Dear SBS Community Members,In the past 5 years we have offered over 150 events, with over 5000 individual attendees with the majority being free or at cost. We can no longer operate as a fully volunteer run, not for profit so as to adequately pay our facilitators, guides and knowledge holders. As such, we have introduced a membership structure a year ago now to ensure the long-term viability of our organization as well as the space we create and hold for one another. This annual fee (which renews on the day you purchased it) has been crucial in allowing us to:Hire essential seasonal staff person: We aim to consistently pay our Admin Coordinator and Education Director, which will greatly improve our organizational capacity, streamline our operations, acquire further funding and allow us to respond to the communities needs more effectively.Maintain equitable, low-barrier events: Your contributions will enable us to continue offering events at minimal or no cost, making them accessible to all members of our community.Support our mission: This structure will help us uphold our commitment to centering BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ nature lovers, ensuring that Special Bird Service remains a safe, welcoming, and empowering space for our communities.As a member, you'll gain access to a range of inclusive events, workshops, walks and gear discounts.To ensure Special Bird Service remains focused on our core community, our regular events will continue to prioritize BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ members, while allowing space for all to join in support of our mission of making nature more accessible for marginalized communities. We will also host dedicated public events periodically, where all members, including our valued allies, can come together to celebrate our shared love of connection, community and our feathered friends.We believe this membership structure will allow Special Bird Service to thrive and continue to provide a vital community for BIPOC and 2SLGBTQIA+ birders for years to come. We appreciate your understanding and support as we take this important step.More info on sliding scales: These membership tiers are designed to be financially accessible for Black, Indigenous, People of Colour & 2SLGBTQ+ folks while recognizing the different lived experiences in our various communities. A Pay-What-You-Can model ensures that everyone can participate while those with more financial flexibility help sustain our efforts. You self-select your ticket based on your financial situation. There’s no application or justification required—we trust you to choose what’s fair for you.How to Choose Your Ticket LevelConsider the following:Do you experience financial barriers due to systemic inequities (e.g., racial discrimination, disability, migration status, caregiving responsibilities, underemployment)?Do you have generational wealth, property ownership, or financial stability?Do you comfortably afford non-essential expenses like travel or dining out?Have you faced historic financial exclusion due to gender, race, disability, or other systemic factors?No explanations required—choose the tier that best fits your circumstances.Want to contribute extra? Add a donation to help support more accessible memberships, events & opportunities.Still unsure? Choose the highest tier you can afford to support community access.Why This Approach?✅ Recognizes systemic barriers (racial, economic, gendered, etc.)✅ Encourages self-awareness of privilege and financial access✅ Ensures equitable access to nature for historically excluded communities✅ Aligns with SBS’s values of equity, community care, and anti-racismThe following questions are optional and confidential. We collect this information to better understand and serve our community, and to support our ability to receive funding that makes our programs free and low-barrier.In community,Trentön Schulz-Franco & the Special Bird Service Team

Welcome to Migration Minded: Roots & Reverie, the very first volume of our (Special Bird Service) multi-part zine series. This zine series has been a long time coming— five years, to be exact. What formed as a simple idea, a shared spark of inspiration, gradually evolved into something much more meaningful and comprehensive. Producing this zine has been a true labour of love, filled with moments of excitement, frustration, and, above all, a deep sense of purpose to come together, create, learn, and make space.Over the past few years, our team has spent countless hours planning, organizing, and working together to bring this vision to life. There were times when it felt like an impossible task trying to balance creating a zine with our personal lives, but we’ve stuck with it because this project meant something bigger to us than just getting words and images onto a page. It’s about the stories, the connections, and the shared experiences that bind us all together. From brainstorming sessions, many moments of teamwork and collaborating for submissions, to the final edits, each step of this journey has been a reminder of the power of collaboration and the beauty of creating something meaningful as a community.This zine is a reflection of our collective thoughts, passions, and experiences—shaped by our love for nature and the world around us. It’s a project that’s been a long time coming, and we’re excited to finally share it with you. Thanks for being here and supporting us along the way. We hope Migration Minded resonates with you, just as it has with all of us.Roots & Reverie is a space where our foundation and our dreams meet. They holds the tension between where we come from and what we are becoming. Migration is not only about leaving home or distance traveled, but about memory carried—through water, through seasons, through stories. Spring reminds us that return is possible, that the world is renewed again and again. Water teaches belonging without permanence, shaping objects of permanence while remaining in motion. Roots anchor us, even as we drift like kelp to the sea bed, while reverie invites reflection, imagination, and rest like a bird asleep on the wing. Together, they offer permission to arrive softly, to belong without fear of erasure, and to carry what makes home within us, as we move forward.Thank you to all contributors who trusted us with your heartfelt stories of the significance of people and place. The SBS community is made up of so many brilliant and creative beings - and we feel honoured to be trusted to share the unique yet interconnected ways you express yourselves.& thank you to all who have showed up at an SBS event. With your presence, you inspire us to return to the land, to each other and to ourselves, with intention.Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, we view SBS as a fluid and endlessly creative collaboration between you, us and the natural world; what a pleasure to be a part of. Shipping October 11th, 2026.