How One Actress Discovered the Joy of Birdwatching (and You Can, Too)

Lili Taylor was taking a break from acting at her upstate New York home when she started noticing the birdsong in her yard. "I entered a world of sound outside myself—and I've never left," she writes in her new book, Turning to Birds, which features essays about her experience as a birder over the last 15 years.

Known for her roles in films like I Shot Andy Warhol and shows like Six Feet Under, Taylor today serves on the boards of the National Audubon Society and NYC Bird Alliance. We talked to her about how simply paying attention to our neighbors in the sky can help us all "experience awe every day."

Q: How does your brain feel when you're birding?

Oh, gosh, I felt emotional for a second when you asked that. When I'm in the zone, it feels like I have kind of an inner smile. I feel like everything's okay. Like in a big way, it's okay.

In my book, I wrote about the value of an awe walk [just quietly observing what you see in nature as you walk]. There was a study that showed that just 5 minutes of focusing on something outside oneself created a better, healthier mind-spirit-body.

Q: It sounds a little like meditation, right?

Yeah. When I do traditional meditation, it's hell [laughs]—I find my inner voice gets even louder. Meditation is not for everybody. So it's great that I found something that can bring me quiet ... I think I need that action of searching and listening to ground me.

Q: What have people shared with you about their experiences with birds as you've been on your book tour?

Everybody has a story about birds. Even just today on Access Hollywood, the host said, 'I was going through such a hard time 10 years ago, and a hummingbird landed on my leg and made me think of my mother.' That's what birds mean to her—they're signs. Or someone else shared that their mother in law was a heavy drinker, but now she gets up early to bird watch. Everyone jokes about how she was a party girl and now she's a birder.

Q: There was a big uptick in birding during the Covid lockdowns. Do you think it's endured as a trend? 

Absolutely. When I go to the board meetings for Audubon and the NYC Bird Alliance, it's clear the numbers haven't gone down. Other trends from that period have gone down—I bet people aren't buying so many puzzles these days. But I think something like 90 million people call themselves backyard birders now.

Q: What's the best way for someone to start birding?

Just start looking out your window and see if you spot a bird. Then follow the bird for a minute and get curious about what it's doing. Put a feeder and some water out. But don't worry about binoculars, don't worry about taking a picture. Just get to know the birds around you at first.

Q: How can people make their gardens bird-friendly? I know you've planted natives behind your Brooklyn apartment building, for instance.

The great thing about native plants is that they'll not only attract birds, but there's not a lot of tending you have to do—and I'm kind of a lazy gardener, to be honest. You also want to create a habitat for birds with different layers and levels in your backyard—shrubs, vines, trees, flowers. You want a bird to have somewhere to hide, something to eat, somewhere to nest.

Q: What bird do you most identify with? If you were a bird, you'd be...

For some reason, I light up when I think about a pileated woodpecker. You remember Woody Woodpecker? He was a pileated. You think there's a guy chopping wood when you hear one. And they make a kind of shriek. I love them. Thank God I have therapy tomorrow. I'm going to ask, 'Why is this bird speaking to me?'

Taylor's Birding Essentials

Ready to level up your birding? Here's what Taylor recommends:

• Binoculars: "You want to at least spend $100, because if you spend anything less than that, you're going to get a headache, you won't be able to see very well, and you're going to get frustrated. The Nikon Monarch ones are great."