Hi all!

Thank you so much for taking the time to check out this page!

My name is Sam DeJarnett and I am the creator and host of the Always Be Birdin' Podcast. Since its conception in August 2020, Always Be Birdin’ has been deeply focused on providing a platform to Black and brown voices in the birding and conservation communities. Lovingly coined “critical bird theory,” through the podcast, Sam aims to discuss, dissect and challenge the narratives of birding and conservation and pushes for innovative and radical ways to dismantle the ways white supremacy and racism show up in these fields.

September 19th 2026, I am partnering with another organization, Special Bird Service, and we are hit the road for a very special purpose!

Special Bird Service is a syndicate of nature centered community building initiatives for the BIPoC, 2SLGBTQ+ and marginalized communities. Through ecological stewardship, nature-based community mental health focussed, relationship building we act as social vehicle for generational knowledge transfers to take place. We aim to normalize the BIPOC & 2SLBGTQ+ communities use of the great outdoors. Reclaiming nature as a recreational and healing safe-space by offering organized bird watching walks, hikes, outdoor adventures & community connection-building events.

Together, we are teaming up to for a birding road trip that is a bioregional storytelling and community-building journey that follows the fall migration of birds from Victoria, B.C. to the Bay Area, creating free public birding events, podcast episodes, and documentary footage along the Pacific Flyway.

Many birders know, every September, millions of birds travel thousands of kilometers south along the Pacific Flyway. At the same time, human migration is increasingly politicized, forced and restricted by a government that does not care for human basic rights. Historically, people have migrated to and around America and Canada for many reasons, forced and not.

This is not just a road trip. We are also filming for a short documentary that focuses on these same themes as well as putting out several podcast episodes and sharing our experience via social media!

This is a large undertaking and we have been working hard as a team of 6 to make this happen for many, many months.

We are currently asking for donations to help support our team.

Early on, we were promised a certain amount of financial support from a well known binocular company who cut that amount in half with no explanation only two weeks prior to our team hitting the road. We planned this trip around the initial amount they promised and their decision to cut that number in half is affecting our goals for this project.

With this cut in funding, one of the largest issues we are facing is our ability to fully and appropriately compensate the members of this team who are all Black and Indigenous appropriately for their hard work leading up to, during and after the road trip.

Your support will seriously help compensate our team for money lost during the trip as well as compensation for the large amount of time post-production will take for the documentary.

We appreciate your time reading this and anything you can give to help support is beyond appreciated!

I hope you follow along on our journey regardless.

Find us at:

@birdinbeyonborders

@alwaysbebirdin_podcast

@specialbirdservice