May I recommend… a bird feeder

By AJ Willingham, CNN

(CNN) — “Uh oh, the goldfinch gang is fighting.”

This is a real sentence that has been uttered multiple times in my household. Blame the bird feeders — all three of them (plus a bird bath and a hummingbird feeder, of course).

I didn’t mean to become a bird person. I’ve talked to birders before and always regarded them with a fond puzzlement. Of course birds are cool! But are they that cool?

Yes.

It’s hard to describe what happens, but it comes upon you like a cascade of feathered dopamine: You get a bird feeder. Then, the birds start to come to your bird feeder! This is the obvious expectation, but it’s still cool when it actually happens. Those birds are your responsibility now, and you become a restaurant owner and a foster parent overnight. Before long, you are looking out the window with your cup of coffee every morning like an off-duty god gazing lovingly at their own creation (you have not created birds, but you have created the opportunity for birds to be near you, and that is the same thing).

Obviously, now you want to know more about your birds. It didn’t take long for the goldfinch gang to become a main character in our daily avian pastiche as they hogged the feeders and chased away house wrens and chickadees.

The female goldfinches, more muted than the males, have reached a level of infighting I associate with mob wives or a Bravo TV show. However, they all scatter at the arrival of an ungainly, beady-eyed brown thrasher or Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, looking like they flew straight from a Christmas card. The doves, bless their hearts, never really know what’s going on.

Any additional members to the cast are feverishly Googled: a ruby-crowned kinglet, as round as a ping-pong ball. Some very loud woodpeckers. The lovely older gentlemen at our local birding store are more than happy to help us identify any we can’t quite place, and they speak with a glint in their eye that I now recognize: Birds really are that cool!

Here are some other assorted benefits I have noted since becoming a full-on bird person: I look at my phone less. (Why look at a phone when there are birds?!) My search history is full of vague musings that sound silly aloud, but have fascinating answers: “How do birds know where to go?” “Do birds get cold?” “Can birds recognize the calls of other birds?” “Do they have different dialects?” (Yes!)

I’m also more attuned to the world around me, which is even more satisfying than it sounds. After all, spying the first ruby-throated hummingbird of the season is even more exciting when you know something about their migration patterns.

A word of warning, though: When you care about birds, a simple walk in the woods becomes a fully immersive experience of sound and sense. You can feel the aliveness of nature around you, and pretty soon you’re wondering about other things; about the age of the trees and silent communications going on all around you, on the breeze and deep in the earth.

It’s also proven that birding is one of those brain-healthy activities, of which we all need more. The sound of birdsong, too, is calming, because it can indicate the absence of predators.

If you think there aren’t birds where you are, you’re probably wrong. I’ve spoken to people who started their love affair with birds while living in densely urban areas. It just requires a little curiosity, which is its own reward. Birding clubs and online communities are everywhere, and in my experience their members are more than happy to give advice on how to see, feed and enjoy the local bird population.

While you can certainly outfit your bird community with top-of-the-line accoutrement, it’s not that expensive — and just as satisfying — to just have a single feeder. The point is to just interact with a bird or two. Even the most humble sparrow or house wren has its own little personality, its own little dramas and peculiarities. At your feeder or a favorite bird-watching spot, you can marvel at the pattern of its tiny feathers, or pay quiet attention to the way the seeds crunch between their little beaks. Birds are reminders that wonderful things are all around you. How could that simple realization change your life?

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