Curious to know how or why this project became the beautiful book it is today? Take a look at this exclusive inside interview with Erin Giese and Gweni Malokofsky of the OBMP, as well as Oneida Elder Joseph Torres!

What was your inspiration for creating this book?

Erin: The inspiration for creating this book was actually Sarah’s idea. Sarah Baughman is a graduate student at UW–Green Bay; she started as an undergraduate. We’ve been hosting an annual camp for the Oneida Bird Monitoring Program—it’s an outdoor nature camp for enrolled Oneida youth who are rising fourth through sixth graders. One of the things that we had been putting in their goodie bags was a kid bird guide. We weren’t really happy with the guide that we had; one day Sarah was like, “Why don’t I just make one?”It just slowly built up over the last two years. It’s gotten bigger and better with time, but the initial inspiration was for kids, for the camp that we host. 

What was the most challenging part of bringing this book to life?

Gweni: There are so many different partners—between the partners of the Oneida Bird Monitoring Program, the Oneida Tribe; a lot of the different partners and people whose opinions went into making this book. Being able to get everyone on the same page and make something that we’re all super proud of was definitely a challenge. That’s something that we were happy to take on, and I think that the final result is something that we all are super proud to put our names on and say that we’ve had a hand in it. It’s absolutely beautiful, and I think it’s a great way to bring everybody together and kind of showcase the best parts of all of these different cultures and programs that are involved.

What excites you the most about the release of this book?

Joseph: What excites me the most is that it is going to incorporate not just the Oneida words for the birds, and description, but it’s also going to incorporate part of the Oneida culture. It’s just a part of us. It’s introducing their culture, a little bit of it. Kind of, again, bridging those gaps. So, to me, it’s a whole learning experience. And I think that one of the most exciting things about it is learning from what we’re doing here, and then other people are learning about the Oneida community a little bit.

What is your goal for this book?

Erin: I would say that we have multiple goals for this book. I’ll list them, but they’re not in any particular order. One of course is to teach people about how to identify birds by sight. The other goal is that it’s a teaching tool for teaching others about Oneida language, culture, and history, which are kind of threaded throughout the book. I think that is what’s so neat about the book is that it interweaves and inter threads the Oneida culture and language throughout the book, while also teaching people about how to identify birds.

How do you think this book will impact your campers?

Joseph: The book is going to be helpful, very helpful to the campers because they’re all Oneida students. I grew up in Oneida and I didn’t know anything about my culture, much less the language. They may be Oneida, they may live on the reservation; if they don’t go to tribal school, they may or may not know a lot about the language—especially if their parents don’t know. I think it’s going to have, hopefully, a profound effect on some of them, getting in touch with their culture. Maybe this little book is going to motivate them, encourage them, excite them to learn more about Oneida culture if they don’t know about it right now.