So I can hear American Robbins in the background.

So, birding.

Chickadees, black cap chickadee.

Birding, if you're not a birder seems slow.

Which is the state bird for my state of Massachusetts.

I think it's the state bird for almost every other state as well.

And this might look calm, tranquil, meditative.

Song Sparrow flying past.

But what you are actually observing here is a sport.

And the competition can be pretty intense.

If you're going to do it on a national scale on a continental scale,

the money involved is vast, and I can't play that game. From New Hampshire Public Radio, this is Outside In, a podcast about the natural world and how we use it.

And today, we are delving into the subculture of extreme bird watching, where even when those

involved say they are not in a competition, they are totally in a competition.

One that leads them to criss-cross the US and Canada and airplanes and abandon their loved

ones for weeks on end while they huddle on wind-blown

Alaskan islands hoping for bad weather to blow birds across the Pacific Ocean. motion.

In 2013, Neil Hayward was depressed.

He had just left the biotech company that he had helped the start but got kind of bored with and he was getting over the end of a very serious relationship.

And suddenly he found himself doing a lot of birding.

Because I had so much free time that year, I could end up

I could put in a lot of hours and wait for birds.

...