Walk with Holly Merker: Mindful Birding and Wellbeing
Episode Summary: What if birding wasn't about identifying the bird at all?
I've always been fascinated by birds. The more time I spend outside, the more miraculous they seem. My conversation with Holly Merker expanded that fascination into something more relational: an invitation to move beyond simply seeing and identifying birds and toward actually experiencing them.
Holly is a professional birding guide, nature-based wellness practitioner, and co-author of Ornitherapy and The Power of Birdwatching. Her work explores something wonderfully simple: paying attention to birds can be good for us.
In our conversation, Holly introduces us to ornitherapy and mindful birding—a way of engaging with birds that isn't about how many species we can find or whether we know their names. Instead, we slow down. We listen. We engage our senses. We get curious about who is sharing the world around us.
And, as Holly explains, there's growing research suggesting that these simple experiences can support our mental and physical wellbeing.
Show Notes
I've always been fascinated by birds. The more time I spend outdoors, the more miraculous they seem. My conversation with Holly Merker expanded that fascination in a whole new way.
Holly is a professional birding guide, nature-based wellness practitioner, and co-author of Ornitherapy and The Power of Birdwatching. Her work invites us to move beyond simply identifying or observing birds and experience what can happen when we slow down, listen, and become curious about the birds who share our world.
Together, we explore ornitherapy and the practice of mindful birding. Unlike traditional birding, where we might be focused on identifying species, counting birds, or adding to a life list, mindful birding is about quality rather than quantity. The intention is simply to be present—to notice a bird without needing to know its name and to engage our senses without needing to accomplish anything.
Holly's understanding of this practice is deeply personal. While undergoing treatment for cancer, she found traditional meditation difficult. Her mind was full of worries and fears. But when she turned her attention to birds, something shifted. The moment a bird appeared—whether she saw it or heard it—her attention moved into the present. Birds became a natural doorway into mindfulness.
We also explore the growing research connecting birds and birdsong with human wellbeing, the practice of returning to a sit spot, and the extraordinary resilience, intelligence, and athleticism of birds. Holly shares stories of migration that are almost impossible to comprehend—tiny creatures traveling thousands of miles, guided by instincts and abilities we still don't fully understand.
Perhaps what stayed with me most was the invitation to move from observing birds to being in relationship with them. Holly describes the birds around us as neighbors. As we slow down and get to know them, something reciprocal can begin to happen: our connection with birds can support our wellbeing, while that relationship can also inspire us to care more deeply for them and the habitats we share.
And you don't need binoculars, a field guide, or even the ability to identify a single bird to begin. You simply need to notice.
Key Themes
Mindful birding as a wellbeing practice
Ornitherapy and the human-bird connection
Birdsong, stress, and the nervous system
Presence, curiosity, awe, and wonder
Sit spots and slowing down
Moving from observation to relationship
Birds as teachers
Migration, resilience, and intelligence
Reciprocity and caring for the living world
Key Takeaways
Mindful birding is less about identifying birds and more about intentionally experiencing them.
Birds can naturally draw our attention into the present moment.
We don't need to know the name of a bird to experience connection, curiosity, or wonder.
Birdsong and encounters with birds are increasingly being studied for their relationship to human health and wellbeing.
A sit spot can help us deepen our relationship with the birds, other creatures, and rhythms of a familiar place.
Birds offer powerful reminders of resilience, intelligence, adaptability, and our own place within the natural world.
The more we get to know the birds around us, the more we may be inspired to care for them and the ecosystems we share.
"Birds offer us this gift of being in the present moment."
— Holly Merker
Connect with Holly
Holly C. Merker is a professional birding guide, nature-based wellness practitioner, author, and educator specializing in mindful birding and ornitherapy. Through her writing, guiding, and programs, she helps people experience birds as a pathway to greater presence, connection, and wellbeing.
Website: https://ornitherapy.com/
Mindful Birding Network: https://www.themindfulbirdingnetwork.com/
Resources Mentioned
Ornitherapy: For Your Mind, Body, and Soul
The Power of Birdwatching
Mindful Birding
Sit Spot Practice
Birdsong and Human Wellbeing Research
Mindful Birding Network
Reflection Prompt
What might change if, the next time you hear a bird, you let go of needing to identify it?
What do you notice when you simply listen?
Prefer to read? The full transcript is below.
-
Susan: Well, hello, Holly. It's great to connect with you.
Holly: Hi, Susan. I'm so delighted to be able to spend time chatting with you today.
Susan: I'm excited about this. I am a bird person, but not as much of a bird person, I think, as you are.
Holly: I think we're all bird people.
Susan: Okay, good. We'll define this further as we talk. I love this.
