Mindfulness and birding
Birding has always been about noticing and recording birds in the landscapes they inhabit. It’s something that can happen anywhere: car parking lot, mountain trail, touristy beach, back-porch at home, etc. Watching birds is not just about naming or listing, it can also be a way of slowing down, of connecting with nature, of being present. Maybe it is sometimes a kind of "meditation on nature". By blending mindfulness techniques with birding, I’ve found that the experience can be restorative for mind and body.
Mindfulness is about being here in the moment—aware of what’s happening within us and around us—without judgment. When I bring this kind of attention to birding (....or "naturing" in general), something shifts. Also, birding (like hunting) provides many opportunities to "be still" and in ''total focus'' in nature. Sometimes you really need to spend a long time "waiting" (its not waiting, it can become a meditation). Patience, perserverance, detachement (perhaps a kind of ''zen state''). Really, when the sparks fly, you see something well or get totally lost in the observation...you do get into a zen state. Amazing how that happens.
I was surprised to find such a thing as the Mindful Birding Network (hailing from North America, as many good thing do...).
So what I've been thinking on a lot, does actually exist. The Mindful Birding Network describes ''Mindful Birding as combining mindfulness techniques with bird observation...''. Personally, I often feel a sense of stillness and clarity when I practice time alone in nature, especially targetted observation or hunting-like excersize like birding. Research backs this up, pointing to improved focus, cognition, and wellbeing—but even without the studies, the benefits are something I feel in my own body and mind. And the "mindfulness" techniques (from simple breathwork, meditation, even soft chanting seem to help). Please don't see this as woo woo hippiness on my part (or not quite yet...).
Sometimes, when mindful birding, identifying birds isn’t the main goal (or more correctly it is not a 'constant' goal; it ebbs and flows). Instead, one tries to let the birds (and the scene) guide him/her: to notice their movements, their calls, their presence—and to notice, too, how one responds, how one feels inside. Traditional birding skills are still important, of course. Identifying species, listening and keeping records remain invaluable for a birder. But I’ve learned that it can be just as meaningful to set aside the urge to name every bird and simply be in nature, with the birds. Listen to the birds. Simply be in nature (nature is everywhere; but particularly nature away from the urban).
In those moments - in nature - the practice becomes something more than birding. It becomes a conversation or a meditation or a ''connecting session''. I find myself reflecting on how I feel—physically, emotionally—as I walk, sit, search. As is snap pics with my digitals. The birds, in their freedom and wildness, remind me to slow down, to pay attention, and to connect. In this way, they become guides not just in the field of birding, but in life.
And because this is a science blog, some notes and refs:
Association of Nature & Forest Therapy Guides (ANFT). https://www.anft.earth/
Dose of Nature. https://www.doseofnature.org.uk/
The Mindful Birding Network. https://www.themindfulbirdingnetwork.com/
Mark Bonta (2010)
Ornithophilia: Thoughts on Geography in Birding, Geographical Review, 100:2,
139-151, DOI: 10.1111/j.1931-0846.2010.00018.x
Cox, D. T. C., Shanahan, D. F., Hudson, H. L., Fuller, R. A., Anderson, K., Hancock, S., & Gaston, K. J. (2017). Doses of neighborhood nature: The benefits for mental health of living with nature. BioScience, 67(2), 147–155. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biw173
Cox, D. T. C., Plummer, K. E., Shanahan, D. F., Siriwardena, G. M., Fuller, R. A., & Gaston, K. J. (2018). The health benefits of watching nature: birds and wellbeing. BioScience, 68(7), 474–485. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy043
Hammoud, R., Heisz, J. J., & Paolucci, N. (2023). Birdwatching and well-being: A cross-sectional study of recreational birders. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 87, 101997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101997
Luck, G. W., Davidson, P., Boxall, D., & Smallbone, L. (2011). Relations between urban bird and plant communities and human well-being and connection to nature. Conservation Biology, 25(4), 816–826. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2011.01685.x
Nilsson, M., & Berglund, B. (2006). Soundscape quality in suburban green areas and city parks. Acta Acustica United with Acustica, 92(6), 903-911.Kaplan, R., & Kaplan, S. (1989). The experience of nature: A psychological perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Ratcliffe, E., Gatersleben, B., & Sowden, P. (2013). Bird sounds and their contributions to perceived attention restoration and stress recovery. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 221–228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.08.004
In To See Every Bird on the Earth Dan Koeppel asks, “Why does obsession exist? Is it to fill our empty spaces? Does it work?” His answer: “Birds show us what nature is. Not just physically, but as an idea. As something we love, something we value (Bonta 2010).
BONUS
I leave you with some words from some students of nature and life, who have been so inspired by the birds...
“How I Go to the Woods”
Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend, for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable. I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds or hugging the old black oak tree. I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours. Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost un-hearable sound of the roses singing. If you have ever gone to the woods with me, I must love you very much.
~ Mary Oliver
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Let me keep my mind on what matters, which is my work, which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.
~ Mary Oliver
Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) -American poet (Pulitzer Prize 1984; National Book Award 1992).
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The sheer ubiquity of birds makes them almost unavoidable. Birds are the always-present possibility of an awakening to the natural world that too many people have not yet experienced.
~Corey Finger
Corey Finger -co-owner of 10,000 Birds, the world’s most popular birding blog.
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"What motivates my life? What is the most important element in it? What brings the most enduring happiness? I know myself from this angle, and the answers are inordinately simple, for I am convinced that nature, in all it's aspects and my relationship to it, is and always has been my guiding light."
~ Sigurd Olsen
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“A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.”
~ Maya Angelou
Marguerite Annie Johnson (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) - American writer, dancer and civil activist. Angelou was the name she kept/as stage name at first; from her marriage with a Greek-American.
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I would like to paint the way a bird sings.
~ Claude Monet (November 14, 1840 - December 5, 1926) - French Painter.
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“The sound of birds stops the noise in my mind”
~ Carly Simon
Carly Simon (b. June 25, 1943) - American musician, singer, songwriter, author.
