Slow Birding: The Art and Science of Enjoying the Birds in Your Own Backyard by Joan E. Strassmann encourages a different approach to birding. It challenges the occasionally fast-paced, listing-forward, and rarity-chasing nature that often defines birdwatching. Strassmann likens this continued racing-around style to the fast-food equivalent in birding.
In a similar vein to the slow food movement, which celebrates local and intentionally cooked food, slow birding focuses on celebrating our local birds. It emphasizes intentional observations, such as breeding or feeding activities, that may be overlooked during traditional birding. She acknowledges that changing our birding style or the inherent goals of seeking birds can be challenging. However, she emphasizes that daily observation of several local species can provide a rewarding depth of knowledge that mere ‘listing’ cannot offer.
Slow Birding is broken down into 5 sections based on locations around St Louis that Joan E. Strassmann birds regularly and tells the stories about those spots and the birds that call them home. Coming into this book I imagined that it would tell the story of how to slow bird and why it was important, whether that was for mental health reasons or environmental ones. While Slow Birding certainly does dive into those aspects in the preface and introduction, the meat of the book revolves around these 16 birds and the observations that ornithologists have witnessed and written about. Strassmann brilliantly weaves captivating storytelling and personal emotion with scientific research and continues to ask the question ‘Are they faithful to their partner’ as we learn about the behind-the-scenes of what are everyday birds for a large part of the US.
I found myself taking a highlighter to this book every few pages to emphasize specific passages or studies that I thought were particularly interesting or shining light on something new about some of these birds I see on the regular. It is incredible how thoroughly researched and cited Slow Birding is – over 150 sources! I am particularly excited to peer through the cited resources to dig deeper into some of the research that piqued my interest. While this book does paint a beautiful picture of Strassmann’s local area and the abundant species is worth its price on that alone, it is a fantastic jumping-off point for those who are eager to learn more and consume scientific studies.
Without giving away too much about the stories inside the book, my particular favorite revolved around Snow Geese and prompted me to get out for a day in Atlantic County NJ to observe the Snow Geese nearby. It is profound what you can learn in as little as an hour sitting with one bird and in this case, 100s of them. Coming out of the hour, I was able to understand at least a tiny bit better the relationships between some of the Snow Geese, some of the mated couples, and how the color morphs interact (something Strassmann goes into depth into in the book). However, I did leave with a question that I didn’t know before: why are some of the Snow Geese stained orange? This led me down a rabbit hole and to create another post on this blog. That is what excites me most about slowing down a bit, being able to focus on or recognize something that is in plain sight that I may have glossed over while birding. I’m looking forward to incorporating this more in my day-to-day birding to ensure I am fully grasping the nature that is in front of us.
Slowing down doesn’t necessarily mean not chasing rarities or keeping an evergrowing list but rather it gives you the ability to get to know your local area better. Patch birding and yard lists have grown in popularity since the pandemic and while you may not necessarily be going across the state or country for a hotspot with new birds, you will be able to get a better reading of how your unique area(s) change over time and could lead to more ‘rarities’ being found since that area is covered more thoroughly.
Slowing down is something I could be more intentional about in my birding. I am always going to love traveling and seeing new and unique birds but there is something to be said about consistent and thorough observations in spots you know. I started birding because I was fascinated with the number of birds that could be seen so close to home and undoubtedly I have continued and thrown myself more into this hobby because of how it makes me feel while in the field. There is something about losing yourself and being in the moment watching a Carolina Wren wing or Yellow-rumped Warblers jump from tree to tree that helps ease away any stresses for a while.
This is not revolutionary to say that birding has a very clear effect on mental health, but Slow Birding solidifies that there is a lot to gain from when we slow down and be a little more intentional. Whether Strassmann intended to encourage us to slow down and experience the birds and nature around us for health reasons or to simply advocate for a better understanding of our avian neighbors, Slow Birding has succeeded in its mission.
