Birding together

I've learnt that coming together to observe, note, and interact with our natural surroundings creates spaces for collective pondering and wonder, grieving and dreaming. Go looking for birds with someone else, and you'll encounter the ambiguity of uncertain outcomes, the necessity of working together, and you will undoubtedly end up with a story to tell and a place to share it.

During the spring and early summer of 2025, I co-hosted and guided a series of 'bird walks' in and around Oslo, in collaboration with BirdLife Ung and Naturviterne. The trips included collectively searching for species characteristic of the specific locations, while keeping an eye out for potential rarities. In between observations, there were whispers about the small and the large things in this world.

Participants were curious youth, students, and young adults - a massively underrepresented demographic in the birding community in Norway. Thanks to BirdLife Ung, efforts are being made to start organizing open and inclusive networks for 'young birding' in Norway, and I was honored and proud to be asked to assist in this process.

I took part as not only a bird expert, but also as a fellow whispering citizen, post-artistic practitioner, and everyday experimenter. The participants' experiences of the trips were journaled in a 'chained' diary beautifully put together by BirdLife Ung leader, Sine Hagestad. Alongside being the documentative journal of BirdLife Ung in the making, it was also a wonderful contribution to the series of 'unfinished experiments' instigated by my diploma project, moved by movements, in collaboration with Benjamin Romm.

It will be exciting to see where the journal journeys. Thank you to Sine, BirdLife Ung, Naturviterne, and the participants for including me in the process of putting birds, birding, and community on the agenda.