The coronavirus continues to spread in some areas of the world and is fluctuating in others from week to week. As lockdown restrictions are eased in many cities and countries, borders are being opened up again too. Many countries rely heavily on tourism during the summer with Spain, for example, relying on the tourism industry for €159 billion a year and 2.65 million jobs. Therefore, it is seen as pertinent to the health of the economy to get tourists back into the country.
With many parks and trails closed and public health experts requiring we all engage in social distancing, our ability to responsibly watch birds has been radically scoped.
A year ago, many keen birders were revelling in migrating species. Some had already joined friends for hikes led by local nature groups. Not this year, however.
The Colombian travel genie is out of the bottle with a record 4,5 million non-resident visitors to the country in 2019. While this is clearly welcome news for President Iván Duque, and one which the government will attempt to promote aggressively in order to break a new record in 2020 with 6 million visitors, the world in the midst of a pandemic with novel coronavirus.
For a long time, urbanization has been one of the defining features of our societies a tendency that has accelerated with the growth of the information economy, with now half the world’s population living in cities.
But some believe that we may have reached a peak, as COVID-19 has not only paused the trend but might come to reverse it. The long months of quarantine turned the perks of solitude and access to greenery into a physical and mental health priority: Some 400,000 New Yorkers left the city during the pandemic, according to Deutsche Welle figures, and many Paris and London residents have done the same.
Stressed out over the current pandemic situation? Alone, and with no idea how to spend your time while practicing social distancing? The National Audubon Society offers you the perfect solution – Birding.
I spend most of my day indoors, in front of a computer. The only music I hear is the rhythmic clacking of my fingers on the keyboard, sometimes in adagio and occasionally (if I’m lucky enough to be inspired) in allegro. Before the era of COVID-19, the most excitement I experienced involving a bird was with a blue jay that liked to sit on the ledge of my office window. To not scare it away, I’d freeze in my chair and stare.
The COVID-19 lockdown could become an unprecedented natural experiment in noise pollution. Some of the world’s most vocal animals — birds and whales — might already be benefiting from a quieter environment.
It all began when on March 19th when I was birding in the pacific slopes from the western Andes close to Cali with a good friend and an amazing naturalist from Turkey named Emin Yoğurtcuoğlu. We were at the end of an incredibly successful tour through Colombian Choco bioregion close to Cali Colombia, where I live.
