For the Birds

 
For the Birds

Protecting Wildlife through the Naturalist Gaze

by Elizabeth Cherry

Rutgers University Press

2019

 

 

A few years ago, my friend Liz Cherry wrote a book about birdwatchers. For the Birds is an ethnographic study of people who enjoy birdwatching as a hobby. Cherry spent 3 years going on weekly birding walks with several local Audubon Society chapters, attended a number of special birding events during that time, and interviewed about 30 birdwatchers.

 
The first thing I learned is that I should probably say that Cherry studied 'birders' rather than 'birdwatchers,' since that's how the hobbyists prefer to identify themselves. I also learned just how popular a hobby it is, with something like 30% of American adults over the age off 55 participating to some extent. (It's less popular among younger people.)

 
Cherry argues that birders, especially ones who go on weekly Audubon Society walks, develop what she calls the 'naturalist gaze' as a result of their hobby. The naturalist gaze is a way of looking at the world that is attuned to the sight  (and sound!) of birds and their habitat. It incorporates advice about what to pay attention to, knowledge about the meanings of the things seen, and standards for evaluating how things could be better. Cherry describes what the birders learn, how they learn it, and what the consequences are.
 

The initial chapters primarily focus on Cherry's ethnographic observations about what birders do and how they learn to do it. Color photographs taken on bird walks enliven the text by illustrating birds that are mentioned as they appear in nature.

 
In addition to learning how to see and identify birds, birders start learning about birds, which affects the way they think about them. Initially, birders might want to see 'rare' or very brightly colored birds, but as they learn, they start to appreciate the common birds that they're able to see every day, and the plain-looking birds that are at home in their native environment.

 
Birders make moral judgments, scorning 'bad birds' like European Starlings and House Sparrows, which are invasive, non-native species that were brought to North America in the 1800s, and cowbirds, which lay their eggs in other birds' nests.

 
Many birders participate in citizen science efforts, like the annual Christmas Bird Count, initially developed to supplant traditional Christmas bird shoots. Although scientists who don't use citizen data (and birders who don't have scientific training) tend to be instinctively skeptical of the quality of data collected by citizen science, Cherry finds that birders are quite conscientious, and the data they collect is of high quality. And because of their numbers, professional ornithologists could never come close to matching their currently available data without the efforts of citizen scientists.

 
Birders also tend to become interested in environmental conservation as a consequence of their affinity for birds. They often grow native plants and set up feeders and nest boxes in their yards. They also often become interested in habitat preservation and restoration, and may become involved in activism, especially at the local level. One finding that surprised Cherry though, is that relatively few birders are vegetarians, although this dietary change would impact natural habitat.