

Then, Brown noticed the birds.

"I thought, 'Why don't I take up birding?' It's like real-life Pokemon Go. It's super addicting because you can start logging them and you get a little collection. It's really cool," Brown said. He paused, then added, "They should really game-ify it."


"The world of birds is so much more vibrant and active than I'd ever realized, and once I paid attention, it just hit me in the face," Brown said. "It's given me a reason to get out of the house, it's motivated me."


The trend coincides with peak migration for hundreds of species and nesting season, giving newfound birders a front-row seat to some of nature's biggest shows. Birds are their most active — and noisy — now, and like Brown, many Americans no longer in an office or classroom all day are taking notice.

"The birds don't know that there's a pandemic. They're migrating, building nests and laying eggs, just like they always have," said Michael Kopack Jr., who put up a birdhouse at his home in Angier, North Carolina, and is watching a pair of bluebirds hatch their eggs.

"It kind of takes us back to a magical time six or eight weeks ago when there was no pandemic," he said. "It lets me decompress and get away from everything that's going on in the world, at least for a little while."



Even retailers seem to be cashing in despite the crashing economy. Preliminary marketing data shows overall sales rising 10% to 15% this spring in the "birding category," according to data from Panacea Products Corp., which makes bird-feeding products.



"Birds are everywhere now. They're singing, they're migrating, they're nesting," she said. "They're busy every minute of the day doing all these interesting behaviors — and I think that's what draws people in."




"I managed to get something pretty spectacular that's flying around us all the time, but we don't get the change to stop and appreciate it," Torres said.

"I'm really reconnecting with what's immediately around me," he said. "Everybody dreams about seeing lions in the wild or tigers in the wild, but we've got some pretty amazing stuff right out our window — and it's really good for the soul."


Flaccus reported from Portland, Oregon. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus.