When the World Paused, the Birds Didn’t | Remembering Spring 2020

Spring 2020 feels both impossibly distant and uncomfortably close.

That was the season when the world shrank to our neighborhoods, our kitchens, our back roads. Travel stopped. Plans dissolved. Time got… strange.

For us, birding became a way to step outside without escaping reality. No crowds, no tickets, no schedules. Just binoculars and birds that had absolutely no idea humans were panicking.

This post isn’t advice anymore. It’s a pandemic memory—a record of the spring when hope arrived on wings, one cardinal, merganser, and bald eagle at a time.

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Pandemic Memories: Those were the days, my friend.

Pandemic be Darned: Spring Arrived Anyway

Let’s just say I’m not a fan of snow. As in, I hate it with a passion. If we didn’t have kids in school, we’d have wintered somewhere far away from the cold. Even with winter hiking options, I still hate it.

Our driveway is horrible, my balance is wobbly, and cold weather keeps me indoors. No birding. No geocaching. Just studying languages and the ancient game of Go while far-off warmer destinations remained unreachable. That made spring even sweeter—especially spring 2020, when the world paused.

Although the 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 clung to a kind of optimism that, in hindsight, feels almost innocent.

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.

Pandemic Memory: Losing my Brother Spring 2020

Early March 2020, Covid19 reached the East Coast. At the same time, my brother in the Netherlands unexpectedly passed away (not Covid-related). Naturally, we wanted to be with family.

Because I’m on immune-suppressing medication for MS, I asked my neurologist about travel. His advice was firm: “Don’t.” At the time, it felt like another loss layered onto an already difficult spring.

Healing Birding: Rockin’ Robin

So we stayed home. Danger crept closer each day, including to our small town in New Hampshire. While I grieved missing my brother’s funeral, in hindsight, it was the right decision. A week later, travel restrictions made the choice obvious.

At first, I spent too much time reading and stressing about everything—my brother, the virus, the kitchen sink. But then spring birds began to show up. A Common Goldeneye in the Mascoma River—a bird we’d never seen. Being outdoors became an anchor, something steady when everything else felt uncertain.

Here Comes the Sun: Spring 2020 Sprung As Usual

Every day we heard cardinals, chickadees, and suddenly our turkey vultures were back. One day we drove around and looked up—there was a wake of vultures circling above us, blissfully indifferent to human drama.

We stayed home, adjusted to schools closing, and baked our way through uncertainty—feeding starters as much as ourselves. (Bubonic Biscuits anyone? 🙂 )

From the start, we birded a lot. Planned and unplanned. Driving along the Connecticut River, I might have yelled at Tom: “Stop! Pull over! There be ducks!” Carpe diem. He’s a good sport.

A few days later, we found our eagles Eleanor and Edward, behind the local Home Depot. They were breeding—and soon raising two eaglets. Clearly, mother nature couldn’t care less about human pandemics.

Robins returned too. Backyard, around town—it was official. Spring had arrived, even in 2020.

Pandemic Memories Grounded in Nature

Looking back, this post isn’t really about social distancing or even birding.

It’s about noticing life continuing when so much else felt paused. Migration schedules held. Nests were built. Spring arrived anyway.

New life, like hope, didn’t ask permission.

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;
• Some people go to Las Vegas to gamble, others go to Las Vegas to go birding!
• Last but not least: why birding is the best way to socially distance;

Pin Social Distancing and Birding