Going To/Learning From The Birds

Discussion Facilitator: Jocelyn Furbush. Saturday, May 16, 2020.

This Saturday's discussion topic: Going To/Learning From The Birds

Among the things I've been doing a lot of lately like others (baking, puzzles, Zoom) is using the Audubon bird app. I've had it for about a month, and so far have confidently identified three birds: 1) a house sparrow (passer domesticus) 2) a house finch (haemorhous mexicanus) and 3) a white-crowned sparrow (zonotrichia leucophrys). Ordinary, common birds I have seen for years and only now have had names for. In his "letter of recommendation" for the practice of bird watching, Nicholas Cannariato talks about how it's "not always exhilarating -- in fact, it can be largely mundane, a hobby of quiet precision and focus." What can we learn from the birds and our relationship with them about noticing and being present to small things?

Reading: Cannariato, Nicholas. “How Bird-Watching Prepared Me for Sheltering in Place.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Apr. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/magazine/bird-watching-coronavirus.html.

Photo by Erik Karits from Pexels