Counting Birds
And the competition it induces...
Hey friends,
Greetings from Ashoka University, India!
I just finished reading the famed book “Birding without Borders” by Noah Strycker. It talks about his quest to break the world record of the number of bird species seen in a year. He travels across continents to try and spot as many avians as possible.
Spoiler alert: he succeeds.
Through the book, Strycker walks us through the astonishing bird diversity of our world. We’re talking alien looking birds. Creatures that even the wildest imagination can’t conjure up. Here are two birds he mentioned that have taken my heart hostage.
There are more than 10,000 bird species in the world. Let that sink in. 10,000! I simply can’t wrap my head around that figure.
The book also touches on bird ringing—the method scientists use to study bird migration. It is a fascinating venture. I’ve written a whole newsletter issue on the topic, which you can check out below:
I sometimes feel like no one truly grasps the brilliance of bird migration. Think about it. These creatures, sometimes the size of your cellphone, circle the entire planet. You can fit some of these creatures in your palm, yet they travel across the Earth. You try walking across your city and see how tired you get.
Birds truly are the freest creatures in the world. Strycker captures this allure really well in this quote:
Birds teach us that borders are just lines drawn on a map—a lesson we can all take to heart. - Noah Strycker
The book also got me thinking about the cult of “life lists” in birding. It is the list of all the birds a person has seen in their lifetime.
Now, after much persuasion, I’ve finally joined eBird, the global online citizen-science platform that helps study birds everywhere. The premise is that anyone can upload their bird sightings from wherever they are so that we can get a global picture of the birds of our world.
Birders also use eBird to tally up their life lists, often comparing with one another. Since I’ve just joined, my tally is a paltry 163. I haven’t been able to upload all my previous years of birding (because the lists are scattered across several notebooks) and so I can’t help but feel jealous when I see other birders rocking up 1000 birds or more. I am sure that my actual tally is above 500…
Anyway, this is still a healthy competition I suppose. And it promotes a good cause: watching birds.
For those of you who aren’t birders yet, trust me, just give it a shot. These feathered friends will grown on you.
Postcard
This shot is from my recent sojourn to the Himalayan forests. That peak on the right is Mt. Trisul, the 9th highest peak in India.
The Himalayas are full of birds, btw…
Favourite Quote
This is a short quote from an article by my friend
. I think it is one of the best story hooks I’ve seen.My king was being cornered on the chess board by my son’s knight and castle. It felt as though I was being pursued by a trained assassin. The worst part was, I trained him.
Have a creative, wild and inspiring week!
If you’re new, welcome to The Owlet! My name is Ishan Shanavas, and I am an Artist, Photographer, Writer and Student of the Natural World.
Here I talk about my work, along with curating the most interesting ideas on the internet. I confine them to topics like Nature, Culture, Photography, and Art but often fall prey to other genres.
I would greatly appreciate it if you shared my newsletter and work with your friends. It really helps me out :)
Ishan - I was quite enjoying this issue and letting the wonder of birds as a borderless creature sink in. What a fun surprise to see that snippet from a past article as well. Thanks for sharing it. I didn't know about the lifetime bird watching list. That's very cool. I hope you're able to consolidate your previous sightings, but I'll bet your wonder quotient is higher even than those with 1000 sightings on their list.