By Vanessa Johnston

WASHINGTON (Reuters), Rodney Stotts, master falconer, has written a memoir about his transformation from street drug dealer in Washington to wildlife expert. His goal is to help others find peace and solace within nature.

    “I went from ‘flipping birds’ – selling cocaine – to flying birds, and the destruction that I used to cause in that life,” Stotts said. “I am just trying to make amends.”

    In his new memoir “Bird Brother,” the 51-year-old credits the “healing power of wildlife” for transforming his life.

    As a young man in one of Washington’s roughest neighborhoods, Stotts had little to live for. Stotts wrote that his father was dead, that his mother was addicted and that many of his friends had died due to gun violence.

He expected that he would end up in prison or death.

    But a 1992 initiative to clean up the Anacostia River, led by Hollywood filmmaker and conservationist Bob Nixon, changed everything.

    Nixon hired nine young helpers from a nearby public housing community, including Stotts. Nixon spent many years wading through river water, cleaning out trash, and learning more about birds of Prey.

   The group helped bring bald eagles back to the city. Stotts began to be more interested in caring for birds than dealing with drugs over time.

    “The more I moved away from it, the happier I seemed to get,” Stotts recalled.

    Skeptics had scoffed at Nixon’s decision to hire inner city youths, but Nixon said Stotts’ story had proved him right.

   “He’s exactly the same. Nixon shared his thoughts about Stotts’ first encounter in 1990.

    Becoming a master falconer requires passing a state test and finding a sponsor to learn the ins-and-outs of falconry: the ethics of the sport; how to identify, trap and care for the birds; and how to release them back into the wild.

    Many potential sponsors did not take Stotts seriously, he said.

    “I called this guy. “I called this guy. He stated, “You sound like a Black man.” I replied, “I am.” Stotts remembered that he said “Black people don’t fly birds. Y’all eat them.” 

    Eventually he found a sponsor, and last June earned the designation of “master falconer.”

    On a recent May evening, the Capital Guardian Youth Challenge Academy – a program for young school dropouts – worked to build an aviary for birds in rehabilitation in Laurel, Maryland.

    Thirty years after their first meeting, Stotts and Nixon are passing their knowledge to the next generation.

   “I tell people, ‘Go to a creek and just sit and listen to the water for 10 minutes. Stotts suggested that everyone should turn their phones off.

    “That old saying, ‘Stop and smell the roses’? Stop. Stop.