The Joe household farm practices a land ethic that has introduced within the birds, and now a burgeoning facet enterprise that’s bringing in birders to the Black Belt of Alabama.
From the Spring 2026 difficulty of Residing Chook journal. Subscribe now.
I’ve spent practically half a century enthralled by birds, ever since discovering them in center college again within the Nineteen Seventies. I grew up within the Midwest, within the sprawling metropolis of Columbus, Ohio. I bear in mind sitting at my little desk in Mr. Entsminger’s science class within the seventh grade, once I did a e-book report on the majestic Philippine Eagle. From that second on, I grew to become fascinated by birds, which actually introduced the world of nature into view for this little shy, city child with an enormous Afro practically twice the dimensions of my face.
Now, as a Black birder, author, {and professional} wildlife photographer, I’m inspired by the rising pursuits in birds amongst individuals of colour who appear to be seeing birds for the very first time of their lives. Over the previous few years, birding organizations and teams that encourage Black birders like myself have sprung up all throughout the nation. Essentially the most well-known initiative was began in 2020 by a small group of Black chook lovers who’re additionally scientists, known as Black Birders Week, that’s usually held over the last week of Could. It’s a nationwide occasion to encourage Black nature enthusiasts to get outside, expertise Black Pleasure, and watch birds. There are numerous different like-minded teams and organizations that supply outings all 12 months lengthy, together with the In Colour Birding group in Philadelphia, Wisconsin’s BIPOC Chook Membership out of Madison, and the City Chook Collective within the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. City Chook Collective simply began a brand new chapter in Duluth, Minnesota, the place I reside now.
These flourishing organizations are making birding cool, and now there are various extra Black birders on the lookout for welcoming, secure locations to take pleasure in birds. One such place is the Joe Farm, a Black-owned household farm in Hale County, Alabama. The Joe Farm is situated within the Black Belt area of Alabama. The identify “Black Belt” refers each to the richness of the area’s soil and the numerous cultural historical past of enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples of the world. In 2023, the Black Belt was recognized as a National Heritage Area of the South by the U.S. Nationwide Park Service.
The Joe household has been elevating beef cattle for nearly 100 years. Lately, the household has ventured into an extra income with ecotourism, unusually sufficient simply doing the normal farming chores they’ve at all times finished.
Sooner or later Christopher Joe, one of many sons who helps to run the household farm, received a name from his father Cornelius Joe (everyone calls him “Papa Joe”). He needed to know what sort of birds had been following his tractor.
“What are these hawks,” Papa Joe requested his son, “swooping down from the sky into the mowed grass, feeding on one thing?”
Little did Christopher Joe and his dad, together with the remainder of his siblings and mom, know that these swooping birds can be a part of a wholly new enterprise for his or her farm—inflicting individuals to journey from all around the nation, and even the world, to go to their household’s land.—Dudley Edmondson
The Joe Household Farming Custom
Christopher Joe is a third-generation Angus cattle farmer from Newbern, Alabama, about an hour’s drive south from Tuscaloosa. When he’s not farming, Christopher Joe can also be a district conservationist with the Pure Sources Conservation Service, an company beneath the federal U.S. Division of Agriculture that helps farmers promote soil well being, enhance water high quality, and improve wildlife habitat.
The Joe Farm raises 60 to 70 head of black Angus cattle on 200 acres. Christopher Joe’s lineage on the farm goes again to the 1870s, on his father Cornelius Joe’s facet of the household. “I noticed previous census information exhibiting my great-great-grandfather, Arthur Joe, owned the land,” Christopher Joe says. “His identify is on our church cornerstone again residence.”
Each Christopher Joe and his father have intensive backgrounds in training, agriculture, and conservation, and the household farm is a continuation of placing that information and love for nature into apply.—Dudley Edmondson
In regards to the Writer
Dudley Edmondson is a photographer, creator, filmmaker, and presenter whose journeys over the previous 35 years have taken him from the Arctic Circle to the Bahamas, pushed by a lifelong ardour to encourage individuals’s understanding and respect for all the pieces nature gives. His most up-to-date e-book—Folks the Planet Wants Now—gained a Nationwide Outside Guide Award for its storytelling about 25 Black, Indigenous, and folks of colour who’re working to resolve issues on clear air, secure ingesting water, and open areas. Edmondson says that his storytelling fashion places his topics within the driver’s seat, for an genuine expertise that lets the reader join immediately with their phrases and experiences, and not using a intermediary. The next sections are drawn from Edmondson’s interviews with Christopher Joe.
Cattle Farming Meets Ecotourism
“Our first [birds and nature] tour was in February of 2019. I requested Dad, ‘Hey, let’s do that factor about doing excursions,’ and he was all for it. As a result of he’s a former instructor, he thought it was an awesome instructional alternative.
“We wouldn’t be the place we’re proper now with out his blessing. We’re nonetheless doing farming; the cows are nonetheless right here, however I simply added the tourism element to it. We’re getting birders to come back into [Alabama] from all around the nation simply to see our Swallow-tailed and Mississippi Kites and different birds. It’s so good to have nesting Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Prothonotary Warblers right here, along with Pileated Woodpeckers. We truly discovered them on one in all our excursions. There are such a lot of different nesting birds on the property.
