Identify the Image Description!

A Bird City quiz

Dear Friends,

Accessibility is an ever-growing ideal. It includes ramps, yes, but also captions, sign language interpreting, sensory-friendly spaces. It expands from a recognition that every person learns differently, moves differently, communicates differently. It grows not because we are more sensitive, more brittle. It grows as we evolve, becoming more aware and compassionate.

In writing about birds, I strive to show you what I see, to please your ears with the same euphonious sounds I have come to adore. In recounting my love for birds, I strive for you to discover your own. Every decision I make in this project speaks to this central goal. It’s why I write in present tense. It’s why I learn the names of trees, take note of the weather. It’s why I add photos.

It might be a fantastical notion, but I like to imagine my passion for nature rippling infinitely outward. Sweeping across the plains, skipping over mountains, filling swamps and bottomland forests. A transmission of love, passed from human to human, until a grand mass—an unstoppable mass—of people can transform the way we live and bring us into a healthier, more sustainable relationship with nature.

But to do this, we need everyone. And to reach everyone, the message must be accessible.

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Swainson’s Thrush at Mills Pond near Austin, Texas (Photo by Kira Thomas)

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Alternative text, or alt-text for short, is the written translation of an image. It’s an essential accommodation that enables people who are blind or visually impaired to understand the content of every photo and graphic posted on a website or social media platform. (Learn more about alt-text and how to write it.)

In creating each newsletter, I spend significant time crafting alt-text that lives behind every photo I share. I eschew the paltry auto-generated descriptions, which might be as simple as “bird,” and offer instead a holistic portrait of each species. I then sharpen the language to match the quality of my other writing and buff out any redundant details.

Writing alt-text has improved my wordsmithing and expanded my vocabulary. I’ve done some of my best writing in this pursuit of accessibility, and yet it remains hidden from most of you. So, this week I’d like to share a few of my favorite image descriptions, but with a twist!

Test your bird knowledge and try to identify the avian species detailed in each of the following image descriptions. I also included the location and season where you might encounter each bird.

I will post the answers next week. (Or you can email me your thoughts.) Have fun!

Good luck, and enjoy the birds,

Eric

(Note: These descriptions are a bit longer than alt-text typically is and would actually be classified as “long image descriptions.” Though these descriptions seem optimal for my newsletter on Substack, other sites and platforms might call for a more traditional use of alt-text.)