CHICAGO -- Zelle Tenorio remembers the moment they became a birder.

Three years ago, on a walk organized by both Chicago BIPOC Birders and Out in Nature, an LGBTQ+ outdoor meetup group, they watched a Caspian tern catch a fish.

“I thought it was the coolest thing ever,” Tenorio, who uses they/them pronouns, said.

Since then, Tenorio has become a regular birder and volunteer at events. They even have a tattoo of a tern, fish in mouth, to commemorate their first walk.

Chicago BIPOC Birders have hosted bird walks and bird sits, outings where participants observe birds from a single spot, in parks and outdoor spaces across the city since 2021. On Sunday morning, they led a Pride Sit for LGBTQ+ birders and their families at South Shore’s Rainbow Beach Park.

The group laid out picnic blankets on the beach and distributed binoculars and bird guides. Within moments, someone pointed out a starling flitting across the hazy sky.

“That’s a sandpiper call,” someone else noted.

Organizer Maddie Fernandez says BIPOC Birders was formed out of both a post-pandemic yearning for connection and a desire to counteract stereotypes about birding as an activity for “older white people.”

“There was a need to create a new affinity space in the Chicago birding community,” Fernandez said. “It’s something at one point all of our members have felt — being othered by birding.”

Fernandez, who works as a community engagement and programs manager at the environmental nonprofit Urban Rivers, joined the organization in 2022 but didn’t start organizing her own walks until a couple years later.

The multigenerational group welcomes both seasoned naturalists and first-time birders.

Joice Kim, a student and bird lover, said she made a last-minute decision to attend her first event after following the organization’s Instagram account earlier this year.

“I wanted to be in community with people,” she said.

Others, like Rachel Flores, have been birding with the BIPOC Birders for several years. Flores, who uses they/them pronouns, says they’ve seen nighthawks, kingfishers, herons, and even a bald eagle on walks with the group.

“That’s what I like about going out on walks. I get to see a lot more than I usually would if I was just on my own,” they said.

For Joseline Salmeron, the bird sit provided a more low-key way to celebrate Pride.

“Pride is often conflated with the party vibe, but it doesn’t have to be that,” she said.

Salmeron biked to the sit from her home in Woodlawn. She said she appreciates that the group often organizes events at parks on the South Side.

“Outdoor recreation groups don’t have much of a presence here on the South Side, and if they do, they’re not that visible,” she said.

During the sit, Fernandez discussed how some birds express gender and sexuality.

“Many animals can change sexes, many are intersex. Many animals, particularly birds, form parenting attachments with the same sex,” Fernandez said. “All of this, I think, is very validating for queer people.”

“You see yourself reflected,” she added. “I think that can be really healing, spending time in a place you know reflects yourself.”

According to the National Wildlife Federation, same-sex partnerships have been recorded in more than 130 bird species. Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo is also home to a same-sex penguin couple.

“I love that birds are such queer animals. They don’t actually care about gender, they’re not thinking about it,” Flores said. “They’re just living their lives.”

©2026 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.