Rucking and Birdwatching
The new Peanut Butter and Chocolate?
Lately I’ve taken up carrying a 40lb rucksack on my bird walks in an activity I’m terming ‘birdruckin’ (rhymes with ‘turducken’). Or ‘ruckbirding’. Or possibly ‘weighted field ornithology’. It’s not 100% decided yet … please comment below on your favorite. I integrated multiple different forms of enjoyment into one activity and ended up better for it: it turns out there’s some good science behind the connection between longevity and “dual-task walking”.
Birding
I recently took to heart some comments from my parents about joining the local Audubon Society on a birding field trip as part of my attempts at “getting out there”. After our recent move from the coast to Loveland, CO I’ve been slow to find new people. The Fort Collins Audubon Society is close to my new home turf.
I have fond memories of tromping around Nova Scotia’s South Shore on Christmas bird counts, half frozen but getting caught up in the excitement of finding a “special” bird species - something uncommon or rare, something the other groups didn’t find. I’m sure my parents remember it differently with kids crying in the back seat of the station wagon as their hands unthawed. One of my superpowers is good eyesight and hearing - combining that with birding’s constant hide-and-seek was a good fit for me even at a young age. Of course there was also the aspect of getting my parents’ attention by finding an interesting bird.
Joining a recent field trip in Fort Collins I was immediately transported back to the fun of it. Plus I found that while I’m a long way from a top-tier birder I did OK. Bird-identification is often very tricky: improving your ability involves learning the key attributes to look for in plumage, behavior, flight, song, and geography. Like many learning vectors, being on a field trip with someone who knows their stuff is a great way to learn fast.
Birding’s popularity is on the rise - note backyard bird count numbers from Cornell. One of the things driving that increase has been the combination of eBird and Merlin Bird ID software from Cornell. Birders can now use apps on their phone to identify bird calls, create their checklist for the day, track their lifetime species count, find local birding hotspots, and find out what others have seen. It’s a masterful job of engaging people in citizen science similar to the proliferation of personal weather stations and their use in weather tracking. All that birding data can be used to make intelligent decisions about species and environmental protection.
Rucking
Rucking - hiking with a weighted backpack to improve fitness - is also having a bit of a moment. Armies have used it since the Romans used it to train their legionaries so they could march distances carrying their kit, food, and water. I think cross-fitters are partly to blame for rucking’s resurgence as it is a good match for their focus on varied functional movements.
I bought my rucksack from Goruck a few years ago because while Minette and I love to walk together, unless I add hills or do more than 5 miles/day walking just doesn’t cut it for improving fitness. It’s a (slightly) specialized rucksack which is designed to hold metal ruck plates in place. I ruck with 40lb and it is never really comfortable, but that’s partly the point.
Combining the two.
I can hear you saying the equivalent of the old quote about how “Golf is a good walk spoiled”. I tend to agree with Michael Easter, author of “The Comfort Crisis”, that we find mind and body benefits when we live at the edge of our comfort zone and reconnect with the wild. I would not say that birding while rucking is comfortable. In fact holding still with neck craned looking through binoculars is tricky when there is weight pulling me backwards, and leaning forward peering through a spotting scope threatens to topple me forward. Each stop turns into a little core exercise. By the end of a 3 mile walk around the local watershed my feet are sore.
I don’t do it all the time, but it does a great job of combining two of my favorite things: Peanut Butter and Chocolate being in Nature and exercise. I like to write about how we want to not just live longer, we want to thrive longer. I’m wholly present in my body when I’m combining Nature, noticing, listening, walking, and carrying an extra load. I’m not a hunter, but I believe there is some similarity here. This “dual-task” walking is much closer to the state we have evolved to be good at: more of that is a good way to thrive longer.
Replace peanut butter and chocolate? Really? Not so sure about that but I do love the idea of dual task walking. Such a fun post!