Birdwatching

August 18, 2025.

Some of you might be wondering why I’m writing about birdwatching in a spiritual blog. I must admit that I would have been wondering that myself, until I read an article entitled “A Pastor finds Joy through the Lenten Practice of Birdwatching, [1].

I couldn’t help but read the article since I’m an avid birdwatcher.

Often people remark on how I’m always looking up, being distracted by the winged ones flying above me when I’m out walking.

I’m not a birding expert. I don’t have a long-lensed camera. In fact, at times I’ve been a bit judgemental when I see groups of birders, all crowding together, their huge cameras in hand, some even with tripods.

Even so, I always stop to quietly ask one of the group about the bird they are photographing.

Sometimes they give me the lay-person’s bird name. More often they give me the Latin name, which leaves me stumped. Even so, they've all been kind in the face of my ignorance and have quickly added the bird’s common name.

But my apologies, I’ll return once again to the topic of birdwatching as spiritual practice.

When I read Pastor Courtney Ellis' article about her Lenten birdwatching practice I realized that my birdwatching could be a spiritual practice.

Previously I hadn’t thought of it that way. To me, birdwatching was an interesting and fun pastime. I’d spent several decades watching the neighbourhood and migrating birds come to my feeders, taking fluff from nesting balls, and bathing in our backyard fountain.

When I first started birding it was easy to identify the “regulars” in my Vancouver neighbourhood— hummingbirds, chickadees, nuthatches, bald eagles, robins, black-eyed juncos and crows.

But then I found the Merlin App, [2] that identifies birds by their sounds. Using Merlin I came to realize that we had a neighbourhood filled with species that I hadn’t even known were there—Bewick’s wrens, pine siskins, Wilson’s warblers, Swainson’s thrushes, spotted towhees and so many more.

But once again I’m off topic. I apologize, but birdwatching is very dear to my heart and has been something that has helped me to connect with something deeper, something that has given me the grace to cope during these and other challenging times. Clearly, I’ve been daft about the obvious—these flying wonders have been helping me to connect with the Divine.

Why and how might birds and birdwatching bring us closer to the Holy?

Any connection with nature can reveal something of the the Source of all Life. Creation, in Christian theology is sometimes called the second book of Divine revelation. It is one way that God reveals Godself to us.

The thirteenth century saint Francis of Assisi wrote a now famous Canticle of Creation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxJ-lgBjdMM&list=RDrxJ-lgBjdMM&start_radio=1, [3]. This Canticle supports the understanding that our journey to the Holy can come in and through all of creation.

And of course, creation includes birds.

Other Christian saints across the ages have had special relationships with Earth's winged wonders. Saint Benedict of Nursia befriended a crow who was later said to have saved him from being poisoned, [4].

Saint Kevin of Glendalough, Ireland had a relationship with a blackbird. While Kevin’s story seems to be exaggerated, it highlights the possibility of Holy intimacy between humans and birds, https://poetryarchive.org/poem/st-kevin-and-blackbird/ [5].

The desert hermit Saint Paul and his companion Saint Anthony were fed bread by a raven.

Birdwatching can bring us into mindfulness and peace since it involves patience, attentiveness, and silence, [6].

It is a practice that slows us down, invites us to live in uncertainty and trustful hope as we wait for the flying ones to show, or not show themselves to us. These are important ways of being that can assist us during this time of global uncertainty. In a time that requires us to cultivate trustful hope.

There are several ways to move into birdwatching as a spiritual practice.

Courtney Ellis’ Lenten birdwatching prayer practice involved sitting outside for ten minutes each day as she waited on “a bird from the Lord,” [7]. She was intentionally alert and aware as she watched and waited for winged ones to arrive. Her practice grew through interactions with an online spiritual birding community, (hashtag #aBirdFromTheLord).

Mindful birding is practiced by people on their own and in groups. It’s supported and encouraged by various birding organizations, [8]. In researching for this blog, I was surprised to learn that there are mindful birding webinars, podcasts, articles, networks and groups.

One Audubon article says that mindful birding involves focusing on enjoying the moment, slowing one’s pace, and being curious, [9]. And that the practice invites us to observe, feel, and listen, using birds to connect and reflect on one’s personal experiences, [10].

Kevin Kummer describes birdwatching as contemplative prayer in which he becomes still so that he can “actually see” with his eyes, and use his ears to hear bird calls, rustling leaves and whirring wings, [11].

Birdwatching as a spiritual practice sometimes involves the use of guidebooks, and taking notes and photographs, but none of these are necessary.

However, I cannot discourage this in any way because I feel a a strong connection to my deceased father when I leaf through his tattered 1983 Guide to Field Identification: Birds of North America.

This treasured book gives me the opportunity to feel my dad's presence and guidance, especially when I come upon his handwritten notes in the margins beside the birds he's come upon.

I don’t know if you are a birdwatcher or if you’d like to move into this pastime, but I’d like to encourage you to consider birdwatching as a contemplative spiritual practice.

If you do then I’d love to hear about the species that you come upon.

1. Courtney Ellis, A Pastor finds Joy through the Lenten Practice of Birdwatching, Earthbeat: A Project of National Catholic Reporter, https://www.ncronline.org/news/earthbeat/pastor-finds-joy-through-lenten-practice-birdwatching, May 19, 2022, accessed June 30, 2025.

2. Cornell Lab, Merlin, https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

3. This beautiful musical version of the Canticle of the Creatures is sung by Simon de Voil.

4. Christine Valters Paintner, Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature, Sorin Books, Notre Dame, IN, 2020, 52.

5. This is a link to the poem that tells the story of Saint Kevin and the Blackbird.

6. Matthew Burden, Ornitheology: Birding as a Spiritual Discipline from The Peace and the Passion, https://thepeaceandthepassion.blogspot.com/2017/05/ornitheology-birding-as-spiritual.html, May 5, 2017, accessed July 2, 2025.

7. Courtney Ellis, A Pastor finds Joy through the Lenten Practice of Birdwatching.

8. See: https://www.birdability.org/mindful-birding and https://www.audubon.org/rockies/news/mindful-birding and https://www.themindfulbirdingnetwork.com/

9. Audubon, Mindful Birding: Combining the joy of observing birds with the benefits of mindfulness, https://www.audubon.org/rockies/news/mindful-birding February 7, 2025, accessed July 2, 2025.

10. Ibid.

11. Kevin Kummer, Birdwatching and Prayer, Intervarsity Christian Fellowship https://gfm.intervarsity.org/resources/birdwatching-prayer accessed July 2, 2025.

This blog is dedicated to the memory of Maureen Fowler, a beloved spiritual mentor.