I recently watched the fictional murder mystery “The Residence” which is set in the White House during a visit from the Australian prime minister (played by Julian McMahon (whose father was the actual Prime Minister of Australia in the year I was born, oh, and he was once married to Danni Minogue for a little extra meta-narrative given Kylie Minogue also makes an appearance!))
I got distracted – sorry – anyway – in the show, Cordelia Cupp (played by actress Uzo Aduba) is the eccentric detective brought in to solve the case. When she first appears on the scene, it’s with binoculars in hand, but NOT to start her job looking for clues – instead – she’s looking for birds. President Teddy Roosevelt, she tells the Chief of Police, was a prominent ‘birder’ before he took up residence in the White House, and after he arrived, he kept a journal of every bird he saw on the grounds. Ms Cupp hopes to cross off as many birds on that list as possible during her contract to solve the murder.
There are several moments throughout the series where other characters have to wait for Ms Cupp to return to the moment, so intent is she on her birdwatching. Several other times she tries to explain human motives, or how she notices clues or deduces solutions, by referring to bird behavior. The birds mentioned in the show (listed here) are not all from the USA, but their names create a subtle backbeat, a homage to the wonders of Mother Nature: Screech Owl, Purple Grackle, Dimorphic Jewel-Babbler, Yellow-Throated Longclaw, and the ‘Nemesis Bird’.
The Nemesis Bird is different for each birder; it’s the one they constantly seek… and the one that constantly evades their seeking. I found a post from 2016 about the term – Birdist Rule #5: Get Yourself a Nemesis Bird – “Because every hero needs a villain”.
The article’s author Nicholas, writes about his Nemesis Bird (the Red Crossbill) this way: “After I came up empty on multiple-long drives to their ‘guaranteed’ habitat, I couldn’t help but hold a grudge. It became personal. Again, my eventual encounter, this time in Aspen, Colorado, wasn’t just a sighting: It was a vanquishing.”
If you enjoy the hunt, then ‘the one that got away’ is strangely, part of the pleasure.
I just remembered that in the movie “The Big Year” (2011) the three main characters are all competing to set the record for the most birds seen in North America in a calendar year. The current record holder (played by Owen Wilson) laments (for a whole 10 seconds) his Nemesis Bird – the Snowy Owl:
[Source: The Big Year: Snowy Owl]
My father was a birder for years, until he had crossed off either all, or almost all, of the birds in his Australian field guide. I vaguely remember he took my mother on a holiday-cruise which was secretly motivated by the need to get far enough offshore to see some of the larger sea birds on his list!
For my father, birding was a post-employment hobby that encouraged him to travel far and wide, and lent structure and purpose to those outings. I didn’t know about Nemesis Birds until now, so can’t confirm if he had one, but I vaguely remember there was a rainforest bird that evaded him for a long time, and another story about a ground-nesting migratory bird that was very rare (in part because birders accidently trod on the nests whilst seeking out the shy flappers).
Back then, I think birders still called themselves ‘twitchers’. According to Birdful.org, “The term ‘twitcher’ comes from the nervous excitement these enthusiasts felt when chasing a rare bird sighting. Twitchers would ‘twitch’ with anticipation at the prospect of adding another species to their life list (their tally of unique birds seen).”
I quite like the idea of getting twitchy with anticipation about your life list!
One of my digital friends, Steve, a psychotherapist in Scotland, has a blog called ChangeTherapy.org.uk. Trained in mindfulness, Steve takes patients on walks through nature to help them with issues ranging from grief, anxiety and depression (you can read more here: Mindfulness Walks). What prompted me to remember his site was a range of posts a guest blogger named Clive wrote about birds.
Clive’s post “Mindful Birdwatching” is brief but poignant. It mentions his earliest memories of looking for birds in a nearby allotment with his Grandad:
“…look over there – isn’t that a wren among the flower pots; shush listen – that’s a robin singing from deep in the holly bush too; and here – here’s a blue feather from the wing of a Jay…“
The dialogue feels so real I can imagine Clive and his Grandad huddled together, whispering, pointing. But it’s the next passage that really resonated with me:
“That excitement and joy lives with me still as I write these words. Perhaps we are naturally mindful as children; we need to relearn the ‘how’ as adults.”
Birding is a form of mindfulness for adults. It’s often hard to make the time to walk in the woods. Without a reason to be there, it might feel like an indulgence to just ‘go walking’. But, if we attach a purpose to our traipsing, then the meanderings feel more guilt-free: “look! I’m busy doing something!” (As I’ve mentioned before, instead of living as human-beings, so many of us are hardwired to act as human-doers.)
Clive rightly points out that you can ‘go birding’ almost anytime, anywhere. Sitting in your backyard, waiting in a carpark, staring out the window: “Take a minute […] notice your breathing begin to slow; how your thoughts are less racing. […] and enjoy the moment.”
In Nicholas’s article about the Nemesis Bird he notes that after finding one nemesis, he created a new one, and another. Maybe you can too – without the need for a ‘villain’ as such. Pick a bird you know lives near your home; a pigeon… a sparrow… a magpie, lorikeet, galah or kookaburra. Just one. Without paper or pen, keep an eye out for it. Glance into the garden… the sky… the treetops… the rooves of neighboring houses… see it? Hear it?
No? Keep looking… until… there it is! Hooray! Congratulate yourself… take a moment to bask in your observational skills… then pick another bird to be on the lookout for…
…for as long as it takes.
Mindfulness aims to focus your attention (repeatedly) on the here and now.
What better way to be mindful than to breathe deeply and notice your surroundings (and intentionally vanquish one nemesis after the other)?
Take care taking care out there (as you get twitchy!), Linda xx
PS – I chose a dove from the free Pexels library as the cover image, because we could all do with some peace these days. xx
PPS – shoutout to a new blog friend Octavia and her blog: Rare Bird Collections
We rarely get them here. I love the sound of the Currawong when it’s about to rain, just reminds me of the misty mountains…
The Mindful Migraine 
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