Popularity of birding around the world (1 Viewer)

[njlarsen]

One thing that US does which activates a lot of otherwise not very active birders is the Christmas bird count. I think that activity as a catch activity is very important, because a lot of those involved would never think about environment if they did not participate in these activities; in other words, US would be completely left to the Oil companies (think the environmental policy of the Bush administration) without a way to activate a larger group of people into birdwatching.

Maybe a little closer to what this thread started from :-O , take a look at Ebird. On the opening page is a count of how many checklists have been submitted in this month per state. Given that I write this September 5, so 5 days worth of observations, I think it is impressive that the average number of checklists per state is somewhere along 200-300 at this time. To me, anyone actually submitting observations to a repository must be described as serious in some way or other, even if that person never does go on a twitch and even if some of the lists only contain what have come to the garden feeders.

Cheers
Niels

 

[Richard Klim]

Agreed comparisons are very difficult between the 2 countries. You used the ABA membership of c.10,000 as a rough index of the US hard-core birding effort. Is there a comparable statistic for the UK? (I have no idea about British birding organizations & where to look for such a figure). If there were it would give us at least a preliminary basis for objective comparison.

I'm sure I've seen an estimate of the number of active listing British birders - but I can't remember where. As I said, listing is very much an unofficial, unregulated 'sport' in Britain - although there a couple of websites where birders can post their lists, there's nothing remotely like the ABA. Perhaps the nearest equivalent is Lee Evans's UK400 'Club', but that's just one man's life-mission to try to keep tabs on the leading listers, and isn't taken very seriously by a large proportion of birders (or even listers). Otherwise, birding organisations in Britain are largely conservation-based (RSPB, BTO, WWT, regional Wildlife Trusts etc), academic (BOU), or local birding clubs - none of which focus on competitive listing.

Richard

 

[colonelboris]

My work mates tell me birdwatching isn't very common in this area, to the point where a couple scratched their heads for a minute and said "Hey, we had a birdwatcher in the group once, didn't we?' as if it were a long time ago that they had last seen one.
I did bump into a birdwatching group yesterday, but the average age of the people there was probably approaching double that of mine.

 

[fugl]

I'm sure I've seen an estimate of the number of active listing British birders - but I can't remember where. As I said, listing is very much an unofficial, unregulated 'sport' in Britain - although there a couple of websites where birders can post their lists, there's nothing remotely like the ABA. Perhaps the nearest equivalent is Lee Evans's UK400 'Club', but that's just one man's life-mission to try to keep tabs on the leading listers, and isn't taken very seriously by a large proportion of birders (or even listers). Otherwise, birding organisations in Britain are largely conservation-based (RSPB, BTO, WWT, regional Wildlife Trusts etc), academic (BOU), or local birding clubs - none of which focus on competitive listing.

Richard

Fair enough—I didn’t realize numerical data on British birding was so hard to come by. As far as the ABA is concerned, 10,000 (if that’s the correct figure) is not a very large number given the US population, & the ABAs importance in the overall scheme of things is easy to exaggerate. Where I live, Audubon Society membership probably outnumbers that of the ABA by a factor of 10 or more & my guess is that there are more local bird photographers with no birding affiliation of any kind than hard-core listers sending in their totals for publication in the ABA magazine. Somebody more knowledgeable might correct me on this, but I believe that nationally ABA numbers may actually be declining & I know there’s been recent concern about the ageing of the membership.

Fortunately, not a lot rides on any of this. . .

 

[Richard Klim]

As far as the ABA is concerned, 10,000 (if that’s the correct figure)...

I can't find a published current total membership figure, but some indication is given by the fact that ABA recently declared that Birding had a circulation per issue of 14,137 (13,501 paid, 636 free/nominal rate).

Richard

 

[DavidP]

One thing that US does which activates a lot of otherwise not very active birders is the Christmas bird count. I think that activity as a catch activity is very important, because a lot of those involved would never think about environment if they did not participate in these activities; in other words, US would be completely left to the Oil companies (think the environmental policy of the Bush administration) without a way to activate a larger group of people into birdwatching.

