UvA’s new bird watching course is so popular that students even queue for it
Binoculars at the ready, gaze fixed on the sky - a group of UvA students stands in the middle of the Diemervijfhoek, full of expectation. They are participating in a game of bird bingo, but this is more than a game: it is part of the course Birds - Our Shared History, Habitats and Future, in which students learn to birdwatch as well as rediscover their connection to nature. The course is so popular that there was even a waiting list for it.
It appears that it is not that easy to tempt the birdwatchers to answer. They are so focused, staring up at the sky – the white-tailed eagle has been spotted. “Wow, cool!” UvA teacher Joris Buis shouts enthusiastically. “The flying door! That is its nickname because the animal has a wingspan of up to 2.5 meters,” teacher Elias den Otter explains to the students, looking through his binoculars at the enormous bird of prey flying overhead. “It’s already been a great day. We’ve got our prize,” says Den Otter. The question they are asked: why are students here learning how to spot birds?
Birding as a course
We are in the Diemervijfhoek nature reserve, a former dredging site for a nearby power plant, but now an oasis of nature close to the city. And sure enough, the entire group of students turns around, binoculars at the ready to spot the white-tailed eagle. For psychology student Djura Plakman, her goal today was to spot the white-tailed eagle. She looks through her binoculars with a broad smile and a sense of wonder. It is typical of the course ‘Birds - Our Shared History, Habitats and Future’, in which bird watching is presented not only as educational, but also as something almost sublime. Every attempt to reflect on this nature course is drowned out by nature itself.
Birding – the observation and identification of birds – is no longer just a hobby for often retired men, but has grown strongly in popularity in recent years, says Buis. Together with his birdwatching buddy Den Otter, they proposed the course to the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS), which has embraced the idea, probably due to the growing interest in birdwatching, Buis thinks. In this six-EC course, theory is alternated with bird excursions and students write a reflective report on how their personal relationship with birds and nature has changed.
At first glance, birding as an academic subject may seem far-fetched, but it offers students something that is lacking in many other subjects: a direct, sensory experience with the world outside the lecture hall. Den Otter calls this a ‘break with the trend’ of the majority of university courses. “University courses are usually one hundred percent rational, completely theoretical, and therefore end up in the big pile. That will paralyze you.” Instead of just piling up theory, students here are immersed in a different learning process. They feel the wind, smell the forest and hear the difference between a chiffchaff and a wren. This touches something deeper than just the head; it touches the emotional life. “The world cannot be captured in dry definitions or figures - it must be experienced,” says Den Otter.
Awareness for nature
“Education should not fill a vessel, but light a flame,” Buis quotes philosopher Plutarch. By for example challenging students with a bird recognition competition - the first to recognize 100 bird species wins - they will want to learn more and discover more about the world around them. Den Otter first couldn’t even hear the wren, and now he recognizes the sound flawlessly at times when he isn’t even focusing on it. Such an experience is transformative: it sharpens your awareness of the world around you. “This is what being woke means,” says Den Otter.
While the students head deeper into the Diemervijfhoef to play ‘bird bingo’ in groups, they develop the ‘higher consciousness’ image that the teachers paint for them. Wolf Dekker, medical student, immediately recognizes the sound of the blue tit. “You never really think about all the things you hear and see in a day, but this course forces you to dwell on those details. Now, when I’m on my bike and I hear a bird, I stop and listen to recognize the bird.” The excursions take him out of his ‘urban bubble’, as he calls it. “People in the city are often too much within themselves, this course helps you to look at the world again.”
Roots
What started out as an elective for Dekker has struck a personal chord. “As a child I was always outside, but during my teenage years I lost that a bit”. Now that spark has returned. “There was even a waiting list for this course.” Dekker notices that his friends who got stuck on the waiting list are jealous and tells them what he is learning. “It just makes you enthusiastic - especially when you see how crazy the teachers get when something special flies over.”
Alessandro Scagnolari, an Italian student of Economics and Business, frowns for a moment when he is asked why he chose the course and says with a laugh: “You're distracting me, I'm trying to concentrate on the sound of the chiffchaff.” “To be honest, I was never interested in birds,” says Scagnolari. He sees the course as a way to take a break from his rational studies. “Economics is all about maximizing everything, but this course is not. I see it as an opportunity to reconnect with my roots, with nature. At first, I didn’t understand why you would ever bring binoculars somewhere, but now I do.”
Connection with nature
What began as a spontaneous choice for Scagnolari to take this course in order to see the nature of the Netherlands has since grown into something that reaches further. What particularly touches him is how enthusiastically people talk about nature conservation. “It’s inspiring because you realize that it’s easy not to think about it, but just as easy to do something about it.” Buis mentions an example that students can contribute to nature conservation in a way that suits their skills by for example making videos about nature for social media to contribute to awareness.
The course could therefore ultimately inspire students to commit to nature conservation, says teacher Buis. Ultimately, the course is not just about learning to recognize birds, but about something bigger: how we as humans relate to nature. “It is our mission, on a social level but also on a personal level, to help people discover their connection with nature.”
Finnish student Emily Koskinen says that her relationship with nature has indeed changed since she took the course. As she stares across the water with her binoculars, she tells me: “I now see birds everywhere, they feel like my companions. We are all nature: humans are animals too and part of the same nature as birds.”
The students and teachers all leave the nature reserve. Nobody has won bingo because not enough birds were spotted, but it still feels that the students have all won something else: a renewed connection with our shared nature.
