What Birds Bring to Us
- Stella Miller
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
There are excellent ecological and economic reasons why birds are important to humans (which I will talk about in another post). But there is a more profound reason why we should all care about birds, and it has nothing to do with their “dollar” value. Simply put, it’s how they make us feel.
To start, birds are beautiful and incredibly cool! But wait! There's more: birds are talented architects and entertaining performers during breeding season. Some can survive in the harshest of climates and the most barren of landscapes. Others spend their lives in flight, only coming to land when it is time to produce young. Some, like the Common Raven, exhibit the intelligence levels of small children, while others, such as the Veery, can duet with themselves, producing two melodies at the same time. Many can fly thousands upon thousands of miles during migration, nonstop. The longest nonstop flight by a single bird was a female Bar-tailed Godwit—she traveled over 8,000 miles without stopping!
There are birds that kill with deadly precision, while others can fly underwater. The fastest animal in the world is the Peregrine Falcon, attaining speeds over 200 mph! Migrating birds navigate using the sun, moon, stars, landmarks, and Earth’s magnetic field.
It turns out my understanding of birds was profoundly lacking: birds aren’t pretty little packages without substance after all. Birds are tough, they are fascinating, and they endlessly amaze us with their survival skills and athletic abilities.
To me, the most important role birds play is how they can connect us, no matter where we are, to the natural world in the blink of an eye. Standing at the kitchen counter, in a storefront on a busy street, gazing out the window at work, or even sitting in an idling car at a stoplight, the appearance of a bird reminds us immediately that there is another, more beautiful place beyond the moment we are experiencing. They remind us that we are part of something bigger—and that it’s not just about us.
Birds bring nature to us wherever we are, no matter how harried or hurried our day. They bring us joy. They soothe us. They excite us. They lower our stress levels. Their very existence is a priceless gift—one that we cannot put a dollar value on.
Next time you glance out the window, pause for a moment. Look for the bird that might be passing by. And then, savor the moment.
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