Birding has always been about connection: to places, to birds, and to other birders. But in the age of social media, those connections are often being made in new ways and are reaching new audiences. Few people have done more to shape that new dimension of birding culture than Bonner Black.

Bonner Black blends birding, music, and humor into birding social media content that is reshaping what it looks and feels like to be a birder. Follow her on Instagram @bonnerblack. Image courtesy of Bonner Black.

One of the birding world’s most prominent influencers, songwriter Bonner Black’s frequently viral videos present a version of birding culture to millions of viewers that is funny, cool, and accessible. Bonner’s social media content is a constant reminder that birding is super fun and super funny too, an endless source of amusement and joy. She has created a template for what it takes to be a birding social media content creator while also working on her career as a musician.

The ABA is honored to interview Bonner about her work with birding, social media, and music.

ABA: You got into birding during a challenging time in your life, and, for a while, kept birding separate from your social media presence until you just couldn’t resist posting a birding skit. How do you balance birding for your own enjoyment now with creating birding content?

Bonner Black: Oh, I do very consciously take time to bird alone off camera, and whether on one of my solo offline birding outings or selfie-sticking my way through the woods for videos, I’m thankful that somehow I’m living a life centered around birds and music. I’m not taking it for granted at all. I am truly enjoying myself.

ABA: You inspire so many birders, perhaps even some birding organization social media managers, to create engaging and hilarious birding social media content. How do you get your ideas? How do you maintain so much output while still creating music? Are you exhausted?

Bonner Black: I’m really tuned in to what daily routines and rituals keep me balanced and inspired. All of my ideas for songs, skits, tours, and events come to me in the quiet moments so I am religious about having my quiet moments. Creating things that make people laugh, feel seen, or touched in some way makes me happy, so I prioritize my well-being. If I’m exhausted, I rest, and then keep going just like the birds do on their wild migration journeys.

ABA: There’s an inherent tension in creating birding social media content: You want to help people enjoy and engage with the outdoors, but to create good social media content you have to be frequently engaging in digital spaces, even while birding. How do you make sense of or balance that irony?

Bonner Black: Well, as the line from a song called “17” off my last album says, “Nothing makes sense without a sense of humor.” It is definitely ironic, but I actually do have so much fun making the videos and connecting with birders all over the world. I had a freaking blast filming my “Self Defense for the Female Birder” skit where I beat up a mannequin dressed as a serial killer with a pair of binoculars. I loved documenting my birding trip to Spain when I went to speak at Delta Birding Festival in September. I try to be conscious of my screen time . . . but I sure am having a good time.

The Razorbill was one of the lifers Bonner Black recently got while on tour in the U.K., which she described as “pretty freaking great.” Image © Jonathan Ley.

ABA: Much of your social media content is silly, some even a bit risqué, a lot of it just plain cool, and that content has changed the public perception of what birding is and who can be a birder. Have there been moments when you realized your work was changing how people see birding or themselves as birders?

Bonner Black: People tell me that I have . . . which is cool! I started hosting bird walks before my shows, and flocks of people show up—anywhere from 7 to 70 though most are in their 20s to 30s. They’re quirky, kind of silly, energetic, and completely obsessed with birds. That’s when it hits me. I’m connecting with like-minded people and we just understand each other. My social media followers are my kindred spirits, and I’m so thankful for this community.

ABA: Has the way you experience birding changed since you started creating content?

Bonner Black: It’s really elevated the experience because I get invited to bird in really unique places, attend cool birding events, and bird alongside some serious pros who I have learned SO much from. I was already an obsessive birder before the content, but now I’m fully immersed in the world, and I feel like I’ve found the place where I belong.

ABA: How do music and birding intersect for you? Do you feel birding has made you a better musician?

Bonner Black: OH THEY INTERSECT ALRIGHT. Hosting bird walks before my shows and getting asked to perform and speak at birding events is the greatest thing ever. I hosted a bird walk with the London Wildlife Trust during my tour in the U.K. two weeks ago and this week I’ll be playing some songs and speaking at the Alabama Coastal Birdfest. Being a birder has made me a happier musician too. Finding this unique connection to the world around me and seeing myself as this songbird brings me back to WHY I sing. Before I walk out on stage, I close my eyes and think of a bird perched with its head raised singing its song loud and proud . . . and then I go up to the mic and do the same thing.

