There was a mad period when I wanted weird collages of all kinds of birds!
I have often wondered what is so alluring about birding (birdwatching / bird photography)? The traditional answers of course are “they are beautiful creations of God to marvel at”; “allows one to be in nature”; “helps us to explore and understand more about the birding world”; “helps to record and update and thus protect them and their habitat” etc. In addition to them, for me the other triggers are: 1. It is like a “hide and seek” / “treasure hunt” game reminding me of childhood days – most of us are familiar about this game with birds!; 2. It is like a jigsaw puzzle solving reminding me of my early school days – where to find which one, which bird is left to complete a particular puzzle etc; 3. It is about permutations and combinations reminding me of high school Maths days – finding all birds with black and white colours and those with red bills and those with black and white and red bill etc etc; 4. It is like daily review of bank account like in early working days – reviewing and enjoying the “treasury” of bird photos on the mobile /laptop; 5. It is like expectation of winning a sudden lottery in mid-age life – the feeling is similar for finding some birds or for suddenly getting that perfect photo or realising when editing about a gold mine that has just been hit!; 6. It is like cosying up in a cold winter afternoon with a perfect fiction book in old age – so many memories, stories and tales to be imagined by looking at these birds!
