SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
What do you want to be when you grow up? Children get asked this all the time. Even if they have a passion for something, it's hard for them to know what that dream job would be like and, all too often, don't have an adult who can show them. NPR's Janet Woojeong Le set out to change that by introducing a 7-year-old in Philadelphia to a working professional.
CALEB TOWNSEND: Binoculars deploy.
JANET WOOJEONG LE, BYLINE: Meet Caleb Townsend.
CALEB: Okie dokie. All suited up.
LE: In his bright blue waterproof jacket, holding in his small hands a pair of binoculars that hang around his neck because today, he's going on a bird walk.
CALEB: It looks like it's stopped raining, so - outside.
LE: Caleb loves nature, and he wants to be a conservation scientist. His latest obsession?
CALEB: Well, I just really got interested in birds because I thought they were really cool. And I want to study all types of animals.
LE: I was moved by his curiosity. And it made me wonder - what would it take for him to hold on to his dream? Which led us to the Audubon Discovery Center in Philadelphia.
KEITH RUSSELL: Oh, look. Here comes a ring-necked duck right there. You see him?
CALEB: Oh, yeah. I see him.
RUSSELL: Cool.
CALEB: His wings are like (imitating duck wings flapping).
RUSSELL: (Laughter).
LE: That other voice you hear is Keith Russell. He's a conservation scientist at Audubon.
RUSSELL: We're here basically to protect birds.
LE: He says, every so often, he sees kids like Caleb lose interest in nature from getting teased or made fun of by their friends.
RUSSELL: When you're growing up, there's a lot of pressure to fit in.
LE: He says he understands those hurdles. Russell, too, was once in Caleb's shoes - a young bird lover in Philadelphia who could have used a mentor.
RUSSELL: There's expectations that Black folks do this and Black folks don't do that. And that's been a real barrier for Black folks to get into birding. So it's really important to have support and to, you know, be with people that understand your interests.
LE: So I asked Keith Russell if he could be that person for Caleb. And one Monday morning in early spring, he invited Caleb and his mom on his bird walk...
Well, you're going to go walking along with Keith now.
...Down the Discovery Center's nature trail, a patch of green at the heart of the city.
CALEB: How did you get so passionate and just fall in love with birds?
RUSSELL: I got interested in birds when I was in the first grade. My parents got me some binoculars. They also got me a bird book, and they also found someone that lived in our neighborhood that knew about birds. That person took me out on bird walks and helped me to learn more about birds.
CALEB: OK. What do you love most about your job?
RUSSELL: Well, I think the thing that I love most is just being able to share my love of birds with other people and help them with their interest in birds, too.
CALEB: Keep walking.
LE: With his bird book and binoculars tucked into his jacket, Russell takes Caleb down the muddy trail...
RUSSELL: Come over here a little bit.
LE: ...Lined by tall trees that wrap around the water.
CALEB: It's a sycamore - my favorite tree.
LE: He explains to Caleb that Philadelphia is part of a major migratory path for ducks and other water birds that arrive every spring.
RUSSELL: That's a coot.
CALEB: A coot?
RUSSELL: Yeah. It's not a duck, but it swims. I'll show you the picture.
LE: Russell flips through his bird book and points to Caleb.
RUSSELL: It's black, and it has a white bill.
CALEB: Oh.
RUSSELL: And there it is, swimming in the water.
CALEB: Wow.
LE: As they hike in the rain, Russell teaches Caleb that if you want to be a conservation scientist and study birds, you have to be patient.
RUSSELL: You hear that bird going (imitating bird call)?
CALEB: Yep. I hear it. You have really good hearing.
RUSSELL: Well, it's important to know the sounds that the birds make 'cause so often you hear birds, but you never see them.
LE: To get a closer look, Russell tells Caleb that he goes on walks like this every season to survey local and migratory birds. His goal is to protect more than 1 billion birds that die each year from flying into windows.
RUSSELL: So we here at the Discovery Center have a lot of ropes in front of the windows, and we have dots on the windows.
CALEB: You know, I did put stickers up on my window from keeping the night birds and the day birds from flying into the windows.
RUSSELL: Oh, that's very clever. Thank you for doing that. I'm sure the birds are happy, too, that they're not going to fly into your windows.
LE: Caleb learned a lot from the bird walk. He tells Russell that he wants to follow in his footsteps - go to school for biology and someday work in conservation science.
RUSSELL: I must say he knows a lot for 7. He's doing well in terms of his knowledge. That's for sure.
LE: It's starting to rain harder, and Caleb is having a hard time seeing through his binoculars.
CALEB: Ah. I think I need a wipe again.
RUSSELL: Yeah.
LE: Russell wipes Caleb's lenses...
RUSSELL: Here's what I do.
LE: ...And shares one trick of the trade.
RUSSELL: When I'm not looking at something, I just put them in here and...
CALEB: Oh.
RUSSELL: ...Hold them there.
CALEB: Aha.
LE: On our walk back, Caleb, on his own, tucks his binoculars into his jacket...
CALEB: Yay.
LE: ...A trick he just learned from his new mentor.
CALEB: Hello. We're back.
LE: Janet Woojeong Le, NPR News, Philadelphia. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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