earlier this year in march krishnanand nbs locality in his native village in kerala was declared a containment zone stuck at home the techie who had moved from chennai to his hometown was yearning to get a taste of what he was missing and then one day an owl flew right by him in his backyard a few conversations on twitter about the bird species later he was determined to learn more about his feathered friends the techie has been actively birding every day since thenit made me realise how wonderful nature is since then i have been waking up early every day noting down the new species of birds i spot my hometown is nemmara which is up close to the foothills of the western ghats a biodiversity hotspot when a hornbill visits your backyard there is no way you can miss it this is a daily activity that i do with my fiveyearold daughter he smiles krishna joins a growing league of birdwatchers who have taken up the mindful activity as a passion project during the covid eradoor to bird narnia has been kicked openfor better or worse the pandemic has made us more observant of each others lives including our passions begins avid birder christy bharath from chennai and as far as i know people who are unable to follow their passions with much gusto have been frequenting social media more often as a result birdwatching became more real to a wider audience than ever before it has inspired beginners to take up birdwatching in the real and the virtual world its as though the door to narnia has been kicked wide open and all these imaginativelooking creatures have entered their lives he adds with a smilethe birding culture too seems to be much more accommodating today he notes when i first started in 2013 birdwatching seemed a lot more competitive with a no i saw it first mentality these days it seems more accommodating towards beginners he says adding that being able to spot birds from ones balcony or terrace is definitely therapeuticthe rise of the armchair birderwhile travelling is an integral part of the birdwatching experience the pandemic left no space for the same however in doing so the time spent in isolation has led to a new form of birdwatchingarmchair birding says rakesh dhareshwar from gurgaon you started looking out for birds in your backyard you started documenting them and observing their behaviour i for one realised that there are 51 species of birds that come to our residential society i used to keep my camera ready on the balcony and run out whenever i heard a chirp the birder recallsthe experience also served as a welcome change to many suffering from an overdose of the workfromhome lifestyle people working from home could not afford the luxury of being addicted to work they needed some diversion to balance their day birding is great for the body and mind and is a hobby