Beginning Birding

Some thoughts from a young birder:

I've found birding to be a very wholistic process to learn about the environment, environmental issues, and how subtle and volatile eco-systems can be. Before i began birding, i knew very little about native vegitation, with most trees simply being labeled as gums or wattles. I had trouble distinguising between a wetland and a dam, often thinking "there's water.... why isn't there any ducks?"  Happily, i'm slowly learning about the subtlies that support wildlife and its diversity. But i think its up to the elders in society to lead the way, and pave the way to the path of environmental wisdom.  

I believe that if some type of birding course was administered into the australian education system, the whole of Australia would experience widespread benefits from it. This extends from environmental awareness and conservation, to a greater feeling of belonging and harmony within our surrounding environment.  

You can definently see the damage that the 'longing' for mother europe and other continents, has caused to the Australian environment.  There was a need to sit under an old pine with the sounds of starlings and sparrows echoing around, with a clear view of  open rolling green hills. This has decimated the Australian environment, thereby reducing the wildlife that lived with in it. And i think that longing is still widespread, and most of the Australian population still can't percieve the benefits of native species. I've talked to people that think that no Australian native plant can provide a nice shady tree to sit under on a hot sunny day, others that think there are no good Australian native wind breaks!

We need education! But to be really educated, we need emersion in the environment, and personal experiences of nature....not just facts!

This is why i think birding is so great. It gets you out and about and within the real Australia. Its starts with birds, but then you start seeing what birds eat and you learn about the plants and insects and fish, and how these food sources are sustained and the cycles they go through. ....Maybe we will even learn something about ourselves in the process?

Peter