For Captain Ahab, it was a white whale. For Quint from “Jaws,” it was a great white shark. For Bonner Black, it was a roseate spoonbill, a wading bird with bright pink plumage and a long beak that resembles a piece of flatware. The Nashville-based musician was driving on the backroads of Costa Rica a couple months ago, eyes fixed on the surrounding greenery, when her friend in the driver’s seat exclaimed “FLAMINGO!” Before she knew it, Black had jumped out of the moving car, catching only a passing glimpse of the roseate spoonbill — not even long enough to raise her phone for a picture — before it flew off.
“I love that that was how I saw it because I just got it for a second, one perfect second,” she tells Popsugar. “That’s how moments are, that’s how time works. Soak in life as it comes, and then let it go.”
Black only resembles those famous literary hunters insofar as her obsession has driven her to some light madness, at least enough to jump out of a moving vehicle. But unlike Ahab and Quint, she’s not out for blood. In fact, quite the opposite. She’s part of a growing movement of amateur birdwatchers, and she’s one of this new generation’s brightest stars. Her birding videos, which amassed 15 million views across platforms in 2024, have helped turn a wholesome (if otherwise overlooked) pastime into the hot-girl hobby of the year.
Now, it could be because I’m a nerd, but lately my feed has been flooded with birding content. I’m scrolling through informational rants about bird dialects, freak-outs about barred owls, hungover visits to shorebird festivals, and best friends interrupting their sexcapade recaps with excited birdspotting — all of which have brought me flickers of joy in an otherwise scary and depressing digital landscape. I’ve also noticed something about the videos I’m being served: none feature David Attenborough lookalikes (god love him). They’re made by creators who are at least 60-70 years younger, usually pretty funny, and sometimes very gorgeous.
Birding — the act of watching, listening to, and sometimes tracking birds in the wild — has long been considered a hobby for the well-to-do, and a form of leisure that has a slight “geriatric tinge,” as Black cheekily puts it. But the face of birding is changing, thanks to the internet and social media and even the pandemic, a period that saw a surge of enthusiasm for birding among people who might never have otherwise had the time or motivation to deepen their intimacy with the natural world. And the momentum hasn’t slowed since.