A Nature Walk With: The Joy of Bird Watching and Living a Simple Life

Since I first began reading The Joy Of Bird Watching And Living A Simple Life, I have pictured Jean as a Southern Belle. I see her in a flowing flowery frock and a large brimmed hat and she is serving tea. Jean actually lives in a camper in a rural area and enjoys nature right outside her door. I want to know more. Let's take a walk with Jean.


01. Welcome to Nature Center Magazine. We are all anxious to learn a little bit about you. Tell us what your blog is all about.

I mainly blog about the birds that visit my yard/garden with an occasional post about living in a camper in a rural area of NW Georgia.


02. Everyone has their own unique story about what gave them the idea to start blogging. What is yours?

My son Ryan encouraged me to start blogging. He thought I would have something interesting to share due to my lifestyle. Then I realized that this is like writing a book that my granddaughter and future grandchildren can read and hopefully embrace the love of Nature as I have.

03. What do you enjoy about nature and what benefits do you derive from it?

Observing Birds is more entertaining than watching TV plus I am always learning something new. As a result I feel more connected to Mother Earth. I truly believe that being at one with Nature is very healing.


04. Each of us has our own way of being with nature. Some people hike, some take pictures, and some climb trees. How do you experience nature?

I wake up to birds singing. A male Carolina Wren starts singing his "this is my territory" song promptly at 7:30 every morning. I start my coffee and pull back my curtains to reveal birds at my feeders and most of the year beautiful flowers. I'm an amateur but really enjoy the challenge of photographing birds.

I quit smoking almost two years ago and decided to add hiking and going on Bird Walks. It is great to learn from those who can ID most birds from their song or calls.


05. Tell us about the most exciting or scary nature related thing that ever happened to you.

One early spring day six years ago I was sitting outside when all of a sudden the most brilliantly blue bird flew to the birdhouse I had just hung on a nearby pine tree. He started singing and soon he was joined by his paler blue mate. This was my first sighting of an Eastern Blue Bird. They stole my heart. I'm happy to say they had a successful nesting that year. This was exciting but this leads to the scary. The next year I came home and noticed something in the nestbox. It turned out to be a huge, scary Rat Snake! I grabbed my walking stick and started beating it. I didn't wish to kill it... just run it off. It left but not before eating all of the Bluebird eggs.

I learned a big lesson. Here in the south we have snakes that like bird eggs and baby eggs. Hanging a nestbox on a tree or fence post is asking for disaster. My Bluebird houses now are properly mounted on a metal post with a stovepipe baffle.


06. If you were to take us on a nature tour of your area where would you take us first?

My place of course!

Describe what we would see.

You would see a wide variety of native birds including the Eastern Bluebird, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Northern Cardinals, and Brown-headed Nuthatches...just to name a few. I have frogs in my water garden and tree frogs in the trees. In short you would be in my personal paradise.


 07. If you could visit any nature spot in the world, what would it be? Tell us why.

I would love to go on a birding trip to Columbia, South America during winter. It would be major cool to see the migratory birds that nest here in their winter homes.


08. Each blogger has gained their own insight into writing a blog.What have you learned that you would like to share with other bloggers?

Be mindful of your readers and listen to them. I recently changed the black background of my blog because two readers shared that they had a problem reading it. My background is now white.

I have found that keeping post short and to the point is best. Overly long post will go unread but breaking up a long post with photos or a video will work. Folks love the visual when it comes to a nature blog.


09. Where can our readers find you? Give us the name and a link to your blog. If you have more than one to share, we would all like that too.


The Joy of Bird Watching and Living a Simple Life


10. Is there anything we have not discussed that you would like to add?

I would like to thank Nature Center Magazine, Emma, and Ratty for thinking "I have something interesting to share".
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Thank you, Jean, for taking a nature walk with us. If everyone would care to join us, I believe you have iced tea and finger sandwiches waiting for us. The picture above is a photo of Jean's home.Afterward we can all take a look at your blog.


Do you write a nature related blog and you'd like to be interviewed by Nature Center Magazine? Click the link and let us know who you are and that you'd like to be featured in a Nature Walk: Interview Me.