Mindful Birding - A Conversation
A conversation with Holly Merker and Joseph Blanda, M.D. , Edited by Cristina Shaul
The positive impacts on human health, healing, and well-being of connecting to birds and nature are limitless and empowering. As advocates for mindful birding as a gateway to these benefits, Holly Merker and Joe Blanda offer insights and strategies to incorporate these powerful practices into your own everyday self-care.
While our backgrounds differ, our journeys using birds and nature to heal during some of life’s most challenging moments and boost our well-being followed similar paths and help guide us today.
Holly Merker (Author, Cancer Survivor, Mindful Birding Educator):
“I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer at the age of 32. The diagnosis coincided with other life-changing events: a husband deployed to the Middle East shortly after 9/11 and spinal fractures that left me in a brace from the neck down. Calling it a rough year for my family would be an understatement.
But I felt lucky, because I had birds in my life to help guide me towards a shining light of recovery and wellness, a practice today I call “Ornitherapy”. I knew watching birds made me feel good and was a positive outlet for me as a young mom needing mental recharge. But I had no idea the powerful role it would play in my physical and emotional recovery from a year of unanticipated mental and physical trauma. It is through birdwatching that I found my most compelling medicine.
Birds gave me hope, inspiration, and set a tangible example of the will to live. Losing my hair was one of the more difficult aspects of my cancer treatment. I did not know what to do with the clumps of hair I was losing and mourning but offered my hair to birds during the nesting season by putting it in a suet cage hanging outside my kitchen window. The pain I felt was diminished and I found new hope when I watched strands of my hair be carried away by a Tufted Titmouse, repurposing it to support new life.
Despite mobility issues, birding got me outdoors, allowed me respite from my worries and fears, and brought me into a space of mindfulness. Connecting to birds and nature became a front-line weapon in my battle against cancer and the emotional baggage accompanying that diagnosis. For me, watching birds was as powerful as the conventional treatments enlisted to restore my health. Birding mindfully brought me peace, mental recharging, and energy restoration in meaningful ways. But I am not a special patient; the healing powers of birds and nature are available to all. We simply need to be open to using nature as therapy as well as an affordable and easily accessible medicine with no side effects. “
Rekindling our connections to the outdoors and understanding the benefits to our wellness is not a new practice. For thousands of years, people turned to nature to seek the rewards it provides. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, stated “Nature itself is the best physician.” But are we using the natural world as part of our own self-care and wellness regimen today?
Joe Blanda, M.D. (Orthopedic Surgeon, Conservationist, Mindfulness Educator): “I was fortunate to grow up close to nature and spend many enjoyable hours outdoors with family and friends. At a Jesuit college, I was introduced to meditation and mindfulness. When I got busy with raising a family and practicing medicine, fly fishing and birding for a few hours was my favorite relaxation technique. I now realize the roots laid in early family outings and college helped me be more mindful in nature throughout a hectic career as an orthopedic surgeon.
My life was turned upside down in 2013 when my then 17-year-old son was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Joe and I spent meaningful time outdoors helping us both deal with the stress of that journey. We often talked about doing a Big Year of birding and mountain biking together, but we never got that opportunity. After my son passed away in 2015, I struggled with depression and grief. Unfortunately, I didn’t prioritize nature immersion in my well-being; I buried myself in my medical practice often finding it more stressful than ever.
