Tag Archives: Which birder are you

What Kind of Birder are You?

There are many different ways in which birding can appeal to an individual. Some like the thrill of chasing rare birds, some like observing birds from the comfort of their own home, and others enjoy the nuances of bird behavior. While all birders find something fascinating about the hobby, it means something different to each person. For most, there is a certain category that can be used to describe their primary interests. No one distinction is better or worse than another, but each attracts people with different goals in mind. Which one best describes you?

The Beginner

You just recently became interesting in birding. You’ve definitely seen birds before, but you never gave them much attention until that one time the light shimmered off of a Northern Cardinal in just the right way. Then, when you realized there was a whole community of birders out there you were hooked. You don’t necessarily know the finer points of identifying some species, but you are eager to learn as much as you can. You long for the day when you can easily distinguish between a Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitcher with ease, but until then your enthusiasm for your new hobby will keep things exciting.

The Feeder Watcher

You don’t do a whole lot of birding away from your house. Why would you need to when all of the birds come to you. Plus, you can watch them from the window without ever having to venture out into the elements. You started with just one feeder and now you have many (of all different varieties). You know what time of year the Juncos come and go as well as when the first and last hummingbirds arrive and depart. You love your brief visits from White-breasted Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers and dream of the day when a rarity decides to stop at your platform feeder.

White-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch

The Photographer

You go birding a lot. You also bird in a variety of locations. You may keep a life list and you definitely enjoy being outside. However, the thing you enjoy the most is that perfect shot. You have a nice camera with a very big lens and you absolutely love displaying your photos on social media. Your curse is that you are always striving for an even better picture, but your aesthetic eye will never let you be satisfied with your work. On more than one occasion you have passed on social activities with friends because you “need to go home and edit.” Your happiest moment came when a Snowy Owl perched up on a fence post in perfect light with small snowflakes glistening in the background.

Mr. One Spot

You absolutely love birding but you only do it in one or two locations. Maybe you live next to a birding hotspot or one is on your way home from work, either way, that place has become your go-to. You frequently post reports from this location and know it inside and out. You have a bigger bird list at this one spot than most do in an entire state. You suspect you’ve become this person when people personally message you to ask if you know whether or not a certain species can currently be found there. You know for sure you have become this person when you do, and can give them an extremely detailed answer about where to find it.

The County Birder

You are a serious birder who has a real affinity for the county you live in. Maybe it’s the habitat diversity, or fact that you know it well that keeps you around. Either way, you rarely travel outside of your county. You know all the best places to bird near you and would much rather stay close to home than venture out and chase birds. As opposed to going to known locations in the state to find particular species, you search out similar habitat within the county lines and continue searching until you find it there. At least 90 percent of the birds you’ve found this year are in your county and the ones outside of your county were either extreme rarities or accidental.

The Lister

You are known for one thing: your extremely long list of birds. When you first started getting interested in birding the idea of keeping track of all of the species you’ve seen appealed to your collector side. Your competitive spirit relishes the chance to accumulate a higher total than others even though you’d never admit to it. You may keep any number of lists ranging from county, ABA area, for the day, the month, the year, and so on. Although you say you just bird as a light hobby, you can be found at every rarity reported throughout the year in hopes of adding to your life list.

Fork-tailed Flycatcher
Fork-tailed Flycatcher

The Specialist

Listing and photography is great, but for you, it has somewhat lost its luster. You are interested in a new sort of challenge. For some, it’s birding without the use of fossil fuels, for others its documenting specific bird behavior. You have gone to extreme lengths to locate birds for your particular niche, whether it be hiking through dense brush to document breeding of Red Crossbills, or biking seven miles to relocate a bird for your BIGBY that you found earlier in the day when driving in your car. Some of your closest family and friends think you’re crazy but you don’t care as long as you confirm Hooded Warblers nesting in your breeding bird atlas section.

Hooded Warbler
Hooded Warbler

The Finder

When everything is quiet on the rare bird front you are out scouring your favorite haunts for vagrants. While others see a flock of American Coots and don’t dare think about looking through them all, you’re grinding away checking each of them one by one to make sure their isn’t a Eurasian Coot mixed in. You are consistently the first to find a needle in a haystack type bird and enjoy the challenge. 1,000 Lapland Longspurs in a field? You walk every inch of that field in search of a Smiths. Flock of 600 Greater Scaup? There must be a Tufted Duck mixed in somewhere. Others thank you for your intense focus and supreme effort.

Though some of these categories may sound more familiar than others, a birder may not fit into just one category but rather many at one time. Others may transition from one category to another as they become more seasoned. That’s part of the beauty of birding, no matter the skill level or interest, there is something for everyone to enjoy.