someone figured that it would be a good idea to gift me a beginner’s binoculars and I decided to pick up this activity again. At first, It was incredibly disheartening to see the birds fly away or never reveal themselves to me at all. I was following all textbook rules – Not being noisy, not wearing extremely bright clothing, carrying a good pair of binoculars and researching on the habitat. However, a tip by my friend, who has been doing this for years as a hobby really helped. He suggested I stop being too focused on finding birds, and instead just let them be and avoid any sudden movements, be more fluid with my own movement, and just allow the interaction to unfold. If they deem fit, they’ll make an appearance. And it worked. From not being able to spot anything beyond the common birds – we saw treepies, magpies, drongos, pied mynas, kingfishers, cranes, Ibis, egrets, and storks.
All it took was the right intention, knowing where to spot them, and patience.