Luckily a friend talked me into attending a birding trip to Magee Marsh in Ohio during the spring migration, something I hadn’t done for a few years. The magic of the migration and the awe moments of up-close views of the Connecticut Warbler and Curlew Sandpiper reignited my interest in birding. I drove back from this therapeutic experience delighting in some of the awe-inspiring sightings. Later that afternoon I took my usual bike ride up the local trail to my son’s grave. A Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark greeted me with birdsong and good looks; they hadn’t been reported there for years due to loss of habitat. As I drove back into my driveway, a common Pileated Woodpecker flew in front of me — I hadn’t seen one yet that day. My son’s favorite bird was my #100 bird sighting for the day. This experience allowed me to be a bit more at peace with my loss and I was overtaken with a desire to spend more time in nature. Over the next few days, my friend helped me plan out a Big Year of birding while still working full time. “
Nature helps us feel better, no matter what ails us, or what doesn’t. There are many supporting scientific research studies demonstrating that time in green space brings a multitude of mental and physical health benefits. In the 1980s, the Japanese medical community initially described the health benefits of “forest bathing”, a practice that reaps the benefits of slowing our pace and noticing the natural world while absorbing chemical compounds emitted from plants called phytoncides, which activate our natural immune defense. Studies further demonstrated time outdoors alleviates the impacts of daily stress and disease. Today this practice is being widely used and prescribed by doctors in Asia and Europe and gaining traction in the U.S. as well. By walking through biodiverse landscapes, the birdsong boosts our mood and we reap the benefits of the entire experience.
A review of 127 published studies from 2017 confirmed the therapeutic value of nature. The University of Exeter in the UK studied responses from 20,000 participants, many with serious health problems, which showed that spending two hours a week in a biodiverse environment were substantially more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than their non-nature immersed counterparts. Being surrounded by water, massive trees, living beings, and natural sounds all provide measurable health benefits.
Joe Blanda, M.D: “After personally experiencing the healing effects of birding and nature during my Big Year, I thoroughly researched the health benefits of nature. I was so impressed with the wealth of scientific evidence I incorporated time in nature as a treatment modality to complement my traditional orthopedic practice. The positive feedback I received from patients struggling with depression, anxiety, and chronic pain from their orthopedic complaints was remarkable. Research has confirmed that patients who stabilize their anxiety or depression have more success with medical treatments, even recovery from surgery. “
Emerging research shows that birdsong can play a role in our mindset and enhance our overall feeling of well-being. Our minds benefit, without knowing anything about the birds we are hearing. Having birds as an audio backdrop in our environments is beneficial to our well-being, mood and relaxation.
Holly Merker: “As co-author of the book “Ornitherapy: For Your Mind, Body, and Soul”, I developed and shared practices and exercises to achieve mindful engagement of the senses. One of these is mindful listening. Attentively tuning out distractions and the pressures and pulls we all feel tugging at us every day can be tough. But we can use some simple techniques to help us engage our senses in a mindful way to provide respite.
To access the benefits of listening to nature’s soundscape, tune into the birds surrounding you by closing your eyes, just for one minute, noticing the sounds surrounding you. This can be done outdoors or near an open window. Closing our eyes can be likened to temporarily closing the curtains on the cinema of our lives, quieting our visually driven brains. Try it and just listen. Focus on the sounds close by in the first few seconds, and then stretch your hearing out as far as it can go to tune into sounds your ears can pick out. What do you notice?
Do you hear birdsong? Do you hear patterns? Do you hear melodies? Simply notice.”
The practice of mindfulness has been popularized by many practitioners and writers such as Jon Kabat-Zinn and Thich Nhat Hahn. Patience, contemplation, and awareness of your surroundings are important in this integrative well-being activity. Mindfulness is also a brain relaxation technique that helps clear your mind of negative thinking patterns and worry, by helping avoid thoughts of past disturbances or future stresses. The practice of mindfully observing birds and nature go hand-in-hand. Mindfulness amplifies the wellness benefits of nature immersion. Mindful birding can be described as being aware in the present moment, being intentional in this practice, without judgement of whatever happens while in that moment, inviting curiosity to the experience.
Birding fits this description and provides a perfect pathway to practice mindfulness. Many people have been practicing mindful birding while outdoors during the pandemic without realizing it. Bird watching is becoming one of the most popular outdoor activities in the United States, enjoyed by over 46 million people. It may include watching a feeder in the backyard or building a life list by chasing after rare birds in far-away places. But to achieve therapeutic benefits from birds you do not need to dive in too deeply. Owning expensive binoculars, seeing every bird a group leader points out, or identifying a new backyard bird are not necessary to garner the health benefits of this easy-to-access activity.
Allowing yourself to be enchanted by the song of a wren or notice the pattern of the colors or movements at your feeder invites a mindful practice. Finding places to watch birds often puts you in biodiverse habitats providing more of the health benefits that stimulate your senses. Birds need trees, shrubs, and flowers which provide you with moments of awe and the aroma of phytoncides, which strengthens your immune system, critical in fighting infections such as Covid or helping to control cancer cells.
Watching birds improves your cognitive function by stimulating your memory, alertness, and desire to learn more about these captivating avian creatures. Studies also show that if you record your observations in a journaling format, it enhances critical thinking. By transcribing through words or imagery, you are enlisting your senses to examine and ask questions in new ways.
Birding can offer a sense of community, easily achieved when you find a local birding group, or through social media. Social interaction after repeated lockdowns is critical and enhances a sense of belonging and community. These activities are positive attributes associated with graceful aging.
Joe Blanda, MD: “One of the biggest lessons I learned from my son during his two-year battle with terminal brain cancer was to give back to society. Two hours after being given his dismal prognosis, my son talked me into starting a foundation raising $1.5 million dollars for cancer research. My Big Year was done to raise money for that non-profit. Gifted with many moments of awe, I became more connected to nature which helped me cope with the loss of my son and the depression that followed. This deeper awareness of nature reinforced my love of birds and their surroundings. I experienced firsthand the health benefits of mindful time in nature which was much more important than recording 650 birds on my list. Currently I experience gratitude by sharing the health benefits of nature with others.”
Mounting research suggests experiencing awe by being wowed by something in nature, contributes to selflessness and inspires us to nurture another being and our surroundings.
Holly Merker: “As a professional guide and nature educator, I’ve had the honor of watching people of all ages transform — often instantly — in demeanor, body language, and mood while actively engaged in nature observation. When we guide others into closer connections with birds and nature, we facilitate experiences of awe, but also teach people how to access this experience on their own. This is rewarding to both the participant and the guide and paves the path towards stewardship of the natural world.”
Being more aware of birds and the pressures they face may encourage you to give back to your environment and consider how to make our shared world a better and healthier place for us all to live, a win for birds and people. Whether you choose to volunteer your time or money, being a good steward of our planet’s natural habitat pays dividends to all.
FIVE SUGGESTIONS FOR MINDFUL BIRDING
1. Be intentional in setting aside time in nature as a guiding principle in your own self-care.
2. Be in the moment: Observe the birds– their movements, patterns, sounds, and surroundings. Just notice with all of your senses.
3. Embrace birdsong, no need to know who’s singing. Just listen, perhaps even with your eyes closed.
4. Invite birds in closer by creating a backyard nature-scape to attract them and the insects they feed on. This investment in caring for nature and wildlife will boost joy and overall wellness.
5. Invite others to this therapeutic practice of mindfulness. Paying positive energy forward gives back - to the natural world and ourselves.
Joe Blanda, MD: “Nature can heal us, as it did for me. And nature can heal, if we help it.”
Holly Merker: “Mindful Birding can be a guiding light towards a happier and healthier life, amplifying the benefits of deeper connections to nature, contributing to our own overall well-being. “
Holly Merker is a Mindful Birding Educator, Nature-based Wellness Specialist, and certified Forest Therapy Guide, living in southeastern Pennsylvania. She is lead author of the book “Ornitherapy: For Your Mind, Body, and Soul “ (Merker, Crossley, and Crossley, Crossley Books, 2021), and coauthored “The Power of Birdwatching” / “Die Kraft der Vogel Beobachtung (Angelika Nelson, Holly Merker, Freya verlag, 2023)
Joe Blanda, MD, practiced orthopedic surgery for 35 years. He lives in northeast Ohio and spends winters in Sanibel where he leads mindful nature walks and gives presentations on the health benefits of nature.
