Birdwatching has been a Covid success story: sales of feeders have soared and birdwatchers broke a world record for the most birds observed during Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “Global Big Day” in May.
I like watching Small Brown Bird One and Small Brown Bird Two argue over mealworms in my yard until Large Grey Rat appears to settle the squabble, but I am too lazy to make a real hobby of it: it is cold out there. Instead, I watch birdwatchers on Twitter, which brings its own satisfaction. There is a photographer who waits patiently, hand full of seed outstretched, capturing birds when they alight, and I love following my local bird-rescue lady transforming her charges from bedraggled, gloomy clumps of feather to heart-gladdening swooshes of wildness. She also keeps me informed about the shameful, often-unpunished incidents of raptor poisoning and trapping that blight the UK’s lucrative grouse moors.
For the past few weeks, though, I have been seduced by bird matters in New York, which is aflutter with owl excitement. First there was Rocky, the tiny, furious saw-whet owl discovered in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, like the best tree topper ever. Once Rocky was restored to health and released, my attention turned to New York City’s newest celebrity, Barry, a rare barred owl who looks like something Studio Ghibli might invent. Barry has been regularly spotted in Central Park in recent weeks: the Manhattan Bird Alert Twitter account follows his movements, naps and run-ins with squirrels – and the crowds of Barry spotters who throng to the park hoping to catch a glimpse.
Ornithologists initially feared the crowds might scare him away, but there are reports of a second barred owl in the area. They have even been joined by a thrillingly vast great horned owl, all orange eyes and ear tufts.
Are these sightings a sign that wildlife is reconquering our quieter cities? In a way, it is the owls’ prey that is really taking over. “Rats are abundant again this year,” David Barrett, who runs the Bird Alert account, told a journalist. How very 2020.