What do you think?
Rate this book
Keep Looking Up: Your Guide to the Powerful Healing of Birdwatching
A warm, welcoming guide to birdwatching and its therapeutic and healing effects from a licensed therapist and amateur birder.
As human beings, our instinct is to nest with those we love, migrate where the best opportunities await us, and find our flock for solidarity and support. Yet all of these instincts can become a battle when we are struggling with depression, isolation, and trauma.
But what if we could find camaraderie and comfort in our own backyard? What if we could be inspired by peering through the branches and leaves to find a flash of feathers and birdsong?
Licensed therapist Tammah Watts shares her emotional journey of overcoming chronic pain and finding resilience by connecting to the natural world of birds. Her revealing exercises, helpful tools, reflection "ponds," and journal prompts will help you:
• Dip your toe into birdwatching from the comfort of your own home and beyond
• Reduce symptoms of stress, pain, depression, and anxiety
• Increase focus and concentration
• Find acceptance and alignment with the spirit and beauty of birds
Through the practice of observing and connecting with our feathered friends, we can find a place for reflection, self-discovery, and being grounded in the present.
As human beings, our instinct is to nest with those we love, migrate where the best opportunities await us, and find our flock for solidarity and support. Yet all of these instincts can become a battle when we are struggling with depression, isolation, and trauma.
But what if we could find camaraderie and comfort in our own backyard? What if we could be inspired by peering through the branches and leaves to find a flash of feathers and birdsong?
Licensed therapist Tammah Watts shares her emotional journey of overcoming chronic pain and finding resilience by connecting to the natural world of birds. Her revealing exercises, helpful tools, reflection "ponds," and journal prompts will help you:
• Dip your toe into birdwatching from the comfort of your own home and beyond
• Reduce symptoms of stress, pain, depression, and anxiety
• Increase focus and concentration
• Find acceptance and alignment with the spirit and beauty of birds
Through the practice of observing and connecting with our feathered friends, we can find a place for reflection, self-discovery, and being grounded in the present.
163 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 7, 2023
34 people are currently reading
504 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
September 27, 2023
Don’t dog on me for reading a book on bird watching!!!
I heard a special on NPR recently about the benefits of birding and I saw this at the library and picked it up to learn a little more. Very beginner friendly and more wellness-centered than just giving tips on bird identification. Love the concept of using birding as a kind of mindful meditation practice and a way to stay in the present moment
I heard a special on NPR recently about the benefits of birding and I saw this at the library and picked it up to learn a little more. Very beginner friendly and more wellness-centered than just giving tips on bird identification. Love the concept of using birding as a kind of mindful meditation practice and a way to stay in the present moment
December 27, 2024
A wonderful take on meditation, a true joy for birdwatchers.
June 23, 2024
This is a mix between beginning birdwatcher, self help and memoir. I took a class featuring the author last year and follow them on social media. I find the accessible nature of their practice to be really inviting. The book was an extension of that practice and I found it really uplifting.
xx-dnf-skim-reference
November 26, 2025Lovely idea. Definitely helpful to some readers. I have a particular person in mind that I'd like to buy a copy for. But not so helpful for me, though it could have been.
Execution needs a stronger editor to bring more out from Watts. For example the memoir bits were wonderful, if too short for the development of empathy. I also opine that it could use more specific instructions that make sense (for example the list of gear to bring grows by chapter and pretty soon a person will want a burro to carry it). Also needs a better proofreader: "You may require more equipment than you are unaccustomed to in order to experience more of the environment."
"Mixed flocks of birds are highly efficient communities that capitalize on the differing capabilities and needs of the various species. For example, while one species eats high up in the trees, a different species will forage for food on the ground...." Which??
I do like the tip for preparing for a trip: "Do some virtual bird watching in your target region. You can watch them repeatedly to thoroughly learn regional bird species and enhance your actual bird watching outing. You will sharpen your ability to accurately identify these birds, which will boost your confidence and willingness to go birding an increasingly distant places."
If you're interested, for example if you or someone you know has any reason at all* to be limited to looking out the window, give it a try.
Not just disability, but being in a nursing home, prison, urban high-rise, etc.
Execution needs a stronger editor to bring more out from Watts. For example the memoir bits were wonderful, if too short for the development of empathy. I also opine that it could use more specific instructions that make sense (for example the list of gear to bring grows by chapter and pretty soon a person will want a burro to carry it). Also needs a better proofreader: "You may require more equipment than you are unaccustomed to in order to experience more of the environment."
"Mixed flocks of birds are highly efficient communities that capitalize on the differing capabilities and needs of the various species. For example, while one species eats high up in the trees, a different species will forage for food on the ground...." Which??
I do like the tip for preparing for a trip: "Do some virtual bird watching in your target region. You can watch them repeatedly to thoroughly learn regional bird species and enhance your actual bird watching outing. You will sharpen your ability to accurately identify these birds, which will boost your confidence and willingness to go birding an increasingly distant places."
If you're interested, for example if you or someone you know has any reason at all* to be limited to looking out the window, give it a try.
Not just disability, but being in a nursing home, prison, urban high-rise, etc.
March 5, 2023
Keep Looking Up is smart, insightful, and thoughtful. Tammah shares personal stories of how birds have related to her life and benefitted her at different times. Stories are relatable and invite you to reflect on your own experiences. Each chapter ends with exercises and activities that help you explore your own relationship with birds. Great and easy read!
Thank you, Tammah and Hay House, for providing an advanced copy.
Thank you, Tammah and Hay House, for providing an advanced copy.
