Recently, I was asked this question at a reading event of my book Look Up! Birds and Other Natural Wonders Just Outside Your Window. The man who asked seemed frustrated that his wife did not share his love of birding. I didn’t know how to answer his question, so I asked Lori, my wife, to respond. Here is what she said:
“I clearly remember the day I got “hooked” on birding. It was after years of Woody sharing his love of birding and my looking through binoculars at birds he found.
This day however was different. We had gone on a bike ride on the Burke Gilman trail near our Seattle home. This part was not unusual, we often enjoyed the trail as it winds its way north from the University District along Lake Washington. One frequent destination is Log Boom Park, about ten miles from our house – a stop complete with a dock (and thankfully, a bathroom). We enjoy riding to the dock, getting off our bikes to stretch our legs and walking on the dock to view the birds.
However, what was most memorable on this early spring day was our arrival home. As we dismounted our bikes and took off our helmets, Woody casually remarked he had heard twenty species on the way home. TWENTY SPECIES heard on a busy urban trail? It took me a few minutes to digest this bit of information.
Woody would always count birds and let me know what he was seeing – but HEARING twenty species. This was unbelievable to me. While he was counting bird songs, I had been concentrating solely on riding my bike, navigating the trail and its many cyclists, walkers, runners and children. Of course, I had noticed the trees along the way, this wonderful stretch of green in our city – but I certainly had not focused on the sounds of spring in the way I now have learned to do.
I still don’t have the musicality that Woody does to “bird by ear”, but I did start tuning into the bird songs and calls. Yes, I am hooked.
Whether or not I can identify all of the birds I hear and see does not really matter – I appreciate the fact that the birds are here. I have since learned that bird songs are more typically heard in the spring for mating; although a bit of sunlight in winter can trigger song as well. Bird calls are for their conversation or warnings, for instance to alert other birds if a hawk is nearby.
Hearing the variety of sounds is a joy, it makes me stop in my tracks to enjoy the sound and look for the bird(s) nearby. After this bicycle ride, next thing I knew, I became quite adept at spotting the birds I heard, watching their behavior and trying to identify them. What an astonishingly simple pleasure in life this has become!” – by Lori Cohen
