What Birdwatching Is
Birdwatching Fundamentals 🏆
Course 1 · Chapter 1 · What Birdwatching Is: Looking and Listening
You can start birdwatching today with nothing but your eyes and a window. This chapter sets out what the hobby is, the words its followers use (some of which confuse newcomers), where it came from, how many people do it, and what basic kit people use. Later chapters build on this: the equipment, how birds are put together, how to identify them, and how to take part in real surveys.
What Birdwatching Is
Wikipedia's Birdwatching article says birdwatching, or birding, is "the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science". Watchers may use their eyes, binoculars or a telescope, or listen for bird sounds. The article says most birdwatchers do it for recreation or social reasons, while ornithologists study birds using formal scientific methods.
Birdwatcher
Anyone who watches birds for pleasure. No qualification needed.
Ornithologist
Someone who studies birds by formal scientific methods.
Citizen scientist
A watcher whose records feed real research (Chapter 9 covers this in detail; the link is mentioned in the article's definition).
The Words People Use
| Term | Meaning according to the article |
|---|---|
| Birding | Used interchangeably with birdwatching by some; others prefer it because it includes listening to birds |
| Birder | North American term for a dedicated enthusiast; a 1969 Birding magazine glossary called it "the acceptable term used to describe the person who seriously pursues the hobby of birding" |
| Twitching | British term: "the pursuit of a previously located rare bird"; often called "chasing" in North America |
| Twitcher | Someone who travels long distances to see a rare bird and count it on a list |
A Short History
The article traces interest in birds for their appearance and behaviour, rather than as food, to the late 18th century, naming works by Gilbert White, Thomas Bewick, George Montagu and John Clare. In the Victorian era, bird study in Britain often centred on collecting eggs and skins. Late in the 19th century, bird protection increased interest in watching living birds, and the article says the Audubon Society was started in the US and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Britain (it gives no founding years, so none are stated here).
| Year | Event (per the article) |
|---|---|
| 1889 | Florence Bailey's Birds through an Opera Glass, described as the earliest US field guide |
| 1901 | "Bird Watching" first appears as a book title, by Edmund Selous |
| 1934 | Roger Tory Peterson's field guide, which led to the first major increase in birding in North America |
| After World War II | Binoculars became more widely available |
The Peterson guide's sales figures differ between sources I looked at: an Audubon feature said it eventually sold more than 2 million copies, while a mailing-list post gave more than 7 million by Peterson's death in 1996. I could not reconcile them, so treat both as unchecked. A Colby College page describes the guide's arrows pointing at field marks as its key innovation (check). Field marks are the subject of Chapter 4.
Who Takes Part
The article gives several figures from different periods and surveys: an estimate of 61 million birders in the late 1980s; a US Fish and Wildlife Service study identifying one fifth (20%) of Americans as birdwatchers; and over 45 million Americans considering themselves birders in 2016. Because they come from different years and methods, they should not be compared as a trend (my own caution; check).
The Basic Kit
The article lists typical equipment: binoculars, a spotting scope with a tripod, a smartphone, a notepad, one or more field guides, and hides (blinds) or observation towers that conceal observers or improve views.
Not Yet Verified, and Sources
- Source. Everything attributed to "the article" comes from the first 100,000 characters (of about 135,500) of Wikipedia's Birdwatching article; the last part was not read.
- Not in that article. The RSPB and Audubon Society founding years; the sales figures for Peterson's guide (from other web pages, conflicting); the "field marks" innovation (check).
- The 1889 date. One other encyclopaedia page gives 1890 for the same book, but library catalogue records for scanned copies give 1889, so 1889 is kept (Birdwatching Fundamentals 2 explains).
- Twitcher origin. The article links the term to a British birdwatcher's nervous behaviour in the 1950s; I have not checked the story further (check).
Exercises
Using the table in "A Short History", work out (a) the gap between Bailey's guide and Selous's book, (b) the gap between Selous's book and Peterson's guide, and (c) the gap between Bailey's guide and Peterson's. Say what the gaps suggest about the order in which guide, name and boom appeared.
Match each of the words birding, birder, twitching, twitcher and ornithologist to the best definition, then write one sentence of your own that uses at least two of them correctly.
From the kit list (binoculars, spotting scope and tripod, smartphone, notepad, field guide, hide or tower), choose the four items you would take on a very first outing and put them in order of importance, with one sentence of reasoning for each choice.
Quick Reference
- Birdwatching: observing birds for recreation or as citizen science
- Birder vs twitcher: a dedicated enthusiast vs someone who travels to see a located rare bird
- 1889 · 1901 · 1934: Bailey's guide · Selous's book · Peterson's guide
- Kit: binoculars, scope, smartphone, notepad, field guide, hides
- Check: sales figures, society founding years, twitcher origin story