Day 19 Bird-stalker

Henryk Szydlowski

                                                      (see also Attention) 

“But bird 'stalking,' to adapt a name, is a great deal more exciting and delightful than bird's nesting, and we get our joy at no cost of pain to other living things. All the skill of a good scout comes into play. Think, how exciting to creep noiselessly as shadows behind river-side bushes on hands and knees without disturbing a twig or pebble till you get within a yard of a pair of sandpipers, and then, lying low, to watch their dainty little runs, pretty tricks of head and tail, and to hear the music of their call. And here comes the real joy of bird-stalking. If in the winter months the children have become fairly familiar with the notes of our resident birds, they will be able in the early summer to 'stalk' to some purpose. The notes and songs in June are quite bewildering, but the plan is to single out those you are quite sure of, and then follow up the others. The key to a knowledge of birds is knowledge of their notes, and the only way to get this is to follow any note of which you are not sure. The joy of tracking a song or note to its source is the joy of a 'find,' a possession for life.
But bird-stalking is only to be done upon certain conditions. You must not only be 'most mousy-quiet,' but you must not even let a thought whisper, for if you let yourself think about anything else, the entirely delightful play of bird-life passes by you unobserved; nay, the very bird notes are unheard.”

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“After years of wallowing in creative depression, he had quit drinking and had found peace by birding in the city. ‘I didn’t even have to think about it. I just felt easier. I felt easy hearted,’ he said.
     He had discovered his joy was bid-shaped.
     The musician was funny and had a smile that was very quiet. He came across as fervent about birds without being reverential.”
       
                                                   ~ Kyo Maclear
 

Examen: “Name and describe the wild birds of your neighbourhood. Tell about the song of two of these. “Describe a 'bird-stalking' expedition."  Do I see nature study as optional, a pleasant add-on to my resume, or my own  “valued possession for life?” How is bird-stalking a metaphor for my role in the classroom?

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But bird 'stalking': Charlotte M. Mason, Home Education, 1:89–90.
After years of: Kyo Maclear, Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation, First Edition, First Printing (New York: Scribner, 2017), 17.
Name and describe: “AO Parents’ Review Archives AmblesideOnline.Org” Syllabus I.-Examination I.
Describe a 'bird-stalking': Home, 1:360.
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Day 19 Bird-stalker meditation/100 Days copyright 2025 Laurie Bestvater

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