Well-Deserved

It was just two years ago this month when an officious New York City woman named Amy Cooper (not to be confused with Amy Farrah Fowler Cooper of The Big Bang Theory) made a big bang of notoriety for herself in Central Park by calling 911 to report a Black man on a charge of Being A Black Man.

Ms Cooper was dropping that dime on Christian Cooper, an inveterate bird watcher who happens to be Black. With nary a scintilla of evidence, she told 911 that "I'm in the Ramble. And there is a man, African American — he has a bicycle helmet. He's recording me and threatening me and my dog."

Mr Cooper was recording her throwing her hissy fit, all right. Neither he nor his dog did anything to Ms Cooper, who was charged with a third-degree misdemeanor for making a false report. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office says it dropped the charge after Amy Cooper completed five restorative justice sessions, which I guess is what we here on Earth call "Community Service." 

Ms Cooper has now descended back into the sea of anonymity, while Mr Cooper has a new show set to air on National Geographic. Viewers will go along with him into the "wild, wonderful and unpredictable world of birds," according to National Geographic, in a series called "Extraordinary Birder."

"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 does whatever it takes to learn about these extraordinary feathered creatures and show us the remarkable world in the sky above," the network said in a statement about the show, which has no announced premiere date yet.

Mr Cooper told the New York Times he's been into bird-watching since the age of 10, and says he "was all in" when National Geographic came to him some time ago to see if he would like to do a TV show. "I love spreading the gospel of birding," he told the Times.

Meanwhile, Amy Cooper is waiting for a call from the people at ABC - the Annoying Busybody Channel - about hosting a show where she and her dog make more false calls.