Opportunities for Renewal with Birds
By Pat Phillips
Summer is generally a quieter time for birding. The excitement of migration has abated, and most birds are focused on raising young, maintaining territories, and procuring food. This pause provides those who enjoy birds and birding the opportunity to take time to slow down.
On a morning during the last week of June, I had the good fortune to watch the sunrise over the salt marshes on Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. There, I found myself surrounded by a symphony of sound created by a myriad of avian species. Piping American Oystercatchers, raucous Laughing Gulls, ratcheting Clapper Rails, yipping Black Skimmers, and buzzing Seaside Sparrows sang out their greetings to the new day. Visually, it was as if I were standing in a living watercolor amidst the blue sky, the green marsh grass, and the white sand, punctuated by scores of egrets, pelicans, dowitchers, swallows, herons, towhees and other species. It was a special moment of total immersion in which I felt fully present.
Afterward, I reflected on the fact that in recent months, it has been a challenge to escape the daily onslaught of negative news. Bellicose pronouncements and actions, elimination or diminishment of programs supporting international relations, education, the environment, and support for the needy or repressed have led to a period in which chaos and long-term damage are being done to people and to virtually every institution.
For our well-being, it becomes vital to periodically step away from the overwhelming roar of discord reported by news outlets and on social media. Stepping away from this steady diet enables us to reconnect with aspects of our lives that uplift and renew our spirits.
In the late 1970s, a British physician noted the beneficial effects of watching birds, coining the term Ornitherapy. The therapeutic impact of observing and even identifying birds was described as comforting and as effective as any drug for those feeling despondent.
Taking time away from your typical routine to focus on the visual, aural, behavioral, and environmental wonders of avian life can be completely immersive. It may quiet the stressful thoughts of a demanding world and permit one to be open to the natural world about us. This kind of respite is needed now more than ever. Whether participating in citizen science by recording numbers and species observed via eBird, choosing to engage in the more reflective practices of Mindful, Meditative, and Slow Birding, or simply taking time to enjoy birds, the opportunity to unplug from stress and distractions of living in a complex world offers some relief.
This is not a call to put our heads in the sand and ignore the turmoil around us, but rather a chance to quiet our minds so that we may better approach the challenges confronting all of humanity.
So, step away from your computer, put away the cell phone, and turn off the television for a while, and go birding. You and all of us will be all the better for it! Happy birding!
Header photo credit: © annathn (iNaturalist user) licensed under CC-BY-NC