Why do middle aged people become obsessed with birds?

[HauntedBungalow]

I have seen it many times. Onset appears to be between 40-45 and by 50 they are deep in the grip of it.

What is going on?

Wait... are you marked by the crows...?

Got loads of sparrows feed off the bird feeder, even have 2 pigeons who what for the other to drop food.

It's because they don't talk back.

By age 40 we are just over everybody and birds and plants are the answer.

My only obsession where birds are concerned are the pigeons that shit on our pathway to the front door and on the doorstep I fantasise daily about getting rid of them!

It goes back to our deep evolutionary history, as we became too old to hunt mammoths we had to start tracking great auks and dodos instead and in the modern world it has translated to us all downloading the Merlin app.

DS could identify most common garden birds aged 2. It was our go-to toddler tantrum interruption technique - oh look DS, what's that bird? What's it doing?....

I guess I was about 40 at the time, so maybe it was me that was obsessed. Now, in my 50s, I am obsessed with keeping squirrels and magpies away from my feeders. H has the garden plant thing going and has started listening to classical music having always hated it. What happened to us?!

Just installed it now. Thanks for the recommendation!

Apparently I am a cliche. I second the Merlin app.

I started really getting interested in birds when I moved to the country and had a big garden where I could actually see them, and I was just in my 40s then. Before that I was living in central London and I just didn't notice them.

Getting into gardening took a bit longer, but I'm obsessed by that as well now.

I think sometimes as people get older they have both the time and inclination to be more aware of the things around them. I know I am far more aware of what's going on in my garden and when I take the dog for a walk etc. now than I was when I was dashing around juggling small child, work, aging parents etc.
I take great pleasure in seeing frogspawn in the pond and birds feeding in the garden etc. Without admitting I might be entering my 2nd childhood, I do feel again that delight that young children experience in these things 😀
And I do have a camera in a birdbox and really love seeing the birds nesting.
I think it's a form of mindfulness that is really beneficial. And it's a source of pleasure that's virtually cost free.

I am actually planning to build up my own personal crow army by way of large amounts of unsalted peanuts.

I'm 40. I like hearing the birds song but I don't care what they look like.

It's Pokémon Go for grown ups

What if they looked like Jeremy Clarkson? You'd be bothered then, wouldn't you?

I've been obsessed with birds since before I could talk. You might just be noticing the obsessives because your life is calmer than it was? Everyone I know has been keen for decades.

Maybe it's a 2024 thing? We keep hearing that the British bird population has halved since 2010 and it makes me want to feed the birds and help them breed.

I wish I could double, triple, quadruple the number of small birds by way of little me planting and feeding alone - but we all need to do it.

Come on you middle-agers - let's do this thing!

Are you 55 though if not you are not obsessing just enjoying 😀

Because you finally admit to yourself that yes if you could fly it would be great

(Probably after sitting in one too many bad tempered traffic queues)

I'll be 70 this year and have always been interested in birds, as was my late husband. But then he was a trainspotter in his youth.
I cannot leave the house without listening to and looking at and thinking about the birds I see.

That's definitely me!

I've been watching two be-egged nests live on my laptop for a week. The dad birds visit and bring the expectant mum food. 😭

https://www.youtube.com/live/yMnvzd356nM?app=desktop&si=kxkcljgm7JtXzl9H

https://www.youtube.com/live/625ZfzqaSJs?app=desktop&si=JpkO_gHONB4sWWUh

I put a bird feeder in my garden when my dcs were toddlers and they've grown up fascinated with birds.
They love to look out for birds of prey when we travel and one of their favourite holidays was seeing a puffin colony.

I’ve realised in middle age that I’m a feeder. I don’t care if you fly, crawl, or waddle. If you appear in my garden you’ll get a meal, hence I’m popular with the birds.

Oh God it would be great to fly though, wouldn't it?

I read something really lovely about those dreams you have where you're flying - they're very common in childhood. The theory is that they're a memory of being a baby, when you are picked up and carried everywhere. Which feels like flying, for humans.

So actually, we all were once able to fly, in our own perception.

I started a similar thread on here last year. DH and I are now obsessed with the birds in the garden and I've just spend £75 on a Finches Friend birdfeeder to help not spread diseases when I feed them.