[newbirder]

I had lived most of my life without taking much notice of birds. Sure, I knew the common birds, crows, robins, eagles, but I could not have told you the difference between a swallow and a sparrow. Then I became a volunteer at Wild ARC, and thought I'd better learn more. Little did I know how much there was to learn!

I am now awed by birds. Having helped hand raise many orphans, I have the greatest of respect for bird parents and the energy it takes to raise a family, the knowledge to adjust the frequency and amount of food given on a daily basis. Those hungry little mouths are demanding! I've taken bird watching classes, and read everything I can get my hands on. Every snippet of information facinates me. This forum has been a huge part of my learning process, thanks to all the knowledge and willingness to share.

Birds have changed how I view the world. I no longer hurry, but stop and listen. My yard has been re-arranged to allow several feeding stations, winter and summer. I plant only native plants, and specifically those that birds enjoy. I run from the office when I hear the geese flying overhead. It's become infectious, my daughter will call and say, I saw this bird......... My husband wants to see what I am gasping about as I watch the early morning visitors at the feeder...... he had no idea we had lovely birds like Northern Flickers, nor Evening Grosbeak. This year, we had an entire flock of Crossbills nesting nearby! I love to watch the fleglings as they visit the feeders for the first time with their parents. I am very grateful to live in the country, where I can appreciate even more diversity than the city offers. I believe the saying NOT be, stop and smell the flowers, but stop and listen to the birds.

Deborah
Malahat, BC

[birdergirl]

Birds have changed how I view the world. I no longer hurry, but stop and listen. My yard has been re-arranged to allow several feeding stations, winter and summer. I plant only native plants, and specifically those that birds enjoy. I run from the office when I hear the geese flying overhead. It's become infectious, my daughter will call and say, I saw this bird......... My husband wants to see what I am gasping about as I watch the early morning visitors at the feeder...... he had no idea we had lovely birds like Northern Flickers, nor Evening Grosbeak. This year, we had an entire flock of Crossbills nesting nearby! I love to watch the fleglings as they visit the feeders for the first time with their parents. I am very grateful to live in the country, where I can appreciate even more diversity than the city offers. I believe the saying NOT be, stop and smell the flowers, but stop and listen to the birds.

Deborah
Malahat, BC

Dear Deborah, thank you for volunteering at WildArc! I work with a variety of animals and birds daily so appreciate volunteers very much as I know how hard you work. How wonderful your words are. How true it is that birds have changed how many of us view the world, myself included. Thank you for sharing these beautiful sentiments. It put a huge smile on my face!

[Doug]

I can't say how I got so interested in birds, but do know that photography has addicted me to them. I guess birds mean happiness. Many have a song that will stick with you forever, some are just so beautiful in colours, and most are so busy doing their stuff, it is fascinating to watch them.
I do know this....."Birdie" was the first word I said when I was little. Least that was what my folks told me.

[birdergirl]

Thanks for sharing Doug. I can equate birds with happiness too and it says a lot that "Birdie" was your first word!

[birdergirl]

Saw this article called "Why Do Birds Matter" online and thought it was worth posting for the great stories and quotes:


https://www.audubon.org/magazine/march- ... rds-matter


Cheers,
Mel

[TinaStehr]

newbirder: I had lived most of my life without taking much notice of birds. Sure, I knew the common birds, crows, robins, eagles, but I could not have told you the difference between a swallow and a sparrow. Then I became a volunteer at Wild ARC...

I can say I had almost the same entry into the amazing world of birds, Just changed mine to "Then I became a volunteer at the Wildlife Rescue Association of BC" mixed with a bit of I went to Florida and saw my first in person pelican and white ibis.

I'm still taken by the simple wonder of birds. Watching a flock of geese fly overhead, seeing the crows tearing up peoples lawns (I blame the bugs for being in the grass, not the crows), or just every interaction of a pigeon! Because pigeons are perfection.
Watching the transformation of a little fuzzy butt duckling or gosling (and also being able to tell the difference) into a lovely adult duck or goose, and being able to finally identify some of the little brown birds out there is pretty amazing!

