Fun means many things to people. However, it shouldn’t mean just one thing to a person. So, if all you watch are operas and Netflix, you might want to try something new. And that’s where birdwatching comes in.
While birdwatching sounds like something only ancients do, many people still birdwatch today. And contrary to how it seems, birdwatching is not a tedious activity. It’s actually all fun.
If you are a newcomer, here’s a perfect guide to why this active hobby of over 100 million people is a great choice.
What is Birdwatching All About?
Birdwatching is the recreational observation of birds in natural environments – the park, a cornfield, or your backyard. Yes, it’s that simple. You’ll gaze into the sky and enjoy the beauty that comes with birds.
There’s also a variant to it called birding. In this case, you’ll travel to natural habitats to watch birds. Perhaps the only difference is the journey and the better sighting.
Generally, birdwatching does not require special instruments. Unless, of course, you view your eyes as one. However, to improve your experience, you could use a piece of equipment.
Examples of such equipment include binoculars, hats, a notebook, and a pen to journal your experience. Typically, they will make your experience more fun and fabulous.
If you are skeptical about why you should birdwatch, here are 13 monstrous reasons to make you an active birdwatcher.
1. Birdwatching Aids Meditation
Watching birds leisurely or with high concentration tends to quiet your mind. The relaxation and calm of watching these winged animals navigate freely in their natural habitats can trigger introspection and self-examination. Factor in sweet bird songs and you have the perfect conditions to immerse yourself in positive thoughts.
If closing your eyes and yoga exercises haven’t been able to keep you in ideal concentration, birdwatching will. And that’s a great reason to birdwatch.
By reflecting on the birds’ unconsciousness, you can be mindful of your consciousness with the utmost relaxation.
2. Birdwatching Isn’t Season Bound
Your favorite movie series won’t be up till the next week. Also, it’s summer, and you can’t go skiing. On the flip side, there’s birdwatching, which you can engage in all day, all year.
Birds are not seasonal fruits that come around in autumn and leave in winter. While birds may be more beautiful against the background of fresh trees during spring, they are available every day. If you intend to find a hobby that you can enjoy without time restrictions, birdwatching is your best option.
3. Builds Social Interaction
An excellent way to enjoy birdwatching is in the community of likeminded persons. And this is usually in public places. The advantage of this is that it can provide the opportunity to meet people and interact on a friendly basis.
Birdwatching is an elite activity, and there are associations of birdwatchers you can join. A community of birders helps you break out of your shell, meet people with similar interests, and build lasting interpersonal connections. You can also develop a sense of belonging with people who have fantastic adventure stories to tell.
4. Birdwatching Can Support Family Bonds
Are you planning towards a family get-together season? Well, with birdwatching, your worries about a fun activity for every family member is over. Birdwatching is an activity without gender, age, or social class stereotypes.
So, no matter their configurations, your family members can never feel exclusion from birdwatching. Moreover, you get to bond over comments and over the silent attention you share during the activity. Pictures can also help to cement the memories from birdwatching. If you are lucky, seeing a family bird nest can significantly improve your family’s union.
5. Birdwatching Develops Your Reflexive Responses
Watching birds can help you build excellent concentration abilities. But what happens when a static bird flies away? Chances are you are sure to respond as quickly as possible.
This response is proof that birdwatching’s peculiarities can help you develop reflexes for sudden happenings that may require a swift reaction. The readiness to make impulsive comebacks will be useful in other life events. Cool right?
6. Birdwatching Helps Build Your Staying Power
Patience is a highly desired trait, and it is also one that nature readily teaches. From a growing tree to a bird catching a worm, the environment is replete with processes that require enormous staying power.
Birdwatching can also build your ability to remain patient for a long time – as long as the object of your focus is in place. As an additional value, birdwatching allows you to flex your patience muscles with pleasure and happiness. Birdwatching also helps cultivate positive attitudes anytime you need to exercise patience.
7. Birdwatching Helps You Value Nature’s Beauty
The increasing rate of destruction and climate change in the world can help you lose track of nature’s attractiveness. Birdwatching presents the perfect opportunity to reassess your view of life.
With roughly 10,000 species of birds in the world, observing these diverse creatures can improve your view of the world. The beauty of birds and excellent singing can create new perspectives on the aesthetics of nature. Understanding nature’s beauty can also help you contribute your quota in preserving biodiversity and fighting climate change.
8. Birdwatching Improves Mental and Physical Health
Many times, birdwatching can involve taking walks and frequent limb or body movement. The physical benefits from these movements increase when they include carrying objects – like your bag pack or binoculars.
Asides from the development of physical muscles, birdwatching also helps your mental health. Birdwatching, as an activity, helps meditate, relieve stress, and prevent depression. The knowledge that comes from bird journaling is also useful for developing your brain’s cognitive function.
So, with birdwatching, you are not just wasting time; you are improving yourself.
9. Birdwatching Increases Your Knowledge and Awareness of Nature
Birdwatching, especially when it comes to journaling, is your best way to know and understand nature. Your opportunities to learn through sighting various species of bird is limitless. You get to know of bird varieties you never thought existed.
What’s more? You can learn as little as colors you have never seen and as much as scientific names. A tour guide at bird parks can also be integral to learning about what nature has to offer.
Most times, researchers look to birdwatchers for information about several bird species. As an active birdwatcher, you might just receive credit for the world’s next significant avian discovery.
10. Birdwatching Is Cost-Effective
If you want a wholesome pastime without subscription packages and extra costs, birdwatching might be a top choice. Birdwatching does not require spending money. Besides the discretionary expenses of travel and binoculars, birdwatching is an extremely cost-effective activity.
Moreover, birdwatching doesn’t involve saving money; it can also be a source of national revenue.
11. Birdwatching Is Suitable for Your Cardiovascular Organs
Birdwatching can be very useful in preventing cardiovascular diseases. Hiking and paced body movements associated with birdwatching are healthy for your heart’s functioning. Regular birdwatching helps get you off the comfort of your sofa.
The constant challenge of seeking out birds will help improve your cardiovascular health to exceptional levels. Reflexes from birdwatching experience also help with heartbeat rate and blood flow around your circulatory system.
12. Birdwatching Presents You an Excuse to Globetrot
If convincing yourself to travel is hard, birdwatching might just be what you need to explore the world. Beautiful bird species are endemic to different places around the world. In your quest for new bird species, you’ll regularly need to leave your comfort zones to other cities to observe.
Birdwatching in a community of other birders also means traveling can never be a monotonous activity. Your adventures might just be getting started if you travel to birdwatch. Mountain climbing, hiking, and diving are some of the other experiences you engage in when visiting other cities to birdwatch.
13. Birdwatching Provides A Getaway from Constant Distractions
As an addition to your ability to travel without restraint, birdwatching can be an escape from distractions. The world, as we know it, is very fast-paced. Social media, work, and daily needs are constant activities that make the world seem noisy and stressful.
With the need to be tranquil not to scare birds away, birdwatching helps take a break from the world’s frenzy. The stillness of birdwatching activity can help restore moments of internal and external calm.
In Conclusion
Relaxation and fun aren’t all bad. In fact, after a hectic day, or a week or a quarter, you need to relax. And that’s where birdwatching comes in. It allows you to enjoy the scenic view of birds living while enjoying yourself. Even more, its practice is never difficult: visit a park, join a community, watch birds, and take pictures.
However, you might just be reluctant about it. Well, don’t be. You stand to gain a lot from birdwatching if you only look closely. In this post, we have spelled out thirteen reasons why you should start birdwatching.
So, get going, get watching, and have fun.
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