BIRD LANGUAGE
Even though birds have different songs, Bird Language is essentially the same the world over and is understood intuitively by many species of animals including humans--even if we don't know the species of the birds. This course is designed to awaken your native awareness of bird language and open your mind to understanding it. Bird Language is especially important to trackers because birds can tell us where some of the animals we track are before we reach them, as, for example, when a predator we are trailing doubles back behind us and sets off alarms in the bird world. Bird Language gives us deep access into the Natural World and more understanding and power in the human world.
Where tracking is about learning how to make meaning out of the tracks and sign left past time as an animal moved through the landscape, bird language is about how to make meaning in your direct encounters with birds, or animals, in present time...and also, importantly, other humans. Bird Language is about listening (and seeing). The listening and seeing techniques we learn and practice in tracking and bird language are applicable to our encounters with other humans. For just one example, bird language requires us not to take sides during an encounter. For many, this is not as easy as it sounds. It required re-assessing some of our spontaneous reactions. Practicing this with birds and animals is one of the few places were we can train and practice the skill set we use to understand other people--and ourselves. Both tracking and bird language are about getting to know yourself. Learning these skills changes you, gives you more resources, deepens your life experience both in the field and back at home and in town.
This is Bird Language from the point of view of animal trackers. This is a pragmatic understanding of Bird Language, less focused on species identification and more on what the bird is communicating, who the individual bird is. We cover which birds trackers pay special attention to, the 5 basic kinds of bird calls, how to hear and see them, how trackers employ the information they get from birds, concentric rings, base line, and much more, with special emphasis on visual bird language. Even deaf people can understand much of bird language. You will come out of this course with the resources to strengthen your orientation in the Natural World and more skills to deploy in your daily life.
4 hrs. $35/person, $120 minimum . Scheduled to meet your individual needs.
Where tracking is about learning how to make meaning out of the tracks and sign left past time as an animal moved through the landscape, bird language is about how to make meaning in your direct encounters with birds, or animals, in present time...and also, importantly, other humans. Bird Language is about listening (and seeing). The listening and seeing techniques we learn and practice in tracking and bird language are applicable to our encounters with other humans. For just one example, bird language requires us not to take sides during an encounter. For many, this is not as easy as it sounds. It required re-assessing some of our spontaneous reactions. Practicing this with birds and animals is one of the few places were we can train and practice the skill set we use to understand other people--and ourselves. Both tracking and bird language are about getting to know yourself. Learning these skills changes you, gives you more resources, deepens your life experience both in the field and back at home and in town.
This is Bird Language from the point of view of animal trackers. This is a pragmatic understanding of Bird Language, less focused on species identification and more on what the bird is communicating, who the individual bird is. We cover which birds trackers pay special attention to, the 5 basic kinds of bird calls, how to hear and see them, how trackers employ the information they get from birds, concentric rings, base line, and much more, with special emphasis on visual bird language. Even deaf people can understand much of bird language. You will come out of this course with the resources to strengthen your orientation in the Natural World and more skills to deploy in your daily life.
4 hrs. $35/person, $120 minimum . Scheduled to meet your individual needs.
