As a lot of you know, birdwatching is what initially introduced
me to the Rio Grande Valley (now my home).
Birdwatching is a hobby that can lend itself to some teasing. Images of nerds, dressed in bland colors,
wearing our binoculars and sun hats, getting up at the crack of dawn in search
of a bird the size of your palm which may or may not appear. While all of that is a true description, what
you may not know is the connection between some of the mindfulness methods used
in birdwatching and mental health. My
experience with the Chihuahuan Raven and the Brownsville city dump is a great
example.
Most people probably picture watching birds in beautiful
scenery, mountains, forests, parks. While
that is sometimes true, what is also true is that birds don’t know boundaries
and often turn up in the most unlikely places.
It’s not uncommon see amazing birds in parking lots, drainage ditches,
water treatment plants and yes, garbage dumps.
Some years ago, I traveled to the
Brownsville city dump (along with several other birdwatchers) in search of the Chihuahuan
Raven. The raven is native to Mexico but
crosses the border occasionally to have a meal at the buffet we call the trash dump.
If you’ve never been to a city dump, it’s all you’d think it
would be. Overwhelming stinky, layers on
layers of garbage, and rats as big as cats running through it. But in the midst of all that, they we were,
binoculars scanning all in pursuit of seeing the raven. Sure enough, we were lucky. We had a beautiful view of him. He was feeding on the heaps of garbage, and
we were amazed. In that moment, we didn’t
see (or smell) the garbage. What we saw
was his beautiful feathers, midnight black and shining in the sun. We saw how he used his beak and feet to pull
out the morsels he was feeding on. There were discussions on his size and other
markers distinguishing him from other raven and crows. There were celebratory discussions for those
of us that this was a “lifer bird” (meaning had never seen one before).
So, what does all this have to do with mental health? This - we all have the ability to focus on
what we choose to focus on. Even in the
midst of bad conditions, we can find beauty.
Right now, the world can feel like an ugly place. There are a million reasons to feel disheartened. I feel it.
I’m hearing from a lot of you that you’re feeling it. But even in times of stress, we can choose what
we focus on. It doesn’t mean we don’t
take action to improve our condition. By
all means, do what you need to do to problem solve, get support, or ask for
help. But when you’ve done all you can do
within your control, look for something to focus on that brings you joy. Find beauty.
Find and focus on something that gives you hope. Wishing for you all to find your raven in
the dump.
*Note – due to climate changes the
Chihuahuan Raven is not as rare as it once was but the Brownsville dump is
still a great place to see unusual birds and even made a cameo in the movie “The
Big Year”.
