4.29.25 | I'm a Wannabe
I spotted my first hummingbird of the season at home on April 9th.
I told her how sorry I was that I hadn't filled the feeders yet, and then quickly ran inside and mixed up a batch of sugar water. Over the last few weeks I have had three more sightings (some visual and some audio). Hummingbirds are so delightful. I’m so excited that they are here!
I used to consider myself a birder. I was really into it in high school, and I took both the summer and winter sessions of a field biology class. Birding was a big part of that class. I remember the first time I saw a Harlequin Duck and the first time I heard a Loon, both spotted on a camping trip in Manitoba with the class.
I took the class so many times the teacher eventually made me a TA. He would take us out to the wildlife refuge just outside of town to work on identifying as much as we could. We’d spend hours memorizing images of birds in the classroom—this was the mid ’90s, so we were working with a slide projector—and then we’d attempt to apply that knowledge to the real world. We learned to identify birds by silhouette, flight pattern, or distinct body characteristics.
One thing we weren’t taught was how to identify birds by sound. So, on my own time, I began looking up bird sounds and trying to teach myself–not through recordings, but from an author's written description of what the bird sounded like. I still remember the way one author described the sound of the White Throated Sparrow: “Old-Sam-Peabody-Peabody.” (Looking back, I'm astounded that I managed to decipher that—and I really wish that I still had that field guide.)
I no longer consider myself a "birder.” Now I’m more of a wannabe birder. The process of identification is a little different now that I have found the Merlin bird identification app. I am slowly learning songs and calls of the most common birds around here: The Nuthatches, Flycatchers, Wrens, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Titmouses, Chickadees, and Crows. Right now we’re close to peak migration season, so I am collecting recordings of less common birds. With all the overlapping songs and calls, I get a little overwhelmed trying to distinguish one from another. The app says that there is a Scarlet Tanager singing, but I don't see it! I want to see it!
Have you seen The Residence? Perhaps this isn't the place to talk about television, but I was happy to see such a beautiful portrayal of a birder in a detective show. A badass, black female birder no less! Detective Cordelia Cupp is both a highly intelligent detective and a dedicated birder whose combination of skills reveals details that others overlook. The show definitely has elements of Sherlock Holmes and Clue and Agatha Christie (whose novels I have never been able to finish, please tell me how) then combines it with some romanticized notions of birding. Perfect!
I don't possess the knowledge and depth of obsessiveness of Detective Cupp, but I want to. I have a friend who studied to be an opera singer and when I went birding with her I was so intimidated. Her sound identification abilities blew me away! She understands pitch, tone, rhythm in ways that I never will! I'm a wannabe!
But really what is the big picture here? I have said it before, but I think it is worth repeating: In these chaotic times of misinformation and too much information, I find myself wanting to attach myself to the earth a little more. To ground myself. I want to spend more time sitting outside, doing nothing but listening and noticing. Looking at the trees, listening to the birds, identifying the natural world that surrounds me. Observing Jenny Odell's definition of "doing nothing.” Like Odell, I want to stay away from “commercial social media and its financial incentive to keep us in a profitable state of anxiety, envy and distraction."
Instead, let's remind ourselves what it is to be wild creatures, depending on what the earth provides.
See you outside,
Becca
FROM THE APRIL 29, 2025 NEWSLETTER | CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE