There is a special joy in watching an actual Scarlet Tanager instead of looking at a virtual red bird, however spectacular, on a phone screen. - Noah Strycker

That the culmination of my yearlong world tour, into which I invested all my creativity and resources, was embodied in this obscure gray bird on a nameless hillside in a remote province of India seemed perfectly appropriate. Birding is about appreciating life’s infinite details—and if subtlety is beauty, then a birder will never run short of wonder. That number 6,000 did not seem like a conquest—it felt like a fresh beginning.

And by setting their sights on the freest creatures in the world, birders have a unique perspective about how their subjects stitch together even the furthest parts of our globe. Birds teach us that borders are just lines drawn on a map—a lesson we can all take to heart.

I couldn’t keep up with the virtual world while living so large in the real world.