A one generation hobby…and a concern for the future (1 Viewer)

[Steve Babbs]

Another, very subjective reason why many young people don't go birding is that nature reserves have more rules to visit, signs forbidding things and visits are generally more formal. It seems so logical to direct people... but young people hate being directed. This is the time of their lives when they learn to make own choices.

I don't really find that e.g. Minsmere, as a kid you weren't allowed in before 9 and had to leave by 5. Not any more

 

[TheBlackGrouse]

Another, very subjective reason why many young people don't go birding is that nature reserves have more rules to visit, signs forbidding things and visits are generally more formal. It seems so logical to direct people... but young people hate being directed. This is the time of their lives when they learn to make own choices.

Europe has a lot of different countries, this doesn't apply to the Netherlands. For decades there are strict rules in nature reserves: only between sunrise and sundown, dogs on a leash, stay on the paths, no cars, no camping, no fire, no events, no music etc. We are used to these rules and live with them, it is a small country with small reserves.

Besides you seldom see young birders in nature reserves. There are at observation points, hides, piers, places where rarities are seen. They are not hiking, cycling, exploring the environment, they follow the GPS coordinates.

 

[Mysticete]

I worry that perhaps the media portrayal of birding focuses on the....shall we say "whackier" elements out there? Don't think I have seen a birding documentary or article in many years which wasn't centered around birders with Autism, Asperger's, some other mental/behavioural condition or ones who may be outrightly nuts. These are what seem to capture the imagination of the general public now.

Consequently, certainly in an Irish context, I see a SIGNIFICANT proportion of younger birders coming through (and there aren't many) who clearly have such issues.

When I started out birding, there were maybe 7-8 younger guys in our generation of birders, and none had any obvious mental health issues (though one or two in the older gen obviously did).

Are we portraying birding as the refuge of the weird?

There are, to my mind, a reasonable amount of well educated, sensible (relatively), competent (relatively) birders who just like to watch birds, find birds and have pint at the end of the day, but obviously this isn't juicy enough for the media to highlight.

I genuinely think that perhaps the wrong impression of the past time is put out there which could send such people running for the hills, changing the demographics over time.

Owen

Younger folks are for the most part not going to be consuming the same media as folks our age or older. Hell that was true when I was young. They are not sitting down in front of a TV and watching a news show which happens to have a piece on zany birders. Any portrayal of birder culture they see is likely filtered through youtube, Ticktock, reddit, and probably some other venues I am completely unaware.

 

[la_ravachol]

Younger folks are for the most part not going to be consuming the same media as folks our age or older. Hell that was true when I was young. They are not sitting down in front of a TV and watching a news show which happens to have a piece on zany birders. Any portrayal of birder culture they see is likely filtered through youtube, Ticktock, reddit, and probably some other venues I am completely unaware.

In the last few years there has been a boom in birdwatching content from millennials on Tik Tok and Instagram. Sometimes it has an ironic edge, but it's overwhelming positive.

 

[YuShan]

As an aside, Merlin really lowers the bar for the smartphone generation. Even if you don't know any birds, just download the app and let it tell you what birds are singing or calling. This must really lower the bar for any beginners (both young and old).

 

[Patudo]

This has been a really enjoyable discussion to read, weaving together so many interesting strands. I think there always were and will always be folks interested in birds per se. I can perhaps see twitching within the UK lose its appeal due to the cost of travelling within the UK and the younger generation being more interested in either birding more locally or going on birding holidays abroad. But I don't see either casual birding (garden/park/local nature reserve) or more dedicated birding (visiting locations further afield or abroad) being a one generation thing, though maybe with the focus on visiting ecosystems and watching spectacles like migration (which many already do) rather than adding to one's UK list.

Living in London, I have seen a fair number of younger birders (not just casual visitors), especially at Rainham. I don't doubt there are more out there, or that others will (as Mysticete noted in post #33 and Georgebirds in #67) pick up the pastime in later life. That's more or less the point at which I really got into it myself (late thirties). For what it's worth, I mostly don't travel much outside Zone 1, get to most of my locations on foot or via public transport, don't twitch, though do enjoy seeing something new if it flies through my area; and at least as far as what I want to do is concerned, would consider myself fairly competent.

On the other hand, the more research oriented, who count migrants, collect data of breeding birds, keep motivated for the rest of their lives.

This is perhaps the comment in this thread that most speaks to me. I wouldn't describe it as anything as weighty as "research", but my main focus is observing interesting behaviour, and although the time available for it is curtailed by work and to some extent by family, the pull of seeing, for instance, hobbies displaying, or peregrines hunting from the soar, is as compelling as it ever was. The experience is somewhat different, in that the early years of discovery and learning have been replaced (I hope) by some level of familiarity and experience, but the excitement and wonder of seeing birds like that doing their thing is still much the same. It is perhaps my second love rather than my first, but, as second loves can be. is in many respects closer, deeper and truer than my first. I am lucky enough to be able to enjoy both. Long may it continue.

 

[Farnboro John]

As an aside, Merlin really lowers the bar for the smartphone generation. Even if you don't know any birds, just download the app and let it tell you what birds are singing or calling. This must really lower the bar for any beginners (both young and old).

Only if Merlin is fully briefed!

John

 

[YuShan]

I find it interesting to read that many here started birding at young age. I only started at 42!

Just before a (non-birding) trip to Malaysia I had bought (cheapish) binoculars that I expected to use perhaps a couple of times during that trip. Instead, I found myself observing nature almost every day on that trip. After returning home, I googled to find a good nature area near me (which happened to be Keyhaven Marshes) which I then visited. At the time I still had very little knowledge about birds. But on that day in the reserve I met an elderly birder who pointed out the differences between all the wintering waders. From that moment I was hooked. Within a year, I changed from somebody who hardly knew any birds to somebody who keeps lists etc!

