In pursuit of useless hobbies…

I have had many hobbies growing up. And being quite a dabbler, I have often flitted from one hobby (cough obsession) to the next. Sometimes I was just winging it, jumping on the next available bandwagon, and other times some hobbies held my interest for more than a few months. For all of my childhood, and into my early twenties I was a voracious reader. Even today, I have a bookshelf over flowing with books, although I have lost the inclination and the attention span. Growing up, I also dabbled with trying to learn the morse code, imagining myself to grow up to be a detective, and for a brief period, collecting miniature bottles. Now at 30, I love painting, and making miniature figurines with polymer clay. But the one hobby that I never gave up, and that which I hold most dear, is bird watching.

I inherited the interest from my mother, who took me and my sister on a bird watching tour when I was little. And boy was I hooked! I do not quite remember what or if, I saw anything on that tour, but I do remember coming home and leafing through a book about birds to try to find out more. We had a couple of books about birds, on the many full-to-bursting bookshelves in our home, and looking up bird info became my new favourite pass time.

Soon enough, I was seeing birds everywhere. Absentmindedly gazing up at the skies to watch the kites riding the thermals, stopping to gawk at a pair of lapwings on my school grounds during PT period, and staring hard at the fig tree in the garden, trying to spot a coppersmith barbet in the foliage, I took every opportunity to spot birds. Although my city had a strong birding culture, I never knew anyone else my age who was as interested in the avian world as I was.

Over time, as I entered the very difficult to navigate world of adolescence, my fascination and giddy excitement with watching birds reduced. As a teenager trying to fit in, mentioning birds garnered strange looks and I soon stopped my chatter about it. I had proudly declared in a 10^th standard public speaking assignment about my passion for birding, and my goals to become an ornithologist, only for the teacher to look at me as if I was a bit cuckoo.

With the launch of Instagram, back in the days when it was just a photo sharing app, I was introduced to amateur bird photographers. Kids with DSLR cameras strapped around their necks, proudly declaring they photograph birds as a “hobby”. I began to feel I was doing something rather silly and useless, pursuing bird watching as a hobby. Did I click amazing pictures of these various birds I spotted? No! Then what was I doing just looking at them? Some random aunties and uncles, with their unsolicited advice on “constructive ways of spending down-time”, further fuelled my doubts on the usefulness of watching birds.

With all such happenings and my own misguided attempts to fit in, I slowly started believing this was a useless activity after all. Life happened, and I moved abroad to Melbourne. Not originally wanting to end up here, my mood was brightened when I saw the rich birdlife Melbourne had to offer. I continued birdwatching with every trip I went on with my friends, but the giddy excitement was more muted now, and I would only quietly celebrate if I spotted something interesting. In my experience, most people hardly think about birds. Sometimes people would ask me how I know so much about birds, and I would say “Ohh I like to birdwatch”, only to be met with blank stares.

In all this melee I often wondered, is there anyone out there who likes to just look at birds. I mean it is called “bird watching” for a reason. I don’t have the fancy equipment, the patience, or even the inclination and the will to photograph birds…so is there not a place for me at the table? I, who just like to watch, and do nothing afterward?

I tried to look for birding communities in Melbourne, and other like-minded people with this useless hobby, but with the pressures of trying to find part time employment, adjusting to life in a new country, birding was low on my to do list. Still, I diligently continued, albeit quietly, trying to enjoy birding where I could. Although I could not shake the feeling that I should somehow be doing more with my interests. Try to photograph birds, perhaps paint them, do something more! Anything!

Until one day, I went to a trivia night at a local pub with some friends. The last section of this trivia involved correctly naming things that were shown on a screen. Each group chose one person, to write down the answers on a sheet of paper. Our group chose a rep (not me), and when the category was announced, it was all I could do to not jump for joy! What a coincidence, the category was “Australian Birds”!! And guess who alone knew enough to even attempt an answer. Me, of course!! I quickly joined our rep, and rattled off answers one after another! I surprised myself when I got 9 out of the 10 on the list! Not so useless after all…hah!

Did we win the round? Umm no, someone else got all 10 of them…but what I did win that day was a new perspective, and an admiration for myself. Nobody taught me those bird names; I had figured them out myself over the past few years living in Melbourne. I had not thought about it at the time, but every time I quietly watched a bird, looked it up online, read up about it, I was creating a database in my head…it was definitely not useless! Who cares if I don’t do anything with the information! Who cares if I just watch birds. I reiterate, it is called “bird watching” for a reason!

As long as I am proud of my hobby, and it is adding value to my life, I don’t need to prove its usefulness to anyone else. My knowledge won our team a chance at a trivia gift voucher, heck maybe someday my life might depend on this info…. well, maybe not literally… but perhaps in a SQUIDGAME version for bird nerds!!

And if anyone asks, I am now, a proud bird watcher…I watch birds, just look at them and admire them…and I have the time of my life doing it!