How do people become birders?

     One of my interests is in understanding what people do as well as why they do it.  This applies to birders and their birding activities.  Social science researchers who study these things often try to determine peoples' motivations for their behaviors.  There are two main challenges with this approach, in my opinion.  First, it necessarily links the idea of "being a birder" to some set of birding behaviors.  Am I only a birder when I put my binoculars around my neck and purposefully go out birding?  Am I a birder even when I don't go out birding?  The second challenge with a motivations approach to understanding birders and birding is that being a birder involves many, many different kinds of behaviors.  As a birder, I may have very different motivations for any of those behaviors.

     One way I try to get around those challenges, is to try to understand birding from the perspective of people developing an identity as a birder.  A main premise of this approach is that people become recruited into the population of birders through a process of identity development.  Over several years, a person may progress from being a nonbirder, to a potential birder, to an apprentice birder, to a recruited birder, and finally to a retained birder.  Although awareness of the activity of birding, determination of individual motivations and constraints, and birding satisfaction all are important concepts in the identity model as in other models pertaining to individuals making decisions about participation, these concepts are interpreted and applied differently here.  Overall, the identity model posits that it is not what you do, but who you are, that defines you as a birder. 

            The development, and ultimately maintenance, of one’s self-perception (i.e., identity) as a birder is a socio-cultural process that can be marked by various stages.  For example, non-birders are not aware that someone may have an identity as a birder although they likely are aware of the activity of birding.  Potential birders know that birding is more than an activity for some people, and that it can be a “way of life” or an expression of “who I am.”  This awareness arises through interactions with retained birders and other members of the birding culture (i.e., social anthropologists call these “sources of productive power”) who also make potential birders familiar with the characteristic attributes of birders (e.g., observant, in-tune with season rhythms of wildlife, conservation-minded, ethical, etc.).  When potential birders believe consistency exists between their personal motivations and the characteristic attributes of birders, potential birders become interested in “trying-out” the activities and social mores associated with being a birder. 



Figure 1.  Non-birders become potential birders when they develop an awareness that birding means more than just an activity for some people, and that being a birder be an important element of a person's identity.



            Apprentice birders start developing an identity as a birder by tying-out birding-related activities.  At this stage, retained birders and other mentors help apprentices develop the technical competencies (e.g., how-to skills) and social competencies (i.e., norms and values) needed to develop a birder identity.  Technical competence develops through repeated participation in birding “rituals” (another term borrowed from social anthropologists, and importantly distinguished from the term “rites of passage”) that build skill and understanding about how to apply that skill in different situations.  Social competence is built over time through transformative behaviors and experiences, referred to as “rites-of-passage,” which help apprentices attain the characteristic attributes of being a birder.  Most contemporary birding recruitment programs focus on building technical competence (how to use binoculars, where to go birding, how to recognize bird songs, etc.), but lack specific interventions to develop social competencies (e.g., what qualities or traits make someone a birder).



Figure 2.  Potential birders become apprentice birders when they try out different  birding behaviors, and learn both the "how-to" elements and the meaning associated with being a birder.



Recruited birders are recognized, by themselves and often by others, as having “made it” as birders because they have attained the skills, knowledge, and characteristic attributes of a birder.  Retained birders sustain their identity by remaining satisfied that they hold and express the characteristic attributes of a birder (e.g., as ethical as I want to be, as knowledgeable, as respectful, etc.).  As long as cultural capacity exists (within the birding culture), retained birders are likely to interpret dissatisfaction (i.e., less than desired levels of characteristic attributes) as a threat to their birder identity, and will act politically and financially to make sure that the threat is addressed. 



Figure 3.  Full model showing how someone goes through various stages of identity development from a non-birder, to a potential birder, to an apprentice birder, to a recruited birder and ultimately a retained birder.



One important point to note is that a person could participate in birding activities (i.e., go birding) and be in any stage of identity development – even the non-birder stage of identity development.  Going birding does not make someone a birder!  Development of characteristic traits makes somebody a birder, and that development takes time.  Other posts will try to answer the following questions.  What are the characteristic attributes of a birder?  Who determines which attributes makes somebody a birder?  What are the processes through which those attributes are developed? 

Go bird!