You're listening to LifeKit from NPR.

Birds are a really unique connection to the world around us.

The active observing birds, also known as birding,

gets you to look at your community in a new way.

You have no idea what you're going to see there.

You think you might know, but every time there's a mystery there,

that you're going to unearth that you didn't know was there.

Burning has given me the opportunity to get out of my head and to commune with nature.

While it has admittedly brought me some moments of frustration and disappointment,

it's also allowed me to experience just pure, unadulterated stoke.

It's provided moments of rapture and all, surprise and delight.

Just looking at birds, doing their thing, and their natural habitats, it's fun as hell.

But what comes to mind when you picture a birder?

For a lot of people, the prompt conjures up an image of a person in a khaki vest maybe,

with a pair of binoculars hanging around their neck.

Whatever preconceived notions are coming up, I want you to set them aside.

Because there are all kinds of birders, and there's no right way to bird.

All the tips in this episode are just that.

Tips. Take a more leave them depending on what you want your version of birding to be like.

I noticed that a lot of folks who wouldn't consider themselves birders absolutely enjoy looking at the birds on their back porch, right, or on their step.

That's Karina Newsom. She's the Community Engagement Manager at Georgia Audubon

and one of the founders of Black Birders Week.

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