March 2010
Mindfulness practices are a definite boon to good health. Some of the more recent scientific studies show that being mindful is good for your immune system and good for your brain in terms of emotional health and creativity. Birdwatching is an engrossing and fun way to bring more mindfulness into everyday life– all that is required is to look outside or go outside and be fully present looking to see what you might see.
So many people rush through their days and miss the lovely white crowned sparrow that was singing on the lamp post mid day outside of our Safeway store. I stood for a minute and listened to that beautiful song and even commented to passersby who said “what birdsong?”
Yesterday I went outside in my back yard and saw two Flickers doing something I had never seen– bobbing their heads up and down at each other than then gently touching bills over and over for about 15 minutes. No vocalizing at all. Spring is coming! And soon those very same flickers will be drumming for mates and in fact you will hear loud sounds all around Cedar Mill, Oregon as they stake out their territory.
Another thing I saw in my own back yard when I bothered to really look was that many birds have already started to change into their breeding plumage. Feathers are not alive so to change colors birds have to lose one set and replace them with a new set– a process called molting. Different birds do this in varying ways. You might have noted for example the mottled European Starlings are starting to develop their glossy dark black breeding plumage and their yellow beak color. All this requires a lot of energy as they lose one set of feathers and grow in a new set. Our most striking example of changes in breeding plumage are the Mallard male ducks with their bright green heads in the spring and the Goldfinches who change our of their drab olive winter feathers to the typical incredibly bright yellow of the breeding male. See the website gallery for examples of Goldfinches in summer/breeding plumage and winter plumage.
Really focusing on what you can see changes your walks and visions out of your window from the mundane to the very interesting and is probably good for your health. Take a careful and mindful look outside.