I would agree that the Christmas bird count is a fun activity that gets more people involved. I don't think however that the average american is so unaware of environmental concerns as you suggest. The US has always been quite up on conservation, Yosemite park in California was one of the first national parks established anywhere in the world. Taking California as an example as thats the only place I know much about, about 1/3 rd of the state is somehow protected to varying degrees in the way of national parks, state parks, forest lands, Bureau of land management, wildlife areas etc. That equates to an area about the size of England where there is some varying regulation on how man can use the environment, often no housing, no farming and in national parks no hunting. Some of that is high mountains or desert areas of little use to agriculture but theres defintely an ethos of enjoying and protecting the environment, try and get a campsite reservation in Yosemite or many other parks at a weekend during the summer.

 

[ovenbird43]

theres defintely an ethos of enjoying and protecting the environment, try and get a campsite reservation in Yosemite or many other parks at a weekend during the summer.

Ahh, if only there were that ethos in more areas of our country! The Pacific states (especially California) have a very liberal and outdoorsy culture compared to many other states, and typically lead the country in implementing new environmental regulations.

I think most Americans are at least moderately aware of environmental issues, but there's also this pervasive culture of consumerism that takes precedence for so many, unfortunately.

 

[njlarsen]

I would agree that the Christmas bird count is a fun activity that gets more people involved. I don't think however that the average american is so unaware of environmental concerns as you suggest. The US has always been quite up on conservation, Yosemite park in California was one of the first national parks established anywhere in the world. Taking California as an example as thats the only place I know much about, about 1/3 rd of the state is somehow protected to varying degrees in the way of national parks, state parks, forest lands, Bureau of land management, wildlife areas etc. That equates to an area about the size of England where there is some varying regulation on how man can use the environment, often no housing, no farming and in national parks no hunting. Some of that is high mountains or desert areas of little use to agriculture but theres defintely an ethos of enjoying and protecting the environment, try and get a campsite reservation in Yosemite or many other parks at a weekend during the summer.

I have lived four years in the midwest, so I don't write based only on the TV

The point I was trying to make was not "that all Americans were environmentally unaware", but on the contrary that the activities such as Christmas bird count and other activities which got some Americans out and about and more interested in environment have had a large role in the Americans not being so unaware. Therefore, only counting the people with the best Id skills (twitchers) overlooked a very important part of the birding population.

Niels

 

[lmans66]

There is a large US based birding forum...http://www.BirdersWorld.com
For those US's who need to have that american taste for birding...I enjoy this (birdforum)site for it is international, very unique.

 

[CAU]

I'd say birding is most popular in the UK, the Netherlands and Germany in Europe. It's also quite popular in Scandinavia and Finland (and Switzerland and Austria).

I have been under the impression that birding is proportionally (and even in absolute numbers) much more popular in Sweden and Finland than in Germany. To give some numbers, there are at least 10,000 active birders in Finland (BirdLife Finland has almost 10,000 members and usually only active birdwatchers join the organization), and the twitching association has about 1,100 members (of which about 800 subscribe to the rare bird alert system). The Swedish national birdwatching association (SOF) has about 13,000 members and the twitching association more than 2,000 members, of which more than 1,300 subscribe to the rare bird alert system. The population of Finland is 5.3 million and the population of Sweden is 9.3 million.

 

[Birdingcraft]

I have been under the impression that birding is proportionally (and even in absolute numbers) much more popular in Sweden and Finland than in Germany. To give some numbers, there are at least 10,000 active birders in Finland (BirdLife Finland has almost 10,000 members and usually only active birdwatchers join the organization), and the twitching association has about 1,100 members (of which about 800 subscribe to the rare bird alert system). The Swedish national birdwatching association (SOF) has about 13,000 members and the twitching association more than 2,000 members, of which more than 1,300 subscribe to the rare bird alert system. The population of Finland is 5.3 million and the population of Sweden is 9.3 million.

