Birdwatching — Why Bother?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved the outdoors. As a little girl, I would drive my parents crazy with my affinity for climbing trees to ridiculous heights (sorry, Mom and Dad). I loved the serenity of sitting in the treetops, soaking in the sights and sounds of the natural world around me.
One day in particular, I remember reading a book while nestled in the crook of my favorite climbing tree. As I turned a page, a flutter of motion in the leaves above me drew my attention. There, just a few feet away — a small gray bird with a white underbelly and a brushy crest. It cocked its head and chirped, a nasally tsee-tsee-tsee sound. As I watched it in awe, its huge black eyes seemed to stare eagerly back at me, brimming with unspoken watchfulness. I held my breath, not daring to move until the tiny bird lost interest in our silent staring contest and fluttered off to another tree.
After that experience, my fascination with birds began to flourish. So many things about them enrapture me — the capacity for flight; the wide spectrum of colors; the medley of songs and calls; and perhaps most of all, the immense intelligence, speed, and agility packaged inside their tiny bodies. Like humans, all birds are individuals, and it never ceases to amaze me how such a small being can house such tangible consciousness. Armed with a simple bird identification guide, I learned to name the most common species in my neighborhood — American robin, Northern cardinal, blue jay, dark-eyed junco, gray catbird, and, of course, the tufted titmouse that inspired it all.
As I’ve discovered, however, my love for birdwatching is not at all universal. When I first tried to recount stories about the birds at my backyard feeder to my friends, they would smile and nod halfheartedly while subtly giving me the “what-are-you-talking-about-why-in-the-world-would-this-interest-you” look.
After all, there is little apparent excitement to birdwatching. The majority of time is spent waiting, and the thrill of a new sighting can easily be dampened as the bird in question is inevitably obscured by branches or blurry binoculars. Even the most clearly visible bird lacks a certain dramatic quality that many of us expect from animals. We revel at aquarium dolphins that jump through hoops, prairie dogs that pop in and out of holes as if in a game of Whac-A-Mole, and elephants that eat peanuts out of our hands at the zoo. At first glance, on the other hand, all birds seem to do is fly about spastically and peck at birdseed — what’s so interesting about that?
Personally, I think the beauty of birdwatching lies in its subtlety. When I first step foot into the forest, I never sense the living energy around me right away. For those first few minutes, I see what many other people what see — a still, uninteresting landscape with a few pretty trees and nothing more. Perhaps the likes of National Geographic and Planet Earth have misled us into believing that nature is one huge cinematic orchestration designed specifically for our entertainment. We expect to see movie-like shots of exotic flora and fauna, and when we don’t get that right away, we lose interest. Through birdwatching, however, I have developed the patience to look past that initial guise of inactivity and see the hidden beauty behind it.
Little by little, the complexity of the world around me unfolds through minute details, such as the steadfast downy woodpecker drilling a hole in a high treetop, the elegant silhouette of a flying swallow framed against the sky, and the raspy mew of a gray catbird in the distance. I leave the frantic pace of everyday life behind. I quit expecting the world to personally cater to my craving for entertainment. I stop, breathe, and find tranquility in the reminder that I am just a small part of something much, much bigger.
Especially at a time when human society seems to be growing more and more detached from nature, I think birdwatching is worth a try for anyone who is looking for a calming and rewarding hobby. There are, of course, extreme birdwatchers who spend thousands of dollars and travel thousands of miles in search of new sightings to check off on their “birding bucket lists.” The American Birding Association’s “Big Year” challenge, for example, asks participants to dedicate an entire year toward sighting as many different bird species as possible. The record stands at a whopping 784, recorded by John Weigel in 2016. Aside from this extreme, however, the recreation can be just as suitable for a casual pastime, and it is becomingly accessible for birders of all levels of expertise.
There is a variety of birding resources available for beginning birdwatchers, both in print and online. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology provides an extensive bird guide on its website that provides information on appearance, habitat and range, diet, behavior, conservation status, etc. for species from 75 different families. Merlin, their app for bird identification, is also an extremely useful tool that determines potential matches for a user-sighted bird based on a photo or a short questionnaire.
Additionally, the National Audubon Society is a national organization focused on avian conservation. On top of a bird guide and a mobile app, it offers regular news updates on conservation, science, technology, and advocacy. With nearly 500 local chapters, it also offers extensive opportunities to engage in community science and volunteer work.
And, of course, there will always remain the endless wonder that birds can offer to the naked eye, all tools and resources forgotten. Every once in a while, I find myself flooded anew with an overwhelming appreciation for the elegance and complexity of this unassuming life form. These are the moments of clarity that remind me why I love to birdwatch, even if a few branches and blurry binoculars cloud my vision along the way.
Works Cited
“About Us.” Audubon. National Audubon Society, 2019, https://www.audubon.org/about. Accessed 7 Feb. 2019.
“About Us.” The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 2019, http://www.birds.cornell.edu/page.aspx?pid=1609. Accessed 7 Feb. 2019.
“Big Year Standings.” NARBA, 2018, http://narba.org/big-year-standings. Accessed 7 Feb. 2019.
Blakemore, Erin. “Extreme Birdwatching Is a Thing, and This Could Be Its Greatest Year Ever.” Smithsonian.com, 21 Sept. 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/extreme-birdwatching-thing-and-could-be-its-greatest-year-ever-180960536/. Accessed 7 Feb. 2019.
+++
To learn more about making your voice heard, visit us at our website. To take action, sign and share our petition to safeguard science in our schools, communities, and futures. To be a part of our conversation, join us on Twitter@ScienceTeens, on Instagram at scienceteens, and on Snapchat at march4science.
