18. April 2022

Birding : from enchantment to passion, a spiritual experience.

That is six years that I am wandering the paths of the Ingwagwala trail, St Lucia (KZN) and,

indeed, I have always been enchanted by the concert that the birds give in the little forest

surrounding our property but often, also, disappointed not to be able to see them, hidden in

the dense vegetation. A group of birders, joining us for our first weekend of retreat ‘Birding &

Praying” in 2020, stimulated my curiosity. 180 species of different birds in a few days! How

possible? How possible to distinguish so many birds in so little time and to give a name to each

one? After this retreat, I spent many hours during the lockdown sitting and praying outside,

behind our church overhanging the bush and the lake St Lucia, and it is how my passion for the

birds started. It is also how birding started to give me some spiritual insights. A Narinatrogon,

in its striking green and red colours, pausing in the blooming Flamboyant tree in front of me, a

Mangrove Kingfisher drying its wings on our fence, a Purple-Crested Turaco jumping from

branch to branch building its nest, hundreds of Flamingos flying above the church at sunset

every evening for several months… so many unexpected surprises that reminded me an advice,

given a long time ago regarding the Ignatian way of contemplating the Gospel stories: “Let the

mystery come to you”.

Walking the trails surrounding the St Lucia Retreat Centre is giving me the experience of the

Beloved in the “Song of Solomon”. Looking for the birds I can hear but I can’t see - they are

usually better than I in this game of “hide and seek”!- I am reminded of the lovers looking for

each other portrayed in this poem of the First Testament. Sometimes they find each other;

sometimes they don't. Looking for birds in those trails has become the place where I am

reminded God's love for me, with whom he has made a sacred covenant.

Then, in November 2021, we had a second weekend for “birding and praying”. It is when I

started my list! Why bother to give a name to those birds and not only enjoying their melody

and company? I am able to give a name to a bird only when I have paid enough attention to its

bill, tail, eyes, wings… colours and shape! First it is quite difficult to pay attention enough to

distinguish and remember the details but it is such an excitement when I find it in the guide

book and I am able then to give it a name, not to control it but to acknowledge its beauty and

specificity. Here again I am reminded of a powerful verse of the Prophet Isaiah: “Now says the

Lord, who created you, O Jacob, who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed

you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” So watching a bird, well enough to name it, has

become for me a way of honoring God, its Creator.

I am still a beginner birder and I have still a lot to learn and to enjoy. But already, when I look at

my list, each one of the bird that I have encountered and that I am able to identify is a reminder

of my God, who is a loving God of surprise always looking for me and desiring to encounter me.

The area of St Lucia boasts an incredible 530 species of birds year-round and is well-known as a

bird-watchers paradise. The St Lucia Retreat and Training Centre is located on the eastern bank

of the St Lucia Estuary in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park which has been declared as a World

Heritage Site by a UNESCO protocol. It has an unparalleled natural environment, which abounds

with fauna, flora and aquatic life. It lends itself to communion with God and nature in the spirit