Do you experience the Zen Zone of Birding? While some folks claim they are able to multi task, I think not for me. When I head out birding, the radio is silent and Spotify is not playing a favorite song list. Instead my eyes scan the surrounding forest, often without my even knowing my brain is analyzing the input. It is not unusual for me to spot birds that I did not even think were in my direct field of view. If competing sounds like the radio, or even conversation in the car compete for my brain’s attention, I know I miss sightings … and the Zen Zone.

The longer each day I am away from home on a birding excursion, the more into the Zen Zone I enter. During my mid 40’s, each spring before fising season would open, I took solo canoe trips into the BWCA. These three day journeys were marked by the fact that at the beginning of each trip it took 5 to 6 hours for my brain to calm down, and not think about the complexities of modern life. I needed to just immerse myself in nature with an almost blank mind. It was important to me to take these trips in early May when the BWCA was mine alone. I would sometimes even talk aloud to nearby loons, but I don’t believe I was loony!

This morning as I drove north from my cabin to bird Pine Island State Forest via Toomey Williams Forest Road, I could tell I was entering the Zen Zone. The birding was not good, but it did not matter.

A sunrise pic from a prior Toomey Williams sunrise … the Zen Zone.