Central Park birdwatcher who confronted woman about unleashed dog, leading to her losing job, to get Nat Geo show

"The fun of birding is, you never know what you’re going to get," Cooper said in the series trailer. "This is what birding is about." The new series is set to premiere with six episodes on June 17.

The New York Post reports that Cooper is also a scientist and comic book artist and that he expressed gratitude for his platform with NatGeo to "spread the gospel of birding."

On May 25, 2020, Melody Cooper uploaded a video of her brother, Christian, interacting with Amy Cooper.

Amy Cooper was in Central Park’s Ramble with her dog while Christian Cooper was apparently birdwatching. Christian noticed that Amy's dog was off-leash and it is policy in the Ramble to have dogs leashed.

Christian confronted Amy but she initially refused to follow his instruction. Christian then reportedly took out dog treats he said that he kept in his pocket for this kind of situation, as dog owners will typically leash their pets when they go to eat food from a stranger.

At this point in the encounter, which was recorded, Amy Cooper called the police and said, "I'm in The Ramble, and there is a man — African-American, he has a bicycle helmet — he is recording me and threatening me and my dog."

In a now-deleted tweet, Melody Cooper posted the interaction on Twitter and wrote, "Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NYC's Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash."

Amy Cooper leashed her pet and left the park but was branded a racist for the interaction.

Later, the pet adoption agency rescinded her pet adoption, she was doxxed, she lost her job, and she was charged with filing a false report, a misdemeanor. Those charges were dropped in 2021 after she attended therapy for her behavior.

In their promotion of Extraordinary Birder, NatGeo said, "Whether braving stormy seas in Alaska for puffins, trekking into rainforests in Puerto Rico for parrots, or scaling a bridge in Manhattan for a peregrine falcon, he (Christian Cooper) does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above."