Birding: How Birds Bring People Together

 When you think of New York City, what is it that you think of? The Statue of Liberty? The Upper East Side? For my mom, she thinks of the rich and diverse communities of bird watches who flock to Central Park every day.

My mom is the bird-equivalent of a crazy cat lady. Every morning around 5 a.m, she wakes up and travels to different destinations to see what birds she can spot. I used to think this to be a crazy thing, but upon hearing about her trip to NYC, I was almost brought to tears.

My mom woke up at 4:30 am that day in order to catch the subway from the Lower East Side up to central Manhattan to go birding in Central Park. She said that the day started like any other, with plenty of finches, pigeons, and cardinals. But slowly, rarer and rarer birds began to appear on the horizon, and so did the people.

My mom claims she's never seen anything like it. Because of Central Park's accessibility, it drew in the most diverse crown of birdwatchers she had ever seen. People of all races, genders, ages and physical ability slowly began to gather with her in the park, all looking for the same thing: birds.

My mom said once that one of her main fascinations with birdwatching is the idea that anyone can do it. It's one of the easiest yet most profound ways to feel connected with nature, and that's exactly what happened that day. Hundreds of people with wildly different backstories all connected through one thing: birds.