It's a fascinating world I've entered, one in which I will never leave!

[birdergirl]

Thanks for sharing that lovely post Tina .


Cheers,
Mel

[CathyOss]

As a kid growing up on a farm we had a family of Robins that nested just outside the kitchen window, Every year we sat at meal time and watched them raise several broods, and carefully kept the farm cats away while the fledglings learned to fly. Robins are still my favourite bird. We also had barn swallows nest in the garage. My mother wasn't too pleased about that and tried to discourage them, but once the nest was up they were allowed to stay until the babies were gone. We also had cliff swallows that had a colony across one end of the barn.
As an adult I was too busy with a career and raising kids to think much about birds, but I did develop an interest in photography. Now, I can put the photography and my interest in nature together. I hate going to the gym, but 'birding' gives me the reason I need to get out and get fresh air, take a good look around me, get some exercise and practise my photography a bit. I've learned a lot about the birds in my own area that I didn't even know existed! (Many thanks to the people on this forum who answer what might sound like really silly questions) I also like gardening so have planted my yard with wildlife in mind. Since I work from home I have a couple of very popular bird feeders placed in the lilacs right outside my office window. Some days there can be 10 different species.
A day spent walking trails always makes me come home feeling tired but relaxed and refreshed.

Cathy
Chilliwack

[birdergirl]

Thanks so much for sharing that Cathy.

I'm always moved by how deeply birds and nature can affect us. It's a beautiful thing that they inspire us (as they do you) to get out and enjoy the environment and all it has to offer.


Cheers,
Mel

[revs]

For most of my life i never really noticed birds, my parents put up a hummingbird feeder when we lived in south Vancouver and i suppose i watched the birds coming in to drink but there was never any real connection.
As a wild teenager my friends and i would spend whole nights walking around downtown tripping the light fantastic so to speak and would often find ourselves by the water or on the seawall, there we would sometimes be frightened by herons and cormorants who were probably just as shocked as we were to see them, i payed notice to those moments because they seemed mystical at the time but they weren't really, just teens being teens in the 80's.

When i could no longer ride mountain bikes anymore due to injuring my back life slowed down a bit.
When i met my wife and she came to live in Canada from Thailand i made an effort to get her out to all the parks and places i knew about but never really checked out, that got us looking at nature.
We ended up becoming fish people for a little bit, breeding Betta fish (Siamese fighting fish) and at one point wanted to get into photographing fish so i could post to all the fish forums i was part of at the time.
A guy at work had just gotten into photographing birds and i remember laughing at him and going "birds? you want to photograph birds?", he just didn't seem like someone who would be interested. Turns out he wasn't really that interested and gave up the hobby soon after i decided that shooting birds with my wife would be a fun pursuit for us both.
At first i watched her as she photographed birds but eventually i decided that i too wanted to join in the fun.
At some point my wife was on a Thai birding forum and told me about "digiscoping", she actually wanted to do it and we bought some equipment, turned out though that it was all too heavy for her to carry around and i inherited it, and never looked back i guess.
Birds are a puzzle to me, as a collector i find great joy in collecting new species, i'm amazed by the different types of plumage and colours and patterns, birds big and small i make no preference, it was never one bird in particular, just the act of getting out into nature and seeing what you can find, that was what kept me coming back, and still does today.

[birdergirl]

Thanks for taking the time to share this Paul! It's funny how sometimes it is one person that we love and care about (in your case Api) who open up a whole new world to us. I bet now you couldn't imagine going back to never shooting them again! It gets so engrained in who we are and a life without birds now would be no life at all.

Now you can't go outside and not hear them or see them and the beauty of how we are all connected. It's a gift that truly we all should stop reflect on and treasure a little more.


Thanks so much for sharing that lovely post.


Cheers,
Mel