Backyard Birds

Last weekend, a student brought in Amy Tan's book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, to share at our Nature Journaling class. Amy Tan is a bestselling fictional author, but during the throws of covid lockdowns, she started drawing and writing about all the birds in her backyard. I love what she created. It's a wonderful example of someone being curious about what they observe and then documenting it in a way that is authentic to them. Whether she knew it or not, she created a beautiful nature journal and has shared it with all her fans. I imagine she has inspired many new people to be curious about the world around them, and to find fun ways of documenting it.

I also love her sense of humor in the book, she keeps a levity and sense of play. I think that's an important element of nature journaling, that little bird isn't paying you for a self-portrait, so don't take it so seriously.

This week's drawing is a little junco I saw in my backyard, in tribute to Amy's book.