So you were dealing with the feelings we talked about earlier, and you got to a point where you decided your life had to change. One of the things that then changed your life was birding. How did you find it? In the spring of 2023, just before I left The Atlantic, I moved to Oakland from D.C., and one thing that happened was I started paying attention to the birds around me. They were omnipresent in a way they weren’t before. On my first day in my new house, there was an Anna’s hummingbird in the garden. I would go for walks and hear birdsong: the melodious sound of a Pacific wren in a nearby redwood forest. I bought a pair of binoculars and would take it with me on neighborhood walks or hikes. I would have Merlin while I was working and look up occasionally and go: “Oh, that’s interesting. It’s an oak titmouse. I’ve never seen one before.” To me, the difference between being casually bird-curious and being an actual birder is making a specific effort to go and look at birds.
Going from passive to active. Exactly. So early September of 2023 was when I made my first trip to a local wetland to specifically look at birds and nothing else. That was, honestly, a life-changing moment.
Can you put me back in that moment? I went to a place called Arrowhead Marsh. It’s this relatively small stretch of wetland that has a boardwalk sticking out into this little chunk of bay, and on that day, I saw all these creatures. I’ve been writing about animals since I’ve been writing about anything, but a lot of my knowledge of the natural world, if you want to be reductive, it’s just trivia. Whereas the knowledge I gained from birding, that started on that boardwalk, feels rooted in the lives of the birds themselves in time and space. I look at the birds, and I see how they behave. Small things that I would never have noticed if I was just reading scientific publications. Those two halves, the academic side and the more lived knowledge, beautifully interact with each other. And the thing that I felt palpably at that place on that day, that I still do every time I go birding, is this incredible sense of being present.
When you’re watching birds — and this could apply to the natural world writ large — there is so much going on that is basically beyond our comprehension. Because of our sensory capabilities as human beings, we are condemned to having only an ankle-deep understanding of what it is to be alive on Earth. To me, that’s humbling and mind-blowing. What do you think? I fully agree. I mean, that is a beautiful précis of basically my entire body of work.
I have a curmudgeonly question. Developing an awareness of the magic that’s happening all around us at any given moment, and understanding that there’s this vast cosmic dance playing out — in the abstract, I can see how internalizing those perspectives might change one’s perspective. Sometimes I’m able to get to that place. But the way I’m picturing it in my head is like, I blow up a beautiful balloon. I’m carrying that balloon around and looking up at the balloon: What a beautiful balloon I’m carrying with me. Then I get to the office, and the balloon pops on the halogen light, and I’m back in the [expletive]. Did your understanding of the bigger existential stuff you were writing about actually help you in the moments when you were struggling? I can say that thinking about these ideas constantly really helped me. It felt like a salve to all of that moral injury and despair that I was feeling. It doesn’t cure it, but it fills my life with wonder and joy, and that acts as a buffer against all the other existential dread and fear that we have to grapple with. One thing I’ve said about science as a field is that it is one of the only areas of human endeavor that take us out of ourselves. We exist at a time when we are being crunched ever inward. Whether it’s through a novel virus, or frayed social connections, or algorithms that feed us more of what we already were seeking out. There is a kind of implosive effect of the modern world, and the science and nature writing that I’m prioritizing, and the birding that I do, are all counters to that. They are a way of radiating your attention outward. I’m still wrestling with the curmudgeonly question that you asked. Like, does any of that matter? Sometimes when I go out and look at birds, there’s a voice in my head that says, Is this really the best thing you could be doing with your time?
It’s a dropout solution. Totally, because often people talk about birding as escapism, and there’s something about the word “escapism” that has a slight negative connotation. I had a conversation with a good friend about this, and what she said was, “I think it’s more important than ever to be out in the world.” I agree with that. We need to replenish ourselves, and it matters, because for those of us who care about biodiversity and diversity and the environment and equality, we need to be connected to the thing that we are fighting for. And if we don’t do that, then the work, the fights, become abstract.
— Excerpts from David Marchese‘s interview of Ed Yong in “Ed Yong Wants to Show You the Hidden Reality of the World.” (NY Times, February 22, 2025)
DK Photo of Hooded Merganser at 7:00 am this morning. More pictures from this morning’s walk at Cove Island Park here.
Better to have had a balloon that popped than never to have had a balloon at all. Sound familiar?
Yes! Tennyson I think!
Thank you.
you know, it’s really not “hidden reality”– it’s all RIGHT THERE.
Truth!!!!
Ur merganser above has morning Cove-head. 🥰 (I really hope you did, too!)
