Initial involvement into birding: triggers, gender, and decade effects—a mixed-methods study

The study addresses how and when people become initially involved in birdwatching, a nature-related leisure activity closely linked to citizen science data collection. Given concerns about declining species knowledge and biodiversity, understanding initiation pathways can inform recruitment for citizen science platforms (e.g., eBird) and conservation engagement. Birding often precedes participation in citizen science, making initiation a crucial prerequisite to study. The research aims to identify reasons for birding initiation, assess gender differences (including the gender of influential initiators), and examine how initiation reasons vary across decades. Birding is treated as a model for initiation into nature-based leisure, with potential transferability to other activities.

The literature highlights the growth and importance of citizen science (CS) in ornithology for biodiversity monitoring and large-scale ecological insights, with participants ranging from casual observers to highly specialized birders. Prior work shows recruitment often occurs via word-of-mouth or chance, but retention is improved with in-person guidance. Birding is associated with pro-environmental behaviors (e.g., donations, responsible field practices) and can support conservation and local communities when pursued sustainably. Children’s interest and knowledge about animals tend to peak around ages 9–12, suggesting a potent window for initiating biodiversity-related learning; interventions at this age can increase knowledge and attitudes toward wildlife. Leisure socialization research indicates both childhood and adult initiation pathways, with strong family influence, while life-course events (e.g., marriage, childbearing, retirement) can alter specialization. Specific to birding, earlier work (Canada and USA) found many start in adulthood, but childhood initiation can promote greater specialization. Prior studies often used Likert-type items; qualitative work suggests family, events, and resources during childhood contribute to lifelong science interest. The current study uses a mixed-methods, open-ended approach to capture a broader range of triggers and to analyze gender and decade effects with a larger sample than prior initiation studies.

Design: Mixed-methods with qualitative content analysis and quantitative statistics. Sample and recruitment: Online survey (SoSciSurvey) across German-speaking countries, mainly Germany (n=2300), Austria (n=62), Switzerland (n=99), with a few from other countries. Recruitment via bird/nature organization websites and mailing lists (e.g., naturgucker.de, NABU, DO-G), Facebook groups, and a print journal advertisement. Informed consent obtained; ethics approval granted (Eberhard Karls University Tübingen). Total participants: 2668; for initiation analyses, n=2464 provided a specific reason. Measures: Demographics (current age, age at birding initiation, gender). Core open-ended item: “Was there an experience or reason, why you have started with bird-watching?” Qualitative coding: Inductive qualitative content analysis (Mayring, 2001, 2014, 2015, 2019). Initial low-abstraction coding (e.g., “father,” “mother,” “teacher”) aggregated to higher-order categories (e.g., “family,” “teachers,” “social”). Iterative development of a coding guide (definitions, anchor examples, coding rules); recoding performed until saturation. Final scheme: 37 categories grouped into 12 main categories with 35 subcategories (plus “not codable” and “other”). Multiple codes per respondent permitted (binary coding 1/0 per category). Gender of the influential person coded where identifiable. Cognitive-emotional constructs (interest, curiosity) coded separately from emotions. Quantitative analysis: Decade of initiation derived from current age and initiation age; grouped into ten-year bins (pre-1960, 1961–1970, …, 2011–2020). Statistical tests: Fisher’s exact tests for gender differences; Kendall’s tau for decade trends; independent t-tests for mean comparisons. Software: SPSS 26.