March 21, 2023
This is a more 'wellness' way of looking at the healing art of birdwatching and I loved it! As a keen birdwatcher myself, I found myself connecting with the author and her own personal story as she shared memories of how she got into birdwatching, and how it has kept healing her along the way as she deals with her chronic illness.
She offers tips and hints to newbies coming to the birding world which is really lovely and shows how easy it can be to start off by just looking out a window, or going to a local park and 'looking up'!
There's also the mindfulness aspect as at the end of each chapter there are prompts for you to fill out about how you've been feeling, how you felt when birdwatching and how you felt afterwards which really makes you aware of how your mind pattern can shift when distracted.
There are also handy hints on meditation, how to keep track and journal your experiences and I really liked the little prompts that let you go at your own pace, taking things gradually until you can build up to spending more time outdoors.
Overall this is a wonderful introduction to birdwatching, alongside that to improving your mental health by using the powers of nature to help you through your tougher times, something I really can connect with!
She offers tips and hints to newbies coming to the birding world which is really lovely and shows how easy it can be to start off by just looking out a window, or going to a local park and 'looking up'!
There's also the mindfulness aspect as at the end of each chapter there are prompts for you to fill out about how you've been feeling, how you felt when birdwatching and how you felt afterwards which really makes you aware of how your mind pattern can shift when distracted.
There are also handy hints on meditation, how to keep track and journal your experiences and I really liked the little prompts that let you go at your own pace, taking things gradually until you can build up to spending more time outdoors.
Overall this is a wonderful introduction to birdwatching, alongside that to improving your mental health by using the powers of nature to help you through your tougher times, something I really can connect with!
June 7, 2023
I found this an uplifting and soothing read that piqued my interest in not only birding but in being more aware of nature around me.
I enjoyed that the author mixed her personal journey and her struggles with health with her guide to discovering the power of bird watching. I liked that it worked as a guide, a workbook and included reflection along with her personal journey into the birding world and the ability it had to help her heal. I have found myself being reminded to look up on days that I feel down or discouraged and be aware of not only the birds around me but nature in general with has the ability to sooth and pull me out of myself and make my heart feel lighter. I appreciate that the book also addresses those with all levels of ability and circumstances. One day I was ill and just sitting on the couch and remembered to look out the window and sure enough spotted a bird busily going back and forth making her nest and I felt my mood lift. In the past I probably wouldn't have even noticed it.
I enjoyed this book and feel that it would be helpful to anyone who appreciates outdoor spaces, nature, birds or just discovering the healing properties of looking outside themselves to see the wonder around them!
I enjoyed that the author mixed her personal journey and her struggles with health with her guide to discovering the power of bird watching. I liked that it worked as a guide, a workbook and included reflection along with her personal journey into the birding world and the ability it had to help her heal. I have found myself being reminded to look up on days that I feel down or discouraged and be aware of not only the birds around me but nature in general with has the ability to sooth and pull me out of myself and make my heart feel lighter. I appreciate that the book also addresses those with all levels of ability and circumstances. One day I was ill and just sitting on the couch and remembered to look out the window and sure enough spotted a bird busily going back and forth making her nest and I felt my mood lift. In the past I probably wouldn't have even noticed it.
I enjoyed this book and feel that it would be helpful to anyone who appreciates outdoor spaces, nature, birds or just discovering the healing properties of looking outside themselves to see the wonder around them!
September 30, 2023
This is an intimate book about birding as a way to cope with illness and depression. Part how-to book, part memoir, with a lovely set of reflection questions at the end of each chapter. The highlight of each chapter were the personal stories that Tammah Watts shares about her own process of discovering birding and the connection to joy and healing! As she puts it in her resources section, "The world of birds is vast and inextricably interconnected with nature, the environment, and your well-being." I appreciate her telling her own story to prove JUST that point.
July 12, 2024
i liked it and it had a lot of good ideas but unfortunately they don’t feel super applicable just because the author lives in the suburbs w a house and backyard and i do not 😭 i think i will revisit this book at a later point and see if it works any better for me then, as i enjoyed it but felt disconnected to it :/ i really liked the quote at the end though so i will leave you with it
“Birds and birding—and the joy they bring—is an opportunity to savor grace. There is no wrong or right way to connect with them. It can be just as you wish it to be. The birds will return the favor tenfold.”
“Birds and birding—and the joy they bring—is an opportunity to savor grace. There is no wrong or right way to connect with them. It can be just as you wish it to be. The birds will return the favor tenfold.”
January 15, 2024
Warm and insightful stories to mindfulness, but I found a majority of it to be very repetitive.
June 20, 2024
An uplifting book that not only teaches you the benefits of birdwatching for mental health but also features guided questions and exercises that help you get the most out of observing birds.
December 10, 2024
More or less a guide on how to bird watch and be mindful. I think I was expecting more
May 3, 2025
A beautifully crafted guide to healing through birdwatching.
May 6, 2025
a great book to help with mental health
July 17, 2025
I enjoyed listening to Tammah's soothing voice as she shared her journey of healing through birding as well as prompts to help the listener/reader get started with mindful birding.
June 12, 2024
Keep looking up is such a beautiful book and has really helped me understand self awareness, the power of healing in nature, and a new way to experience my own heavy emotions. Ever since reading this I have a new perspective on how to alleviate my pain and anxiety. I highly recommend this powerful book!
January 13, 2024
Not for me. I’m a rookie birder and it was too simple/slow for me. Better for someone in a bad mental space and just getting into backyard birding.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews