• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Difference between birding and bird watching? (1 Viewer)

Jaime74

Jaime74

Active member
Hi there everybody!

I would need some help from you. I speak spanish, and my english is not the best, and I have this doubt for quite a long time.

What is the difference between birding and bird watching? Are this words the same thing or do they refer to different aspects?

And which of the two concepts is more extended?

Thanks for the help.

Saludos desde España.
 
Hi Jaime

Well I think the two terms are interchangeable, but you'll likely get many different opinions!!;)
 
Generally "birding" is used in the USA, "bird watching" in the UK - but the terms are mutually comprehensible so shouldn't be a problem.

In Spanish I can never remember if I "mirar los pajaros" or "ver las aves": I admire your chickens...
 
infopt2000 said:
Generally "birding" is used in the USA, "bird watching" in the UK - but the terms are mutually comprehensible so shouldn't be a problem.

In Spanish I can never remember if I "mirar los pajaros" or "ver las aves": I admire your chickens...
Click to expand...

I admire your chickens (hahahaha)

Thank you for the help.
 
infopt2000 said:
Generally "birding" is used in the USA, "bird watching" in the UK - but the terms are mutually comprehensible so shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

In Britain, it's 'birding' if you're serious about it, and 'bird watching' if you're casual about it.

Of course a large part of finding birds is listening rather than watching, so 'birding' is more accurate as it includes listening as well as watching :t:
 
Nutcracker said:
In Britain, it's 'birding' if you're serious about it, and 'bird watching' if you're casual about it.

Of course a large part of finding birds is listening rather than watching, so 'birding' is more accurate as it includes listening as well as watching :t:
Click to expand...

That's a very good explanation. Thanks.
 
Bird watching to me implies sitting in e.g a hide, watching birds for prolonged periods.

Birding covers more aspects of the hobby e.g travelling between several sites in a day or walking around your local patch but can also mean sitting in a hide.

Birding would seem to me to be the more flexible and most used term in the UK?


A
 
infopt2000 said:
Generally "birding" is used in the USA, "bird watching" in the UK - but the terms are mutually comprehensible so shouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

Actually, both "birding" and "bird watching" are commonly used in the USA. But serious birders in the USA now tend to avoid the latter term to describe what they do, perhaps because it makes the activity sound too passive (cf. Andy's remark above). It is the general public that more frequently uses the term "bird watching" or "bird watcher." They might not even know what you are talking about if you say you are a "birder."
 
Last edited:
There are lots of people who I'd consider to be birdwatchers, but I'd never call them birders. They enjoy the birds in their garden, maybe their backyard or the nearest nature reserve, but their understanding of aspects such as taxonomy, ecology, phenology and quite often even identification is very limited.

A birder IMHO should try to learn new things about birds every day and actively search for exciting stuff not only in their backyard. But he'll be always be a birdwatcher to a certain degree of course.

Conclusion: All Birders are birdwatchers, but not all birdwatchers are birders

Maffong
 
Jim M. said:
It is the general public that more frequently uses the term "bird watching" or "bird watcher." They might not even now what you are talking about if you say you are a "birder."
Click to expand...

But what's the difference between a "bird watcher." and a "birder.", and a "bird watcher" and a "birder", respectively?
 
Maffong said:
There are lots of people who I'd consider to be birdwatchers, but I'd never call them birders. They enjoy the birds in their garden, maybe their backyard or the nearest nature reserve, but their understanding of aspects such as taxonomy, ecology, phenology and quite often even identification is very limited.

A birder IMHO should try to learn new things about birds every day and actively search for exciting stuff not only in their backyard. But he'll be always be a birdwatcher to a certain degree of course.

Conclusion: All Birders are birdwatchers, but not all birdwatchers are birders

Maffong
Click to expand...

And lets not introduce twitching in to the equation!

Most birders in the UK who twitch, will call themslves birders first and foremost but I met a guy once in a cemetary looking for a Wood Warbler (the European species not the American genera).

I didn't know him so spoke and asked him if he was a birder, I was astonished when he replied 'no, I'm a twitcher'. This was compounded when he told me he'd see the Wood Warbler which in his words was so bright yellow it could have been a Canary, in other words he'd seen a Willow Warbler.

I met the same guy some weeks later whilst looking for a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Goldcrest flew past calling. There it is he exclaimed, I said, that's a Goldcrest, oh no he protested with his six months experience to back him up, definitely a Yb Warbler. I suggested he go look for it in the bush where it had landed so hed did, only to return ten minutes later having found a Goldcrest but insisting the 'fly by' was the Yb Warbler.

Takes all sorts I suppose.


A
 
Mistress Quickly: ". . .She laments. . .it would yearn your heart to see it. Her husband goes this morning a-birding. . .".

Not our kind of birding, of course, though not all that far removed in spirit from the more extreme forms of the modern sport. But, bird watching, nah, a real pussycat. . .. ;)
 
I suspect that "Birding" and "birder" were adopted to distance people from the rather negative, eccentric image that the old term 'birdwatcher' and 'birdwatching' conjured up. Birder/birding is generally taken to refer to those with a greater level of skill than 'mere birdwatchers' and there's an element of one-upmanship involved - hence "I go birding", "we go birding" but "they go birdwatching"! Interestingly although the term one-upmanship' dates back to the early 1900s, it was popularised by Stephen Potter's book "One-Upmanship" published in 1952 - I've often wondered whether it was entirely coincidental that Potter was a birdwatcher ....
 
fugl said:
Mistress Quickly: ". . .She laments. . .it would yearn your heart to see it. Her husband goes this morning a-birding. . .".

Not our kind of birding, of course, though not all that far removed in spirit from the more extreme forms of the modern sport. But, bird watching, nah, a real pussycat. . .. ;)
Click to expand...
As a side note, in German there's only "birdwatching". The direct German translation for "birding" means something else entirely.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 7 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

S
Dusk light performance relative to weight, NL Pure 10x32 vs 10x42
2 3
Replies
45
Views
3K
ReinierB
R
R
Difference between Booted and Sykes's Warbler - Pune, Maharashtra India
Replies
2
Views
627
Raj0909
R
N
Need help identifying cool bird, with striking wing pattern near Sanders Arizona
Replies
14
Views
834
foresttwitcher
foresttwitcher
P
8x42 FL comparisons
Replies
6
Views
1K
Patudo
P
H
Finland birding trip - Help requested
Replies
18
Views
1K
Trinovid
T

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top