I always keep my own journey in mind when I meet people who show an interest in birds, and remember how my interaction with this elderly birder on that very day turned me into a dedicated birder. When birding I often get approached by non-birders who have a question about some bird they have seen or are curious what I am looking at. I always take my time to help them and point out interesting details, knowing how a similar interaction with a birder got ME into this hobby. They tend to be all ages, but if they are young folks, that's a bonus!

 

[bonxie birder]

Great comments. Let’s keep birding in whatever way we like. I am a lister, not hardcore, but my lists mean a lot. My lack of ability means that I’m not able to pick out the really obscure rarities, but I am happy to bird off others’ successes. Even in my advanced years I’m always happy to ask for advice….and give it.

 

[TheBlackGrouse]

This has been a really enjoyable discussion to read (...)

This is perhaps the comment in this thread that most speaks to me. I wouldn't describe it as anything as weighty as "research".

Yes, weighty it is couldn't find a better word, I meant something like 'intrinsic motivation' but that may sound too elitist. It goes from enjoying birds to doing research for nature conservation. Sometimes I meet a birder who's watching a very common species like a Mallard. He/she is simply happy looking at the behavior, the colors: ''Maybe later in the day I'll see a rare bird, if not, then it's still a nice day.''

That's the spirit!

 

[michalb]

Hitchhiking practically disappeared currently, because of overblown scare campaigns 'never trust a stranger'. I hitchhiked all across the Europe in my secondary school / student years, but in the last five years I seen hitchhikers exactly once.

While you're probably right that hitchhiking isn't as popular as it used to be, it definitely hasn't practically disappeared. I still keep doing it more or less frequently, often with my kids , in Poland as well as in other European countries*, mostly coming back from some village or trailhead in the mountains with little or no public transport. And it does happen to us to take hitchhikers too, when we are "on the other side" - once we took a guy with a paraglider who landed in a different place he wanted to!

Anyway, hitchhiking is still alive in Europe

* and outside Europe too, sometimes in quite remote places

 

[angusmcoatup]

While you're probably right that hitchhiking isn't as popular as it used to be, it definitely hasn't practically disappeared. I still keep doing it more or less frequently, often with my kids , in Poland as well as in other European countries*, mostly coming back from some village or trailhead in the mountains with little or no public transport. And it does happen to us to take hitchhikers too, when we are "on the other side" - once we took a guy with a paraglider who landed in a different place he wanted to!

Anyway, hitchhiking is still alive in Europe

* and outside Europe too, sometimes in quite remote places

Ive hitched a few times quite easily in Türkiye over the last few years. On a couple of occasions with my bike dumped on the back of a tractor trailer or a flat back lorry. I sometimes see others hitching the main roads too.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Anyway, hitchhiking is still alive in Europe

* and outside Europe too, sometimes in quite remote places

I still hitchhike on rare occasions, typically when I have walked somewhere far one way from my car, most recently several times in Indonesia this last summer. Also here in Lithuania, fairly common to see hitchhikers.

 

[jurek]

Europe has a lot of different countries, this doesn't apply to the Netherlands. For decades there are strict rules in nature reserves: only between sunrise and sundown, dogs on a leash, stay on the paths, no cars, no camping, no fire, no events, no music etc. We are used to these rules and live with them, it is a small country with small reserves.

Besides you seldom see young birders in nature reserves. There are at observation points, hides, piers, places where rarities are seen. They are not hiking, cycling, exploring the environment, they follow the GPS coordinates.

This is what I meant - young Dutch birders go birding on the coastal dunes etc., where they have fewest rules and restrictions.

One could think that, by common sense, if a birder wants to see birds, he/she goes to a bird reserve first. And places where birdwatchers go are the first to become bird reserves. Over-regulation put it completely on its head.

 

[Georgebirds]

Is it really so controlling and offensive to be told not to start fires, hold raves, or let dogs roam uncontrolled, that young people would be all rebellious and decide to just not go then? It's just a new generation of nature lovers we're talking about here, not teenage anarchists - I'd credit them with enough empathy for wildlife, and general common sense, that they'd understand the rules are there to protect the reserve and keep it nice for the birds they want to see.

 

[François Doyen]

I don't get this whole discussion. Many area on the coast are in or around nature reserves/protected area and some aren't. Birders will go where they can see the most interesting birds which for a country like the Netherlands is mainly the coastal area not some inland forest or whatever.

 

[lammergeier05]

I started birding as a teenager and am now well into my thirties and I will say that local twitching doesn’t hold the same appeal for me and hasn’t for years. The part of the hobby I’m most deeply passionate about (and am fortunate to be able to afford) is regularly travelling abroad and building a global list. I’m still as obsessive as ever about planning routes to maximize chances of seeing endemic, secretive or otherwise tricky to find species.

I also enjoy birding my local patch locally but not as intensely or frequently as I used to. The middle ground, travelling multiple hours to record a new bird for a country or state list that I’ve already seen many times? Building out a year list of scarce local species by spamming their known haunts every evening and weekend after work? There are better uses of my time. I suspect I’m not alone in this.

Unlike others though, I’m not pessimistic about the future of the hobby. While the nature of birding is changing there will always be people passionate about learning about and classifying what they see when out in nature, eBird is a testament to its expanding global popularity, and I’m heartened to see interested folks of all backgrounds when I am out birding