I have also always gotten the impression that birding was more popular in Scandanavia than Germany.

 

[Birdingcraft]

Birding is not popular in Costa Rica compared to temperate zone countries mentioned but there does seem to be a fair amount of appreciation for nature and birds in general. Many of the birders here are guides and/or biologists as opposed to folks that just bird for fun. Hopefully the number of birders will increase in Costa Rica, though, as we work at promoting birds and birding for Ticos.

 

[russkie]

whats nice for me now living in Cambodia is that there are very few birders here and the country is very under-birded, thus giving us few birders a chance to see first for provinces or other notable records. As I havent been able to venture out much and am only just getting in with the local birding community, it might be a long time before I see a rarity here- particularly as I am not the most confident birder there is, and am sometime loathe to tick something unless it cant possible be mistaken for anything else.
The nearest I came was in Tobago when I got a photo of a Kildeer, which a tour guide used to substantiate his record of that bird for the island.
happy birding all

 

[ccy2001]

Hi, we are very lucky got a good place for birding in our country (Malaysia, North Borneo) http://www.forest.sabah.gov.my/rdc/Facilities/facility.htm
and got so many species which only can see here like this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertccy/3869966407/
But,most of the visitors are from Europe. and only a few local members here in the weekend.
Next months our goverment organize the international bird watch festival here http://www.borneobirdfestival.com/introduction/
You can see more bird's photos in my flickr here http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertccy/

Thank you.

 

[Steve Babbs]

Outside the 'rich' countries, South Africa has a large number of birders as relected in excellent field/site/sound guides etc.

 

[UtahnBirder]

Birdforum is in English so it's hardly surprising that most contributors come from English speaking countries.

I believe this has alot to do with it.
But if you have a land:members ratio, the U.S. doesn't have as many contributers as you would think.
For example: I live in Utah. Utah is only half the size of sweden, but I am the only active birder on the website from Utah, even with all the wildlife reserves here.

 

[Birding Peru]

Very interesting discussion. Here in Peru Perivian native birders (non-biologists) that have interest in all of the birds in Peru you can count on your two hands (and soon adding a foot)...However, more and more people are getting interested since the publication of the Schulenberg et al Birds of Peru field guide almost two years ago. Next year it shall be available in Spanish!!
Most of my Peruvian firends who have gotten into birds have done so via photography. Maybe it is time to start a new strategy for recruiting new birders. Give the newbie a good point and shoot camera rather than bins. What do you think?
Here are two old blog post of mine on the subject.
http://bit.ly/SrXV Binoculars or camera for the beginner birder
http://bit.ly/j8f4P How to make a birder in the 21st century.

Be interested in hearing your comments!!

Gunnar

 

[fugl]

Most of my Peruvian firends who have gotten into birds have done so via photography. Maybe it is time to start a new strategy for recruiting new birders. Give the newbie a good point and shoot camera rather than bins. What do you think?
Gunnar

Judging from the number of threads in the ID forum from photographers wanting to know what they’ve photographed, I think that’s true in Europe & (particularly) North America as well. To be chalked up, I think, to the stimulus that modern equipment has given to nature photography in general. Prior to the digital revolution it was much harder--not to mention much more expensive--to take decent bird photos than it is today.

Whether bird photography usually leads to a serious interest in birding, however, is another question. I know a number of photographers, for example, with very expensive equipment specializing in bird photography. Some of these people know a little about birds but most are not very knowledgeable about their subject matter & don’t show much inclination to become so.

 

[steve_zodiac]

I think a fair way of understanding how popular birding is in other countries is from experiences of birders who travel to these countries in pursuit of their hobby/obsession.

Personally I've been birding in the Canary islands once or twice a year for the past fourteen years (thats all islands except Hierro) and in all that time I've seen one other birder.

It faired a bit better in Majorca and Spain, but in Portugal it was non-existant.