Birding!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to Why we do what we do. Welcome
to Why we do what we do. I am your
Audobon host Abraham.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
And I'm your Lives in a Bird Sanctuary host Shane Nice.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We are a psychology podcast. We talk about the things
non human animals do and sometimes the things that humans
do with respect to non human animals. That's what we're
talking about today. And if you're joining us for the
first time, then welcome. I hope that you enjoy what
you hear in this discussion. And if you're a returning
person and welcome back, thank you so much for choosing

(00:46):
to be with us for a second, third, or even
more than that time. And either way, if you would
like to support us, you can leave us a rating
and a review like subscribe, tell a friend, join us
on Patreon on I'll talk more about those things at
the end of this discussion. But this episode comes out
on July twenty seconds, and therefore it is important to

(01:08):
acknowledge notice and wish everybody a happy casual Pie Day. PI.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Yes, Pi, it's also fragile X Awareness Day.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Hmm. You know, I don't think we've ever actually done
an episode or a mini on fragile x. I'm gonn
write that down really quick because it's an interesting it's
an interesting one.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah. I've worked with a couple of folks that have
fragile x. It's really interesting.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
It is Lions Share Day. That could mean that the
lions share with each other. It could mean a large proportion,
it could mean the share that goes to a specific lion.
There's all kinds of things interpreted as you maybe a
share lions, interpreted as you will. It's Lions share Day.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
It could be it could be lions stockholding.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
Beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
If birds participate in the stock market, would it be
called a flock market?

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Yeah, that's that's yeah, in the animal world, when there
is a stock market, that's what we're dealing with. Let's
get back on track. Come on, tighten up, Abraham.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
It's mango Day, Delicious, It's National hammock Day where you
can store those mangos, I guess, uh huh.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, or where you desperately want to be right now.
So it's a national Panucci or Panuche fudge day.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
I read that as panouche.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
I don't know why, it just I feel like it.
It feels French like French like, not frenchy, but French
Frenchish like fancy is what I'm going to say, French
and fancy Frenchy. That's frenchy.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Apparently, it is rat Catcher's Day, the character from DC. Yes,
or rat Catcher too, if you will. It's Spooner's Day
or Spoonerism's Day. Oh so close to my heart. I
do it. Just a frequency that is potentially pathological.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah. Same.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
It is Summer Leisure Day or Lummer Seizure Day, Yes
it is.

Speaker 2 (03:02):
It is Captive Nations Week or Naptivcations Week.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Sure. It is Coral Reef Awareness Week. Oh love coral reefs.
They're the best.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
They're the best. They're so great. It's Hemingway lookalike days. No,
you win, Shane, I am the old man and there's
the sea.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
It is Massage is for every Body week or everybody
massage massages for everybody week. That's how I'm reading that.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yes, yes, I like that. It is National Moth Week.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Okay. It is National Triathlon Week. Good luck, it's great.
I would I would do it if I were younger
and had time.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It's National zoo Keeper Week.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
No fun Okay, well, maybe not fun. There's a lot
a lot to say about zoos that we've never gotten into.
But all right, that's that's the days of the week
that we talk about. That's just an amuse boosh, an appetizer,
a thing to set the mood for the silliness, whimsy
and kind of approach we bring to these things. There's
a level of nerd embodied in that list that we

(04:13):
love to share. And that's that's going to be a
running theme throughout all of this discussion and all subsequent discussions.
And I'll pass discussions if we're being truly honest. So
let's let's dive into this. Are you ready or is
there anything that I'm missing and you like to add
before we begin?

Speaker 2 (04:29):
I am so ready?

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Okay, all right, nerds, And I say that with all
the love in my heart. I have some friends who
are fairly avid birders, and listening to them talk passionately
about the birds that they've seen and the unique songs
that they've heard, it's infectious and it's inspiring. Like I
love hearing them talk about this. They're so passionate about it,

(04:52):
and they regale me with stories about beautiful hikes and
lakes and rare sightings of birds that make me want
to walk out the door and see what need has
to offer.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
And further, one of Abraham's favorite board games, Wingspan, has
hundreds of unique, nearly photo realistic campaigning cards of real birds,
with random facts about those birds on each card.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
I have talked about this game before. I will talk
about it some more. It is so fun and so
good and it makes me love birds even more. It's
so cool. So all that is to say, we're going
to talk about birds specifically. We're going to talk about birding,
what it is, how and why people do it, and
how you can get started or just know about this

(05:32):
very popular hobby.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yes, as a Floridian, I love birds because we have
so many unique ones here, between the herons and the
ibis and like the pelicans and the weird the sandhill
cranes that walk around. Man, it's so cool. It's so great.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Yeah, so true. Yeah, I was definitely quite enamored with
some of the cranes and the ibis and everything when
I was living down in your neck of the woods.
Just really amazing creatures so.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Huge, they're scary, are so tall, and you're like, these
are dinosaurs.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Speaking of which, do you know if Florida has the
shoebill stork.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
I don't know. We have a lot of storks, Okay,
I don't know if we have the shoebill one, but
that one is frightening.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, that looks like a dinosaur. I have not looked
up whether or not they live in Florida. People are
probably yelling at their speakers right now saying either yes
or no, or calling us names. But shoebill stork very interesting,
very crazy, cool looking bird I would not want to
be very close to in real life, but I do
like watching videos of them.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah. So apparently the only place you see a shoebill
stork in Florida is at the Tampa Zoo.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Oh okay, so not not a wild thing out in
the world, not a wild thing here now, all right, Well,
this is not a fan episode about the shoebill stork
or the cranes and ibis of Florida. But we're about
just talking about burning more broadly, all the birds and
there is. When we get into these a lot of times,

