Trying bird watching can be as easy and worthwhile as this….

Do you get the hype? Perhaps you don’t. Maybe you’ve heard in passing that bird watching is a relaxing and great way to engage with nature, but you’re still not inclined to give it a try. You might have a few drawbacks in your head about not knowing where to go or how to start, or maybe your interest just isn’t high enough. Your idea of birding might fit pretty well into the box of “that’s not my thing.” 

Birding might be your thing, or honestly, it might not be. But there is only one way to find out:  

Try.  

Why try? The answer is the same for why you should try anything new: 

What if you like it?  

Let me give you an example….

Do you like watching TV? Do you have a favorite TV show? Or three favorites, or five? 

Most people like at least a few TV shows—and if you don’t, think of something similar you do like, like movies or books or music. 

Think of your favorites. What made you give them a try? You probably found the premises interesting, or maybe someone recommended them to you. Maybe you stumbled on them by chance and were surprised to find yourself enjoying them.  

Of your favorites, is there one you thought you wouldn’t like? Maybe it “wasn’t your thing,” but one day you gave it a chance.

At some point, you became hooked. 

All of these favorites of yours were born from the same practice. One day, you just gave it a try. You watched the pilot episode. Or you read the first chapter. You gave a little of your time on the off chance you’d like it. 

Thank goodness you did! Our hobbies and our interests are some of the simple wonders in life.

And if you talk to some birders about how they feel about watching birds, many will say the hobby has been a  great addition to their lives. Some will say it’s a nice way to get away from time to time. And some will say it’s changed their lives. You could ask Noah Strycker, writer of Birding Without Borders and the 2017 world record holder for the most bird species spotted in a year. He would certainly say that.

Or you could ask any of the millions of people around the world that watch birds. People from many different cultures and ages enjoy the limitless possibilities of observing nature’s perhaps most accessible yet wondrous wildlife. The draw to birding is a range of reasons from wanting to connect with nature, to wanting to share an experience with family, to enjoying collecting, to escaping for a little while. 

Birding can have major impact. 

But this is something you might need to experience for yourself.

With simply the possibility on the line of you just maybe liking it even a little...birding is worth a try. It’s worth one hour. 

And that’s all it takes. It takes a fraction of one morning or afternoon, and it won’t cost you a dime. If you want to know how you can give birding a shot without needing to do any preparation, you can stick with me on this series and learn how. You’ll see that giving birding a chance is as easy as watching that first episode of a show. 

It doesn’t have to become your next favorite hobby. You don’t have to become an ornithologist or break the 2025 Global Big Year record. But who knows. You might find yourself liking it just a little. You might find yourself looking up more. Maybe you’ll have a new wonder in your back pocket.