Why is a White-breasted Nuthatch Birdability’s logo?

There has been speculation on social media, via email, and in presentations. So, to celebrate one year of Birdability becoming a non-profit, it’s time to get to the bottom of this burning question. Why is a White-breasted Nuthatch Birdability’s logo?

Logos are often masterpieces of design. Organizations want something about their work and their values reflected in this little graphic that the public will strongly associate with their brand and what they do. Some logos have something subtle hidden in them — perhaps the arrow, representing speed and ‘getting there’, that’s embedded in the FedEx logo, or the Toblerone logo, with a bear (the symbol of Bern, Switzerland) subtly hidden in the snow on the Matterhorn.

A week or two before the first Birdability Week (in October, 2020), I realized we needed a logo to include on graphics for the events we were holding, and to show there was some kind of ‘officialness’ behind this effort. Because we were working with National Audubon on Birdability Week, I reached out to ask if they might help with this. “Yes!” was the answer. “Send us a logo brief and we’ll get to it!”

(“What’s a logo brief?!” Virginia and I asked each other.)

Virginia was certain that she didn’t want someone with a visible disability in our logo, but a bird or birds instead.

Me in my favourite, happy, inclusive t-shirt: Let’s Go Birding Together! What a great combination of a Painted Bunting and the Pride Flag for a logo.

Enjoying symbolism, and inspired by the Painted Bunting with the rainbow Pride Flag for a wing used by Audubon’s Let’s Go Birding Together initiative, I tried to come up with a few birds that might somehow be connected to disability.

Perhaps the American Dipper, who bobs up and down in a way that’s sort of similar to someone with ataxia — a loss of voluntary muscle control or coordination, sometimes as a result of a brain injury like cerebral palsy or a stroke?

What about a Black Skimmer, or a Red Crossbill, who both have unusually-shaped bills? Maybe there’s a parallel to someone with a cleft palette or a limb difference, who might be considered “deformed” (what an isolating word…), but with some adaptions, or prosthetics, or surgery, or people just being inclusive and not making a fuss about it, can do most things other folks can do?

Nuthatches move differently to other birds. Most birds, if they hop around on tree trunks or branches, move up the tree. Nuthatches do too! But they move down — head first — a lot of the time. But they're still birds, right? And still worth enjoying! Many folks with disabilities move differently than non-disabled folks. This doesn't make them any less important to include in the birding community, and when designing outdoor spaces. Nuthatches are also really fun to watch, because they move so differently... but if you just checked it off your list and rushed off, you wouldn't get to enjoy the way they hop around tree trunks and peer outwards so cutely. A good lesson, perhaps, to slow down and enjoy the birds. Their calls are easy ones for new birders to learn — the cute, squeaky-dog-toy sound can help folks identify them by ear easily, and we know that birding by ear is just as valid as birding by eye. But why the White-breasted Nuthatch? This is the species that's most widely spread, year-round, in North America... Which is fitting because our mission, and our work, applies everywhere — wherever there are birds and people.

If only I’d thought of that!

The truth of the matter is, we sent our logo brief off to the graphics folks at National Audubon, and Alex Tomlinson — the graphics designer behind the Let’s Go Birding Together logo, in fact! — sent back a White-breasted Nuthatch. I’ve always been fond of nuthatches, and Virginia agreed. A few tweaks were made, and we had our logo.

Sometime last year, I asked Alex why he went with the White-breasted Nuthatch, just in case his reasoning was similar to the explanation above.

“The bird chooses you!” he said.

“It didn’t have anything to do with nuthatches’ interesting movement patterns, or that they’re wonderful birds to enjoy mindfully?” I pressed.

“The bird chooses you!” he replied, again, with joy.

Well, good! I sure do love our White-breasted Nuthatch.