(07:01):
it's important that we start by defining our terms, and
unfortunately there's not a super clear definition of birding because
different people propose different ways of thinking about this. Definitions
range from as little as noticing a bird and that
qualifying you as doing birding, to recording your sightings or
labeling the bird, being able to say what it is

(07:23):
that is. It's kind of a low bar to clear,
because it's like, if you're paying attention and recording it,
then that could count, and if you're just paying attention,
that could maybe count to And those are not super
different things, right, And then obviously some people go a
lot more hardcore than that. We'll talk about that. For
the most part, though, when you're thinking about birding, it's
really just any activity in which you choose to actively

(07:45):
notice birds in your environments that can essentially qualify you
as doing birding. I think probably you're doing it semi habitually,
like you're choosing this on some kind of regular schedule.
But importantly, birding means observing and I say that because
it does not mean interacting with or disturbing the bird.
Birders are not going out trying to take nests or

(08:07):
touch them. They just want to see them. The object
of this activity is to see a wide diversity of
creatures and nature. You're not chasing them, capturing them, harassing them,
or interacting with them. You just want to see them
and record the fact that you saw them, maybe also
heard them. But like you're generally, the point is to

(08:28):
leave them alone, but be able to have the memory
and recording and experience of having been able to witness
this cool, majestic creature.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I never thought of myself
as a burder until not too long ago when I
was trying to figure out what birds were flying around
at dusk and were flying really strange, and I realized
there were bats, and I went, oh, I need to
do a better job of this. That's a terrible birder.
I was like, what bird is that? Nope, that's not
a bird. It's a mean minute. But now we have
Patricia that's hanging out around our cool So most people

(09:01):
are unlikely to call themselves burders, however, until they start
learning the names of their birds and recording their observations
in some capacity, maybe in like a field note general
or whatever they're doing, you know, and that is they
start choosing to be on the lookout for birds as
an activity unto itself. So it's like a more intentional activity.

Speaker 1 (09:17):
And again it's not like the definition. It's just like,
at what point, Like, I like birds. I even bought
a pair of binoculars, But I don't call myself a
burder because I don't really do it very often. I'm
not like actively trying to seek it out. I feel
like that's the point at which people sort of start
to But I mean, you don't have to, like you,
you could do as little as I am doing and
call yourself a burder. I just didn't feel like that

(09:37):
level made sense to me personally. But again, the definition
is kind of loosey, goosey. Here, goosey.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Yeah, speaking of birds, it's gonna be just a big
comedy here, Like it's gonna be so full of puns.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yes, indeed, Okay, so many of you might be hearing
this and thinking like that's something old people do, and
you're not wrong. The is particularly common among older adults,
with an average of forty nine years old. For the
people who are out there doing burning, No, of course
means there are people way below that and people way
over that, but that's where the average sort of puts it. However,

(10:15):
research shows that this is a growing hobby in popularity
and that includes a like growing number of much younger people,
Like there are kind of kids, they're in their like
barely adulthood who are out doing this, and sometimes even
younger than that that like they choose to go out
and do burning at things activities and would call themselves burders.

(10:37):
So this is a there's a lot of increased interest
in this and the age the ages really range like
a whole lifetime basically, but the average age currently at
least was listed by I think this is the Autobahn
Society was forty nine years old.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
All right, makes sense now. The National Association of Hunting, Fishing,
and Wildlife Associated Recreation assembled a report in twenty twenty
two that estimated that there are as many as ninety
six million Americans, so about thirty percent of the population
that they are burners. And there seems to be an
increase in the population of the younger people who are burners,
which is I think lovely. I think more young folks

(11:13):
need to be connected with nature very.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Much, So yeah, I think that's a that's a cool trend.
And furthermore, technology has made it easier to record birds.
These apps that we can carry around on phones like
go in our pocket that can record their sounds and
then tell you what song that probably like, what bird
that sound probably belongs to. So the barrier to entry
for this activity, what little there was to begin with,

(11:37):
is further reduced by making it increasingly easy and acceptable.
And have the tools to help you get into the hobby.
Like it's so easy to do now you have to
You can exert barely any effort to go out and
just start looking for birds and recording what you find.
And you might look around and just start noticing all

(11:58):
the ads on billboards or in your podcasts. Okay, we're back.
You can notice ads if you want to. Let's actually
get into like how to go about doing birding. So like,
here's here's the things to know, the things to do

(12:20):
if you want to go out and bird. This is
your field knowledge guide if you will, or field guide
of knowledge. I don't know. Here's here's information.

Speaker 2 (12:28):
Here's how you start. You can decide to put as
much or as little time into birding as you'd like.
Most people recommend three things. A pair of binoculars, a
guide book, and a positive attitude. I don't know where
you can buy a positive attitude, but if you do,
find a place to buy that. Please let me know
if you're going to stock up if we can.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Yeah, yeah, I need to buy some myself, and I'm.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Going to resell it on Etsy, but I'm going to like,
you know, make it a little bit more artsy and
hit be Like. So, this is a pretty inexpensive hobby
and like most things, you can spend a lot of
money if you want to, but you really don't have to.
A twenty dollar book and at twenty dollars pair of
binoculars and you already start burning for less than fifty
bucks if you even want to spend that much. You
can actually just look at what's around and write down

(13:07):
or just spend time noticing it, or use an app
to record the bird, which is really cool.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, I like, there really is, Like you can do
this for free, one hundred percent. You can do this
for free. You can do it with zero equipment if
you want to. Most people like to have a pair
of binoculars in like some kind of guidebook, but you
don't have to do it whatever you want. Yeah, some
people will spend hundreds of dollars to get very particularly
powerful binoculars, or even some people will like set up

