Every morning, the journalist and founder of Aver Aves Javier Rico has the habit of going out to the balcony of his house, in the Madrid neighborhood of Carabanchel, to receive “that daily shot of energy that gives you listening to the song of the birds or see a bird perched on an antenna ”. It was on March 14, just when the state of alarm decreed to stop the advance of COVID-19 was beginning, when Javier decided to launch his game on Twitter. The idea is to encourage more people to look out their windows to discover these singing neighbors, who usually go unnoticed, and share those observations using the hashtag #BirdsDesdeCasa. “I thought that just as I get such a good and therapeutic feeling doing this, maybe many other people could also help,” he explains.
They say that in the world there are so many fans of ornithology because, compared to other more elusive animals such as mammals, birds are a relatively easy group to see. And we have the proof here: since the #BirdsFromHome initiative began, observations of 187 species have already been recorded, and some people have already seen more than fifty of them from their homes. It is not necessary to have a garden or a terrace with mountain views: it is possible to observe and enjoy the birds that perch on the antennas, sing in a corner of a patio of lights or, simply, fly through the sky on their way daily to seek food or shelter.
Many people, in fact, are being surprised by the number of birds that regularly roam their neighborhoods and are learning, not only to identify the species, but also to observe their behavior: in front of our eyes the birds fight, look for food, they sing to attract their mates or embark on their migratory journeys. “The comments that most excite me are those of people who are surprised by what they have around them, or who tell us that this is helping them to better cope with confinement, ” Javier comments, “that is very important because they are hard-won people who they begin to value the biodiversity that surrounds them and to want to conserve it. It has a great value and a huge benefit for people and for nature ”.
Children enjoy it too
“One of the things we like the most is that this game is also having a lot of impact on the little ones in the house,” Javier tells us. “Children are having a hard time in seclusion, but there are many teachers, educators and parents who are developing very nice initiatives to help them cope better: making feeders and waterers for birds with recycled material, silhouettes of birds to cut out and color, games … All this is creating a very powerful movement around environmental education that we also like a lot ”.
In fact, from Aver Aves, the company founded by Javier and his partner María Luisa, school routes are organized to the parks and gardens closest to each educational center to learn about and value this valuable and often underestimated urban biodiversity. “It is an idea that at first cost to settle, because from the schools what they wanted was for us to put a bus to go to the mountains, they did not understand that the excursion was next to home”, he explains. ” But then they go out and they are fascinated by everything we see, both the children and the teachers .”
Leisure, education and citizen science
In addition to the sheer enjoyment and educational value of #BirdsDesdeCasa, all these observations are very valuable in generating more knowledge about our winged neighbors. Birds are being seen that were previously cited as occasional, or in places where until now no appointments had been recorded. For this reason, the promoters of the initiative on Twitter are also encouraging participants to register their notes in larger databases such as the eBird platform, which collects observations from citizens around the world that provide a lot of useful information to improve knowledge and conservation of birds.
Other organizations such as SEO / BirdLife are also encouraging people to do citizen science and participate in eBird with their # StayEnElNido initiative. Another smaller entity is the La Enea Salamanca Association, which has had to interrupt its monthly bird censuses in the urban stretch of the river Tormes but is taking advantage of the confinement to carry out a study of the local fauna with its partners, also based on recorded observations. from home.
In addition, the quarantine dates are coinciding with a very special moment for birds: migration movements. Some birds spent the winter in Spain and are moving towards colder latitudes, while others that were in Africa are beginning to arrive to spend the breeding season here. For this reason, many people are surprised when they look at the sky from their balconies and see flocks of storks or many types of eagles and raptors that are in the middle of a trip . “The other day, during the applause, a moment that is already emotional in itself, in Madrid a migratory passage of seagulls was seen from the south to the north. People posted it and said it had been exciting to be clapping and watching the seagulls journey at the same time. “
There are already many studies that corroborate the therapeutic effect of nature: taking a walk in the forest or in a park helps us combat stress and anxiety so, now that we cannot do it, what better way than to go out to our windows to search that close nature and make these days of confinement that still lie ahead more bearable.
