This is The Guardian.

Hi, it's Helen here. We're on a break over Christmas, and so we are rerunning some of our

favorite episodes of the year. We thought it'd be nice to celebrate some of the inspiring people

we've been lucky enough to have on the show, and so today we're bringing you the story of Christian Cooper, the avid birdwatcher who stood up to racism in New York's Central Park.

He spoke to my colleague Hannah, and we hope you enjoy hearing from Christian as much as we did. Christian, what's it like during migration season in New York?

What it's like during migration in New York. To those of us who are steeped in it, this is the main

event. We dream of this all year. So we will be up at the crack of dawn. And when we step outside,

it's usually before dawn. So we're not hearing anything yet. Maybe we'll hear a Robin or a mockingbird.

And then, you know, for those of us who birdwatch in Central Park,

once we step into the park, you get Don chorus,

which is just all the birds singing at once.

It's a great way to sort of get an overview of what's around. Because if you're like me and you're what we call an ear birder, you know from what you

hear what the species are.

And so that can be very exciting when you hear something that, you know, you didn't know

was around or maybe just blew into town and you're like, oh, that I've got to find.

It's immersive. You're blasted by sound and then light spreads all over town.

You see the sunlight reflecting off the skyscrapers and there's just a wash of orange and gold

through the park.

Christian Cooper is a birder and for him, Central Park in New York is a magical place.

The trees are in this early state of leaf out. So it's this sort of light green, almost

gossamer web. And then amongst that, you're looking for the birds. And those are just

incredible splashes of color and sound that you get to dig up like treasure.

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