Mesmerized by this hummingbird? A growing number of amateur bird-watchers are glimpsing sights like this as they seek solace from the pandemic.
Conner Brown, a 25-year-old law student at Stanford University, spent the early days of the pandemic following his brother as he spotted and collected characters in the Pokemon Go mobile game.“I thought, ‘Why don’t I take up birding?’ It’s like real-life Pokemon Go. It’s super addicting because you can start logging them and you get a little collection. It’s really cool,” Brown said. He paused, then added, “They should really game-ify it.
With coronavirus restrictions dragging on, interest in bird-watching has soared as bored Americans notice a fascinating world just outside their windows. Downloads of popular bird identification apps have spiked, and preliminary numbers show sales of bird feeders, nesting boxes and birdseed have jumped even as demand for other nonessential goods plummets.
“It kind of takes us back to a magical time six or eight weeks ago when there was no pandemic,” he said. “It lets me decompress and get away from everything that’s going on in the world, at least for a little while.” Even retailers seem to be cashing in despite the crashing economy. Preliminary marketing data shows overall sales rising 10% to 15% this spring in the “birding category,” according to data from Panacea Products Corp., which makes bird-feeding products.
“Birds are everywhere now. They’re singing, they’re migrating, they’re nesting,” she said. “They’re busy every minute of the day doing all these interesting behaviors — and I think that’s what draws people in.”
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