25 June 2004

The facts about birding

The Citizen Scientist has carried many items about bird watching and birders. So how popular is this activity? Do millions of people actually engage in this activity as often claimed?

The answer to this question as it applies to the United States appears in a 2001 survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Survey.

According to the survey, "31 percent of the U.S. population 16 years old and older fed, observed, or photographed wildlife in 2001. These wildlife watchers increased in number by 5% from 1996 to 2001. Their expenditures for trips, equipment, and other items increased 16%."

From Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis Addendum to the 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, Report 2001-1, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Click image to enlarge.

A subset of this survey addressed only birders, and the numbers are very high.

Table 1 in this study (left) shows that millions of us are involved in bird watching.

For example, 1,043,000 U.S. teenagers ages 16 to 17 participate in birding. This is a participation rate of approximately 14 percent. The participation rates for other age groups, which are shown in Table 1, are even higher. The highest participation rate of all age groups are persons aged 55 to 64. 7,177,000 of this group, or about 28 percent, participate in birding.

According to the survey, more than 18 million Americans participate in bird watching. The Fish and Wildlife survey is packed with detailed information about the demographics of birders. This report is must reading for anyone interested in citizen science statistics and, of course, birders. The report is available as a full-color PDF file at http://library.fws.gov/nat_survey2001_birding.pdf.

Forrest M. Mims III.