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The following is an excerpt from the March 2008 “Birding Community E-Bulletin” compiled by Paul Baicich and Wayne Petersen. You can find archives of the E-Bulletin here, and it’s always an enlightening read. I’m particulalrly interested in estimates on the number of people birding nationwide, and the following story provides some additional insights on birder demographics:   

NSRE: THE 365ERS AND MORE For many years, the NSRE (National Survey on Recreation and the Environment, out of the Forest Service) has been unveiling some fascinating information on approximately 80 recreational outdoor activities, including birding. For example, a recent NSRE release indicated that over 35 percent of the people 16-years of age or older in America participate at some level in birdwatching at or away from home. This amounts to almost 82 million people. (These birding statistics are from the latest data from NSRE  – 2004-2007). In comparison to the 1999-2000 NSRE survey, the estimated number of people interested in birdwatching has grown by over 8 million. 

Given how bird interest is defined in this survey, your E-bulletin editors prefer to call these robust numbers of observers “bird-curious,” rather than traditional “birdwatchers” or ” birders.” Nonetheless, these are significant figures that clearly reflect something interesting. Recently, NSRE researchers have further tweaked these numbers to reveal another interesting snapshot of this bird-interest cohort. 

Researchers H. Ken Cordell, Carter J. Betz, and Nancy G. Herbert have generously given us a peek at those active birders who claim to watch birds every day of the year. The researchers with the NSRE project in Athens, Georgia, affectionately refer to this most active birding group as the “365ers,” – a group that represents about 16 percent of all birdwatchers.  This category is interesting for a number of reasons: Two-thirds of them are female; well over 80 percent are non-Hispanic White in race; 53 percent are over 55 (actually over 1/3 are over 65); over half of the group have never spent time in college; about a third of the group have annual incomes under $25,000, and somewhat more of the group than the national population average live in rural areas. The percentages of this group that participate in various other outdoors activities are as follows:  

Walking for pleasure 89% 
Gardening or landscaping 87% 
Viewing or photographing natural scenery 83% 
Viewing or photographing flowers, trees, etc. 83% 
Viewing or photographing wildlife other than birds 78% 
Attending family gatherings outdoors 66% 
Visiting nature centers and other nature sites 59%  

Among these other activities, there are a number in which less than 2 percent of the 365ers participate. These include scuba diving, windsurfing, surfing, ice fishing, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, orienteering, and bird hunting. This group of birdwatchers may simply be too busy studying birds, gardening, viewing nature in all its forms and enjoying those outdoor family picnic spreads to be able to participate in these other activities. 

In addition to the study described above, the NSRE Team and others (H. Ken Cordell, Ted L. Eubanks, Carter Betz, Gary T. Green, Becky Stephens, and Shela Mou ) also released another thoughtful study in mid-February, “Bird Watching Trends in the United States, 1994-2006.” This study segments the bird-interest among the “Occasionals” (people who participate 1-6 days a year), the “Actives” (people who participate 7-60 days per year), and the “Enthusiasts” (people who participate over 61 days per year). According to these findings, birdwatching at almost all levels continues to grow as an outdoor interest among Americans. The gains in the number of people and the number of days of birding are particularly impressive. This study is the first of three parts, and you can find it here:http://warnell.forestry.uga.edu/nrrt/nsre/IRISRec/IrisRec2.html