With colder weather and the uncertainty of COVID-19 restrictions, you might be looking for new hobbies to de-stress. One of my favorite relaxing, wildlife-related activities is birding. And I hope by the time you finish reading this column on the joys of birding, perhaps youâll never look at a sparrow as just another small brown bird. Just maybe you will get just as excited to see a sparrow as you would a deer or bobcat. One of the best things about birding is that birds are so visible. You can walk a trail 100 times and never see a mammal. But birds are all around us. From a raptor soaring above to a spotted towhee scratching around the leaf litter.