The birdwatching boom
Covid created a boom in Canadian birdwatching and technology has sustained it.
“When I was a kid I think [birdwatching] was perceived as uncool by most young people, and most participants were doing it as a retirement pastime and social activity,” Caleb Scholtens, a 27-year-old birdwatcher and ecologist from Hamilton, Ontario, told Christian Courier.
“Now I feel like the concept of ‘uncoolness’ has weakened and people are willing to sincerely entertain a wider variety of activities, while social media has let people see what they are missing outside that they might have been ignorant of before.”
The covid pandemic led to a rise in birdwatching in Canada that has only continued to increase. On May 9, birdwatchers around the globe documented 8,000 bird species in one day, making it a world record. Birds have become more visible in culture, too: there are bird board games, bird festivals and even birdwatching video games.
So why has birdwatching (or “birding” as most bird lovers call it) become so popular?
Becoming a birder
“I have wondered for a long time what drew me to birds as a child, and I think when something is appealing at such a basic level it can be kind of impossible to describe,” says Scholtens, who has now seen over 1,000 species globally and 350 in Canada. “Ultimately, it’s because birds are beautiful, and the variations that they take on a common form are fascinating to explore.”
Scholtens grew up with parents interested in nature and outdoor activities. “I expressed a particular interest in wildlife early; ‘duck’ was apparently my first word,” he says. “I didn’t get my first binoculars until my seventh birthday, and my Dad started taking me to naturalist club meetings and bird-specific outings around the same time.”
Bouwe Bergsma, a 88-year-old birder from St. Catharines, Ontario, has a similar birding story. “At a young age, I was fascinated with birds. I was amazed that birds could fly. The variety, size, colours and songs and nesting habits – it became, and still is, a wonderful thing to be learning more about.”
Everyone’s journey into birding is different. For some, it starts with a “spark bird,” a species that sparks their interest in learning more about birds.
I didn’t have a spark bird, but I had a spark birding encounter. In 2018, after discovering eBird, I visited a birding event at Ruthven Park in southern Ontario. For the first time, I met serious birders who could identify a species from a small chirp. I had a new motivation to become a birder as good as the ones I met that day.
While I’m still no expert, birding has had a huge impact on my life. It has been a refuge amid mental health struggles and helped me learn more about the environment, get better at photography and make friends.
Wherever you go
Birding’s unpredictability makes it enjoyable. Many birders keep a “life list” of all the species they’ve seen and seek out new and unusual birds. Wherever you go in the world, you can guarantee there will be new birds to discover.
Birding can be an active outdoor exercise (think hiking along a river), but it can also be a calm activity you can do from anywhere – looking out a window, sitting in a park or driving through a parking lot (there’s nothing like watching a Bald Eagle soar over your local Costco!). In addition to physical benefits, research has connected birdwatching to improved mental health and brain health.
With climate anxiety on the rise, birdwatching is an excellent way to not only destress, but also to take a practical next step in caring for creation by doing “citizen science,” a collaboration between scientists and the general public to collect data on a larger scale.
Bergsma has been participating in one citizen science project, Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch, since 1987. “Learning to identify different raptors was a challenge, but watching and counting for the Peninsula Hawk Watch Association became very rewarding. The collected counts and data is sent to the Hawk Migration Association of North America.”
Birders used to keep notebooks (and eventually spreadsheets) with lists of birds, but now they upload lists on the eBird app, creating a shared database of past sightings. Citizen science projects include the winterlong Project Feederwatch and bird counting events like The Great Backyard Bird Count. This data enables scientists to make decisions on how to protect birds.
A changing world
“Once a birder has found the more common species in their area they tend to seek out rare birds when they show up,” says Scholtens. “As a result, the birding community maintains tight communications so as to be alerted when there is a rare species that many members of the community would like to see.”
Rare Bird Alert phone hotlines were once the top way for birders to keep up with unusual sightings, but now, with social media groups, eBird alerts and email lists, it’s easier than ever for birders to find specific species.
Technology has been hugely impactful for beginner birders as well. “The development of identification apps like Merlin Bird ID and iNaturalist have enabled anyone to become a casual birdwatcher the moment they become curious about any bird they see or hear, making the learning curve much less steep than it was in years past,” says Scholtens.
I vividly remember when Merlin Bird ID first launched its sound identification feature in 2021. I had been birding for a few years by then but with the app, it was so much easier for me to identify species by sound (especially warblers). While the app isn’t perfect in its identification, it is an excellent tool, especially for self-taught birders or birders travelling somewhere with unfamiliar species.
With every positive change, there have also been new challenges and issues, particularly surrounding photography, birding ethics and etiquette.
“The temptation to get closer to a bird to get a slightly better photo pulls powerfully on anyone,” says Scholtens. “I know of one location which used to be well known by the local birding community as a spot to see a couple species of owls in the winter. At one point, the owls started getting flushed regularly in order to get in-flight photos, and the owls never returned in the same numbers. At other locations, photographers have released pet-store mice near roads to get active hunting photos, eventually resulting in the owl being hit by a car. Now, for better or for worse, the local community generally doesn’t share the location of owls, and it’s more difficult for many people to appreciate those species in person.”
He points out that birding also puts pressure on at-risk birds as people flock to locations to catch a rare glimpse of a new species. While this can be incident-free (like when crowds of birders visited a Montreal neighbourhood for a sight of a European Robin), other times, people trespass on private property or protected habitat in search of a bird. Sometimes the best way to care for birds is to not try to find them at all.
‘Look at the birds of the air’
Scholtens notes the many birds mentioned in the Psalms, including doves, owls and swallows, which act as metaphors for human experience. One of Scholtens’ favourite birds is the Eurasian Hoopoe, which is “common and distinctive enough to be mentioned at least once in the Bible.”
“The writers of the Bible spent a lot more time outside than we do, and had ample opportunities to observe the birds in their neighbourhoods,” he says. “Observing birds ourselves not only helps us connect with God through his handiwork, but also with the psalmist and people across the ages who have related to the birds.”
Was it necessary for there be so many kinds of warblers migrating through Ontario each spring and fall, or for the song sparrow to sing so many different tunes? Why are there so many different regional colours of juncos? There’s an extravagance to God’s creation that can lead us to worship him, and that same beauty encourages us to better care for creation, whether by participating in citizen science or making more environmentally-friendly choices in our own lives.
Perhaps most beautifully, the birds remind us of God’s love and care for us. We may easily miss spotting a shy sparrow on a birding hike, but not a single bird flies or falls without God noticing and caring (Matt. 10:29-31).
