I recently opened my online app on which I tutor English through casual conversations with people from around the world. A new student had booked a lesson. All I knew was their online name, country, native language, gender and a self-assessment of their English skills – a number from 1 to 5. This student was a 3.
Within the first two minutes of introductory chatting, this student informed me their age: 21 years old and that they were hospitalized because they had tried to kill themselves. I instantly took in the minimal background behind them – a bare light blue wall, very hospitallike. And their upper clothing also looked institutional.
However, if this student had not told me they had attempted suicide, I would have never guessed.
I have tutored hundreds of students worldwide but this was the first time I had experienced this situation. I have never worked with seriously mentally ill people but there I was, although separated by thousands of miles.
I thought, “How should I approach this one-hour lesson with this person?” And immediately I thought, “I'll bring up 'birds.'”
As most of us have read by now, or know from experience, looking at and listening to birds and nature in general improves mental health.
I showed them a bird field guide and asked if they had ever looked closely at a bird. They didn't seem to understand the question.
I asked, “Have you seen beautiful birds? They fly gracefully.” Still silence.
“They make us feel really good watching and listening to them. This is a great way to become peaceful and happy.”
I sent a photo of a ruby-throated hummingbird drinking nectar from red flowers. I said: “Birds sing. They make beautiful sounds. Like music. Have you heard a bird sing?”
“No.”
I was shocked. But of course I didn't show it.
They said, “Birds make noise.”
Again, shock. BIRDS MAKE NOISE. Was this all they knew?
Suddenly I realized that since they were living in a big city this made sense. No habitat, no little birds singing. Instead, birds like grackles and crows, making scratchy, raucous sounds. “Noise.”
Now those birds with their complex vocalizations are a part of our world. This is not meant to disparage them. Yet I understood.
Gary Nabhan's 1990s writings predicted that by the year 2000, half the world's children would be living in cities of a million or more. Nabhan knew that these children would have very diminished lives, with ramifications beyond nature. We are now far past that point.
Then I sent them the Yellow-rumped Warbler recording at allaboutbirds.org. They clicked on it and listened. I could hear a sweet Twitter. They said, “Oh, I hear it. It's very nice.”
I felt a bit better.
Listening online is not the same as in the real world. But it's a start. Next I sent a picture of a warbler in their country.
I said, “Maybe when you get out of the hospital you can look for birds like this one. Just look and listen.”
We went on and then our time was up. I hoped that tutoring them provided something they'd needed – a chance to feel a healthy world that takes us both back to when everyone enjoyed bird songs and forward to times when this will still happen.
In Southwest Colorado, we are fortunate to have enough wildness around us as to still hear the sweet twitters of birds. We need to maintain and wildly celebrate this part of our world, and work to make it accessible to everyone.
April Baisan is a science educator, a grandmother, and a watcher of birds, dragonflies and other charismatic minifauna. She lives near Cortez and volunteers with Friends of Carpenter Natural Area, documenting the area's remarkable biodiversity – some 170 species of birds, 175 species of plants, and more than 100 additional wildlife species. Friends of Carpenter is hosting “A Celebration of Carpenter Natural Area” on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. – a community event for all ages to discover birds and the natural world.
