Let’s Talk About Birds
In the morning, birds need time to sing. Due to climate change and new priorities, humans are getting up earlier. Birds compete with the noises of humans. The Northern Mockingbird, Cardinal, and Blue Jay are ones to get up earlier to get that morning feed. Beauty that encompasses these animals in flight begins with noticing how beautiful they truly are.
I wouldn’t say I am a naturalist, but I have come to appreciate birds and how they interact in nature. Birds are roaming the Earth in unimaginable ways by migrating from one end of the Earth to the other. Migrations are amazing to see from south Louisiana. The brightest and most numerous species of birds come in the spring where food is plentiful in the deep south. As soon as I walk outside, I can always hear the occasional high pitch Carolina Chickadee whizzing by trees looking for the next spot to perch or a cardinal showing its bright plumage on a nearby tree. The occasional Robin can be seen foraging on ground seeds and millets from the birdfeeder and a house finch can be noticed with its bright red belly.
My relationship with birding has changed amid the global pandemic. Quoted from the National Audubon Society, birding is a popular social distancing activity. I have tried to emulate this activity in a way to keeps me safe, explores nature in-depth, and justifies sound science. Birding (or birdwatching) keeps our brain in a steady mental state available to accomplish other tasks ahead of our day. When boredom starts, that is an opportunity to birdwatch and reset. This steady choice can improve our mood and simplify our focus on what needs to happen.
Birds are always performing. There is a song and a dance. Now it is becoming easier to classify and documents the birds you see. Apps such as E Bird and Merlin Bird ID have taken us to a place from bird watching to birding. There is more momentum around birding as an outdoor hobby. Birding can fit into the outdoor or mindfulness content space. When discovering more species, varieties, and songs from birds a lightbulb feeling will turn on. Birds have always been singing, you have only come to notice them now.
Time will tell how long this global pandemic will last and its effect the biosphere. For now it begs the question:
How much do you know about your friends on the windowsill or at the birdfeeder?
