Why bird watch

Sitting and watching the birds forces you to be mindful, turn off your mobile phone and concentrate on the here and now. Switching off completely can have damaging effects on our minds and bodies.

Getting out into the fresh air for a walk in the park, or a visit to your local RSPB site to watch the birds can have a powerful impact on your brain. The benefits of meditation are well known and if you think about it, there are many parallels to bird watching. Both activities force you to sit still, to be quiet and to eliminate distractions. Plus, as you gaze out your mind will automatically wander, allowing you time to process the hustle and bustle of your busy day. Kids love learning about nature too!

Birding with a loved one can be a lot of fun and promote bonding. Pin Share Thank you for writing this post. I read and know all the health benefits of bird watching…. Leave a Reply Cancel reply. May 11, May 30, All you really need to go bird watching are eyes and birds.

A good field guide is also free of electricity demands. Of course, bird watching is more fun with a camera and a bit of gas in the car.

Regardless, the point remains…maintaining a birding blog is high tech, but spotting the birds is not. The result of this avian abundance is the sheer diversity of even the most common species in your area. Start writing down the birds you see in an average month and you will easily identify twenty or more species. Because of migratory patterns, many locales may see hundreds of different types in a year.

All you have to do is pay attention. Beautiful, fascinating birds are everywhere in startling numbers. You see them everyday. No Regrets! Undoubtedly, I am leaving out a bunch of key places. Just think of all the birding opportunities that we missed. We are chagrined to look back and wonder who was gliding overhead or pecking the ground about our feet.

In fact, for three whole decades we have been walking around, going places, seeing sights, driving back and forth across the country, paying no attention at all to our feathered friends. If you sit on your porch and look up for long enough, you may spot something interesting flying overhead.

If you want to see birds, you need to meet them in their element. This is a good thing. Few things are as nourishing to the body, mind, and soul as a direct experience of the natural world. We all need wild places. Part of the beauty of these birding excursions is the guaranteed variety of your surroundings. If you want to see waterfowl, explore a marsh or wetland. For shorebirds, hit the beach. Warblers and tree-clingers love trees, so plan a trip to the nearest forest.

And when migration season rolls around, and the valleys are rich with raptors, you would be wise to climb a mountain and enjoy the view. Birding does not have to be an extreme sport.

There are plenty of low-impact opportunities to spot birds in parks and sanctuaries in nearly every community. However, for those of you that are willing to work up a sweat, the deeper you get into the wilderness, the closer you will be to the places that many rare birds dwell.

The added bonus of observing a bird in its natural setting, far from the chaos of the modern world, is priceless. This is not to say that interested parties cannot watch birds from the comfort of their sofas. Backyard birding is very popular and affords birders a chance to enjoy their hobby even when they cannot escape domestic responsibilities. But for most of us, the view from our windows is not enough. Have you noticed how, after the field guides and optics, birding equipment is very similar to hiking equipment?

So grab your sunscreen and bug spray, put on your best boots and get out there. The fresh air will do you good. These contrary individuals are undoubtedly birders at heart. Many bird watchers, especially members of the lister and twitcher branches of the avian observation family, place a value on their sightings in direct proportion to the challenge of laying eyes on the prize. Virtually everyone can be seduced by the thrill of the hunt. The ideal companion, a great parking spot, the flea market find of the century…we all want something desperately.

The more intense this desire is, the more exhilarating its fulfillment. Birding encourages that kind of desire and commands the effort needed to satisfy this desire. They check the lists, cross-reference the season, comb the Rare Bird Alerts for good measure, and read up on the habits of their quarry. Birders eagerly study species habitat, diet, song, markings, migration, nesting, and breeding.

As an exercise in perception, birding is much tougher than hunting. This may seem like a pedantic distinction in an already marginal world, but it matters—though the two terms bleed into each other. Crudely put, bird-watchers look at birds; birders look for them. Huge numbers of people are bird-watchers; the United States Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that something like forty-eight million Americans watch birds. Of those, only a tiny fraction have the time, money, and obsessive devotion for hardcore birding.