# 129 - Five Games That Will Change How You Notice Nature

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827/129-five-games-that-will-change-how-you-notice-nature
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827/129-five-games-that-will-change-how-you-notice-nature.md
Podcast: [Buzz Blossom & Squeak — Be a Neighborhood Naturalist](https://stenobird.com/podcast/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827)
Published: 2026-09-03T08:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://buzzblossomandsqueak.com/episode/bbs-notice
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/761c17ad-e39c-4ce7-87ef-401f9772dad1.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827/episodes/129-five-games-that-will-change-how-you-notice-nature
Duration seconds: 1013

## Resource

I want to start with a confession: there have been entire walks, even hikes, where I got to the end and realized I couldn’t tell you a single thing I’d passed. My legs did the walk. The rest of me wasn’t there at all. I used to think that was just how I was built, ADHD, always a little scattered. Turns out noticing is a skill, and it’s trainable. Here are the tools I use to train it. Why noticing is different from just being outside. There’s a real difference between walking a trail to get your steps in and actually being present on that trail. Both are fine, but they’re not the same experience, and the second one is far more enjoyable and far more restful. The color hunt. Pick one color before you head out and count how many shades of it you notice. I tend to gravitate toward green, and once I actually looked, I stopped seeing it as one flat color and started seeing dozens of different greens in the trees, the grass, the water. The sit spot. Pick one spot and return to it regularly, same time of day if you can manage it. You’re not looking for something new every time, you’re training yourself to notice how that one place changes over weeks and months, the small differences from one visit to the next. Sound mapping. Close your eyes for a minute and count how many distinct sounds you can pick out. It’s genuinely surprising how much your brain filters out on a normal day so you can focus on whatever you’re doing. Once you sit with it, you start recognizing sounds you’d normally tune out entirely, right down to the click of a bittern I couldn’t place until I really listened. The what’s-missing game. For a spot you visit often, instead of asking what’s new, ask what’s gone. I noticed a stand of trees down at my local fen after a windstorm; they weren’t missing from the la…

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