Birding is a hobby that anyone, anywhere, can enjoy.

To be a birder requires no travel and no special equipment — even if you live in the middle of the city. Holyoke, Massachusetts — “The Paper City” — is a Massachusetts mill town struggling to find its way in a post-industrial economic landscape. The Birds Downtown is an effort to see the city through a lens of conservation, community exploration, and an appreciation of natural beauty in unlikely places. The birds of this city are as varied and as fascinating as the people who live here. This is their story.