Josh Jackson

Every October, Atlanta’s five wrens gather together. Marsh wren. One of the most common and persistent sounds of nature in Atlanta is the song of the Carolina wren. Unlike many common songbirds whose singing ends with the summer breeding season, these tiny birds never quiet down. Any time of year, you can hear their repeating melodies, chirps and scolds, impossibly loud for a creature that weighs less than an ounce. Carolina wren in the backyard.

Five years leading a Birds Georgia field trip at Legacy, and there’s always something new. For the last five years, on the first Sunday of every month, I arrive at Legacy Park at 8 a.m. I’m joined by other birders—somewhere between one and thirty, mostly beginners—and I have the privilege of leading them in a bird walk around the park. Today was, roughly, my 60th such field trip as a volunteer leader, and I’ll never tire of it.