I started birdwatching last year, out of a growing impulse to connect with something deeper, something more rhythmic. In the space of a little more than a year, I feel like a new layer has been added to my life.
My world is now full of new sounds and ideas and textures.
When I pick up a new bird sound with the Merlin app on my phone, I feel a new moment of delight. Yesterday, I heard a mockingbird near our house for the first time. And days when I don’t hear the sounds of bickering finches or the harmonic chords of black phoebes or robins feel flat now.
Now, whenever I don’t fill the feeder, it feels like the world has gone dead quiet.
And birding has led to local adventures, like finding a double-crested cormorant in a nearby park.
I came across these passages by the wonderful David Allen Sibley in his introduction to Amy Tan’s book The Backyard Bird Chronicles and it eloquently captures what birding has opened up for me:
“In the same way that having a friend in a distant city heightens our awareness of things that happen there, getting to know birds adds meaning and context to everything that is affecting their lives. We notice rain, wind, insects, frogs.
We become attuned to plant communities – the countless variations of “woods” and “fields” and “mudflats,” each preferred by different species of birds. We think about dinosaurs (the ancestors of birds), ice ages, ocean currents, continental drift, and evolution.
We think about geography; even in a California backyard like Amy Tan’s, it is possible to see birds that spend part of their year as far away as Alaska and Argentina.
Birdwatching is ostensibly about finding and identifying different species, and there is great satisfaction in learning the birds and how they fit together with one another and with their environment. But I think there is more.
I think the most basic reason we enjoy birdwatching (and the same reason we enjoy other outdoor hobbies like gardening and fishing) is that it directs our attention outside, where we see the sunrise, feel cool mist or hot sun, watch an approaching storm, get bitten by mosquitoes, taste wild blackberries, and so on.
It fulfills a deep and instinctive urge to plug into the rhythms of what is happening around us. It makes us part of something larger and gives us a sense of place on earth.”
I couldn’t have put it better myself.
I feel like exploring this new interest has been a deepening of my connection to the world.
And I can’t believe I wasted so many years paying such little attention to birds.
But this new window has now opened, a window that is accessible to all of us, because all of us can look up into the sky and wonder at the faith of a little bird, flying across continents, guided by some instinct, guided by something deep inside, and try to sense where in us is that homing instinct, which pulls us towards our true north.
If you are interested in birdwatching, you may enjoy this piece on how I got started.
If you have a smartphone, the easiest way to start birdwatching is to download the free Merlin app from Cornell Lab. I use it most often to record bird sounds and identify them. It’s like Shazam for bird sounds!
You may also enjoy What watching a bird has to do with being creative.
And if it’s not nature, but something else that is calling to you, let your love for it pull you forward!
Ritu Kaushal is the author of the book The Empath’s Journey and a Silver Medal Awardee at the Rex Awards, co-presented by the United Nations in India. Find more about Ritu HERE.
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