The Eckelberry Fellowship winner - Isaiah Scott

The Eckelberry Fellowship

The Eckelberry Fellowship supports the work of wildlife artists through small grants, promoting nature as a subject of reverence and conservation.

Meet Isaiah Scott of @ikesbirdinghikes the 2021 Eckelberry fellow! Isaiah is an artist, photographer and rising star in the North American birding scene (he's a birding guide in his home state of Georgia and an active voice in the #birdnamesforbirds initiative), and he's only a high school senior! Headed to Cornell this fall, it's fitting that his grant project will focus on birds, and also fill a gap in birding history: his goal is to research and illustrate a cultural and field guide to the historic Gullah Geechee culture heritage Corridor (along the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern Florida). "I have a desire to research the birds of these areas and how they connect to the people. How birds were affected by plantations and slave cultivation, how birds may have played a role in slave agriculture, what kind of birds did slaves see every day on the plantations, and how birds inspired them and are significant to their culture. I will specifically research the Gullah Geechee people whose roots can be traced back to Barbados," he says. The grant will fund travel expenses for field illustration, potentially taking him to Barbados as part of the book research. We are thrilled to support this innovative, original project and look forward to Isaiah's journey. We hope you do, too. Images: Isaiah in the field; his Bobolink; his self portrait with birds.