An Overview Of Becoming A Proud Bird Watcher
Anyone who is a bird watcher belongs to a passionate group of people. Filled with a unique sense of wonder about the natural world, they also possess an element of perseverance and patience that might drive many in our busy society to the brink of insanity. Those who bird watch are a different breed, and the world has a lot to learn from them.
A bird watcher will find as much delight in telling you about how they got to the place where they saw a particular species as they will about the bird itself. There is something satisfying about trotting up a hill, climbing an old barbed wire fence, and then sliding down a muddy ravine just to catch a glimpse of a warbler family flitting amongst some remote treetops. Western society has made people quite content to drive up to a window, order, and then be on the way without ever getting out of the car. If only birding were that easy. Bird watchers can teach the busy world around them about what it means to deliberate, and to spend all day working towards a goal that may not even come to fruition. After all, not every outing is a successful one.
A disciplined bird watcher has lessons to teach about being still. Deeply ingrained within the professional worlds that most people inhabit is an innate need to be productive. The idea of doing nothing and simply waiting quietly for something to happen is appalling. Most people believe that the way to get ahead is to be accomplishing something, anything, while your competition is resting. Bird watching in lion country provides a tremendous opportunity to shake off that mind set and to find joy in simply waiting and watching.
To be a bird watcher is to do a great service to society by being passionate about conservation. Building processes and roads continue to destroy acres of forested ground and prime avian habitat. Various voices of the bird watching community are speaking loudly and clearly about the importance of preserving these habitats. Bird watching enthusiasts know that progress is inevitable, but that we must work diligently to find a balance with the natural world. This passion for conservation is often born out of the time that a birder spends in the field, marveling over the complexity of not only the birds, but the entire eco-system that they call home as well.
A bird watcher cannot wear the mantel of responsibility lightly as he or she tries to share the passion and joy found within their hobby. The next generation of bird watchers will be vitally important in all aspects of conservation. A veteran bird watcher can also take pride in passing along the passion, and instill a sense of patience, adventure and discipline in future generations of bird watchers.
