Backyard Birding: Our first step back to nature while living in cities

A lot of people perceive outdoor recreation as an inaccessible luxury — and they’re right! Nature remains a nice to have when you’re stuck struggling in the day to day hustle of a 9 to 5, family responsibilities, school etc. Now that people are stuck in their homes due to the coronavirus outbreak, it is the perfect time to do some birding in your home/ local community away from large, awful crowds of people.

Despite the many benefits of living in urban jungles of innovation, concrete and asphalt continue to trap us in bubbles detached from nature. We continue to be conditioned to survive rather than thrive, and our disconnection from the natural world further exacerbates this divide. The modern young person today may simply settle for a pathetic, malformed succulent adorning their standing desk (or even worse, a picture of said pathetic succulent).

When you google search “bird watching,” majority of what you see are a whole bunch of white people. So birding/ outdoor recreation continues to be framed as an inaccessible practice.

Furthermore, the current outdoor industry markets a rather idealistic, unachievable hiker-aesthetic which a lot of people who are struggling to make ends meet may not be able to achieve. This includes being able to afford expensive hiking equipment, needing a car to travel hours away to remote nature, and having the time and resources to even know what to do once one arrives in the “outdoors.” This leads to a severe lack of diversity and inclusion in outdoor recreation.

The lack of green space in urban areas is undeniably an environmental justice issue. There are multiple studies that show green space as extremely beneficial for improving people’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Without access to natural spaces for rejuvenation and healing, low-income communities and communities of color are mostly left out from gaining a sincere, meaningful connection to their surrounding environment.

So how do we start getting the everyday person stuck in urban, gray space to start reconnecting to nature? We must look up past the skyscrapers and institutional limitations of our city landscapes — toward birds. FREE ENTERTAINMENT, A NEW PET, AN ENJOYABLE NEW HOBBY TO CONNECT WITH YOUR ENVIRONMENT AT YOUR LEISURE.

A blessing we can find, even in the densest areas, are birds. Birds are not restricted to the confines of our man-made super domes or toxic facilities. They are, of course, threatened by a changing climate, but continue to perch in our local neighborhoods, flying across our schools, and usually wind up somewhere in the proximity of our apartments and homes.

Watch this interview I conducted with #BirdBae Deeohn Ferris from the National Audubon Society, discussing the power and benefit of backyard birding and increasing diversity in the outdoors.

How backyard birding is a tool to bridge the gap

Backyard birding: the process of spotting, identifying, and learning about the birds in your backyard.

Instead of driving for hours to reach your nearest wildlife refuge, you can spend 10–15 minutes out of your day as a grounding/ relaxing practice to sit outside and check out what birds you find in your backyard. There are several guides online to figure out what birds are local/ endemic to your area (city, state, country etc.) to get started on your birding journey. 🙂 Click here to see what birds are in your area!

Steps:

1. Find a relaxed, comfortable place to do your birding. Preferably somewhere you can focus or feel genuinely zoned-in on spotting your birds.

2. You can either rely on spotting what’s in your immediate environment or invest in an inexpensive (or an expensive, if you get hella into it), pair of binoculars to check out the birds in trees or perched on a high up window ledge or building.

3. Once a bird is spotted, you can try taking a picture (no flash!!), jot down quick bullet points describing what the bird looks like (color of wings, beak shape, underbelly size, feather texture etc.), or, try to sketch out some of the characteristics of the bird into a notepad. Here is a guide for more detailed information on how to distinguish between birds.

4. Using your notes/ description you can search for your bird on your browser. Soon, you will continue to notice what birds appear frequently in your area, and even notice what different birds may be around you in different parts of your town, state, or region.

5. You can create a more positive, healthy environment to attract more birds to your area. This can be done through buying bird seed, finding cheap plants from a store like home depot, or creating a nest.

Here’s a guide on how to start your birding journey. I also highly recommend checking out The Home Place by J. Drew Lanham- a talented, black, birder and writer who discusses his experiences as a person of color who loves birding and the outdoors!