THIS TIME LAST YEAR, people around the world noticed neighbors they never knew they had. As the coronavirus ground our normal lives to a halt, robins busied themselves laying bright blue eggs, and rose-breasted grosbeaks decked themselves in red and black to attract mates. Sales of binoculars and birdfeeders spiked, and new birdwatchers discovered that the birds on the periphery of our lives have a complex community of their own—plus the sense of emotional and physical well-being that comes from getting outside and focusing outward. “Hope,” as Emily Dickinson wrote, “is the thing with feathers.”
This spring, flowers may bloom brighter, saturated with our relief as the pandemic winds down, but the joy of getting to know our wild neighbors will outlast quarantine. It’s never been easier to learn about local bird life, and birding can prove surprisingly fun and rewarding. (It has all the thrill and suspense of hunting—with less mess.) And the benefits go both ways. Close attention to birds and their habitats is a step toward healing the damage we’ve done to their populations, even as we heal from the damage we’ve done to ours.
The mid-December sun glints off a frosty field as I pull into the parking lot at McAlpine Creek Park. A small group clusters around a pair of cars adorned with bird bumper stickers. They’re bundled against the cold and masked to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but when they all lift their binoculars to look at a hawk perched on a distant pole, I know I’m in the right place.
Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av Charlotte Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra March 2021-utgaven av Charlotte Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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‘This Is How We're Going to Make Your Child Better'
Pediatric neurosurgery is technically and emotionally complex—and traditionally dominated by men. As Novant’s first female pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Erin Kiehna Richardson has had to learn the intricacies of a demanding field and battle sexism along the way
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A surgery resident wrote a series of children’s books and created a special kind of medical magic
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Five years after the furor of House Bill 2, the LGBTQ community—in Charlotte, in North Carolina, and across much of the nation—fights attacks on new fronts
Oh, Snap!
New ‘selfie museum’ in Concord celebrates the 1990s
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The WSOC anchor on her hard trek from one episode of loss and grief to another—and the meaning of resilience
GOOD HEALTH
For years, Charlotte has been one of the largest American cities that lacked a four-year medical school. The health care professionals who finally made it happen overcame a series of setbacks, false starts, and failures, and they plan to use their clean slate to create a new kind of community asset
Summer Partee
From woodwork to retail, the kindergarten teacher-turned-designer has learned how to do it herself
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Archives illuminate how long we’ve argued over the perennial question
NOW OPEN NOVEL ITALIAN
Paul Verica brings a simpler version of the city’s hottest food trend to NoDa
TOP DOCTORS 2021
The annual list you can't without
