Wildlife as Recreation - Birding

Birding is a wildlife-related recreational activity that enjoys worldwide appeal—there are countless national and regional birding organizations. More than 46 million Americans engage in birdwatching every year. Important conservation studies such as the U.S. Breeding Bird Survey rely largely on volunteer birders to help document long-term population trends and distributions of over 400 North American breeding bird species.

The American Birding Association (ABA) is the largest association of amateur birders in the U.S. Membership has grown steadily since its founding in 1968 and stood at nearly 22,000 in 2004. In terms of birding activity, a 1997 ABA survey showed that 16 percent of members bird more than 80 days a year, and 24 percent bird between 40 and 80 days a year. In addition, 17 percent of members traveled more than 10,000 miles to go bird-watching, while another 20 percent traveled between 5,000 and 10,000 miles. Birdwatchers see diverse species on their outings—21 percent reported identifying 401 species or more in the last year, 17 percent identified 301–400 species, 25 percent identified 201–300 species, and 22 percent identified 101–200 species. A large majority—over 80 percent—of members maintain a "life list" of all the bird species they have ever seen. Among other activities, 82 percent feed birds in their backyards, 67 percent participate in bird counts, 36 percent photograph FIGURE 11.6
Wildlife watchers as a percent of U.S. population, by residence, 2001 birds, 6 percent record bird songs, and 41 percent are active with a local bird club.