Brother Man of the Month: Keith Russell
February 5, 2012By Sid Holmes
Keith Russell
Smooth brown skin, mustache, closely cropped hair and outfitted from head to toe in black boots, jeans, shirt and leather jacket, Keith Russell could be any ordinary urban African American male.
But just as Russell’s appearance belies his age – he looks 15 years younger – it also offers no clue to his occupation, which is worthy of stumping even the savviest panelist on the old game show ‘What’s My Line?’
As an ornithologist (a “birder” in the parlance of the profession) his stock and trade are our feathered friends that most of us barely notice, save for a brief listen to a chirp, a song or a passing glance as they fly to and fro.
The oldest of seven siblings, two boys and five girls, Russell has been enamored of birds for as long as he can remember while growing up in Philadelphia. But the spark leading him to his current a job as Science and Outreach coordinator for Audubon Pennsylvania was struck by a third grade book report. “All I remember is going to the library and looking at bird books,” he smiles.
His parents – father, a University of Pennsylvania graduate and USDA research chemist, and a Temple-grad, stay-at-home mother – did their best to encourage their son, supplying Russell with a pair of Sears binoculars, buying him watercolors to paint his obsession, and occasionally ferrying him to locations where he could observe birds in their various habitats.
“Education was extremely important to my parents,” Russell says, rattling off a list of activities punctuating his childhood, including art lessons and music school. “They supplemented what I learned in school with as much education as they could.”
By the sixth grade Russell was a regular visitor at the Academy of Natural Sciences (the nation’s oldest natural history museum), finding a mentor in a member of the exhibits department, and selling his own paintings of birds to his Mt. Airy neighbors.
A man living literally around the corner from his home, “one of the most well known and well-respected birders in Philadelphia,” took Russell on field trips throughout the region and to meetings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC), America’s oldest organization for birders and bird enthusiasts.
“I burned up his phone,” Russell says, recalling his neighbor’s patience, and how constant reinforcement was instrumental in guiding him towards his career path. “Mentors and parental support, that translates no matter who you are; you connect with a community and that was everything to me.”
At 17, Russell joined the DVOC, the first black member of an organization that at the time had a no-admittance policy for women. Upon high school graduation and fueled by scholarships, he entered Cornell University based on the “tremendous reputation” of its Lab of Ornithology, pursuing a degree in biology and setting the stage for a master’s degree in zoology from Clemson University.
Returning to Philadelphia, for ten years and based on a tip from his museum mentor who suggested that he apply for the position, Russell worked as Collection Manager for Exhibits at the Academy of Natural Sciences, then joined the ornithology department as Assistant Editor for ‘The Birds of North America,’ a publication compiling modern life history information for over 700 species of North American birds.
Russell’s past 11 years have involved conservation activities with the National Audubon Society, first as a biologist in its science office for the Important Bird Area Program and, since 2006, in his current Philadelphia-based position, spreading the gospel of habitat preservation and restoration, in collaboration with other organizations like the city’s zoo.
Most recently he’s been involved in a research project about bird collisions with buildings. (They are fooled by reflections in windows.) For three years Russell has monitored a three-and-a-half square block area of Center City dominated by skyscrapers, documenting numerical and species data on the hundreds of birds killed annually during the spring and fall migration periods.
“If you’re a birder, you’re naturally interested in conservation,” Russell points out, adding that his fellow bird lovers share a simple rationale for devoting their lives to studying their subjects. “There’s something about them that they find fascinating. Birds are beautiful creatures.”
Being engaged in a profession where African Americans are few and far between is nothing new to Russell. “You get used to it, like it’s no big deal,” he says, noting that for high school he and his siblings all attended the private Germantown Friends School, and are grads of Brown, Penn, Princeton, etc. They enjoy careers in teaching, marketing, banking and more. “I didn’t find that funny,” he says of his life’s journey. “My parents had us all understand that all people are equal and there are no ‘special’ children.”
He gives all the credit for his and his siblings’ success to his parents who did not constrain their interests – even if they did not understand their children’s passions. “They allowed each of us to be who we were. They are the most important reason why I am able to do this today,” he says, adding that their experience holds an example for today’s parents, whose children have an array of career choices they can imagine and pursue – if they prepare themselves.
“We as black folks need to have a broader range of interests if each one of us is going to find a niche in life that allows us to utilize and be appreciated for the unique talents we all possess as individuals. Not everybody can rap, play basketball or cut hair.”