Bonner Black’s “Self Defense for the Female Birder” skit is one of her many viral videos. Image courtesy of Bonner Black.

ABA: Musicians have to create their own recognizable artistic style while still being part of broad genres of music: Is it kind of the same as a content creator? Do your music and your birding content draw from the same creative wellspring, or do they feel like they come from different parts of your brain?

Bonner Black: They both absolutely come from the same wellspring, and it is fed from being in tune and present with my experiences, feelings, and observations. Everything I post or write is true to me no matter how silly or serious. I don’t filter much, especially if I think it’s really gonna make people laugh or feel seen.

ABA: How was the U.K. tour?

Bonner Black: Well, I played five shows in Brighton, London, Glasgow, York, and Manchester and got seven lifers: Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, Black-legged Kittiwake, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Ringed Plover, White-tailed Eagle, and Black Guillemot so pretty freaking great. I laid in bed for five full days when I got back to Nashville.

ABA: What’s the best song ever written about birds?

Bonner Black: My new song, “Little Bird in A Big Sky.” It was inspired by Cliff Swallows and the Arctic Tern. I take an annual trip to Fort Morgan, Alabama, on the coast every spring for migration and the first time I went I sobbed when I found fields COVERED in tiny, exhausted, shivering, shaking Cliff Swallows. We all know swallows never stay still, but these guys had just crossed the gulf with the wind against them, and I just cried and cried over how worried I was that they wouldn’t be able to get back up. Sure enough, they did. Birds are incredible like that. I read about the Arctic Tern for the first time in “A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds” by Scott Weidensaul and at a time when I was really scared of some goals I wanted to set. I thought “if an Arctic Tern can travel 59k miles a year, what can I do if I don’t give up?”

ABA: If one song played every time you got a lifer, what would it be?

Bonner Black: “Little Bird in a Big Sky” by Bonner Black.

ABA: Your new song, “Little Bird in a Big Sky,” is about to be released. What can you tell us about it? What will you do if a fan can prove that they saw an Arctic Tern while listening to “Little Bird in a Big Sky”?

Bonner Black: My favorite thing about the song is that Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library sent me bird calls to use in the track. They are 1. Arctic Tern 2. Barn Swallow 3. Belted Kingfisher 4. Blue Rock Thrush 5. Carolina Chickadee 6. Carolina Wren 7. Eastern Meadowlark 8. Eurasian Penduline Tit 9. Field Sparrow 10. Goldcrest (my 100th bird) 11. Hermit Thrush 12. Horned Lark (because it’s the 2026 ABA Bird of the Year) 13. Masked Tityra 14. Mourning Dove 15. Nashville Warbler (because that’s what I am) 16. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and then at the very end you hear an Eastern Whip-poor-will. I’ve seen all of the birds except the Arctic Tern, and I have a spiritual connection with all of them.

Bonner Black’s “Little Bird in a Big Sky,” her newly released single which features real bird sounds, is out now. Image courtesy of Bonner Black.

If someone proves they were looking at an Arctic Tern while listening to “Little Bird in a Big Sky,” I’ll get a matching Arctic Tern tattoo with them.

ABA: Let’s manifest: If you could play a concert anywhere in the world and then go birding in the immediate vicinity, where would you choose?

Bonner Black: RED ROCKS! OH MY GOSH! PLEASE! RED ROCKS.

ABA: Do you really always keep that copy of Birding magazine with your photo in it in your backpack?

Bonner Black: Frank, it is literally at my feet in my backpack right now.

ABA: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Bonner Black: If you’re reading this, I hope you’ll go listen to “Little Bird in a Big Sky” and know that you are unique, important, and an incredible force. Lean into what brings you joy and you will land where you belong.

Never stop learning from the birds.

Frank Izaguirre is Marketing and Communications Manager for the ABA. Frank runs the ABA’s social media, writes articles for the ABA’s website, and coordinates the ABA’s marketing strategies. Frank is also in charge of the Bird of the Year Program, collaborating with the Bird of the Year artist and writing articles that promote the Bird of the Year Program and conservation efforts related to the Bird of the Year. Frank appears regularly on the American Birding Podcast as a guest and occasionally as a guest host. Frank enjoys local birding in bad weather and networking with birders around the world. He also loves looking for salamanders and moths. Frank and his wife Adrienne and daughter Maya live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Frank’s birding patch is urban Schenley Park.