I'm a bit worried I don't qualify John, all these years I've been kidding myself! Far too knackering a job to go before work and I rarely have the time after. If I'm honest first light these days is something I see in Africa/Asia/North or South America. Plus I have other hobbies and I never talk birds to non-birders down the pub. I have been to Lesvos/Mallorca. Perfectly pleasant but not among my favourite trips. I've been kidding myself for 40 years!
For me a birder enjoys watching birds, take pleasure from good views, interesting behaviour etc. But just HAS to know what it is he/she/they is watching. In my mid-teens, years before I'd ever travelled to SE Asia, I dreamt that I found myself in Thailand but I had no field guide or way of getting one. It was hell and I woke up in a cold sweat. If you don't get that and think "I could just enjoy the birds without knowing what they are," then, for me, you're a birdwatcher/bird-lover.
Re birder/bird photographer in my view, a birder may well be a keen photographer but they reach for the bins before the camera and if they had a choice of getting a good view OR a good photo it would be a good view. I still kick myself for a time in Brazil, over ten years ago, when a tapir (I admit not a bird but the same principal) appeared. I did see it through bins but reached for the camera after only a second or two after seeing it through bins thinking it would stay for a bit. It didn't. I should have got satisfactory views through bins before worrying about a photo.
@Mysticete
"Part of me does wonder, if for some folks, spending all your time thinking and teaching and writing about birds starts to make your hobby feel like an extension of work. Rather than a fun escape."
In my experience yes. I mainly did bird surveys/research for about 13 years. Putting a pair of bins on in my spare time did begin to feel like dressing for work towards the end. I had a real increase enthusiasm for UK birding/wildlife watching (I never lost it for birding abroad) when I switched careers.