Thehour.com, Chris Bosak writes, that he was taking the train to New York City with the ultimate goal of visiting Central Park. It's something he used to do fairly often during spring migration. Central Park is a hub for birds, and therefore birders, in the spring. Only this time he wasn't going birdwatching — not really anyway — he was looking for Pokémon characters.
Technically he wasn't the one looking for them. He does not know the first thing about the game or why it's the hottest thing since the Hula hoop. He brought his boys down to Central Park as they got caught up in the Pokémon Go hysteria. He was there to keep an eye on them and maybe casually look for some birds along the way.
He goes on to compare the differences between birders and Pokémon searchers. The most obvious and prominent being that the birdwatchers are looking for real, living things, while the Pokémon players are looking for computer generated images that randomly pop up on their phones. Second, and perhaps most importantly, is the diversity of the people enjoying the hobbies. Pokémon drew literally thousands of people to Central Park and the people doing it were as diverse as the city itself. All ages and ethnicities. Male and female. A lot of families, too. They were all sharing a passion for the same thing.
He ends the article on a wistful note: years from now, maybe even mere weeks, no one will be talking about Pokémon Go. Birding, however, will be going strong. Who knows? Maybe now that people are getting reacquainted with the outdoors more and actually discovering how wonderful it is to be outside, perhaps birding will win a few converts. Wouldn't that be nice? To read the article in its entirety, click here.