Well, you have been immersed in birds. I would dare say it is your profession to be connected to birds. So let's go back in time a little bit, just to lay the foundation. What started you down the bird path, deepened your connection, or maybe just first started it?
Holly: Well, for me it was a sense of curiosity and wonder with birds. This started in very early childhood, where I was absolutely fascinated with anything with wings, and particularly with feathers, I should say.
I just wanted to know more. I always had this yearning to learn, to understand, to know more about birds.
As a child, this looked like exploring in nature on my own because free play in nature without structured activities was a thing when I was growing up. Not so much anymore, I don't think.
However, I was afforded the opportunity to attend several nature day camps, which I absolutely loved, and there I met other young people who were also interested in nature.
Being able to be part of a community of people interested in that, especially as a young person, really set me on fire as a young naturalist. That just spiraled into different pathways.
I will say that as a teenager, I was kind of shy to admit that I was somebody who liked birds. We had bird feeders at our family home, but I actually didn't realize there were people like me out there who wanted to learn more. I didn't realize there was a thriving birding community in the town that I grew up in, which was Baltimore, Maryland.
Knowing this now, as a birder who's got many decades of experience, one of the things I'm passionate about is helping facilitate opportunities for young people to connect with each other and to be included in the wider birding community.
Susan: I love that. My goodness, so many places we could go with this.
You were reminding me that, as a child, I have what must be a core memory because I can still see it in my mind's eye. My mother helped me rescue a robin that had an injured wing, and it was winter.
I don't know what happened, but I do think the bird made it. I just remember getting the bird into whatever we were moving it into to help it. That was one of my early bird memories.
In the last year, I've had wild birds in my gloved hands way too many times. Lots of rescuing in the last year. They're just incredible.
Holly: Aren't they magnificent creatures?
Susan: I mean, people may have heard me talk about it before, but I started a sit spot practice this winter. Great time to start sitting outside—winter in Michigan! But I dress appropriately, and I go sit in a park near my house.
It was sitting there that, for the first time, I developed the depth of appreciation I have for how incredible birds are.
It's 12 degrees out—well, I don't think I was out when it was 12. Let's say it was 18 degrees. I'm out there, and the birds are with me in the trees next to me. I'm just thinking, wow. They can do negative degrees up to 110 degrees with the same outfit on, and they're fine.
And we think we're incredible.
Holly: Right? They are so remarkable. And when we see that resilience, there's a lesson to be learned. They are teachers, I believe.
I think we can really look at them, be inspired by how they live their lives, and think about what we can learn from them that we can apply in our own lives—about resilience, sustainability, stewardship.
There are so many ways that we can learn from birds, but especially we can learn mindfulness.
That's something that I've really focused the last decade or so of my career with birds into, this pathway of learning and understanding, because they give us that present-moment experience.
Just like what you described with the sit spot, which is also a foundational practice of mindful birding.
Susan: So for those who are not familiar with what a sit spot is, what is a sit spot?
Holly: Well, this is the thing. It can be different things to different people.
The way that I would use a sit spot with mindful birding is, as you said, finding a spot that feels comfortable to you in the natural world and revisiting this location over and over again to see how the world changes, to deepen your connection with whoever is living there, whether that be the tiniest of organisms or the largest.
The other humans, perhaps, if you're in a public park. You can watch the flow and rhythm of people.
With a sit spot, I think this allows us to really sink into the moment. I always feel like it's one of the best teaching tools if we're trying to learn because our brains aren't distracted by new things. We're already familiar with this location.
If you have a backyard, you could use your own backyard. It could be under a tree in your backyard. It could be in a city park, sitting on a bench in the same place every time.
It can really be anywhere, and that is the magic of a sit spot.
I'm curious to learn about your sit spot and what it means to you.
Susan: Well, it's funny, as you were saying that, I was thinking it could even be a front porch. We've got chippies—chipmunks would be the popular creature around our front porch.
My sit spot is nestled next to some white pines in a park around the corner from my house. I'm so fortunate that I have a park where I can be sitting in my spot in under two minutes.
I sat for the first couple of months next to some Norwegian pines, which were closer, and it was colder, right? So get to the spot and tuck in.
Then, as it got warmer out, I ventured farther to the white pine side of the park. The white pines are, to me, just so soft and inviting. I started sitting underneath and tucked in there when it was still sort of cold out, but it was almost warmer under there.
And the things I've witnessed! I didn't realize we had chimney swifts in our area because I don't see them when I'm at my house. But over there, I see them because there are a couple of soccer fields nearby, so they've got space to hunt.
The other night, it was cute, is how I would describe it. I've been sitting there now for six months, and I would say the amount of soccer among the human creatures increased somewhere around June.
Sometimes I'll go in the morning—that's my regular time—but if I can get there in the evening too, I will. There was a group of young, I'm going to say 30-something males, just playing. It wasn't a game. There was just so much laughter.
Anyway, we digressed from birds, but I saw some other creatures being well and socializing. It made my heart so warm, just sitting in my spot, which I would have missed if I didn't have this practice.
Holly: That's right. I love hearing about your sit spot.
Susan: Do you have a sit spot?
Holly: I do have a sit spot. I don't get to visit it as often as I would like because I travel a lot with my work, so it takes me far from home.
But it is at a local state park, and it's right alongside a stream. I can sit there for hours and just watch the birds come and go and all of the other wildlife.
It's really wonderful when we slow down like that and can just sit and be. The wildlife, particularly the birds, come closer because they get to recognize us. They get to know that we are not a threat.
When we are in that kind of calm, relaxed state of mind, they're animals. They recognize that we are animals too, and they can read our mental state. They know we're not aggressive in that state. They know we're not about to kill them because they sense these things.
We know that dogs and cats are really responsive to human emotions, but birds are too. It's part of being an animal, and we forget that.
As humans, we're so biased toward what fits into our own lives, but we're not really thinking about other creatures and their own perceptions of us or the natural world around us.
Once, while practicing mindful birding in a group setting, I had a baby hummingbird land on my shoulder. I've had other hummingbirds come really close, too, and I wasn't wearing red. It wasn't like I was trying to attract them. They will come close if you're wearing red sometimes, particularly in the fall.
But it just shows you that when we are calm, that is reflected outward.
This is something that the birds can receive too. I love that about sit spots and mindful birding. We are sending this sort of energy or vibe out to the birds. And there's nothing woo-woo about that. That is just part of being an animal in nature.
Susan: There's definitely nothing woo-woo about it. We all carry an energetic vibration. We're all made of energy.
That perception is key. We know birds are tuning into lots of things, so it's no surprise they're tuning into the human animal that is around them too. If they can be aware that a large cat is nearby, why wouldn't they be tuned into us?
Is it fair to say you practice ornitherapy? Is that the correct way to describe your work?
Holly: Yeah. I do practice ornitherapy, and I share the practice of ornitherapy with people that I work with. And also, that is the title of a book I co-authored as well.
Susan: Okay, so what is ornitherapy?
Holly: Ornitherapy. It is kind of a complicated word.
It's actually not my word. I didn't invent this word, nor did my co-authors. I could first find it referenced as a word in the British Medical Journal from the 1970s.
There was a doctor in London—this is a fascinating story, and it ties into why I've embraced this theme for my work. His name was A.F. Cox. He was a medical director, and he was getting a little frustrated with the side effects of some of the medications he was prescribing to his patients.
He was a birder himself. So he thought, birds make me feel good. They bring me happiness. They redirect my mind. Maybe I'm going to do a little experiment and prescribe birdwatching to some of my patients.
And so he did.
He shared with them that they could just watch the birds in their garden, or they could hang a bird feeder. If they wanted to learn the names, that could be fun too, but it wasn't required or necessary.
Just turn your attention to the birds and see what you notice.
In the journal, he wrote that birdwatching as a tranquilizer was as effective as many drugs, and cheaper and safer than many.
Thinking about that—prescribing birding, prescribing something that is calming, that doesn't come with the side effects, that also allows us to feel better—he reported that a lot of his most "despondent" patients had a shift in their mental status for the better.
I think that encapsulates this term in the sense that birdwatching can be therapeutic for us.
Of course, there's a lot of science that has been emerging over the last decade or so specifically looking at birds, which is really exciting, and their connectivity to human wellbeing and health.
In fact, I feel very grateful to have recently been invited to collaborate a little bit with some researchers who have just published a paper looking at the health and wellness impacts of birds on human health. It's a scoping overview of the literature surrounding birds and wellness, which is really exciting.
It's a team of researchers led by Dr. Matthew H.E. Browning and Olivia McAnirlin, who you may know from the Nature and Health Alliance, and also partnering with Landon Pollock from UCLA. There are many more authors. I'm just one of many on this paper.
But it shows you that there is research out there looking at the impacts on human wellbeing, whether that's our mental health, our physical health, or just the way we live our lives, and how birds can influence that in a positive way.
I feel that birds are the perfect gateway into experiences in nature that are healthy and support our overall health. So many people love birds or are dialed into them.
That's basically the gist of ornitherapy. How I deliver it looks a lot like mindful birding. In fact, I would say ornitherapy is a practice of mindful birding, or I use mindfulness in the ornitherapy experiences that I share with people.
Susan: Okay. Wow. I love whenever we can tie the research to the practice. That is always so much fun. And wow, how far it goes back.
