Where are the birders? This is a question I constantly ask myself when I am
birding, locally, not just because I prefer to have company when I am birding, but also because so many bird species are in decline and our birds need friends like never before. The birds are certainly, here, compared to the many places I have lived. So where are the birders? Seeing another birder in my neck of the woods happens about as often as spotting a Bald Eagle or a Merlin, here in the suburbs. It does happen, but not very often, maybe once or twice a year and I am out nearly on a daily basis. What's going on? One answer might be demographics. The statement in the US Fish and Wildlife Service Study 2001 on birding put it this way: "The average birder is 49 years old and more than likely has a better than average income and education. She is slightly more likely to be female, and highly likely to be white and married. There is also a good chance that this birder lives in the northern half of the country in a small city or town." Okay, at one time that was definitely me, although I'm a bit older, now, divorced and no longer living in a small town (sigh). It also does a fair job of describing the few other birders in my area that I do know, but it definitely DOES NOT describe the vast majority of my neighbors in this densely populated, very multi-cultural suburb, north of Chicago. I don't believe for a second, though, that an interest in birds and nature in general has anything to do with one's culture and ethnicity. I know, because when I set up my
spotting scope at a popular neighborhood lake, I get people of every kind, many of whom do not speak English, lined up behind me to look through my spotting scope. Everyone likes to see birds. If we, as birders, don't find a way to take birding outside our little slice of the American population, we may all be asking where are the birds instead of where are the birders. To that end, I will be setting up my
birding spotting scope more this summer and doing my best to bring birds to ALL my neighbors.