Why Everyone You Know Is Suddenly a Birder

[littlemissmartypants]

Why Everyone You Know Is Suddenly a Birder

A pandemic pastime has grown into something deeper

by Julia Zarankin


Illustration by Julieta Caballero

Updated 8:20, Jul. 11, 2025 | Published 6:30, Jul. 11, 2025

I can trace my personal descent into what science journalist Ed Yong calls “birder derangement syndrome” back to when I started referring to myself as a “sewage lagoon aficionado.” It wasn’t just that I had taken to setting my alarm for 4 a.m. during spring migration to be in position just in time for the peak dawn chorus, or that I was cancelling all non-bird-related social engagements in May, but that I had started planning vacations around proximity to wetlands and sewage lagoons to maximize roving insect populations, which translate into bird sightings.

I wasn’t always like this. I used to be what some might call a “normal person”—waking up at civilized hours, going to the movies, and wearing something more presentable than ultraviolet-safe hiking pants with a bird-themed T-shirt, trail shoes, and a Tilley hat. But I’ve realized that I’m at my best when I’m birding: curious, my sensory antennae on high alert, attuned to the nuance and detail of the world around me, fully present. I agree with Yong that birding is “more meditative than meditation.”

All of that is true. And then I get a notification from the Ontario Rare Bird Alert on the Discord app on my phone, announcing that my nemesis bird—the blue grosbeak—has just been spotted about an hour’s drive from Toronto. Any semblance of Zen birding and embracing the philosophy of calm appreciation dissipates, and I start scheming about how to postpone work meetings to carve out a window to get to the bird as quickly as possible. For me, birding is an emotional business, and technology has only increased the sense of FOMO I now feel because, for the first time, we know exactly what we’re missing.

Birding has experienced a surge in popularity over the past decade, in part due to the pandemic, which forced so many of us outside (or to stare through our windows at the world outside) while also illuminating the inequities around access to outdoor spaces. Statistics Canada estimates that in 2021, 11 percent of households participated in birdwatching, and that number is undoubtedly higher today. Technology has certainly made birding more accessible: the free Merlin Bird ID app, developed by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, identifies birds by photos and songs with incredible (but not total) accuracy; the free Audubon Bird Guide app helps build birding skills through identification filters and pointers; Larkwire facilitates learning birdsong through interactive quizzes; and logging sightings in the app eBird turns amateur birders into citizen scientists. In 2024 alone, the Merlin app welcomed 7.5 million new users.
Snip...
https://thewalrus.ca/birding/

[doc03]

1. My neighbors and I fed the birds for years. I quit two years ago because they poop on the porch,

build nests in my gutters and it attracts rodents. A chipmunk cost me $500, I had to replace the wooden walk-in door in my basement
with a steel door. Then last Christmas my Neice gave me a video bird feeder, so I am feeding birds again.

[unc70]

2. I recommend the Merlin app

I find it a lot of fun to play around with, both at home and on trips.

[AllaN01Bear]

3. i always hve been a birder.

when i was a kid mom , i , my aunt and uncle went to an national wildlife federation conference at asillimar ca. they needed to have someone imitate the bird calls , i stepped up to the plate .

[Walleye]

5. Same here, my grandfather was an ardent observer of wildlife, and had some beautiful Audubon type books in his den

I remember when we first saw a Great Blue Heron, and I was about five years old and walking on the beach with him

[MuseRider]

4. I quit partly when I had 2 years of

nesting Painted Buntings right outside my window. I had never seen one before and they are something to see. My "vulture tree" across the pond got smashed in a storm years ago and they are much less frequent after all that has come after that. (I wish I could figure out how to post pictures, they were a sight all sitting up there) The Ospreys still used it until last year but another storm altered the tree again. They still come then go but fewer than before. Then it became the eagle tree much to my surprise. We have quite a lot of Bald Eagles from time to time, no more than 4 or 5 at a sitting in that tree, mostly one or two at a time. They come and go. All the other birds around here show up now and again and some stay. Of all the birds that I always wanted to see, I hear them, my neighbors complain about them and my farm has housed them but all these years I have never seen a Pileated Woodpecker.

A couple of months ago my ancient bird book fell out of my hands and became and huge, flying tower of pages. I guess the binding broke. I cried and put it together haphazardly so I could maybe get it rebound or something. It had 40-50 years of observation in it and my husband put it in the trash when I was not here and it is gone. One more thing thrown into the garbage because after all those years dragging it along everywhere we went he did not know what it was (?).

Everything has an ending so now I just look out of the big front windows I had put there specially for watching the wildlife out here. I hope it keeps growing, the wildlife, lol. Fewer will make it harder maybe when you are out looking for them but if we blow this off I would have little hope of their long term survival. *I have not read the article yet, sorry I usually do it the right way but needed to release a but of upset over my book and fill it with nice observations.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. ok, who hit the self destrcut button? too bad about the books .

i live in a second story apartmment with 2 huge windows .( living room and bedroom) that overlook a creek.lots of trees. i see all kinds of wildlife thru those windows . i " talk" to my ravrn friends and others when the window is open.

[MuseRider]

7. That is awesome!

I have been known to caw a few times, lol. I do have neighbors but they are farmland neighbors...not too close but there. I look across the road at longhorn babies right now.

I love your conversing with the ravens. Life can still be good now when you have friends like this!

[AllaN01Bear]

8. had a nice long "chat w a redtail hawk . i heard it screech behind a tree. so i went tweet back.

then i heard this tweet over head and it was the red tail and its friend . we tweeted back and fourth wor quite a while .

[MuseRider]

12. FUN!

We used to have loads of birds that stayed pretty low, quail and turkey just all kinds of birds. It was fun to listen to them, especially when they were close. All gone from here now.

[AllaN01Bear]

14. shame

[Zackzzzz]

9. My chair at the dining room table looks out to a tree

east of the house where the feeder hangs. I have had many types of feeders, but I have settled on suet blocks.
The sunflower seeds brought vermin and that included raccoons with their little ones.. The ravens are very creative because their feet cannot hold onto the metal screen box. Mostly I have scrub jays and they are so blue.
Once in Rogers Park I saw a glorious red cardinal in a very green tree at Xmas.
I heard it first, then I looked toward the sound.
So when I sit in my chair paying bills, eating, or drinking tea I look out and watch the
birds at the feeder.
I have the Merlin app and love it, especially when I travel.
I don't always see what I hear.

[IbogaProject]

10. Haven't fed birds since I was a kid

As it is a commitment to feed through out the year. I enjoy bird watching. I prefer to focus on water fowl as they are easier to see, I am happy to see any other birds but I don't focus on them. I did the merit badge in scouts and got into it when we lived right by Central Park. I have also gone out to Broad Channel out in Jamaica Bay out in Queens, really cool migratory water fowl in both the spring and fall. We do try and identify birds where we stay in the summer near the Catskills in NY.

[mopinko]

11. my ex is now hooked.

right b4 we split, we went to hawaii. he’s a photo bug and had a 600mm lens. when i’d spot something i couldnt see well, he’d take a pic and i cd figure it out on the laptop. for a minute, i thought we had something.
he’s retired now, remarried, and lives on a lake in mich. he sends me pics of birds, sometimes to id, sometimes just to rub it in, i guess. lol.

i havent even had my binocs out in a while, but i’ve been pretty sick and rarely leave the house these days. hope to get back to it, tho. it was my sanity when the kids were small.

[MuseRider]

13. *sigh* I get the needing these for sanity.

Out here there is a lot to do and I am not terribly social so the critters help. Nature does the trick.