The 15-Minute Birder

You don’t need a lot of time or money to enjoy birding. You need two of three things: a field guide and/or binoculars, and 15 minutes.

That’s it — 15 minutes. You don’t need an expensive camera (or a camera at all), you don’t need to plan a trip, and you can bird from home.

Let’s face it, we’d rather be birding, but unfortunately, we can’t always be where we want to be! That’s where The 15-Minute Birder Rule comes into play, and it’s simple: grab a pair of bins and spend 15 minutes looking for birds.

Birding is for everyone, regardless of prior knowledge, age, ability, or resources.

What I love the most about birding (aside from the birds, obviously) is overcoming the challenges that we humans must face in order to see a particular species of bird, or even to just get a little closer. It’s rewarding — at the end, you get your bird, or you don’t, but you definitely got a journey.

The challenges that we must overcome aren’t just the trees (or oceans) between us and the birds we want to see, sometimes they are our own physical, situational, or emotional hurdles. You know what I say to that? BIRD ON.

That’s why I wrote “The 15-Minute Birder: Bird Watching No Matter Where You Are”.

In the past five years, I have had to endure two long stretches of time stuck indoors. I longed to leave my home, but was unable to, so I got creative and with some planning and a little help I began birding from my bedroom window.

When I got well the first time (and then the second time), I struggled with stamina, so I set myself small birding goals. That’s when I realized, all you really need sometimes is just 15 minutes.

How long is 15 minutes? It’s the amount of time it takes to sip a cup of coffee. It’s one fourth of a lunch break at work. It’s waiting for the bus. It’s waiting for an appointment. It’s a birding session!

Fifteen minutes is all the time you need to bird every day and not feel as though you have to forfeit something important to you.

In the book, I offer photographs as proof of my 15-minute birding experiences (all of them were taken during 15-minute birding sessions), and I share tips, suggestions, and a few anecdotes. Most of us know what it’s like to feel cooped up indoors, preoccupied with pain, or stressed out by an inescapable routine and I think we can all agree — it sucks.

So here’s my solution: BIRD.

Birds are pretty much everywhere and no matter where you go, there they are — whether you’re having a good day, a bad day, are stuck indoors, or simply short on time, they are always there, so take 15 minutes and Bird On!

Pre-order the ebook on Amazon. Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read it for free, and once purchased you can lend it to a friend for 14 days. Available to download on August 1, 2017:

The 15-Minute Birder: Bird Watching No Matter Where You Are

Visit my author page to learn more:

O. Estrada Author Page on Amazon

If you are a Prime customer, but don’t have Kindle Unlimited, sign up for a 30-day trial and read the book for free. You can get the Kindle Cloud Reader or the free Kindle Reader app here.