If you can’t beat them, join them

I was recently introduced to a new app called Birdle – think Wordle, but for birds. It’s a daily puzzle where you guess the bird of the day, and it’s surprisingly addictive. Every time that little notification pops up, I drop what I’m doing and dive into bird names and clues, trying to get the answer in as few guesses as possible. It’s nerdy, I know. But it reminded me just how much joy birding has brought into my life and how it all began quite by accident.

Years ago, I joined an overland trip from Namibia all the way to Uganda. We drove in a six-vehicle convoy through Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. There were fourteen of us, and ten were hardcore birders. They were the kind of people who stop mid-sentence or mid-drive because they spotted something fluttering in the distance. Birding was the common language of the group, and it was happening all the time. At first, I felt like an outsider, mildly irritated by the frequent stops and excited calls of “lifer!” But very quickly, I realised: if you can’t beat them, join them.

I didn’t even have a bird book. Everyone else had their Robert’s guide in hand, carefully marking new sightings in pencil next to the species name, noting the date and location. I borrowed a little notebook and started writing down the names as they helped me identify what I was seeing. When we finally got back to Windhoek, I found my grandfather’s old Robert’s guide in the bookshelf and used that to start building my own lifer list. The book was so outdated that many of the bird names had since changed, which made it quite the puzzle, but I stuck with it. Eventually, I upgraded to a photographic bird guide, and my birding journey officially took off.

Over the years, I’ve been lucky enough to learn from some of the best, including Pompie Burger, who writes the birding pages for our Travel Namibia magazine. Editing his work, and even tagging along on a few of his birding trips, taught me how birding transforms the way you experience nature. A trip to Etosha becomes so much more than ticking off elephants and lions. You start noticing weavers, rollers, hornbills… and the list grows.

Birding doesn’t have to be serious. It doesn’t have to be “for experts.” It’s for anyone who’s curious about the world around them.

Some people might think it’s lame or nerdy. But honestly? Birding is one of the most rewarding, relaxing, and unexpectedly exciting things you can do in nature. So download Birdle, grab a pair of binoculars, and join the club. I promise it’s not boring. It’s brilliant.

Elzanne McCulloch