You were reminding me that I recently participated in a day-long workshop on nature-based therapies for burnout and stress. One of the people in the workshop was a physician, and she plays bird sounds in her office. That's what's in the background.
It's like, okay, she's helping them be healthier with that.
Holly: That's so exciting. Absolutely.
We know that birdsong itself can help lower a sense of anxiety we might be feeling. Our bodies, our nervous systems, need that reset sometimes. And because we are animals, we're naturally dialed into birdsong.
When I'm talking about birdsong, I should define that because some people might be listening and thinking, "I can't stand the sound of blue jays," or perhaps it's crows or ravens or even gulls.
A song is a stretched-out melody. Birds can make many different vocalizations, and a song is just one of the different ways of communicating or sounds they can make.
It's this stretched-out melody that has this sort of positive impact.
There have been multiple studies looking specifically at birdsong, or the absence of birdsong in an ecosystem, and how that impacts human mental health. What the studies have found is that it does have an impact on anxiety.
In fact, one of those studies suggests that just by listening to six minutes of birdsong, you can lessen anxiety's grip for up to eight hours in your day.
Susan: Wow.
Holly: That's one of the outcomes of one of the studies.
These studies are incredible. They're exciting for people like us who love birds, who love nature, who just need this echoing, resounding affirmation that, yes, we know nature is good for us.
But actually, all of this can be looked at through the lens of ancient wisdom, particularly Indigenous wisdom here in North America, where Native peoples for thousands of years have known that nature is a healer.
Holly: Native peoples for thousands of years have known that nature is a healer and have looked to nature for healing properties and respected the birds as part of their family.This is nothing new, but it's exciting when we think about how we're cultured today as humans, particularly in Western parts of the world. The science helps affirm that because we need that concrete science a lot of the time, particularly in medical communities.
But when we really look at this from a bigger, wider lens, we can see that this goes far back into humanity, and it is part of the essence of being another animal on planet Earth.
Susan: Yeah, I love that. I've talked about our natural and intuitive knowing and intuition. Birds are one of the most amazing examples of natural and intuitive knowing. They know when to migrate. They know where to find food. There are no signs on the corner telling them where the food is. It's incredible.
For me, I get excited when there's evidence that can support it because, for people like us, we're like, "Well, of course." But for others, sometimes they need that evidence to provide the support.
The other thing that came up for me as you were talking was that I miss birdsong in the winter. I don't spend as much time outside, although that was better this year because I was out more. But if we're indoors, I wonder about the connection. Is there a connection between not hearing birdsong in the winter and seasonal affective disorder?
Holly: Absolutely. I think there's probably some research underway right now looking at this more specifically as we're turning our attention more directly to birdsong.
Something I've been advocating for is for people who are impacted—or maybe you're not impacted by seasonal affective disorder—but certainly in more northern areas of the world, we have those shorter days.
The fact is that birds typically aren't singing. There are some birds that are year-round residents that will sing a little bit in winter, but the motivators for song just aren't there for a lot of our species.
Plus, in North America, a lot of our species are spending our winter—not their winter—down in the subtropics, in Central America and South America. We just don't have the volume of birds around.
What I like to encourage people to do is find a YouTube channel that has birdsong and play that in the background. You can also find recordings on Spotify or any platform that has them.
I also love these bird cams. You can tune into a bird cam from Panama or somewhere in South America. You can watch these beautiful tropical birds, and some of those same birds will return to North America. They'll attend these fruit feeders—they'll sit and eat a banana on a stick that somebody has put out there for them.
You can watch this, but you're also listening to the sounds of birds in the background.
I do think there is a link between birds we're familiar with and their calming ability. For example, we live in North America, so birds that are native to our landscapes, or singers in our landscapes in spring and summer, are probably going to have a more soothing effect on us than maybe a bird from Japan, Korea, or elsewhere in Asia that we've never heard before.
I don't know that there's any science looking at this, but I think there is something to it. It's about these early childhood experiences.
Birds are really drawn to their natal site, which is where they were born. This is a driver for them in migration a lot of times—to return to that general area, or maybe even the exact same location, depending on the species.
I think that we, too, are animals. We are also motivated and dialed into the natural world and who is in our ecosystem in the area in which we grew up and had our formative learning years in early childhood.
So that's something to think about.
Susan: Yeah. There's no way for me to identify whether that bird was the one that was here last year without banding, which I will not be doing. But I love that idea.
Again, one more example of how we are so similar to other creatures in nature as humans. We like our homes. They're connected to their homes. It's one more example.
I'm curious because we haven't talked about it, but it's important to what we're talking about today. We're talking about observing birds, birdsong, and different characteristics of birds. But let's back up just a minute.
Mindful birding versus birding. Can you talk a little bit about how those might be different?
Holly: Sure. Mindful birding is a style of birding. I use the word "birding" because it doesn't put the emphasis on watching necessarily. A lot of the birding that I do is by ear. And for people who perhaps have low vision or can't see the birds that are in their area, they're still experiencing them.
So birding is a term that I like to use in that way.
Mindful birding is just one style of birding. It's a very intentional practice, meaning that the intention is to turn our attention to birds for some sense of positive wellbeing for ourselves.
When we're intentional about taking time out for our own self-care, we slow our pace and just be in the moment with the birds. We let the background noise of our lives, the busyness, the mental clutter—perhaps even negative thinking loops that are cycling through when we're stressed out or going through something difficult in life—fade into the background.
We take that time to slow down, invite curiosity, and be without judgment. We're not worrying about whether we got the best look at the bird or asking, "Who is that bird?" Identifying or labeling the bird is not the primary intention.
With other styles of birding, our intention might be to identify or count the birds. Perhaps we're submitting the data we collect for citizen science or community science projects.
With mindful birding, it's really about slowing down, being aware, and being present in the moment with the bird. It's more about quality versus quantity. We're not looking to see as many birds as possible within the time we're being intentional about. We're thinking about who the birds are that we're meeting during that time.
As a mindful birding practitioner, I have a deep background in mindfulness practice, teacher training, and mentoring training. I'm also a certified nature and forest therapy guide and practitioner. With these skill sets, I'm able to guide people into mindful experiences in nature.
We're taking time to explore sensory engagement with all of our senses and to explore birds in the same way—really paying attention to them without judgment and with a deep sense of curiosity and wonder.
It's sort of like getting to know your neighbor very well. You want to get to know them. You want to have a conversation. You want to invite them over for tea.
Offering native plants in your garden, or even a bird feeder or birdbath, is what you're doing. It's like you would with any friend. It gives us the opportunity to really get to know them.
And the more we learn about birds, the more we want to take care of them. I see this as an act of reciprocity.
When we're intentional about inviting them in closer—even just by being in that sit spot—we've calmed our mental energy. That sends them the sense that, "I'm an okay animal to be around."
I see mindful birding as a bridge between our physical and mental health and wellbeing and becoming a better birder—building on our birding skills.
A lot of times with birding, we just charge off. We've got the field guide in our pocket, or we're using our phones, and we're thinking, "What's that bird's name? I've got to figure it out." We're problem-solving.
But we problem-solve all day long, right?
Susan: Right. All day.
Holly: So take a load off. Just enjoy the birds. That's the approach.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with problem-solving and birding. In fact, for a lot of people, that's a huge dopamine hit. Seeing a rare bird, being able to add a bird to their life list—that gives them something they need. It can also be addictive because of that dopamine hit they're getting.
This is just a little bit of a different style. We're cultivating health and wellbeing and reciprocal relationships with the birds we're around in that moment.
Susan: I love that. I was just realizing that regardless of how you engage, you're outdoors in nature. Whether you're mindful or you're counting, this would be what Jay Maddock said when I had him on: the good news is you're getting the double benefit.
You're getting the benefit of being outdoors. You're likely walking and moving to go see the birds. It's the peanut butter cup—activity and nature go together. You're getting the benefits. It's better together.
And I love the mindfulness piece because, as you were saying that, I was thinking that people who aren't familiar with mindfulness might focus on the "mind" part of mindfulness.
What stood out for me in your description is that it is a sensory experience. It's multisensory. It's not just mindful. It's hearing, it's sight, it's all of it—and what happens to your body when you are present in the moment with the bird.
Holly: Absolutely. You are so right about that.
I think birds offer us this gift of being in the present moment.
For me, I discovered this practice of mindful birding—I won't say by accident, because that sounds like it was some kind of mishap—but I was a cancer patient undergoing treatment for cancer. That's where I first learned about mindfulness itself.
I was also a person who had a very busy mind. During this time, because I was going through a health crisis and had a lot of other extenuating circumstances that made life complicated—little kids, a busy household—I didn't have time to sit on a cushion and meditate.
I didn't think that was something I could easily do. Even when I tried it, I felt like my mind got even more full of worries and fears. I was ruminating more.
What I discovered was that when I was birding and being intentional about taking time out for myself during this time of treatments and multiple surgeries, I was able to let go of all that was going on in my life.
The second a bird appeared before me, either through my eyes or through my ears, all of a sudden I was transported.
That's the gift they give us. They bring us into the present moment.
If we embrace that, if we allow them to let us just be here now, it's truly a gift.
That sense of presence, that sense of mindfulness—we don't need to think about it. When you're with a bird and you're paying attention to that bird in that moment, wow. There's just a sense of awe.
