🦊 Bird Journaling
🦊 Bird Journaling
Hey friends,
This Saturday, I’m teaching an intro workshop on bird journaling at the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Pleasant Hill. If you’re the San Francisco Bay Area and are looking for a gentle introduction to journaling about the burbs, drop by! You can learn more and RSVP here.
This is the first workshop I’ll be teaching in quite a while. I used to do a lot of writing workshops, coding bootcamps, tech talks, and the like. Teaching is, by far, one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things I’ve ever done. I’m really glad to have the chance to get back into it.
The venue for my return is also special. I was first introduced to Wild Birds Unlimited when I read Amy Tan’s wonderful book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles. You can grab a at the WBU store.
Amy’s book is a collection of illustrated journals on her journey with backyard birding. Her writing is approachable, and her illustrations are breathtaking. It inspired me to start taking backyard birding more seriously, and also to get into journaling about it.
To get started, I did that thing where you go and spend a bunch of money on a new hobby instead of just diving into it with whatever tools you have. I bought the special fancy bird journal notebook that is produced in collaboration with Amy Tan. Following Amy’s approach, I tried to mix the entries with things that are relevant to the bird care (such as the season, food they’re eating, weather) along with interesting anecdotes about what I noticed.
One challenge I had with this notebook is that it is very nice and pretty, which made me feel like my entries also needed to be nice and pretty. There was a brief interruption where I had to take down my feeders. My daily streak was broken, and whenever I thought about doing it again, I felt like my drawings would be too rusty and ruin my journal.
Many months later, I picked up the habit again, this time with a cheap paper notebook. Something about the rough texture and flimsy cover gave me permission to just note down whatever. I spent more time noticing bird antics.
One of my favorite entries is when I solved the case of the giant peanuts. I had put them out for the (large) California Scrub Jays, and I kept seeing the peanuts disappear, but never saw the Scrub Jays. One day, I saw a little Oak Titmouse fly away with one in its beak.
It’s quite a sight to see a Titmouse carrying a giant peanut the size of its head. Turns out that in just a few seconds, it’ll peck a hole into the peanut that it can fit its beak into and grab on. Then, it’ll fly away with it, to safely consume the treasures inside.
The world keeps giving me reasons to grieve, but I always find a little solace when I can look outside and see a bird. They’re always doing something interesting!
The benefit of bird journaling is not the output of pretty pages; it’s the process of noticing. Taking the time to pause throughout the day and look at the birds will alter the fabric of your day. I can’t recommend it enough.
If you don’t have birds in your window’s view, don’t give up. You can find them on the street, in a park, or further out in the wild. You deserve the enrichment of nature, so take a little time and effort to find it.
Until next time,
—Salman
P.S. If you’d be interested in an online bird journaling workshop, reply and let me know. I’m hoping to adapt the in-person workshop into something I can teach remotely, but it’d help to know how much interest there is in something like that.
Thanks for reading Quick Brown Fox. If you’d like to support my work, consider buying a copy of my illustrated book of modern fables, Wandering Spirits, for yourself or a friend. It’s great for adults and children alike.
The best way to get the book is to buy directly from me. You’ll receive a high-quality paperback edition from a special print run I did (they’re a lot nicer than the Amazon prints.) I’ll also sign it just for you, and even include some free merch—stickers of the fox and wolf story illustrations, and a bookmark featuring the back cover illustration printed on a lovely heavy card stock. Learn more here:
You can also get it on Amazon and other major book retailers, if you prefer.
© 2026 Salman Ansari
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104