{"id":57,"date":"2014-12-04T14:05:32","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T14:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=57"},"modified":"2014-12-05T19:54:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T19:54:12","slug":"in-praise-of-birds-hello-who-are-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/?p=57","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Birds: ‘Hello, Who are You?’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"inpraiseofbirds_logo\"<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Short Reflection (15th September 2013 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was about 20 years old, in a Secret-Santa present exchange one Christmas, I let it be known amongst my old schoolfriends that I would like to get a book about birds. \u00a0I\u2019ve no idea what brought about this urge at that particular moment in my life. \u00a0I do recall having fond memories of studying a wall-chart that mum had bought me as a child so that I could identify the birds that came to visit our caravan on holiday in Kent each year. \u00a0In fact I\u2019ve managed to dig out the wall-chart which set me on the path to being a birdwatcher.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

That Christmas, the Secret Santa came good, and I pored over the beautiful book I\u2019d been given, amazed at the variety of birds to be found in this country (most of which I\u2019d never heard of, let alone seen). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I started to wonder where they had all been hiding. \u00a0I was about to go away for a snowy New Year\u2019s break at a cottage in the countryside and packed the book to take with me. \u00a0Soon after I arrived, I noticed an insistent call coming from the tree outside my bedroom window.\u00a0 \u00a0I remember pulling back the curtains to be greeted by a large-ish, pigeon-ish, bird and thinking \u201cHello, who are you?\u201d (This phrase still pops into my head whenever I see or hear a new bird, or even a rustle in the undergrowth, and if nobody else is around I have been known to say it out loud to the bird in question). \u00a0I consulted my bird guide and found it was a collared dove. \u00a0This was thrilling news \u2013 a bird I had never met before \u2013 and even now I find it exciting to meet a new bird for the first time. \u00a0It turns out that collared doves are pretty common and they have a repetitive coo-ing that can drive you quite crackers when they are perched in a tree outside your bedroom window\u2026 but that didn\u2019t matter at the time.<\/p>\n

In the early days of my life as a birdwatcher I knew so few birds that I found myself happily tripping over new species everywhere. \u00a0I remember being especially grateful for ducks \u2013 generally large birds, rather hard to miss, which stay still long enough for you to focus your binoculars \u2013 and a colourful treat during the winter months when they migrate here from colder places in great numbers. \u00a0I had never considered the possibility that there might be ducks other than mallards to think about\u2026 but soon I had been introduced to gadwall, pintail, wigeon, and many more beautiful wild species. \u00a0Along with my mum, I\u2019ve always had a fondness for small birds, finches and tits like the ones on my wall-chart, and although some of these will obligingly come to a garden bird-feeder, others are more of a challenge to spot, being small, fast-moving, and often quite secretive. \u00a0And there are a whole class of birds that birders jokingly refer to as \u2018little brown jobs\u2019 \u2013 warblers and the like which might only differ minutely in plumage or song \u2013 and which lurk infuriatingly in reeds or bushes. \u00a0However, as I have got deeper into it, I find the challenge of working birds out is enjoyable in its own way. \u00a0And birding has taken me to all sorts of places as I have travelled the country visiting different habitats to seek out local specialities.<\/p>\n

In some people\u2019s minds, birdwatching is a nerdy pursuit, a form of collecting like trainspotting that is just about getting another \u201dtick\u201d on the list. \u00a0There is an element of that, of course, especially when it comes to the hardcore twitchers who devote their time and money to pursuing rare species. \u00a0But, for me, birdwatching is about slowing down and paying attention. \u00a0To identify a wild bird, especially from just a fleeting glance, you have to cultivate the habit of careful looking and listening. \u00a0When you encounter a bird, you have to care about them enough to say \u201chello, who are you?\u201d\u2026 \u00a0and then you have to stay put long enough to get to know them and find out. \u00a0And you have to do it on their terms. \u00a0If you carelessly galumph into their habitat, shouting at the top of your voice, wearing bright colours, the birds will most likely scatter and the bushes around you will be silent and lifeless. \u00a0The first time you encounter a bird you will probably need to focus on the details and check your field guide again and again\u2026 but with persistence, in time, you will become more familiar with each species, building up a relationship of sorts, and eventually you may be able to recognise those birds from just a glimpse, like you would an old friend. \u00a0\u00a0You may become increasingly aware that there is all this life out there, all these creatures with their daily struggles, which you simply didn\u2019t see before you started trying to recognise and name them. \u00a0You may find yourself more intuitively in tune with changes in the whole ecosystem and landscape \u2013 that interdependent web of which we are a part. \u00a0Through birdwatching \u2013 just slowing down and paying attention \u2013 you may find that you have forged a new, deeper, relationship to your fellow creatures, and that some of them really can be called your feathered friends.<\/p>\n

Reflection by Jane Blackall<\/strong><\/p>\n

An audio recording of this reflection (and the rest of the birds service) is available:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nhttp:\/\/www.kensington-unitarians.org.uk\/pod2011\/KU_sarah.and.congregation_sermon_15.09.13.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short Reflection (15th September 2013 at Essex Church \/ Kensington Unitarians) When I was about 20 years old, in a Secret-Santa present exchange one Christmas, I let it be known amongst my old schoolfriends that I would like to get<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98,"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rebelrebel.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}