Miles and Teresa Tuffli of Guerneville started their business, I’m Birding Right Now, because they believe there’s no barrier to the joy of birding — even if you’ve never spent much time in the outdoors, even if you don’t own binoculars, even if you’re just sitting on your front steps.
“There’s this wellbeing aspect of connecting with nature and connecting with the bird life around you,” says Miles. And you don’t need to go anywhere special to go birding.
They go birding as they go through the motions of normal, everyday life, noticing the sounds of birds in the background of a movie, for example, or sighting birds in the parking lot of Safeway as they’re grocery-shopping.
“There’s just so much joy to be had. I urge people to get into birding as early as possible. It’s just such an enhancement to life, to travel,” adds Miles.
Together, the Tufflis lead field trips in places like Ragle Ranch and Spring Lake regional parks and along the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail between Sebastopol and Santa Rosa. For info on guided walks — some offered for free through partners like Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods and Sonoma Land Trust — as well as free resources for new birders, visit imbirdingrightnow.com.
Head over heels
“A few years back, we launched a long-range plan to quit our jobs and explore Sonoma County more, to tap into the nature around us,” says Miles. “We took a raptor hike with LandPaths, and it really was all of a sudden that we were obsessed. Both of us were equally interested in birding, and it grew from there. Nature has a story to tell if you can read it — and we just really wanted to learn to read.”
Fly away
“When I was young, I loved animals so much, but those wild creatures can be so elusive. It struck a chord with me when I realized that birds could fulfill that animal love,” says Teresa. “And you can often approach birds more closely — they know they can fly away easily, so they’re often not as afraid. Along West County Regional Trail in Sebastopol, where we often go, there are birds building their nests right over the path, and everyone is simpatico.”
Birds for all
“We have a friend who likes to say we are all of birding age. It can be overwhelming to a beginner to flip through a field guide, but if you can get to know the birds in your backyard, the birds in your everyday life, that’s a great jumping-off point,” says Miles.
“People think you have to go on a hike to go birding,” adds Teresa. “But you can sit down anywhere and do what we call ‘sit spot birding,’ taking in the ebb and flow of activity, tuning in and listening for the sounds of birds.”
The songs of spring
“We’re really lucky here because we can bird all year round. But spring is basically the start of the busy season — the birds are breeding, they’re very active, very noticeable. There are bird calls that you can hear all year round, but only in breeding season, generally, do birds sing. That energy of life is palpable, that feeling of abundance.”