And we know the science behind awe is so powerful for human wellbeing. There's a sense of curiosity and wonder, and it just feels so good.
Susan: Yes, it does.
You said "transported," and the memory that popped into my head was from a few years ago. It was an evening in western Michigan in the fall. I was at my son's soccer game, and I heard sandhill cranes calling to each other.
I was transported to prehistoric times because they sound like what I imagine dinosaur birds or pterodactyls might have sounded like.
It was otherworldly. I feel like it stirred something in me that was timeless—that sound.
And I saw that you're going to be somewhere with the sandhill crane migration.
Holly: Yes. I'll be in New Mexico at Bosque del Apache in December.
It's a magical place where hundreds, if not thousands, of cranes will come in winter and spend time. Like you said, their sounds almost have this visceral effect on us—primordial. It's just amazing.
I feel lucky to be able to be in these very special places with such iconic birds that have had such meaning throughout human history.
Susan: For those listening, if you haven't heard the sound of a sandhill crane, Google it. Go to YouTube and listen to it.
I would say "primordial" is the word. It evokes a deep connection and reaction in different ways, whether it's goosebumps or whatever it might be.
For me, it's a reminder that we're connected. There's something there.
Holly: Absolutely. We're meant to be inspired or to have some sort of emotional response to birds. We just are.
Some people might think that's kind of a silly notion, but we also forget that we are part of nature and that these are things that make us human.
We're an indoor species now—or we're trying to be. We've cultured ourselves to be that way.
But if we really look at the bigger picture of humanity, we'll realize that we are meant to be spending time outdoors, connecting with other creatures for so many different reasons—for our health and wellbeing, but also for theirs, and just to understand the world in which we live.
Susan: Yes, we are meant to be outdoors. We've forgotten that in many ways due to how much time we've spent indoors for the last many generations.
But I feel like there's some movement and awareness growing around the benefits of spending more time outdoors.
Susan: We are meant to be outdoors. We've forgotten that in many ways due to how much time we've spent indoors for the last many generations. But I feel like there's some movement and awareness growing around the benefits of spending more time outdoors.You spend so much time observing birds. As we were just talking about, the sound of the sandhill crane helps us remember we are creatures, we are nature, and there's more going on here than we can imagine.
I'm curious if you've had any teachings—you probably have so many. I'm curious if you'd like to share a teaching or two that's come through for you from spending time mindfully observing and being in the presence of birds.
Holly: Thinking about that, do you mean a teaching that I provide for participants in my programs? Is that what you're asking? Just to clarify.
Susan: Or just you as an observer and someone who's spending time with birds. Is there something that's come up for you that's raised your awareness or shifted how you move through the world?
Holly: Well, because birds are my passion and, as you said, my profession as a professional bird guide—and as somebody who specializes in mindful birding and ornitherapy experiences—I get to live and shape my life around the birds' lives.
Migration is a spectacle unlike anything else I've ever witnessed anywhere on Earth. Bird migration is just absolutely sensational.
I've been privileged to be in certain locations to witness this, where you have hundreds, if not thousands, of birds right in front of your eyes in active, visible migration.
Places like Southern California in the mountains, where you can watch warblers and tanagers and flycatchers and swifts all moving by as they're hopscotching their way along the desert chaparral in the mountains during the daytime after flying thousands of miles overnight.
Or it can look like me in my backyard this past May 31st, sitting and watching the skies in the evening, waiting for migratory shorebirds or sandpipers that are winging their way from the Delaware Bay, where they spend time refueling.
They do a slingshot flight. They leave the Delaware Bay, which encompasses both Delaware and New Jersey, in the early evening. They take off and they're still low enough that I can see them from my own backyard.
What you see is this string of birds. This year, I got lucky and saw lots of ruddy turnstones—hundreds and hundreds of ruddy turnstones flying over the Philadelphia suburbs as they're headed nonstop to the Arctic tundra.
Susan: Wow.
Holly: It's just one of many experiences with birds that is so powerful.
When I look at these birds and think about the fact that they have no GPS navigator—nobody's telling them where to go—they do this by instinct.
There are so many things about birds that are still mysterious to us humans. We think we know everything, but we really don't. And that makes it even more exciting.
It's this sense of sitting in one spot, much like a sit spot, and witnessing this extraordinary feat of athleticism.
Think about what a bird does. These are supreme athletes. We revere human athletes, but we don't give birds enough credit.
And you hear people say, "That person is bird-brained," and that's an insult. Like they have a tiny brain and don't know anything.
Actually, "bird-brained" should be a compliment.
When you think about their intelligence, we tend to measure bird intelligence based on human intelligence. We think birds like parrots, crows, magpies, jays, or ravens are super smart because they can use tools, and we know they have facial recognition.
That's all great, and they are really smart. I adore those groups of birds too.
However, when we look at the bigger picture of their capabilities, nothing beats birds, really. It's absolutely astounding.
For me, it's the experience of being in a spot where I can witness birds. I also show people birds in this same capacity. A lot of the programs I help run are during migration so other people can witness this mystery, this amazing feat of wonder.
Susan: Which evokes awe, which is a very powerful emotion and very positive for our overall wellbeing.
The migration piece—there are so many pieces of the bird.
Last year, I rescued a female goldfinch that I originally thought was a banana peel lying in front of a doorway. She must have hit the glass.
I picked her up, and I was just like, "She's so light."
When you were talking about the athleticism, it's like—there's no muscle! This is a tiny creature, and it's just amazing. Absolutely amazing.
It's grounding and it's humbling, the experience of just considering the bird.
Holly: Absolutely. And that's good for us too, right?
We find our sense of place in the world in a positive way. It's not meant to make you feel like you're insignificant. You just feel part of something bigger.
Susan: Yeah. I'm curious, along those lines, as you've spent time helping people experience mindful birding—and you use this in the work that you do in a broader sense—have you seen change and impact with humans as they practice mindful birding?
Holly: Absolutely.
I feel that mindful birding allows us to really be in touch with ourselves in a different way, and also with the natural world.
For people who are experiencing mindful birding in a guided program with me, I usually invite them to share how they're feeling, what they're taking away from the experience, or what they want to bring forward with them.
You can see when people arrive that they're bringing the stress of their lives, their baggage, their emotional luggage.
After spending time where we're very intentional in practicing mindful birding—my programs usually last anywhere from two to three hours, and sometimes it's a multi-day experience—you can see a difference.
Their whole physique is different. Their shoulders have dropped. Their facial expressions seem to have eased.
They'll say things like, "I feel so much more calm. I feel at peace. I feel connected."
They're sharing this self-report of how this relatively short period of time has allowed them to decompress—how birds have guided them into feeling better, more relaxed, and with less anxiety.
You can see the powerful impacts.
Susan: Sign me up. I'm already signed up!
For someone who thinks they would love to try this, do they need special equipment? Any recommendations for how to start the practice?
Holly: You don't need anything but your eyes and ears—or whatever senses are available to you.
You don't need binoculars. Binoculars can always enhance our view of a bird, but with mindful birding, I often invite people to get the bigger, wider view of the world and notice what's around them.
If you're thinking about how to try this on your own, find a place outdoors that feels safe and comfortable to you.
That can look like your front porch, as you mentioned. For me, often it's my back deck. It's a place I know and where I feel comfortable.
This allows me to feel comfortable if I want to gently close my eyes or set them at a soft gaze and just tune in.
Just listen.
I find that often my busy mind is distracting me, and when I close my eyes, somehow it's like pulling down the curtain. It allows my mind to perceive information differently.
I realize how much I'm missing in the soundscape because my mind is so busy focusing. Our minds are focused on whatever is grabbing our attention.
Holly: When we give our eyes permission to just relax—and it's a gift to our eyes, too, because they work so hard for us—we can tune in to what's around us and what's available for us to notice by ear. That really helps shift us into a different mindset.And it doesn't take long.
If I'm guiding people, I might invite them to close their eyes or set them at a soft gaze, whatever feels comfortable. It can also be keeping their eyes open if that's more comfortable.
Just notice the sounds that are available to you.
I like to think of it in layers of sound, like stretching our ears as far as they can go and noticing sounds in the distance, and then gradually pulling our ears back in so that perhaps we're noticing the sounds closest to us.
Maybe that might even be our own breath.
When we start doing this, it's amazing how we start to feel after a period of time. And it really doesn't take long. You can practice this for five minutes and still have an impact.
Of course, practicing it for longer will help your body regulate and be able to let go of more stress. We know, too, that spending time in nature—after about 20 minutes, cortisol starts to lower in green spaces, according to some of the science available to us.
The more we can practice this, the better.
But let's be realistic. A lot of people are working really hard jobs. They're working multiple jobs. They're constantly tasking or multitasking, and they might not have that much time.
In fact, they may only have a window.
Even if you only have a window, turn your attention to the window. Give yourself permission to practice self-care through birds by noticing.
Maybe it's watching the sky and whoever passes over. Maybe nobody passes over.
But that's okay because you still tried. Your intention was there.
You're still inviting. You're receiving while also giving off that sense of peace.
It's a great way to be in the moment and provide yourself some self-care.
We know that the science also tells us that when we take these moments to be outdoors and intentional with our attention toward birds and nature, it's restorative and can increase our productivity as people who are hyper-tasking.
We forget about that. We think that to be productive, you have to check things off a list.
Actually, we can reframe productivity and think about what productivity looks like.
Productivity also looks like self-care.
And if we can invite nature into that practice, we will be better for it.
Susan: Yes. "Go slow to go fast" is the motto that just popped into my head.
I love that this can happen anywhere—even sitting in a car somewhere with the window cracked so you can hear, depending on what you can get to.
That's the best thing about this. It's accessible, which is good, and multisensory, which is also good.
Well, before we jump into my closing segment that I call Natural Favorites, is there anything you would want to share with listeners that we haven't hit on yet?
Holly: I feel like I would just encourage people to give it a try.
You don't have to be an expert birder. You don't have to know anything about birds. It's just about noticing, and that's okay.
We started talking about, what is a birder? Or this concept of knowing birds. Everybody knows birds, right?
I like to think that we each have something that we can learn and that we can share with others.
This is a gift when we can turn our attention to birds and nature for self-care, for enjoyment, and share that with other people.
Because the more people recognize the true benefits that birds can offer us, and that nature can offer us for wellbeing in every way, the more people are going to want to take care of birds and recognize them as their neighbors in their own local environments.
Susan: I love that.
Okay, so are you ready for some Natural Favorites? There are no right or wrong answers, just a few questions for fun that allow folks to get to know you a little differently.
I would be remiss if I didn't ask you this question: What is your favorite bird? Can you even name it? I was going to say...
Holly: I don't have one. No, I can't. I definitely can't. That would change by the minute.
Really, it's like asking me, "What's my favorite child?" I can't do it because I like every bird—and I mean every bird.
I can look at birds that a lot of people don't like because they're introduced to this country and they might have what are described as negative behaviors. But the birds themselves can't help that. They didn't do anything wrong.
I always try to find something special in every bird.
There are some that I gravitate toward more because I get to spend a lot more time with them, like sandhill cranes or Atlantic puffins. These are birds that live in places where I work a couple of times a year. So, of course, they are some of my favorites.
But I love all birds.
Susan: I love that answer.
Favorite time of day to be outside?
Holly: That would be dusk. That is absolutely my favorite time to be outside.
The natural world comes alive in a totally different way during dusk, during the twilight hours.
In fact, in the book Ornitherapy, I wrote an exploration that is all about dusk and what we can explore with birds at that time of day.
Susan: Okay, I'm intrigued. I have a new opportunity for mindfulness because I don't know that I've had the opportunity to pay attention to or notice the difference between morning and dusk. So, yay!
All right, what is one sound in nature, other than birdsong, that you love?
Holly: I love the sound of a flowing stream hitting the rocks.
Susan: Yeah, that is pretty magical—the feeling of that, for sure.
Was there a bird encounter that you will never forget?
Holly: Gosh, there are so many. My goodness.
Susan: Well, I know. Pick one. You shared the one of the hummingbird landing on your shoulder. That was pretty incredible.
Holly: Yeah, there's that.
I will say that when I lost my hair while undergoing chemotherapy, that was really challenging for me as a young woman and a mom.
One of my sons said to me, "Don't go in front of anybody without your wig on, Mommy," because none of the other mommies were bald.
So losing my hair was particularly difficult because it was hard to know that it was impacting my family.
I offered my hair to the birds. I didn't know what to do with the wasted hair, but I ended up putting it in a suet cage because I had learned that birds will take hair and use it for lining their nests.
So I took a little bit of the hair that I had lost and offered it to the birds.
And sure enough, I got so lucky because a tufted titmouse came. This is a bird that uses hair. They're known to sit on people's heads and pull hair out of your head. I've heard multiple people share this with me. They'll also do that with animals. They love to line their nests with hair.
We don't know exactly why. It could be to ward off predators. It could be to help with insulation. But this is something they do.
I got lucky because a beautiful little tufted titmouse came in and started tugging and pulled away some of my hair—my wasted hair.
I felt it was repurposed for new life.
It really gave me hope of survival, but also just that, okay, so I lost my hair, but guess what? Someone else is using it.
In that moment, I could care less that I was bald.
I will never forget that. It was truly a gift.
Susan: That's beautiful. That is a very cool story.
Okay, well, I'm going to modify my last question that I ask everybody slightly for you. We're not going to use a dandelion in this example.
I'm going to go with: You have a bird in your hand, and this bird has the unique ability to sing in human words. You release the bird out to the world. What message is this bird bringing forward?
Holly: The message is hope.
Don't give up.
Be inspired by others, elevate others, and soar with the rest of the birds out there.
Susan: Thank you so much for sharing this conversation. It was so fun. I think we could have talked for twice as long.
Holly: Yes. It was so fun to chat with you, Susan.
