Taking Time to Watch the Birds

It is interesting to see how my bird watching habits have changed over the past few months. In the spring I went out to "see the ducks" as a respite from work on zoom. In the summer I decided to make time for bird watching, and was rewarded by big, spectacular birds that were easy to find and watch. Besides ducks, geese and seagulls, Inwood park is the home to herons, both the great blue and the smaller night herons, blue jays, mockingbirds and red-tailed hawks. As summer turned to fall, we had a resident osprey, which once I knew where to look, I saw almost every day in the early fall.

As the leaves started to turn, I discovered something amazing while sitting on rocks at the edge of the marsh. If I sat still there were even more birds around than I had ever imagined! The trees, bushes and reeds around me were alive with tiny feathered creatures. If I would sit or stand still for a few minutes I would tune into the cheeps and whistles of a whole other almost invisible world.

I still love the majesty of raptors circling above, the brave musicality of the mockingbirds and business of the ducks gathering to migrate (or not) but now I am aware of more layers of the avian community.

And I am learning to sit still.