“Typically with our excursions, we’ve got instructional teams of all Black college students. They get to see me, a younger Black man that went to high school, nonetheless has his father in his life, and we work collectively on this household land. They get to be taught a bit about entrepreneurship, too, and the way our enterprise works. The youngsters’ faces are like, that is someone that really owns this place and lives right here. They’re not only a farmhand. Us being in that place, I imply, that’s proper up my alley. I can present them, hey I grew up enjoying within the outside. I simply parlayed this into one thing that folks pays us to come back and expertise.
“We had a Black moms and daughters group out of Birmingham. They heard about me by means of social media. They mentioned, ‘Chris, you make us really feel so secure.’ They mentioned, ‘That is serving to us by letting them see a Black male determine together with his dad right here, they usually’re getting alongside.’
“It’s vital to me to have the ability to be one of these position mannequin. I really feel like this birding factor we began is my activity to do for the subsequent era.”—Christopher Joe
The Kites Are Coming
“I believe Dad first began seeing [the kites] round 2018 and 2019. I don’t know what led them to our farm, however I really feel like they kinda discovered us. I’d by no means seen them earlier than then. I used to be like, ‘What kind of chook is that?’ That’s sort of the place our mates at Alabama Audubon helped. They had been like, ‘Yeah, we’ve been watching y’all, we simply couldn’t determine how you can join.’
“I believe extra individuals round Newbern have opened up land that was for timber gross sales and began making wider open areas. Persons are sort of getting out of timber, going again into the cattle market. I believe that open pastureland principally attracts the kites. Mississippi and Swallow-tailed Kites begin exhibiting up within the basic space in Could.
“If I’m a kite flying above, on the lookout for a spot to eat however all the pieces I see is the timber, I’m not touchdown. But when I begin seeing these wide-open rectangles, I’ll decide that out ‘trigger you’ve gotten the habitat with loads of bugs. I don’t know if they will hear Dad’s tractor, however … not lengthy after we begin chopping hay, I imply it’s 25 minutes later and they’re right here. Their nesting space should be inside earshot, as a result of it doesn’t take lengthy for them to get right here.
“We’re in a superb space the place there’s very best habitat, but additionally there’s sufficient waterways with some fairly tall department overhangs for the kites to roost and hunt from.”—Christopher Joe
Kites, Cows, and Conservation
“My administration fashion has at all times been, how can we finest handle the land for the advantage of the cattle? We don’t use any chemical compounds. We don’t spray. We don’t brush fence edges or something like that. We reap the advantages for all of the birds, due to the best way we handle our cows.
“Issues like rotational grazing, the place we put cows in a single space first. [Then] they poop and do all the pieces in that space, creating pure fertilizer earlier than going to the subsequent [area]. That draws bugs, so that you get the cattle egrets, Brown-headed Cowbirds, Japanese Meadowlarks—all out within the pastures with the cows.
“Me realizing the conservation facet of stuff, we’re managing this subject desirous about birds. If we’re gonna reduce hay, we let the seed heads stand up, sure birds like that. Then there’s millet, and different small grains. We made stream crossings within the pastures to the place it makes shallow water. There are egrets and yellowlegs there now.
“Having that conservation thoughts permits me to see the advantages of cattle to chook life.”—Christopher Joe
Species Decline and Feral Hogs
“In my space of the Black Belt, I’m seeing the place invasive species are simply squeezing the life out of the native birds. Feral hogs are an actual huge downside. I can take you to locations the place they root in at evening. It seems like a development crew with a backhoe has been tearing up the land, and I’ll see acres of it. They forage and just about eat all the pieces.
“A number of what I think about to be our anchor birds and plant species that maintain native habitat collectively are disappearing. They’re being pushed out as a result of all their habitat is being destroyed. Hog wallows uproot native vegetation, and lots of these pure areas that after had been intact at the moment are swamps, and also you get beavers in there altering the hydrology. Now that prime habitat is underwater. In order that’s the place we’re shedding species.
“Folks ask, ‘How do you get the birds right here?’ I say it simply comes right down to the way you handle your land. If issues wish to keep in your property, they’ll keep. I’m a mad scientist. I can sort of experiment with what I’ve realized in conservation work on our farm, and it really works.
“Principally we see the profit within the cattle that we raised, as a result of the grass is healthier for them and the water is clear, as a result of we solely use effectively water from the property. The cattle must be wholesome with the intention to look good earlier than going to market. All of it goes again to administration.
“Wholesome cattle, wholesome land, and wholesome soil provides us our superb number of birds.”—Christopher Joe
Go birding down on the Joe farm
The Joe Farm is situated in Newbern, Alabama, about 50 miles south of Tuscaloosa. Christopher Joe gives excursions all year long beginning in late April, coinciding with the height of spring chook migration within the area. Guests have the choice of exploring the land on a hayride or strolling the six miles of trails.
Information about birding on the farm and scheduled events is on the farm web site. As of spring 2026, tour pricing is $35 for adults and free for youth 16 and beneath. birders may contact Christopher Joe immediately by means of a contact kind on the web site.
To see lists of birds seen on the farm, go to the Birds and Nature Tours eBird hotspot. To comply with together with chook sightings and occasions on the farm, comply with @birdsandnaturetours on Instagram or @birdsandnaturechannel on YouTube.
The Joe Farm may also take part in Alabama Audubon’s sixth annual Black Belt Birding Festival from July 31 to August 2.—Marc Devokaitis
