Although not an actual birder, Emily becomes infatuated with the Audubon Mural Project in New York, and has her own spark bird. She eventually meets someone who joins her in trying to see all the bird murals around the city. Later, she notices a sign that said “CLIMATE DENIAL KILLS,” and it sparks a similar journey. Have you had an experience where you’ve noticed something in your neighborhood that sparked something inside you? Did that experience change how you engage with your city or your neighbors? And if you’re a birder, what was your spark bird?
I live in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico and we have many beautiful murals in our city. I notice them in passing, but I have been inspired to think about them in a different way thanks to Lessons for Survival. Perhaps a visit for contemplating the origin, artist and cultural connection is in order. I also wonder if there is a map of the murals.
My spark bird was probably a hummingbird, although I consider the great Blue Heron the bird that sparks me now. I was an avid "birder" and then realized how the language makes the birds the "other" and human supremacy is real. Have been playing with how to embrace birds without "othering" them. I don't want to observe and name them based on white men's labels as I was colonized to do earlier. Bird admirer? Bird person? Bird appreciator?
I started noticing birds in a local green space close to where I live. Then I started noticing the different plants over different times of the year and over the years. I wouldn't call myself a birder yet but I can recognize the birds and plants around me and it's such a short cut to getting out of my own head and being present in my surroundings and appreciating what's right in front of me. My spark bird was a lesser goldfinch, though I wouldn't have named it that, there's nothing lesser about it. A small bright yellow bird that kept making an appearance on a getaway my husband and I took for our anniversary. The place we stayed at had a pair of binoculars and a simple beginners birder guide. I can't help but notice and wonder about the birds and wildlife around me ever since.
I live in Baltimore which has a really big problem with Litter, as many places do. Every time I would see litter, my mood would get disrupted and I'd be upset. It go so back that the only way I could get through it was to start cleaning the litter up myself. The proud Founder of Sister Stream Catcher!
Not a birder yet but we had a tree removed from our front yard two years ago and the arborist pointed out how unhealthy it was. I then noted all the trees in my complex and how stressed they are from the high heat summer and low moisture winters. Then hearing people claim the climate change is fake when you can see nature showing us the stress all around us.
I live in the mountains outside Denver, Colorado. This is what’s known as an urban rural interface. so I live on a two lane highway next to a beautiful burbling 20 foot wide creek. The men in my family are birders. They like to know all the trees too. And it has been nice learning about that from them. But I found my true love walking in circles in the forest looking at the ground. Searching for mushrooms. The edible and culinary kind. The forest floor is full of so much magic! That being said, great blue herons build their nests and have their babies about a half mile down the creek from me and there’s nothing I love better than seeing them soar over the Auto body shop next-door to me in February or early March. It is hope embodied after the cold and snow of winter!
Not a birder, but recently moved into a part of my city where many of the homes and buildings have been deemed as landmarks / historic. It's sparked a new joy to walk around my neighborhood, research these spots, and learn more about them! I also like to play the "is this building haunted or not" game too.
Earlier in the pandemic, everyone around the city park I live close to was feeling the loss of that happy, beautiful communal space and were howling from their front porches all across the park at sunset each evening to remind each other we were still there. When we started to venture out “officially” back into the park, there were suddenly sidewalk signs painted in back, white and yellow all along the path in vertical strips reading “please allow 6 feet between you and others”. I remember how glad and sad I was to see these in my community park that was the cornerstone of this little corner of town. They are still there, many starting to fade and I wonder how long those “signs” will remind us of that time of learning to be separate and together at the same time in our sweet park.
My spark bird was a catbird, which I still love for their name, their catlike call and the smart little cap they appear to be wearing.
I live in the South Valley of Albuquerque, New Mexico and we have many beautiful murals in our city. I notice them in passing, but I have been inspired to think about them in a different way thanks to Lessons for Survival. Perhaps a visit for contemplating the origin, artist and cultural connection is in order. I also wonder if there is a map of the murals.
My spark bird was probably a hummingbird, although I consider the great Blue Heron the bird that sparks me now. I was an avid "birder" and then realized how the language makes the birds the "other" and human supremacy is real. Have been playing with how to embrace birds without "othering" them. I don't want to observe and name them based on white men's labels as I was colonized to do earlier. Bird admirer? Bird person? Bird appreciator?
I started noticing birds in a local green space close to where I live. Then I started noticing the different plants over different times of the year and over the years. I wouldn't call myself a birder yet but I can recognize the birds and plants around me and it's such a short cut to getting out of my own head and being present in my surroundings and appreciating what's right in front of me. My spark bird was a lesser goldfinch, though I wouldn't have named it that, there's nothing lesser about it. A small bright yellow bird that kept making an appearance on a getaway my husband and I took for our anniversary. The place we stayed at had a pair of binoculars and a simple beginners birder guide. I can't help but notice and wonder about the birds and wildlife around me ever since.
I live in Baltimore which has a really big problem with Litter, as many places do. Every time I would see litter, my mood would get disrupted and I'd be upset. It go so back that the only way I could get through it was to start cleaning the litter up myself. The proud Founder of Sister Stream Catcher!
Not a birder yet but we had a tree removed from our front yard two years ago and the arborist pointed out how unhealthy it was. I then noted all the trees in my complex and how stressed they are from the high heat summer and low moisture winters. Then hearing people claim the climate change is fake when you can see nature showing us the stress all around us.
I live in the mountains outside Denver, Colorado. This is what’s known as an urban rural interface. so I live on a two lane highway next to a beautiful burbling 20 foot wide creek. The men in my family are birders. They like to know all the trees too. And it has been nice learning about that from them. But I found my true love walking in circles in the forest looking at the ground. Searching for mushrooms. The edible and culinary kind. The forest floor is full of so much magic! That being said, great blue herons build their nests and have their babies about a half mile down the creek from me and there’s nothing I love better than seeing them soar over the Auto body shop next-door to me in February or early March. It is hope embodied after the cold and snow of winter!
Not a birder, but recently moved into a part of my city where many of the homes and buildings have been deemed as landmarks / historic. It's sparked a new joy to walk around my neighborhood, research these spots, and learn more about them! I also like to play the "is this building haunted or not" game too.
Earlier in the pandemic, everyone around the city park I live close to was feeling the loss of that happy, beautiful communal space and were howling from their front porches all across the park at sunset each evening to remind each other we were still there. When we started to venture out “officially” back into the park, there were suddenly sidewalk signs painted in back, white and yellow all along the path in vertical strips reading “please allow 6 feet between you and others”. I remember how glad and sad I was to see these in my community park that was the cornerstone of this little corner of town. They are still there, many starting to fade and I wonder how long those “signs” will remind us of that time of learning to be separate and together at the same time in our sweet park.
My spark bird was a catbird, which I still love for their name, their catlike call and the smart little cap they appear to be wearing.