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For me, the excitement about birds is all year long. Few things make me laugh, such as the sudden appearance of a blue bird in my garden, the bright blue against a green magnolia as an exclamation point.
I'm looking for binoculars to take a closer look and, as I turn the focus wheel, my scrambled and scattered mind refocuses as well. The tiny indigo beauty rewards me with a puff, a rust-colored chest that bursts against the bright blue.
The song of birds and the rustle of the leaves lead me to take a deep sip of fresh air, and the feeling of oppression in my chest disappears. My mood, weak since the death of my mother, is up for the moment. I look at the sky for the next beat.
When watching birds, "you're almost in a different world," said Heather Wolf, bird guide for Audubon in New York.
It is a precise observation technique that offers the observer a new perspective.
"All things that could weigh you down in your everyday life, it's an escape – you forget them when you observe birds," Wolf said.
Wolf leads a group through Brooklyn Bridge Park, an ornithological mini-oasis with a breathtaking backdrop.
It trains birdwatchers in a paved path surrounded by foliage. You can hear the tweet when birds rush between bushes or climb tree trunks.
Wolf enthusiastically raises species along the boardwalk: "A phoebe has just landed." "Oh wow !! it's a peak. It's a down peak. Anyone see it?"
His enthusiasm is contagious. There are more than 900 bird species in the United States and Canada. Many bird watchers who participate in this walk are in their thirties because bird watching is attracting more and more young people.
Cameron Shore, a 30-year-old architect, says that he finds that bird watching is meditative – better than even yoga – as it is in the middle of nature.
"Just being able to move and choose a particular sound or thing to watch is more focused than anything else," he said.
"In fact, I have a lot of trouble settling down in town, with all the background noise and all that's going on." It's a good time to go out and spend an hour or two in silence. "
Eric Hazeltine, a computer program manager based in Brooklyn, is out walking with his pregnant wife.
"You really have to use all your senses to do it," he said. "You can not even listen to music or listen to podcasts, you have to keep your ears open and your eyes open."
Bird watching and your health
The study, published in the journal BioScience, surveyed more than 270 residents of cities in southern England. The researchers found a positive badociation between the number of birds and trees in a neighborhood and the mental health of residents, even after controlling the neighborhood's poverty level and other demographic factors.
"A few minutes after being in a natural environment, things like cortisol, a stress hormone, improve," Razani said.
"In 15 minutes, we see the ability to solve puzzles and cognitive benefits, even the attention seems to improve." Around this time, the blood pressure improves, as well as the pulse. "
Razani notes that regular exposure to nature – whether in a park or camping in a forest – is badociated with improved cardiovascular disease and longevity.
"Often, when you observe birds, you will notice that someone else is wearing binoculars and you can make new friends," Wolf said.
And there is a huge community of birds waiting for you.
"I'm blogging a few people and Instagram to see what birds they see," said Amanda Warco, a 33-year-old Brooklyn educator who will be watching birds with her husband. "I like the fact that this is a community and that it is another way to get to know people who live around me and with whom I would probably have no other interaction."
Take binoculars and look
Or you can explore your own city. Birding can take you to new neighborhoods.
"I really encourage everyone to take a closer look at the trees in your neighborhood, especially in the fall and spring," Wolf said.
Brie Stotler, a 39-year-old doctor, hopes that the more Americans look into bird watching, the more they will care about the environment.
"When it comes to birds, you naturally start thinking …" Well, do they have things to eat? Do they have a place to go? "And then, this leads you to think," What kind of parks do I have in town? Or do we preserve their natural habitat where they will breed? "
My bird habit started by observing blue, red and yellow lightning through the windows of my solarium. My partner has bought binoculars and my interest has grown.
I was surprised to see so many colors and types of birds visiting each day. I ran to my bird guides to learn their names and match the pictures to my observations. Now I know many of them by heart: blackbirds, blue jays, Carolina barges, great tits, phoebes and my favorite, the tiny warblers, all my 4 inches.
They flit so quickly from one branch to another, often with flashes of yellow, that I need all our attention to capture them. It comes in the moment, face to face with nature. Each bird has a sweetness and their behavior becomes familiar and rebaduring.
Now I'm photographing them too.
Recently, a surprise visit from a red-tailed hawk, whose span of scope cast a shadow over my backyard, led me out of the house with binoculars to watch toward the sky. His majestic ascent through the clouds raised my mind again.
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