Mar 28, 2020 - Health

Coronavirus quarantine is a great time to get into birding

Naomi Shavin

Illustration of a birds peeking through viewfinder holes in a green landscape — Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

With businesses closed, the streets quiet and neighborhood walks becoming a national pastime, it's a great time to get into birding.

Why it matters: "You can get the joy of being outside and appreciating the most prolific wildlife on the planet," National Audubon Society President and CEO David Yarnold told Axios. "The sense, at this moment, that there’s life out there feels a little bit like hope."

What's happening: Spring has started and it's migration season for birds. And all you need to do to take advantage of it is go outside (safely, of course) or watch from a window.

What they're saying: "I know that birding is having a moment when nearly 115,000 people go on a Facebook Live feed to hear birds chirping and water running. That happened this week," Yarnold said.

What to watch: Over next few weeks, the birds you see around will likely change as birds migrate throughout the spring.

The Audubon society has a free app that shows the birds in your area and plays bird calls. "You can take kids out and listen and watch for them," Yarnold said.

Go deeper: Audubon has two new resources available online, The Joy of Birds and Audubon for Kids.

For some at-home birding, Audubon's Rowe Sanctuary in Nebraska has a live crane camera and shared this video of sandhill cranes at sunset. (And here's the Facebook live video Yarnold mentioned.)

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Coronavirus quarantine is a great time to get into birding

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