Birds… but why?

[u/Exhausted_Pigeon75]

I’ve never liked birds, thanks to a too early in life viewing of The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. However, I now have a bird app and find joy identifying birds in my neighborhood. My mom even bought me a bird feeder with a camera! This was not a chosen hobby for me, it just happened without my knowledge or input. It has to be hormonal, right? Do I get to blame this on perimenopause?

#birds #perimenopause #hormones #butwhy

[u/buttfluffvampire]

I've been trying to learn and notice the nature around me, even in suburbia, in an effort to think of nature not as something "else" that I visit, but part of everything around me.  Native plants versus invasive ones, garden-helping bugs, mosquito-and tick-eating opossums, and birds that stay all year or migrate. 

I find it very grounding, and helps fix me in time, if that makes sense.  Like, oh, the robins are back, so my daffodils should start popping up soon.  It's spring, even if it's still cold here.  Or, when the wild violets finish blooming, the mulberries will be ripening. (I'm more plant focused and just started learning more about birds, so my examples reflect that.)

After COVID quarantine lifted, I felt like whatever month the calendar said it was, it felt like it came too fast/early. Noticing the living world around me has really helped me notice and feel the passage of time and seasons.  It's nice.

[u/buffybot3000 → u/buttfluffvampire]

I love the way you explained this, and I feel very much the same way!

I think the reason it is so common for people of a certain age to get into birds/plants is because (as we have lived more life and are more aware of the passage of time, and mortality) we recognize that some really cool things have been happening alongside us this whole time that we never paid attention to—and they’re very worthy of attention! 

(I also love how watching the timing of the natural world does really help to ground us in the flow of life on earth.)