My “Formation Ornitho” course started last Thursday, and has re-ignited my interest in birds. I used to love my excursions to the Umm Al Quwain mangroves back in 2002, where one was regaled by the sight of legions of coastal birds, like plovers, sandpipers, ospreys, gulls, and flamingoes. My self-study in ornithology was also coming along well at the time I moved to Belgium. In fact one of the first books I bought here was a French book of birds; I painstakingly looked up on the internet the English equivalent of every French bird-name, and noted it down in that book. But between the demands of work and family, and the inertia of indolence, any time for birdwatching got gradually crowded out, especially since my early trips to places like the Foret des Soignes were so surprisingly unrewarding.
The INSEAD and CERIS programs seem to have reactivated my “learning and growth” gene. With both programs almost at an end, I naturally started looking for other pursuits that might bring that same sense of development along any interesting vector of personal growth. I seriously considered Ira Pogroff’s Self-Discovery through Journal Writing, and even Juggling Arts (to break through the 4-ball barrier). But a bit of searching yielded the far more fulfilling program that I am now enrolled in. It is a serious, scientific 3 year program – not for the casual hobbyist. I am not sure how far I will go with it, but the mere fact that I have started goes a long way to formalizing my commitment to birdwatching.
I have spent the last couple of days brushing up on the nomenclature, with the task doubly challenging as I want to make sure I remember every species name in both French and English. I tried extending my ambitions to Latin, but was turned off by the polysyllabic terrors I found there in our first lesson last Thursday.
I sometimes wonder where my passion for birds comes from, as indulging in the interest has such a curiously calming effect upon me. I think it might have to do with the fact that we got so little by way of visual richness in flora and fauna as we were growing up, that it never become part of our reality. Now just looking at the exquisite artwork that is every little bird brings a sense of happiness that is hard to describe. Moreover, in birdwatching the joys of the sheer visual spectacle can get so legitimately combined with that other source of happiness: toys and gizmos. The heavy-duty spotting scopes, tripods, binoculars, zoom lenses and other birdwatching paraphernalia are like icing on the cake, making the ornithological lifestyle uniquely suited to my needs.
Notes to Self 
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