Hope Springs Eternal: Social Distancing by Birding

Social Distancing: Spring Birding

April 2020: we were in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic with Covid19. Four out of five Americans were advised to stay home as much as possible. If they did go out, the CDC advised (and still does to this day) wearing a mask in addition to social distancing. That was where birding came in for us. Seldom have we seen other people while we were out watching birds. Birding is made for social distancing!

Early 2021: Yeah, still in a pandemic so we have been birding all through these stressful times. Now that we have a vaccine, we hope to see a return to “normal life”, but we will be socially distant for a while still.

2022: And indeed the pandemic goes on, but travel is opening up!

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Pandemic be Darned: Spring is Here

Let’s just say I am not a fan of snow. As in, I hate it with a passion. If we didn’t have kids in the school system here we would live far away from snow in the winter! Even with winter hiking possibilities, I hate it with a passion.

Our driveway is horrible, my balance sucks, I hate the cold, and I can’t go birding or geocaching or anything. I mean, I am forced to stay inside, study languages and the ancient game of go when we are not able to fly to far-off warmer destinations. So I am always looking forward to spring, even more so last spring, given this pandemic!

Although the Covid19 pandemic started late 2019, we were still able to travel in January and February of 2020. While it was great to be in The Bahamas and Mexico , eventually we had to return to New Hampshire. At that time, we did know about Covid19, it was far from our location and we lived in a happy denial from the possible pandemic reality.

During our flights back from Cancun late February, about half of the people on the plane from Cancun to Houston wore masks. Closer to a third wore a mask on the Houston – NYC leg. Then on the last leg, NYC to Boston almost nobody wore masks. This was late February, when the US had less than 20 diagnosed cases and they were all on the Pacific coast, so life on our East coast still was normal.

Our Healing Spring Birding

Early March 2020, Covid19 reached the East Coast when New York City diagnosed their first Coronavirus patient. Sadly, at the same time, my brother in the Netherlands unexpectedly passed away, ( not related to Covid19 ) and naturally we wanted to attend the family and connect with family members.

Because I am on immune-suppressing medicine for my MS, I asked my neurologist about travel. His advice simply was “Don’t travel.” Admittedly, it wasn’t an easy decision, but after lots of soul searching and pondering, we decided it would be too risky.

So we stayed home and Covid19 first crept, and then leaped closer and closer, including to our own small town in New Hampshire. While I was sad about my brother and missing his funeral, in hindsight it was the right decision. A week later all the travel restrictions were put into place and we could very well have gotten stuck in the Netherlands.

At first I spent too much time reading and stressing about everything, my brother, coronavirus, the kitchen sink, but then spring birds started to show up. A Golden Eye in the Mascoma river, a bird we had never seen! Being out in nature was healing to my soul, helping me cope with all the stress in our life.

Spring Has Sprung

Every day we heard cardinals, chickadees, and suddenly our turkey vultures were back. One day we were driving around, looked up and there was a wake of vultures circling, waiting for us to trip and fall…

Once Covid19 hit New Hampshire, it didn’t take long until our schools were closed. Our high schooler started on-line learning. Our daughter returned from Hamilton College and also transitioned to on-line learning. Last but not least, our son came home from the University of New Hampshire.

Suddenly, we had almost double our usual number of people living in the house for the foreseeable future. We are doing fine, but it is different and we are all adjusting. Lots of baking thanks to our Pandemic Sourdough.

So from the start of this pandemic, we birded a lot. Both planned and unplanned. For example, driving along the Connecticut River we noticed mergansers again. I might have yelled at Tom “Stop! Pull over! There be ducks!” Carpe diem! Glad he is a good sport about it.

Life was looking up back then and will again this year! Being outside makes such a huge difference. We found even more mergansers, Canada geese, and robins. We were still waiting for wood ducks, one of our prettiest local ducks.

A few days later, we found our eagles Eleanor and Edward behind our local Home Depot. They appeared to be breeding, so we were looking forward to eaglets soon. And indeed, they soon had two babies. Unperturbed by Covid19, life goes on in nature. New life, like hope, springs eternal.

Also, robins were back! We saw so many of them, both in our backyard and around town. It was official! It was spring! Still waiting for this year’s robins.

Social Distancing by Birding Conclusion

While the world may feel like a scary place right now, consider birding. Stay away from people, find places where no one else wants to go, always practice social distancing. Instead of binge watching Netflix, go out and observe nature.

How are you doing with your social distancing? Tell us about usual signs of spring in your backyard, and at your birding spots. As always, keep washing your hands!

2021 Update: after a summer break, when the pandemic flattened its curve, we are back to scary and worrisome numbers. So yes, we are still birding locally, even if we’d rather be birding in the Everglades.

2022 Update: Hoping to travel by plane for the first time in two years. Keep your fingers crossed and meanwhile, enjoy our pre pandemic birding adventures!

Explore The World by Birding

• Never Smile at a Crocodile! Beginner’s guide to Birding in the Everglades;
• Birds, Dolphins and Fish Poop: Discover Sian Ka’an, a UNESCO World Heritage Site;
• Eagles galore!
• Invasive Alien Birds in Hawai’i: don’t get fooled by their beauty;
• Life time bucket list: follow Thousands of Snow Geese;
• Watch a heron take out a crocodile!
• The best birding in Costa Rica;
• Explore Isla Contoy in Calcun;
• When hiking is too hard: birds on the Manoa Falls Trail;
• Kennebunkport Maine has good birding hotspots;
• Famous bird painting for booklovers: Where is The Goldfinch Painting now? and how it doesn’t even LOOK like a goldfinch;
• Lots of incidental birding on an Alaska Cruise;

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