adrianna Nelson Well, I think I've always been interested in the outdoors for as long as I can remember. When I was really young, I rode horses, so I wanted to be a horse trainer for a while. But I also watched a lot of, like, Animal Planet and National Geographic. So, I also wanted to be like a safari explorer. So, I've always really been interested in wildlife for as long as I can remember So that's how I'm tied to the outdoors, at least initially, and with birds specifically...When I was nine, it was the middle of winter and I saw this bird outside that I didn't recognize and I knew a lot of the common ones in our yard, like a cardinal and a blue jay and all that. But I didn't know what this one was just a little gray and white bird. And I also tho