Birding In The Nude
Olaf Danielson, Naturist

Olaf Danielson has made a hobby out of birding without any clothes. Olaf is an author, religious scholar, storyteller and adventurer. He will share some of his favorite stories of seeking out rare and exotic avian wildlife... while naked as a jaybird.

Olaf became a nude birder after a conversation with his publisher. While it wasn't a bet, it was an encouragement from her. They were sitting in her office one day when she asked him what he thought about the movie "The Big Year," that came out years ago. Olaf told her that it was all fine and dandy, but could he see 749 species naked? His publisher then took it upon herself and wrote out a draft contract for a book project. Olaf was confused at first, but then she explained that she wanted him to do a book on the subject and spend the next year seeing how many species of birds he could see while naked.

Olaf wasn't sure he should have said yes to the project, but admits it was fun and he met a lot of interesting people and had interesting adventures along the way, and that is what life's about! He spent about a year nude birding and saw 594 different species of birds. He went from North America to the Caribbean Islands north of 15 degrees, which was a sort of an arbitrary point, but excluded Cuba, because being an American you can't really travel affectively to Cuba, nor would he want to! Olaf wasn't sure how it would work if he didn't include a couple of Caribbean Islands where they have nude beaches.

Most people would be afraid to be out in nature in the buff, but the main concern Olaf had was from bugs, then the coldness, as well as the authorities like the police. He didn't worry about what his mother or wife thought, but there were a lot of things he worried about. So was he worried about what other people thought? Olaf states that it's interesting for what tolerance people have, especially those on the west coast, but it's different for people in the other parts of the country. People on the west coast are a little more tolerant of finding the odd chance encounter of a naked guy on a trail in a national forest.

When Olaf started, he knew there were a lot of places in America where people already go naked. He started there, but to get a better birding total, he had to get out of the naturists clubs and go to more interesting venues, which involved some risk for him getting in trouble.

It all worked out and Olaf didn't get arrested in spite of some encounters where this could have happened. However, a bear did chase him one time on the 4th of July. This bear actually chased him into a photography session at a Hindu wedding. He claims this was a good thing, because while all of the people yelled, "bare, bear," the bear stopped and he snuck around to his car. He says when he first arrived; there were no other cars or people around. Another time, he was also almost shot at in South Texas with his friend. A guy was pointing a gun at them and Olaf thinks they may have accidentally stumbled upon a growing operation. They then spent the rest of the day hiding in the mesquite until dark.

While Olaf did most of his nude birding alone, some of the places required spousal participation, especially in the clothing optional clubs that he went to. Other times he would bring a friend, who is also a birder, who would sometimes take off his clothes too. His friend would stay back on the trail to alert Olaf if someone came bouncing up the trail behind him. He did this by having a coughing fit or even talking to the person who was approaching. This would give Olaf some time to whip out a sari that he carried to cover himself up with, which sometimes garnered him some strange looks.

So having no existing record to pursue, Olaf decided to set up his own rules for NUDE BIRDING. "Being tough but fair," is how he wants to describe his rules.

Here are the rules:

1. You have to be nude to count the bird. Hats and footwear are fine but nothing else. From the knees to the neck, it must be uncovered.

2. You have to have left naked to go birding (or for another nude activity) to count the bird. Seeing a turkey vulture while playing nude volleyball is acceptable, while driving along in a car or walking textile, seeing a bird, and then slipping off your clothing does not count. In fact, being in car doesn't count ever. To count a bird, you will have to go back to car, or house, undress and then return unclothed. For legality reasons, leaving a car walking around a corner and disrobing is acceptable, as long as it wasn't because you saw a new bird.

3. You cannot be inside an enclosed boat, house, or car/truck for it to count. A bird blind must be open to a degree any birder would consider it open. Being naked on an ATV if you left naked on an ATV or even a snowmobile (burr!) is acceptable. If you see a bird and you are walking or driving or riding on an ATV, a boat, canoe, or something like it and you are forced to cover up afterwards for obvious reasons like to avoid arrest, the birds you saw before that count but no birds after that point even if you could take your clothing off again.

4. Birds can count if you see it while located in all states except Hawaii, plus Canada. All Caribbean islands north of fifteen degrees north latitude and the French Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence count as long as the bird species is considered free breeding and with an established population and not domestic. For honesty sake, barrier islands such as Roatan, Cozumel, and Ambergris Key, only count for a kilometer from shore on the mainland side of the islands, or until you can see the mainland, or on close islands, halfway to the mainland, which ever is a shorter distance. Otherwise, you can go out from land to continental shelf. Bermuda does not count, but the Bahamas do. Since he was an American citizen at the time of writing this, he could not legally visit Cuba, so for fairness, Cuba was excluded as well.

A wild Rock Pigeon is fine, even if it is feral. Chickens are not a species. Visiting Barnacle Geese from Greenland are fine as are Skylarks on Vancouver Island, which are established. He didn't think there were any peacock communities that would qualify. Birds in zoos are not free in the sense, so they don't count either. He deferred to the birding associations for determinations.

So why did Olaf alter the territory from the movie? Initially, he wasn't sure how this would work and since it would be hard to bird naked up north for six months, he needed to expand the southern boundaries. Since nudity on the French islands is generally more tolerated than in the USA, he needed to go far enough south to include St. Barths and St Martin. In reality, he only added about one hundred to one hundred and fifty species to the mix, since even the barrier islands of Central America don't have all of the species that the mainland has and fifteen degrees cuts below Honduras and doesn't include Trinidad or Costa Rica.

Olaf is not a big fan of rules but for something like this, you need a little guidance to you going. This is, like all bird counts, on the honor system as in many of the places you will go birding, cameras are forbidden. Since there is no record for this that he could find, he got to make the rules.

So would Olaf recommend nude birding to everyone? He says it's interesting in that it makes you feel one with nature and something you can easily start in your backyard, depending upon where you live. Olaf says he has a bit of a following of some people who will email him their list of birds they have seen - clothing optional. Olaf thinks that it is interesting that there are some people out they who are doing this now!

In his autobiography, Olaf also chronicles his own real-life adventure in "Boobies, Peckers, and Tits," one man's naked perspective, which proves the adage that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

Jeff Jenkins is the ringleader for the Midnight Circus, a pit bull agility performance that shows the often misunderstood dogs in a positive light. He's helping youngsters train their Pit Bulls to do tricks instead of fighting. It brings together acrobats and although it's not an animal circus, the unsung stars of the show are Jeff's two wonderful rescued Pit Bulls, Junebug and Rosie Rae.

Junebug and Rosie Rae are very talented dogs. They jump rope, they jump through hoops and do backflips, as well as comedy bits where the run in and out of their doghouse, opening and closing the doors. They also take Jeff's hat and steal the show!

Unfortunately Pit Bulls are misunderstood and when most people see them, they freak out. But Jeff explains that his show is very theatrical and very contemporary and that his Pit Bulls in his show are a conduit to the community. People usually have those preconceived notions about Pit Bulls, so when they see these dogs in a different light, well-behaved and friendly, and know their back story that they came from a difficult rescue situation, it tends to build that bridge.

Many years ago, Midnight Circus decided they wanted to transform their show into a much more community oriented event. So they partnered with the Park District's "Night Out In The Parks" in the City of Chicago.

Since 2007, Circus In The Parks has played to thousands of attendees. This one of a kind event has raised over $850,000 for local park improvements. Celebrating community, raising funds and rebuilding parks one circus at a time. This allows the parks to do playground renovation and programming.

Midnight Circus isn't the only thing Jeff does. For many years, Jeff ran a program to end dog fighting with the Humane Society of the United States. He primarily worked with young men in Chicago who were at risk, or were involved with dog fighting, engaging them in a positive way.

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Listen to the entire Podcast of this show (#1239)