I got off a train at Wellingborough station at noon on Thursday and was talking on the 'phone as I tried to remember where I'd left my car on Monday morning.
I couldn't remotely describe myself as birdwatching at that time and yet I noticed a flock of birds flying in the distance. Something about them made me look closer and even though they were distant, I knew they were waxwings - about 50 of them.
I sat in my car talking on the 'phone and as I did the waxwings did a fly-past removing any doubt - although there wasn't any doubt really.
In a non-waxwing winter I might not have been as tuned in to these birds as I clearly am now, but even that brief distant initial view was enough. I am tuned in to the natural world. I spot waxwings even though I am not consciously looking for waxwings, and I hear birds calling or singing even though I am not actively listening for them. And I can't quite understand why everyone else isn't tuned in like me. But I also know that there is too much of the natural world from which I am tuned out. What plants or insects do I ignore through bad tuning? I must do something about that. But for now, I do have waxwings.
A love of the natural world demonstrates that a person is a cultured inhabitant of planet Earth.
Nice post Mark - being 'tuned in' is a great way of referring to it. Being able to spot birds and plants that others have no clue about. It's like any problem you care to mention- once you know how its solved its easy. I wonder about a lot of my fellow human beings - going through life blindfolded.
I especially like spotting urban/suburban Sparrowhawks circling high up whilst everyone goes about their business below........oblivious.