Me and Zen Birding Co-Author, Susan Guyette
This book comes at exactly the right time. Accompanying the continued strong growth of birding – to the point where it is one of the top U.S. outdoor pastimes – has been the inevitable pressure to make it more competitive. We have to make a competition out of everything. What other country has lawn-mower racing, outhouse racing and hot dog eating competitions? There is already a World Series of Birding, and more than a few hyper-competitive birders.
Zen Birding is the antidote to turning birding into an extreme competitive sport. Instead it offers a patient, perceptive approach to birding. As co-author Susan Guyette said on her Seattle tour: “Being present to nature enhances birding enjoyment.”
But there’s a problem: being present is not in style these days. Remember the Zen phrase “Be here now?” Nowadays, people would rather be somewhere else, like talking or texting on their phones, listening to their IPODs, twittering, on Facebook, playing electronic games, all while fixated on their small screens. Relationships with nature suffer in this often-distracted state.
Several years ago, I was hiking with my family and friends at Ramsey Canyon Nature Conservancy preserve in Arizona, a spectacular place, full of interesting plants, birds, animals, geology and scenery. On the way back, we encountered a group of young men hiking up the trail, plugged into their IPODs. It occurred to me that they did not hear a single bird the entire way. On the same stretch, we heard and saw some 50 species.
But I digress… Zen Birding will enhance your interest in birds, nature, and conservation. As the authors wrote: “Conservation is not a desperate, defensive effort. It is instead joyous and life-giving.” When I heard Susan Guyette speak last month at Seward Park Audubon Center, at first I was skeptical of a book with this lofty title. She, however, impressed me with her genuineness, and with her efforts to carry forward her husband, David White’s legacy.
Zen birding has the poignancy, the soulfulness and spirituality of White’s final chapter in life, capably and touchingly advanced by his widow Guyette. Those who read it will not only become better birders, but also better ambassadors for birds and conservation.
