Birds are a passion of mine. I developed into a “birder” at a time I really needed to de-stress. I found that when I went looking for birds, it really helped. It came at a time that there was a large gathering of bald eagles at a very small lake, which offered great opportunities to see them up close. I had recently upgraded to a DSLR camera, which was on the low end for birding, but much better than the point and shoot camera that I previously used. This hooked me on bird photography. I have studied the birds and their sounds, learned to identify them, and enjoy all the pictures I take.
I now teach bird classes to children ages 5-12 online. This helps me learn even more about the birds, and I have the opportunity to work with students that love birds. It is amazing at what they know! Although I teach other classes, these are my favorite.
I have learned more about mindfulness, both as a school counselor (retired now) and from teaching classes on mindfulness to students. I finally connected the fact that for me, birding was the ultimate mindful activity, and by focusing on it with all my senses, and not thinking about anything else, it truly was an activity that helped me in many ways. I used to say in jest that it was “bird therapy”. I really feel that in fact, it was one of the best things for me to do for my stress.
With this page, I hope to share some of my experiences, special moments, and pictures with readers. I hope that you will enjoy my posts.