In the world of birding, there are bird-watchers and bird-getters. The latter were lampooned in the 2011 comedy The Big Year, which starred an obsessed trio of Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson crisscrossing North America to log the most bird sightings. This acquisitive style of road-trip birding recently resurfaced in the cultural stew thanks to the deftly made Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching, watchable free on YouTube. The film has racked up 2.7 million views since its release six months ago.
Backyard bird-watching, on the other hand, isn’t as compelling a movie subject. As compared with the getters or listers, non-extreme watchers are mostly content to stick close to home to observe what flies to them, rather than chasing birds down. But the lower-key activity has its own rewards — particularly in winter — as Maeve Kim, 82, and Isaac Wood-Lewis, 19, detailed on a snowy January morning in Kim’s Jericho kitchen, within view of her seasonal bird feeders.
Winter brings backyard birds into closer focus, led by the ability to feed them. To avoid attracting bears, the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department recommends hanging feeders only from December 1 through March 31. Reduced foliage also allows for clearer views of backyard wildlife.
During bird-feeding season, Kim starts every day at a small wooden desk under the kitchen window closest to her feeders, often juggling her breakfast and a pencil while she takes a tally of species to submit to eBird and other Cornell Lab of Ornithology projects.
Such a daily practice not only helps science but also obliges the watcher to slow down. The retired special educator and birder of 50-plus years noted that this kind of activity has been shown to lower blood pressure and stress levels.
It’s better for your soul than doomscrolling.
Maeve Kim
“It’s better for your soul than doomscrolling,” Kim said, after we watched a striking white-and-black hairy woodpecker with a splash of red on its head pluck a whole shelled, raw peanut from a feeder and dart away.
Wood-Lewis is able to bird-watch even from his University of Vermont dorm room, thanks to a feeder suction-cupped to the window by his bed. When he wakes, he said, there are always a few chickadees at the feeder. He now recognizes at least one, which will feed from his hand.
“You get to see how they each act differently,” he said. “I got kind of lucky because this one has some slightly different markings, and I think it’s braver than the others.”
Wood-Lewis and Kim met when she gave a talk about birds at his family’s home in Burlington’s South End. He was about 7 years old at the time and “knew more than almost any of the grown-ups there,” Kim marveled.
The young man is now studying wildlife and fisheries biology. From his first backyard chickadee sighting, Wood-Lewis’ interest in birding “snowballed,” he said. “I just love birds and all animals, so being able to watch how they interact with each other and their surroundings is really interesting for me.”
The avian population in Jericho is, naturally, more diverse than outside a dorm window.
Kim’s partner, Bernie Paquette, is a fellow accomplished citizen naturalist and self-taught expert in Vermont’s wild bee species. They met nine years ago on a bird walk that she led — although their love story has not been featured in Kim’s three published romance novels about a fictional Burlington bird club.
The pair have cultivated a wildlife oasis on their 1.3-acre property, adding many native plants and trees, nurturing diverse insect populations, and establishing brush piles for nesting materials and protected hiding spots. In January, they always add a couple of retired Christmas trees near their feeders to provide extra roosting quarters and cover from predators.
While fewer species come to the yard over the winter, Kim said, there are some, such as American tree sparrows and evening grosbeaks, that fly south from Canada for the relatively warmer weather or more abundant food sources. On the morning of my January visit, Kim had recorded blue jays, black-capped chickadees, house finches, tufted titmice, eastern bluebirds and American tree sparrows, plus more than 30 goldfinches.
“They’re little pigs,” she said fondly of the fluffballs that looked like someone had dipped their heads and chests in lemon and honey.
A tiny, toffee-colored Carolina wren landed on the open tray feeder filled with hulled sunflower seeds. Kim noted that the species is a relatively new sighting in Vermont, as are the titmice.
Both Kim and Wood-Lewis said they’ve gone through phases when the lure of the checklist has enticed them into bird-getting behavior.
“I’d be impatient seeing something because there could be something else around the corner,” Kim said. “I was driving myself crazy, and I wasn’t enjoying the birds anymore.”
Generally, she said, she finds it more rewarding to spend time studying the National Geographic show in her backyard. Kim has noticed, for example, that barred owls benefit from feeders even though they don’t eat from them directly. She has observed the majestic birds waiting patiently to swoop down on mice or voles feasting on fallen seed beneath her feeders.
Recently, Kim witnessed an interaction between a Cooper’s hawk — “a very handsome predator” — and a dark-eyed junco. The junco was hiding in a brush pile upon which the hawk had perched, she recounted, and every so often the junco would peek out tentatively and beat a quick retreat. “The hawk wanted that junco so badly,” Kim said, “but the junco outwaited it.”
Wood-Lewis acknowledged that he enjoys both types of birding. He has plans to travel west this summer with a friend, and he’s excited to see some new species. But, he added, he’s also anxious to return from winter break to his dorm, where he hopes his chickadee friend will not have forgotten him.
How to Feed Birds Safely
Maeve Kim will give a free talk on wildlife-friendly backyards on Thursday, April 2, 1:30 p.m., at the Richmond Free Library. Find out about more bird walks and talks by Kim at vtbirdsandwords.blogspot.com.
For backyard bird-feeding recommendations, go to vtfishandwildlife.com/watch-wildlife.
Learn more about the bird-tracking work of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies at vtecostudies.org.
The original print version of this article was headlined “For the Birds | In winter, backyard bird-watching offers a chance to connect with nature”
This article appears in Nest • Winter 2026.
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