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Tenijah’s Birding Journey Continues
Putting all she has learned into practice.
© Rick from Alabama / CC
Tenijah Hamilton, the host of the Bring Birds Back podcast, has learned a lot since she started birding at the start of the pandemic. She visited a park to show her mom how much she has grown. At first, the birds were sparse. Overcoming her frustration, Tenijah felt like nature was reminding her of lesson number one: birding is supposed to be fun. And soon their luck changed with a Northern Mockingbird flying by. What’s more, Tenijah realized that a birding trip isn’t a waste if you’re with your people.
BirdNote®
Tenijah’s Birding Journey Continues
Adapted from Bring Birds Back podcast
This is BirdNote. I’m Tenijah Hamilton.
Since I started birding at the start of the pandemic, I’ve learned a lot. My mom will always remind me how much of an indoor kid I was, and I wanted to show her how much I’ve grown. So I took her to this park I’d heard good things about, and…
Tenijah Hamilton: There's more ground birds hopping around at my house than we see here.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
Mom: They need to give us some love and come closer!
At first I was feeling kinda defeated. I wanted to show off to my mom, and this was most definitely not that. But as we continued to explore the park, it felt like nature was reminding me of lesson number one: birding is supposed to be fun.
Mom: Oh, you can take such a deep breath out here with the greenage. The air feels fresh going down.
Tenijah Hamilton: Mhm.
And as I began to take this to heart, we had a little change in our luck.
Tenijah Hamilton: Ah!
Mom: There's something, yup!
Tenijah Hamilton: He flew right in front of us over the water into a little tree…
And y’all! I know some things!
Tenijah Hamilton: Gray with, um, a white band around the wing.
Mom: You've got all of that just from him flying past us? That means you have definitely been a lot more observant of birds.
It was a Northern Mockingbird. And you know what? Even if you don’t see any birds, a birding trip isn’t a waste if you’re with your people.
[Northern Mockingbird song, ML 166628, 0:56-1:01]
You can hear a lot more about my birding journey on my podcast, Bring Birds Back. Listen on your podcast app or at BirdNote dot org. I’m Tenijah Hamilton.
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Senior Producer: John Kessler
Content Director: Allison Wilson
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Managing Producer: Conor Gearin
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Northern Mockingbird ML 166628 recorded by R. Bethel.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2022 BirdNote June 2022 Narrator: Tenijah Hamilton
ID# PodBBB-09-2022-06-08 PodBBB-09
Tenijah Hamilton
Writer NarratorListen to Bring Birds Back
Hear the rest of this story on Bring Birds Back, a podcast about the joy of birds and the ways that humans can help them through simple, everyday actions.
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