(13:31):
a single lens telescope, or they'll buy really powerful cameras
so they can take pictures of what they see. But
it's just kind of whatever is in your comfort range
and no obligations here. You do not have to have
a thousand dollars telescope to call yourself a burder. If
you just want to walk outside and notice a burd
and be like, huh, that's a cool bird, then like
you're doing the thing. Congratulations, Yeah, it's kind of nice.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
Now. Most recommend a ten by fifty or ten ten
times fifty, ten by five fifty, Yeah, ten by fifty
pair of binocular which is ten times magnification with a
fifty millimeter objective lens and burning books range in price
and complexity, from simple informational picture books to encyclopedic descriptions
and enumerations of different kinds of bird species that exist.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, so there's like depending on how intensely you want
to get into it. The beginner books are fairly simple.
They're like, here's a picture of this bird, here's where
you might find it, here's some variations in colors. Maybe
here's a couple facts. That's it. Some of them are like,
here's the Latin name and its habits, and it's like
where's its place of origin and where its name comes from,
and like sure, I mean you just kind of get
into it as much as you want to. Really, Yeah, Like,

(14:37):
there are lots of places that will list the kind
of books you might try and find and then also
rank them in terms of like their level of experience
you're looking for by getting that book. So there's lots
of resources out there if you want to get started.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, most definitely.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
Now, a cool thing about this hobby is you don't
necessarily have to do very much to get into it.
Ninety five percent of ninety five percent, which if my
math is right, is almost all of them.

Speaker 2 (15:05):
It's just so many.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
That's so many. They spend the majority of their birding
time simply in their backyards or like on their property somewhere.
You can just set up on a porch, you can
go walk around, you can just observe what you see
and like at what times of year. Like notice that
their birds migrate a lot of them, so you might
see different birds in different times of the year. So
just like go out, you don't need to travel very

(15:27):
far if you don't want to. Of course, you can
travel to places known to have certain birds that you
might be interested in trying to observe, And many people
who get into the hobby report doing just that. They're like, Oh,
I drove three hours out of my way to go
to this forest because I heard that there's this nesting
eagle there or something. And if you want to do that, like,
that's the thing you can do. But you can also,
like I said, most people just are like at their house,

(15:50):
maybe around their neighborhood, just walking around seeing what they see.

Speaker 2 (15:54):
Yeah, you also need a sense of curiosity about the
world around you, a willingness to observe and notice various
aspects of nature, and patience. You're going to notice different
sounds that you hear, the colors that are around you,
the feeling of the breeze or the sun on your skin.
You're going to notice the insects and the flowers and
the little fruits that might be growing around you. Record
what you see when you see it, and nature's not
there to entertain you, so appreciate what you get to

(16:16):
see when you get to see it, Like, not too
long ago, we have these flowers there growing in our backyard.
For the first time in my life. I saw a
hummingbird in real life.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:23):
I thought it was a big bug at first because
I'm in Florida, so I was like, what is that?
And then I looked at it. I was like, oh
my god, it's a little, pretty little hummingbird. It's so cool.
So and you just kind of like the best. It's
just it's an at a glance thing that you're like,
if you have the right flowers and you have the
right things in place, you might see some things that
you might not expect.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
Yeah, yeah, very much. So that's cool. I love hummingbirds.
They're so pretty.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
They're so pretty.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
I've seen a lot of them in various places. They
they're really cool. That's really cool. Yeah, absolutely, you can
do that. And yeah, just the point being that, like
if you're going to go out and nature, like, you
might see some cool birds. You might not see anything,
but you kind of just like notice what's there. And actually,
one of the things that people will report is that
the part of what has them be more mindful of

(17:05):
their surroundings is they're starting to look out for like,
what are the kinds of things that are tracting birds? Here?
Are they here building nests? Are they here gathering food?
Are they here doing mating rituals? Like there's there's all
kinds of things going on, and the environment itself is
often going to be a variable in what kind of
birds show up, and so you might start to notice, like, oh, look,

(17:27):
I noticed when I see these berries, these types of
birds tend to show up. So if I'm in another
place that has those, I might expect to see those
types of birds. And so it's a part of it.
But it's also just like just being there. Just be there,
Just be there in that space, and probably you'll get
to see some cool stuff and probably you'll just get
to notice stuff you weren't otherwise normally paid attention to.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
Right exactly now, Depending on how.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
Much time you spend and where you are, you might
want to plan for various environmental conditions. If you're going
to be outside doing this, you want to be able
to plan for weather, insects, and foliage Accordingly, generally the
recommendation is to plan to wear clothes that cover most
of your skin, which will protect you from bugs and
from the sun, were sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat.

(18:11):
And if you're gonna if it's gonna be dark, you
might want a flashlight or something, just to make sure
you can see where you're going. Wear sunscreen on parts
of your body that aren't covered by clothes, or other
things planned for if it might rain, if it's gonna
be hot, if it's gonna be windy or muddy, et cetera.
Just just accordingly, make sure you bring like a snack
in some water or something so that you can be

(18:33):
safe out and about.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Yes, some people specifically recommend winter time specifically for their
birding activities, as there are often fewer leaves on the
trees and bushes that would otherwise obscure more well camouflaged
bird colors and make it easier to spot some birds.
That's especially true in Florida, Like there is a lot
of foliage, but like in the winter, a lot of
the trees drop their leaves and you could see a
lot of really cool things.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Yeah. Yeah, so it's like normally they're sort of hidden
by all of the trees, but with their being less
on the branches, it's actually easier to spot some of
the ones you might not otherwise see. Now, of course,
many many birds are again we've mentioned this several times,
but they'll migrate, so they may not be there in
the winter, but you might see new ones in the
winter that you wouldn't otherwise see. So just a thing
to consider, and then obviously in that situation, just warmly yes,

(19:17):
of course, all right, if you are really interested in
observing what is available, plan to observe during the times
that birds are the most active. Generally speaking, this is
not a universal truth, but generally speaking, dusk and dawn
are really good times. There are nocturnal birds and diurnal birds.
In dusk and dawn, the birds are waking up if

(19:39):
it's you know, in the morning, or they're just returning
to rest, and the nighttime birds are kind of doing
the same. So you get to see the majority of
the birds that are active in your area because if
at dusk, for example, you know your nighttime birds are
starting to come out and be more active, your owls
and whatnot, and in the morning those birds are starting
to go back to their rest, and the birds that
are getting up for the day starting to get up.

(20:01):
And I also saw something about how like the cool
air tends to facilitate carrying their songs. Further, there's a
lot of insects that they're out catching that are like
a little sluggish because it's maybe a little cool. There's
a lot of stuff going on, but dusk and dawn
seem to be good times to try and observe, depending
on what you're trying to observe and what's around.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, Now, it is appropriate to put out birds eat
or other feeds to attract birds and even certain types
of birds. Enticing birds to come near can be a
very effective way to get to observe a wide variety
of birds or very specific birds. Like I mentioned before,
like that flower that we had was only accessible to
a bird that would be able to like, you know,
put its tiny little beak in there and get some nectar, right,

(20:40):
like a pollen eater, and so like that makes sense
to have that there, and that's only going to attract
that it's not going to attract hawks or crows.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Yeah, exactly. And you know, we mentioned like the point
of birding is not to interact with the birds, and
that is true, yes, but it is not considered inappropriate
to like set up a feeder where you are specifically
sort of trying to entice birds to come near so
that you can see them when they come near. Right,
So that that could be a thing obviously, be nice
to the birds, don't poison them, don't put something that's

(21:06):
gonna like hurt them. Like if you want to see birds, like,
be nice to the birds. Don't be a jerk.

Speaker 2 (21:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
And by the way, if you do attract crows, they
are very smart and they will probably remember you, and
if you give them something that makes them sick, they
might start attacking you and putting in the car. That's
for real, that's very real, and they tell each other
about it and then their friends come and attack you.
So like, don't mess with crows. Be nice to them.
They're cool.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Crows are really really cool. There's a couple of crows
like they are like right near my house. I'm like,
I want to train them and attack my enemies. I do.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
I Actually I was thinking about it, and I think
that crows are my favorite bird. I think they're I
really just appreciate how crafty and ingenius they are. And
I know people don't like their their cow, but actually
I like it a lot. I think it's really cool.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's funny. I was thinking about that. I was going
to ask you what your favorite bird was, because I
think mine is an osprey. Because we have a lot
of those around here. Yeah, and they're really beautiful. They're
like a blue gray white bird of prey. They always
hang out by water. They there's a big nest near
my house on top of the Walmart sign. Cool and
you can see the parents, like the two parents that
are hanging out and taking care of the babies in it.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
It's so cool. Oh that's amazing. Yeah, that's a good answer.
There's a wrong answer. You see, see two are learning today.
There's not really a wrong answer here, you know. Whatever
is sort of strike. I like crows because they're very smart,
and I like the I just like everything about it.
I think they're really cool. I think they look cool anyway,
great Oden's raven. There are many apps that provide pictures

(22:35):
of birds as well as bird song recognition. A lot
of times people refer to bird calls as a bird song,
or they'll be able to play recorded bird sounds. There's
like a huge library of recorded bird sounds, and then
you can compare what you hear from those recordings to
what you're hearing out in the wild. And many, if
not most, of these apps are free, and I'm sure
there's like paid subscriptions that you like get the premium

(22:58):
whatever is, But like you can generally get access to
these and be able to use them to help you
on your birding journey very easily. You know, It's it's
either free or you just have to sit through a
bunch of ads. All right, we're back. We've been just
talking about like the various things to consider and take

(23:19):
on if you're going to get into the burning hobby.
But it's always worth asking, like, what are the downsides
to this? Should I maybe not do burning? And there's
not very many, but we'll list them for you.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, So, like any hobby, it can be easy to
get sucked into that into a hobby, and it starts
consuming more and more of your time and resources that
you were originally prepared to dedicate to such an activity.
But I think there is something really valuable about this,
like spending more time outside. While it has many benefits,
can also come with some risks. There are increased chances
for dangerous encounters with other wildlife such as snake, spiders,

(23:50):
disease carrying insects, even bears and wildcats, or even mundane
threats such as falling.

Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, if you're like out hiking, you could potentially fall
and break a leg and then be far away from
people and not have a way to necessarily get help.
So there's you know, there are some risks that come
with that, so just yeah, be careful. And as we said,
like you know, there's a lot of other wildlife out
there that are not just birds and they are not
so concerned about staying away from you. So things to consider. Yeah,

(24:19):
another consideration, depending on where your values are at here,
is that if there were enough people who did this
activity regularly, Let's just imagine everyone on Earth got into
this all at the same time, it could result in
like excessive tourism and flocking. No pun intended, but I
appreciate that it came to me that quickly flocking to

(24:39):
areas where they're looking for birds that ultimately result in
like a greater disturbance of that habitat and the birds
that would otherwise frequent that habitat, and now it's crowded
by too many people. So you can imagine that, like,
it's great that people want to do this, it's cool
that people are going out into nature, and if there
was this huge surge in people doing this all at once,

(25:00):
actually be really disruptive. So that could potentially be another
like sort of risk here.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, and some people are willing to sacrifice sleep and
adequate nutrition to go out and watch for birds, which
is why a Ram brought up bringing snacks out and
stuff like that with you as part of this. This
could result in adverse health outcomes and relatedly sort of,
the cost can be extremely high if choosing to purchase
high end equipment. So you might get into a hobby
and you might really get into it, and then you
end up spending more money than it's necessary because you're

(25:27):
kind of like pulled so deeply in this habit. I can,
as somebody who is a musician, I can speak to
that very well. Music equipment gets real expensive, real quick.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
Yeah yeah, yeah. As one of the chief complaints about
my board gaming hobby is how much I have spent
on board games, not just the games, but then like
the accessories for the games, and buying sleeves for the cards,
and buying the upgraded components and buying the neoprene mats
and then buying all the expansions, and.

Speaker 2 (25:53):
It just hobbies are expensive.

Speaker 1 (25:55):
Hobbies are expensive. Yeah, it's a thing. They can be,
they can't yeah, fair, Okay, So why do people bird. Well,
they're a wide range of purported benefits for birding, and
most of these are actually kind of psychologically oriented. So
let's get in get into the reasons that people like
to bird.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
Yeah, so people report that the sense of being in
nature tends to improve mood, foster relaxation, and impart a
sense of mindfulness and a respect for nature. I mean,
this is just stever. When that's stever when lifestyle for sure,
Like it's like just being in it and connected like
that man was the most jovial person I've ever seen
in my life. Now research backs us up as well, So, like,
I think it's important to know that. So twenty twenty
one meta analysis found that people who participated in quote

(26:36):
nature based interventions recorded improvements in depressive moods, anxiety, improving
positive affect, and decreasing quote negative affect. And people are
generally drawn to green, natural spaces and tend to feel
better when spending time outdoors. This is actually something I
learned in my PhD program that there is there was
a branch, or is a branch of psychology called environmental

(26:58):
psychology that focuses on this. Like they use is a
lot of this as part of the treatment modality or
the treatment space, not like that, like they'll do therapy
in nature or like connect with natures like a part
of a foundational piece of that theoretical orientation.

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, there's a whole Like it's called the biophilia hypothesis.
I've wanted to unpack it specifically as an episode at
some point on this show, and maybe we still will,
but because I feel like it goes too far. But
the premise of it actually makes a lot of sense.
It's that humans are essentially like we are drawn to
natural spaces. We're drawn to we like looking at mountains

(27:33):
and vistas, we like looking at pictures of trees and flowers,
we like beaches, we like places outside, and we like
places with a lot of green. And it makes a
lot of sense. We are animals, we evolved in those spaces,
so we actually tend to find just general psychological happiness
and like improvement when we find ourselves in those spaces.

(27:55):
And the research is there, like it's it shows that
this is generally the case. Yeah, not ignoring the fact
that we are in fact animals and that we evolved
in nature, and that nature is still a very important
part of who we are like if we try to
divorce ourselves from it completely, I think we would struggle
with that in a lot of ways and ultimately try
to end up recreating version. Like people buy fake plants

(28:16):
and put them in their houses because they want to
have green around like it looks nice, right, Like it's
a thing they're attracted to. So anyway, so that's just
the thing. There's also the fact another reason that people
why people do this, a benefit that they get out
of this, I think you could put it in that
category is that when people do go out and do birding,
they tend to exert some exercise. They'll frequently hike to

(28:36):
a place to look for birds. They're usually going out
into some fresh air, and they tend to relax while
they're sitting there, noticing the surroundings, and therefore they will
experience a more profound mindfulness, which can have some moodless
lifting effects as well as the fact that they're relaxed.
People will do this often with a partner or a group,
and that comes with some positive social interactions and all

(28:59):
of these variable things that are likely part of what
has resulted in improved mood when people go out and
do birding is that they're getting exercise, they're with people,
they're a nice relaxed, calm space with like kind of
leaving your stress and work worries behind and you're just
kind of doing something just to do something that is fun,

(29:19):
and you also get to like see some really pretty nature.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yeah. Absolutely, But the birds themselves are also an important
ingredient here. So in the twenty eighteen study surveyed UK
citizens' reactions to fifty different bird sounds and found that
many bird sounds with certain characteristics were highly rated at
having a restorative effect, meaning people found that simply hearing
some bird songs created a feeling of restoration and peacefulness. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
I think actually when we tend to try to simulate
an outdoor environment and we're creating like a peaceful like
forest sort of sound, there is going to be bird
call happening at some part in that. There's you know
a little chirps and whistles and stuff that is part
of that ambiance and that I think people found find
generally relaxing most definitely. I think further in understanding why

(30:05):
people out here doing this is there is a somewhat
game like experience here to have the opportunity to observe
a bird you've never seen before, for example, as you're
sort of out there looking around for something new. It's
sort of like Pokemon Go in the real world, Like
you can go out into the world and you might
be lucky enough to stumble upon some rare bird you've

(30:27):
never seen before, and then you get to add that
to your list. So there's like kind of this fun,
challenging element of it. And we will talk about like
in a specific challenge that people do take on that's
an actual competition, but for the most part, like you're
just sort of like, oh, this is so exciting. I
haven't seen this one. I get to write that down,
or even if you have seen it, like oh cool,

(30:47):
it's another one of those like I love getting to
see that type of bird. I'm happy this. Like whoever
gets tired of looking at hummingbirds? Conservatives probably, but like
normal people like or just the every time they see them,
you get to be excited because there's such amazing birds.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, exactly. Now many people report that it is almost
addicting to spend time out in nature and have an
opportunity to observe the various birds around them and add
to their notes about observations they make. Commonly, they report
that the more you do it, the more you want
to do it.

Speaker 1 (31:14):
I understand this, I do.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, I can relate, by the way.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
I don't think I've mentioned, but there's like a lot
of quail here. Have you seen quail?

Speaker 2 (31:22):
I'm sure that I have, But it's one of those
things I just don't know a bit about. I think
I probably assume that they're doves.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Well, so quail have the like the weird little feather
off the front of their head that sort of hangs
in front of them like an angler fish like quailman, Yes,
exactly like Quailmanda is correct. That's the whole reason for
the belt. And they can fly, but they prefer to run,
and so most of them stay on the ground. And
so when you see quail, they'll often be in a
little group, because it's usually a family. You have a

(31:49):
parent and then a little baby's and they'll go running
across the road and there's like a little trail of them,
a little trail of quail, and it's so so cute.
They're such cute birds. But anyway, I love that just
noting things are around me. Others report that as a burder,
you are likely to gain a greater appreciation for nature

(32:11):
and the spaces in which you tend to observe birds,
and therefore be more supportive of kinds of causes that
would be preservation of wildlife areas. You might donate to
them more, you might elect officials who promise to protect them.
You might go to events and activities dedicated to the
preservation of those spaces. So a lot of people have
said that, like they get into the hobby and all

(32:32):
of a sudden they're like kind of activists for like
preserving these wildlife spaces. This is kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Yeah, it's it's a lovely outcome, Like what a great
side effect to that. And also if you're wondering, Yeah,
but why birds? I mean, I know people who are
afraid of birds, so like, but I want to talk
about this for a second, Like consider the alternatives here.
What other animals are out there that are easy to spot,
that have a great variety of color, shape, sizes, and sounds.
Are different species of squirrels so different that you could

(32:59):
easily spot dozens of different species and recognize their uniqueness
and a given environment. Ground animals are generally harder to
spot and usually less brightly colored and pretty universally unlike
the remarkable diversity available in the different bird species. Also,
their size is very conducive to tracking. Insects arguably have
a similar level of diversity and availability, if not more,

(33:19):
but they are often more difficult to spot to their
size and the fact that many have specifically evolved highly
camouflaged appearances, and they rarely announce themselves at least nowhere
nearly assaliently as birds, and some of them bite you. Yeah,
but birds are an ideal candidate for tracking and recording.
And I was thinking about this with fish too. It's like, yeah,
sea life is great, and like aquatic marine life is amazing,

(33:41):
but we don't breathe underwater, so you have to have
a specific apparatus to be able to do that.

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it's like I was thinking, as
like what else, I'm like, why birds? Why didn't people
get into like observing mice or something, Yeah, and whatever
it might be. And I'm like, well, I mean, first
of all, like, yeah, ground animals tend to hide. They
tend to be the same color as the ground, so
that they blend in there, might be too small, they
maybe too big, like you're not going out generally and
trying to spot as many different bears as you can,

(34:07):
and then even the ones where there is like a
lot of them, there's not usually the kind of variety
like birds. The variety and sizes, shapes and colors of
birds is staggering, like how different they can look from
one another. They really offer like the ideal candidate of like,
if you're gonna go out and try to observe wildlife
and you want to see like a wide diversity of

(34:29):
a type of wildlife, like you can hardly do better
than birds, right, They're just kind of perfect for this.
So it does kind of make sense, like why do
people get into birds and not something else. I'm like,
there's nothing better than birds for this particular thing that
people are trying to do right right exactly they consideration,
and there's nothing worse than ads.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
On the spectrum of good to bad. Birds being best,
ads being worst.

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Yeah, that's right, all right, we're back. We've been describing
like why birds make such good candidates for a thing
to go out in nature and track and observe if
you're going to do that sort of thing, And we're
broadly in the category right now of why people do this,

(35:14):
what are the benefits for this? And another thing here
is that there are social organizations dedicated to this hobby,
because there are millions and millions, tens of millions in fact,
of people who do this in the United States alone,
let alone in other countries who also have organizations who
do this. But there are special organizations dedicated to this,
and they provide information and support for people who are

(35:36):
looking to enter the hobby. So there is a built
in social structure that might create an opportunity important opportunities
to socialize with other people. This can be great for
older people who like just kind of want to have
a group of people they can make friends with, they
can talk about birds with, they maybe go out together,
or they meet up at things, and they otherwise are

(35:57):
kind of board sitting at home watching TV like this
gives something to do. Can also be true for younger
people who just maybe have a hard time socializing that
they have a shared interest in those group, so they
can make some friends that way. And it's just like
interacting with other humans, meeting people from different walks of
life and seeing their perspective on stuff, like there's just
it's a cool opportunity and socialization such an important part

(36:19):
of who we are as a species. So that's just
another benefit that people get out of participating in the
birding hobby.

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Yeah, most definitely. In these and other aforementioned reasons are
hypothesized as the explanation for why this hobby tends to
attract older adults. They have more time, more disposable income,
and tend to appreciate things like slowing down and taking
in nature more. Although as we said, many younger people
are realizing the same benefits and starting to kind of
really come into the fold a little bit.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
And finally, I think it's worth pointing out, you know,
we are in America, the most pro capitalist place on earth.
The finances here birding is a fairly significant economic boon.
So for those to naysayers who maybe also find themselves
on the very pro economic side of things, there's a

(37:06):
lot to be gained here. Although you can find birds anywhere,
the more dedicated hobbyists will travel to see specific birds,
and sometimes they'll travel a lot. Travel and lodging accounted
for fourteen billion dollars cumulatively spent by birders alone in
twenty twenty two. Like that, many people traveling that much.

(37:26):
Collectively spent fourteen billion dollars. They also spent ninety three
billion dollars on their equipment for birding, to a grand
total of one hundred and seven billion dollars. And as
a part of that, they're buying these tickets, these these
they're buying hotel rooms, they're buying equipment. They spent about
thirty one billion dollars that was collected in taxes. So like,

(37:49):
of the money that they spent, thirty one billion dollars
was collected in taxes as well. Not to mention, they
supported one point four million jobs and generated ninety point
two billion dollars of labor income. So this is a
hobby that is also very good for the tourism industry,
local jobs, and for wherever in the spectrum you fall.

(38:11):
The taxes collected by the government. So like, people choose
to go out and do this thing, and the fact
that they did that helps support other government functions as well.
And so like this it's kind of a it's its
own economy, this whole section of this hobby that's wild.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Now, there is something in the birding community called the
Big Year, and there's a specific activity of some burders
take on that. It's called a Big Year, which begins
at twelve oh one am January first and lasts until
eleven fifty nine pm on December thirty first. During this time,
birders dedicate an entire year to observing and recording as
many bird species as possible.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Yeah, so they take a year like this is like
we're doing this all day, every day for a year.
It's called the Big Year. The American Birding Association also
called ABA nice fair.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
That's how we got here, That's why we did That's
why we did this episode.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
That's right. Yeah, it's like what is ABA? And then
it'll just cascaded from there? What is ABA in addition
to what ABA already was? But anyway, the American Birding
Association or ABA, they create a checklist for birds eligible
to be tracked, and then birders get this checklist and
they compete to complete as much of the checklist as possible.

(39:25):
In the United States, there are some ground rules for this,
but they will usually travel extensively, recording hundreds of flights
and driving thousands of miles, and they might be specifically
organizing their travel to account for migration patterns and like
where people are reporting sightings of specific birds. They're like
dedicating time to this to try and get as many

(39:48):
birds as they possibly can recorded to their checklist.

Speaker 2 (39:52):
Yeah, and they have an extensive list of rules, including
geographic boundaries and qualifications for what counts. Like you can't
go and do an exotic pet store and write down
all of their imported birds. That would be cheating. Yeah,
there are lots of rules, which is really interesting.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, like birds that are not native to the United
States don't count, or like if they're extinct. Now they're like,
you can't record this because it doesn't exist. So there's
some certain rules about what doesn doesn't count and when
if you think about it, it does ultimately make sense.
Obviously they don't. Yeah, they don't want people cheating, and
really there's not very much incentive to cheat because there's

(40:26):
no monetary prize. It's really just bracking rights. It is
considered extremely prestigious to win the competition by completing the
most amount of the checklist, like more than anyone else
does that year. But you want to complete as much
as you possibly can. And as far as I was
able to find, no one has ever completed the entire checklist.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
So it's not like a race to the end. It's
a find as much as you possibly can, good luck
type thing.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
Yeah. Now, there is evidently a documentary about this called
appropriately enough Big Year, which we have not seen, but
Abraham fully intends to watch at some point, and I
think I would like to too, Like this has made me
want to do a better job of birding in my area,
just because I think that Florida has just such a
unique ecosystem. But yeah, I mean, I think this is
just super fascinating and I would love to see this documentary.

(41:16):
I'm super curious about like what could be recorded in this,
you know.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
Sure, Yeah, I'm given to understand it was like some
college students or something and they're like, we're going to
do the Big Year, and that they sort of recorded
themselves doing it.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, so I definitely want to see it. It sounds like
a lot of fun. I've heard really good things about
it so far.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
So cool. Good.

Speaker 1 (41:35):
Well, I think that's what we have to say about birding.
Came in a little bit shorter than our normal full
length discussions, but yeah, very fun, I would say. You know,
for those of you listening that are have done this
or you're thinking about doing this, or you know somebody
who does this, write in tell us about it. You
can email us directly info at WWDWWD podcast dot com.

(41:56):
You can also reach us on the social media platforms,
and we love to hear from you. Tell us your
thoughts on this interesting little hobby that people do. You know,
i'd say when we're thinking about the various unpacking, this
is sort of functional analysis type thing. I think we
kind of said the things like, there's a lot of
social reinforcers here. I think there's some inherent sort of
puzzly solvingness that goes on to like completing things. I

(42:17):
think there is just the experience of novelty, the inherent
reinforcement that can come from exercise and being around nature.
So there's like a lot of those sort of built
in things that are all part of what we described
when enumerating the benefits there. But yeah, I think that's
what we have to say about this. If you're joining
us for the first time, you may not know, but
at the end of our full length discussions we recommend

(42:38):
some things. They're just random things unrelated to the topic
that we were discussing. Most of the time that is
the case today. So stick around. We're going to get
through the credits and then we'll get to some fun recommendations.
And I think we're right about the time that maybe
we'll punctuate the end of this discussion with some ads.
Do the credits and then recommend some things.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
I love that idea.

Speaker 1 (43:05):
All right, we're back. We are going to recommend things.
But first I would like to say thank you all
for listening. I appreciate you being here. If you would
like to support us, you can leave us a rating
and a review. Just click those five stars and then
say this show's the best or whatever. I don't care,
but I mean I do care, but like you know,
be nice. If you have constructive criticism, you can email us.
We can talk it out together. You don't need to
shoot down our rating just to be rude. You can

(43:27):
reach out to us, and I look forward to hearing
from you on those things. But yeah, if you leave
this rating and review, that helps us show up for
more people, and that that helps us be a podcast.
So do that thing. You can also tell a friend,
maybe grab their phone and subscribe for them so that
their life improves just a little bit by you being
looking out for them. You know, you get a new
podcasts in their feed that they're like, Yes, I learned
so much every day or every week. In addition, if

(43:48):
you like to support us financially, we really appreciate that
you can join us on Patreon. There you get early episodes,
ad free content, bonus content, that sort of thing, and
I will read your name. I will say your name
listener out loud to our other listeners and say a
giant thank you to you because you have taken the
plunge to help us by joining us on Patreon. So
the people who have earned that includes Mike m Megan,

(44:12):
Mike T, Justin, Kim Brad, Stephanie, Brian, Ashley, Kiara and Charlie.
Thank you all so much for being so wonderful.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
You're beautiful and we love you.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Indeed. Writing in fact checking from Shane and myself, thank
you for recording with me today. Shane, Hey, thanks for
having me. And I have more people who help me
on my team and I need them. Social Media coordinator
is Emma Wilson, and our person in the chair who
does all the good sounds is God Emperor. Executive producer
genius extraordinaire Justin who is the best producer ever.

Speaker 2 (44:44):
He truly is couldn't ask for a better producer.

Speaker 1 (44:48):
It could not. Anyway. I think that's what we have
to say about those things. Is there anything that I
forgot or that you would like to add before we
recommend things?

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Uh? No, I think that covers it.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
Cue the music.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Recommendations. My recommendation is a movie that just came out,
and you know, it's an interesting one because it's not
everybody's cup of tea. And that is the most recent
movie that the crew from Jackass put out called Jackass
Best and last. Now here's the thing. This is for
a particular generation, right, This is for like people who

(45:26):
grew up watching these guys get hurt constantly. This is
the last one. And it's actually like shockingly emotional because
they kind of talk about why this is the last one,
and like they're wrapping up and they're just kind of
moving on with their lives, and Johnny Knoxville gets like
really upset a couple of times, like really like cries.
But I was thinking about this and I was like,
you know, watching the movie, the stunts are some like

(45:47):
old clips from when they were younger. They kind of
do like a this is like a highlights reel plus
some new things, and and you know it's gross, of course,
and like you just kind of go, oh, why they're
getting hurt? Oh my god, it's like it's so bad.
And I looked it up and between the main cast
members of Jackass, they have estimated thirty eight million dollars
in medical bills wow, from these stunts, with Johnny Knoxville

(46:10):
having the most, close to ten million dollars between sixteen
concussions and a brain hemorrhage and then danger Air and
having seven point three eight million due to three broken necks.
So these guys are you know. The thing is is
like the people think that they're stupid and they do
these things to be like this, that and the other.
But my favorite thing about these movies and these shows

(46:31):
is not the stunts. It's the fact that they're a
group of friends who just kind of play off on
one another and encourage one another and support one another.
And it's really, this is gonna sound ridiculous, but Jackass
is really just about their friendship and like how important
friendship is and how powerful friendship can be, and how
loving and supporting your friends can be. As gross as

(46:53):
and stupid as they can be. So anyway, I thought
it was really great, and it like kind of made
me meditate on friendship a little bit and just I
don't though. It was a lot of fun. It was
a lot of fun to watch, and definitely some nostalgia
to go with it, you know.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
Hun, all right, Yeah, they've been doing these for a
long time, so I definitely got to imagine that as
they're getting up there in age, it's just getting harder
and harder to justify doing any of this. And as
you said, they maybe make a lot of money from
these movies, but I'm not sure that the amount that
they make helps offset the cost so much of their
medical bills. Right, at some point, it's time to throw

(47:25):
in the towel. And I can appreciate that. I hadn't
really plans to check this out, but you sold it
really well, and now I'm curious enough that I very
well might.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
So it's fun. It's fun, it's wild, but it's fun,
all right.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
All right, that's Jackass, the best and the last. I'm
recommending an album. This is the most recent release by
the metalcore or hardcore or metal band, I don't know,
whatever genre, I don't care August Burns Red. I'm a
big fan of these guys. I have been for a
long time, somewhat ironically, but this last album they put
out because I felt like I kind of fell off

(47:58):
the train for a while. I wasn't really checking out
stuff they were releasing. Then I saw a music video
for this upcoming album and I thought, I'll check that out.
Let's see what it looks like. And I was like
really impressed. I was like, Wow, this song was actually
really fun. Then they released more and every one of
them I just really liked. So I and then the
full album came out and I've been listening to it
a lot, and I'm in here thinking like, this is

(48:20):
maybe the best thing they have done in almost twenty
years in my opinion. Wow, I think this is one
of my favorite albums that they have ever released. It
feels like they're sort of back to the thing that
I liked about them there. There's just there's more creativity,
there's sort of more unique approaches to things. They're kind
of doing stuff that's a little outside the box. That

(48:41):
feels like they're kind of going back to like let's
do raw, let's do fast, let's do try and come
up with something we haven't really done before. Sure, I've
really really enjoyed it. So if you're into that kind
of thing, you know, it's screaming, it's heavy, it's that
sort of thing. But Season of Surrender by August Burns Red,
I think is one of the best things they have
done in a couple of decades. And so if you

(49:01):
like old August Burns Red, like specifically Messengers, that was
my favorite album by them. This is up there. This
is pretty close. I recommend checking that out.

Speaker 2 (49:10):
Beautiful. I love it.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Yeah. Yeah, So the movie Jackass, Best and Last and
the album Season of Surrendered by August Burns Read. Those
are recommendations. Go check those out. I guess, and then
or don't whatever. I can't make you do anything, sure,
but I think that's what you have to say about
all of that. So we can close this one out.
Is there anything you'd like to add that I forgot
before we sayah, goodbyes.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Nope, not today.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
Okay, Well, thank you all for listening. This is Abraham
and this is Shane. We're out.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Siya.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
You've been listening to Why We Do what We Do.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
You can learn more about this and other episodes by
going to WWD WWD podcast dot com, Thanks for listening
and we hope you have an awesome day.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Bobby Bones Show

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Birding!

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Bobby Bones Show

All Episodes

Birding!

Stuff You Should Know