Yes and Yes!
First of all, dear David, the photograph of this Hood Merganser so beautiful, and should be a gift. Great shot. About Ed Yong’s thoughts… If I were a young one, I couldn’t understand well enough what he was talking about. But now, at my age, after all life experiences, in my own tower I can understand him. These thoughts and these feelings not far to me. I loved to read him, as always Thank you dear David, If we read nature, I do believe life would be better, but with human-human factors, everything in our life turns a big chaos… How can we carry a beautiful balloon with us… Have a nice new week, Much Love, nia
Hi Nia. Thank you. I feel exactly the same way. 20 years ago I wouldn’t have taken the time to read this essay, and would have scoffed at it if I did. Now it feels like the only path to peace. Thank you.
<3
Thank you.
In my 8th decade I get this, and your photo is spectacular David.
Thank you! I’m beginning (finally) to get it!
I get this now, and I wouldn’t have when younger
Me too!
It started about 16 years ago. It was a very welccmed/needed distraction.
And I’m grateful for the ability to be distracted.
The same bird singing woke me up between 2:45 am and 3 am. For weeks. It sounded so close to the bedroom window. It took me a while to identify it as a Robin singing. Robins are so common. But until that summer, it was that one Robin between 2:45 and 3 every night that caught my attention. A Robin song is well know, he sang it with just one off beat. He didn’t stop coming for years.
I think they find us. They do!
Robin is up at 2:45am? Wow. I think that Robin needs some therapy!
He’s a content one. Leave him alone.
He?
Laughing…
It has to be
I’ve always enjoyed being outdoors, but these days the lure of nature is damn nigh overwhelming. I am in such a swivet with the state of the world that I feel like I could crawl out of my skin, and the only thing that seems to lessen the angst is getting outside, listening to the birdsong and feeling the breeze kiss my skin. Every morning before dawn, I listen to the neighbor’s rooster calling to the sun to rise. On my morning walks with the pups, I hear our Sandhill Crane couple’s call and response as they guide one another to a soft landing on our pond. Occasionally I am blessed with the mournful cry of an owl that seems to follow us down the road, jumping from pine to pine in our wake like a dutiful sentry. These sounds, their constancy, their steady insistence that life goes on regardless of the chaos in the moment, comfort me and slow my heart rate like nothing else. And I am grateful.
Beautiful Lori. I feel exactly the same way. Thanks for sharing.
When we were Newlyweds, our entertainment was driving to a city Park’s community room, on Sunday evenings…A gathering of folks who love Birds…An older man who was an avid Birder shared his slides of Birds.
This went on for months…I wonder how many slides he had…He shared about his adventures and made sure to suggest areas to go birding. We also found that the Field Guide from Peterson’s to be very good…and we’ve enjoyed looking at Audubon’s book…his images amazing…
I just found this and bet you and many of your readers would enjoy looking at this page:
https://www.instagram.com/leilajeffreys/?hl=en
A former school teacher of my family member – her husband is an amazing Illustrator – he has produced many Bird Posters – we would see those in my family member’s pediatrician’s office…as well as other locations…one evening years later my family member was in middle school or High School…I had those students in a copy center where they were working on their art and they needed to make copies for there assignment…I noticed an older, handsome man with a smile on his face watching the interaction between the young artist…it was none other than the Bird Artist (he was working on illustrations their at the copy center) -he said he like that student were interested in art and that those two had talent…I told him that one of those had been his wife’s student…Years late my student was away in a big city going to college she looked about 14 years old…She was an extra in a movie that was along a waterfront in the downtown area of this city…on the phone I said there are no buses that run along there that late at night…she’d made friends with another girl (that was an extra) who was in High School,…she waited for her friends mom to pick up the new friend…the mother said how are you getting home? Walking I guess, the lady said No I will take you to were you live…So the lady say were are you from, she told her of course my student started with the school, the kindergarten teacher…the lady says, that’s my Mom!!! (I’ve seen photos of the lady’s home and new all about her granddaughter, etc…and I said thank you, God!!! that my student was in kind, helpful, hands…btw when my student told guess what, and I said so you are now friends with, (name) how do you know about her…I said from her grandmother when you where in kindergarten…small world…
Wonderful. Thanks for sharing Christie.
“Because of our sensory capabilities as human beings, we are condemned to having only an ankle-deep understanding…”
BAM.
This is where I continue seeking beyond the boundaries as far as I can. A little at a time I guess! 🙏♥️
“A little at a time I guess!” Laughing!