Sample characteristics: Of 2668 participants, 204 reported no specific reason; analyses based on n=2464. Mean current age: 46.98±16.12 years; mean initiation age: 22.90±15.27 years; mean birding experience: 24.06±19.33 years. Gender: 1213 male, 1240 female, 11 non-binary. Initiation spans childhood to late adulthood. Overall initiation reasons (descending importance): Social influence; nature experience; bird-centered triggers; education (formal/informal/media/knowledge expansion); cognitive-emotional (interest, curiosity); other emotions (e.g., fascination, enjoyment, connectedness); initiation via other hobbies/jobs (including civil services); life-course events; ecological aspects; bird clubs/groups; opportunity. Selected quantitative details (from subcategories): - Social: Club/group coded in 25.7% (Kendall’s r=-0.233, p<0.001; gender p=0.355). Social was the most common main category overall. - Nature experience: Travel experience 23.4% (gender p<0.001); field trip 4.6% (r=0.046, p=0.043; gender p=0.016); direct access to nature 4.3%; accidental during nature-related activities 4.6%. - Bird experience: Specific experience with a bird 11.6% (r=-0.05, p=0.013; gender p=0.002); bird feeding 3.9%. - Ecology: Species decline 17.9%; biodiversity 8.7%; bird song 7.5%; nest boxes 0.9%; esthetic aspects 1.3%; bird flight 1.4%. - Education: Formal 0.3% (r=0.098, p<0.001); non-formal 5.0%; media 3.9%; expand own knowledge 15.7% (r=0.096, p<0.001; gender p=0.318). - Initiation via other job/hobby: Civil services 8.1%; job 0.6%; other hobby 3.3%; other 3.3%. - Cognitive-emotional: Interest 11.6% (r=0.180, p<0.001; gender p=0.038); curiosity 4.6%. - Emotions: Connectedness to nature 1.7%; positive emotions toward animals 4.1%; enjoyment 1.4% (r=-0.061, p=0.003); fascination 14.5%; boredom of other activities 13.1%. - Opportunity/advantage: Leisure/relaxation 1.7%; easy leisure activity 12.2% (r=-0.066, p=0.001; gender p=0.002); looking for a nature-related hobby 5.5%. - Life-course events: Multiple subcategories indicated overall increasing importance across decades; overall category showed a positive trend (textual report). Influential persons (social subcategory; n=634): father 22.1%; parents 12.9%; other family 12.5%; birding friend 12.1%; grandfather 8.8%; teacher/docent 6.5%; spouse/partner 5.0%; mother 3.8%; expert/field trip leader 3.3%; workplace 3.2%; grandmother 1.7%; child(ren) 1.6%; grandparents 1.4%; others 5.0%. Gender patterns: Men more often initiated via clubs/groups and other activities (job/hobby); women more via nature experience, bird experience, emotions, and life-course events. In social initiation, the gender of the initiator matched the respondent more often than expected: men influenced more by males and women by females (χ²=6.023, p=0.021, n=297). Decade trends: Social initiation decreased over time, while ecological aspects, education, initiation via other activities, and life-course events increased (e.g., club/group r=-0.233, p<0.001; interest r=0.180, p<0.001). The authors note that large sample size can render small correlations statistically significant.

Findings address four key questions. First, initiation is most frequently driven by social influences (especially family—fathers prominent), followed by nature and bird-specific experiences and educational contexts, underscoring the centrality of interpersonal transmission and direct encounters with birds/nature. Second, gender differences suggest differing pathways: men more often through clubs/groups and job/hobby venues, women more via nature/bird experiences, emotions, and life-course events. Third, the social initiator’s gender often mirrors the respondent’s, implying the value of gender-matched role models and mentors. Fourth, reasons for initiation shifted across decades, with declining social initiation and rising roles for ecological salience, education, other activities, and life-course triggers. These results reinforce the importance of family and early exposure, aligning with literature on leisure socialization and children’s peak interest/knowledge ages. They also highlight practical levers for conservation and citizen science recruitment: emphasizing personal invitations and mentoring; facilitating bird and nature experiences; and integrating organism-focused content in formal and informal education. The decade trends suggest evolving cultural contexts, where media attention to ecological issues and educational outreach may increasingly compensate for reduced familial transmission. Differences from some US-based studies point to cultural/contextual variability, warranting cross-cultural replication.

This mixed-methods study with a large German-speaking sample shows that social influences—especially within families—are the predominant triggers for initial involvement in birding, with substantial roles for nature/bird experiences and education. Gendered pathways and gender-matched mentorship emerged as important, and initiation drivers shifted across decades from social toward ecological salience, education, and life-course triggers. Implications include targeting the 9–12 age window with organism-focused, hands-on experiences; developing parent–child programs; increasing women’s leadership/visibility in birding; and leveraging personal invitations through clubs, walks, and educational venues to recruit future citizen scientists. Future research should examine cross-cultural differences in initiation, parse causal mechanisms behind decade trends, and assess interventions that strengthen social mentoring and direct bird experiences.

The study relies on retrospective self-reports of initiation reasons and ages, which may be subject to recall bias. The sample is primarily from German-speaking countries, which may limit generalizability to other cultural contexts; differences with prior US/Canadian studies were noted. Multiple coding per respondent and an open-ended, inductive approach enhance richness but depend on coding decisions despite iterative validation. The large sample size means even small effect sizes can reach statistical significance, as the authors note. Decade trend analyses infer initiation period from current and initiation ages, which may introduce temporal classification imprecision.