Ryan Shostack was 3 years old when a family friend gave him a copy of the “Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds.” He couldn’t read yet, but the photos of so many different bird species captivated him, and birds became an obsession that set him apart from other youngsters.
In third grade, Shostack was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people communicate with others.
Shostack, now 39, gravitated to birding from a young age and became captivated by it, something he attributes to being a person with autism.
He is a trained and experienced avian expert who often goes birdwatching and knows the best spots to sight all sorts of species — but all too often it’s a solitary pursuit. In recent months, he has gone public on social media about having autism and his quest to make birding more inclusive for people like him.
“I feel like my efforts to participate in birding groups have been ignored or discouraged,” Shostack said. “In trying to get information from organizations like Audubon and the American Birding Association, I have encountered gatekeeping, people who act like they own these birds, or they treat me like a novice birder.”
Diversity and inclusion have begun to emerge as issues affecting birders in recent years. In 2018, a Texas birder who uses a wheelchair founded a group called Birdability that seeks to make birding more accessible for people with disabilities, especially physical ones like sight, hearing or mobility impairments.
In 2020, the experience of Christian Cooper, a Black birder in Central Park, spotlighted racism in birding when a white woman called police to report “an African-American man” threatening her because Cooper was asking to her to leash her dog.
Cooper’s video of the call went viral and resulted in Black Birders Week, an event celebrated in late May to encourage people of color to participate in birding. Cooper went on to host a National Geographic special on birding that won him a daytime Emmy award in 2024.
In 2023, a wave of Audubon Society chapters removed the name “Audubon” from their titles due to revelations that the world’s most famous birder, John James Audubon, was a slaveholder. National Audubon voted to retain the name, a decision that some consider discouraging to Black and brown birders.
Shostack said it’s time the birding world also acknowledges people who have autism. He recently formed a Facebook group called Birders for Inclusiveness and has volunteered to share his experience and expertise in a variety of ways.
So far, he has appeared on “Birds of a Feather Talk Together,” a podcast from the Chicago Field Museum, and has been invited to appear on another podcast at his alma mater, Canisius University.
He also held an informal “Inclusive Bird Walk” at Montezuma in May and will be leading them monthly at Beaver Lake starting Sept. 5.
But Shostack said he has also been discouraged by other outlets that reject or ignore his suggestions. He said he just wants opportunities to share his birding knowledge and enthusiasm and to be known for his gifts rather than his challenges.
As a child growing up in Solvay, Shostack said he struggled in school and was constantly bullied by kids who thought his learning difficulties and quirks were “weird.”
“I had a lot of trouble with subjects that didn’t interest me,” he said. “There were no accommodations for me in school at that time and the bullying was horrendous. It made me more quiet and timid.”
He said he is still in therapy for the bullying, especially one incident when a classmate snuck up behind him and goosed him with a binder. “I still don’t like people coming up behind me,” he said.
Shostack immersed himself in researching birds and animals, and discovered zoology through the Rosamond Gifford Zoo’s youth volunteer program. After graduating high school in 2006, he attended Onondaga Community College, which he said was a struggle, then transferred to Niagara County Community College’s associate’s degree program in animal management.
He said he had a great experience as a summer intern at The Buffalo Zoo, which affirmed his love for the field and helped him interact with colleagues and the public.
“The keepers still talk about me there,” he said.
He went on to Canisius College for a bachelor’s in animal behavior, ecology and conservation. His next internship was at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo with Lucas Whitman, an outdoor birds keeper specializing in waterfowl and raptors.
“Normally I would take an intern around and introduce them to all the key birds,” Whitman said. “Ryan was the only intern I ever had who already knew all the bird species. I mean, he even knew the smew (a small diving duck native to Eurasia.) Nobody knows a smew.”
On earning his BA in 2016 — “It took me a bit to get through school” — Shostack got a job at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma and worked there for two years before a bird keeper job opened at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. He moved back to Syracuse and worked as a bird keeper in the zoo’s free-flight aviary for four years.
He left that job for a lab position in the Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection in 2022 because, he said, he felt disrespected because he has autism. Because the zoo is county-owned, employees there can move to positions in other county departments. Shostack’s friend Lucas Whitman now works as a restaurant inspector for the county health department, and they frequently text about birds and birding.
“Ryan is an encyclopedia worth of knowledge about birds,” Whitman said. “He is THE person to go to for natural history and identification. I can send him a picture of a wing and he’ll know what bird it is. He knows where the local hot spots are and when certain birds will be here. I used to have to look stuff up. Now I just text Ryan.”
Shostack’s favorite Upstate New York birding spots include Beaver Lake Nature Center, the Montezuma Wildlife Refuge, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the northern Adirondacks, home to one of his favorite species, the Black-backed woodpecker.
“I looked very hard to find that species, and once I did, the floodgates opened and I have had 13 encounters,” he said.
He has also traveled to see macaws and other tropical birds in Florida and called a trip to Yellowstone National Park to see gray wolves in the wild “life changing.” He has more than 200 bird species on his “life list” of sightings and just came back from a whale-watching adventure in Boston.
“What an awesome trip,” he posted on Facebook. “Got a life bird species too: Wilson’s storm petrels!”
During a recent outing at Montezuma, Shostack spotted several dozen bird species, from a tiny tufted titmouse to a Great Blue heron.
He said birding is a great way for people with autism to engage their senses with a calming activity akin to meditation. While it takes courage for him to seek attention or be in the spotlight, he wants to get better at sharing his knowledge to encourage others.
“Someone’s got to speak up for neurodivergent birders,” he said. “Some of us need to feel like we matter too.”
Ryan Shostack is open to any requests to lead inclusive birdwatching opportunities, speak to community groups or participate in birding podcasts or event. Find him on Facebook or email him at ryanshostack@gmail.com.
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