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What is retrospective nature journaling?
What is retrospective nature journaling?
The spark bird prompt creates the idea of retrospective nature journaling which pairs self-reflective writing and the benefits of therapeutic writing with nature journaling and the benefits associated with that activity. We can't always be out in the natural world. Sometimes we can't even stare out our window at a blustery day like I am doing now pausing to notice the woodpecker activity in the trees behind my house. Flickers really are stunners aren't they?! In these moments of disconnection from nature, we can engage in retrospective nature journaling, writing about our memories of the natural world. Informed by narrative identity research, we can write about more than just a spark moment and journey into writing about high points, low points, turning points, important characters in our stories, future scripts, and others self-defining experiences. So far as we know it is still an open question whether retrospective nature journaling has the same benefits of other therapeutic writing and nature journaling, but it is a testable hypothesis that our research team will definitely be looking into in the future!
How real are spark bird stories?
How real are spark bird stories?
How real are spark bird stories? That is going to vary person to person. For some folks these memories are going to be vivid, detailed accounts of a specific moment in a specific time – something of a flashbulb memory. For others they are threads of moments in time, small glimmers here and there. For many, these sparks are not a bird but a book or a person or a combination of many small moments. One spark birder shared a recording she happened to have going in the moment she saw her spark bird so we know that one is real! For others, like most memories, spark bird stories are social constructions told in specific contexts for specific reasons recalling details of past experiences. In reality, the veracity of spark bird stories doesn’t matter from the framework of narrative identity research. I mean, we don’t want stringers in spark bird stories, but aside from the random person peacocking with a spectacular first sighting or masking a “you don’t want my story, it’s just a …” story, what is important is the meaning of spark experience to the individual telling the story.
The history of the term "spark bird"
The history of the term "spark bird"
It may be that Roger Tory Peterson didn't just invent the modern field guide but may also have invented the term "spark bird". In Bird Watcher’s Anthology (1957), Peterson has a section called “The Spark” with the lovely image you see here. This is the earliest reference to the term we have been able to find. Know earlier? Let us know!
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