More young people flocking to birding as their hobby of choice

A new generation of birders is embracing the hobby and making it their own.

Birding,  bird watching, is the observation of birds in nature. Many participants also capture photographs or sound recordings of their sightings, and keep track of the species they’ve seen throughout their lives.

In Sudbury, Ont., a Facebook group is providing a platform for birders of all ages and backgrounds to share their sightings, plan meetups and get new information about all things ornithological. About 1,600 people have joined the group, which covers the Sudbury and Manitoulin Island areas.

Group administrator Anne Blondin said she’s amazed with the community’s growth since it launched in 2017. Blondin works for Parks Canada and previously worked as a field technician on the James Bay Shorebird Project.

“When I first joined the Sudbury Ornithological Society, I was the youngest person,” Blondin said.

“In the Facebook group, I definitely am noticing a lot more young people posting. So I guess seeing that kind of shows that more young people are getting involved.”

Jack Alvo, secretary of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO), said his group is also seeing more young people taking up the hobby.

“What’s also impressive are the number of young people that are totally immersed in birding and who have become highly skilled and knowledgeable in a very short time,” Alvo said.

However, he said, younger people seem less likely to join ornithological societies, instead connecting with their peers on social media. That makes counting their numbers more challenging.

Meet some of the northeast’s young birders

Birding is a relatively new hobby for 24-year-old Jerri Carriere in Sudbury. She first looked closely at birds on a Bahamas trip in 2023, which led her to learn about identifying the many species abroad and at home.

Carriere said her interest expanded through the help of modern technology like Merlin, a phone app that listens for, and identifies, bird calls in the area.

“It became a rabbit hole,” Carriere said.

“When I went to Fielding [Bird Sanctuary] for the first time, it was almost magical.”

She said she stuck with the hobby because it offers a chance to get into nature, and the community has been welcoming and supportive.

North Bay family shares birding

The Corbeil family of North Bay has embraced this hobby since 2020, when they set up a feeder in their backyard.

The most enthusiastic birder of the bunch is 13-year-old Jeremie, who now has a camera and a tripod to capture his sightings.

“It takes a lot of patience to find everything,” Jeremie said. “Not everything’s going to come to you right away.”

Over the past four years, he has spotted more than 150 species of birds. He said some people around his age have tried out birding, but few have stuck with it. However, he said, he makes some of North Bay’s older birders envious.

“They say it’s great to start at a young age, because it’s easier to hear and it’s easier to see.”

Breaking barriers in the hobby

Alicia Irwin, a 35-year-old in Sudbury, has been birding for more than a decade. It began while they were working for the Wild At Heart Wildlife Refuge Centre in Lively, Ont., where Irwin was exposed to many different species and the care they need.

When they first joined the birding community, they felt there was a lack of diversity in the hobby, so they worked on broadening its reach.

“My partner and I had helped to co-ordinate the queer birding trip that happened last year,” they said. “We saw quite a few younger folks come out, like people we don’t see on the trails.”

Irwin said having more diverse voices in the hobby will bring different perspectives and knowledge. They say it’s important for people to feel represented in a variety of hobbies.

Birding crosses over into art

Sudbury tattoo artist Alex Berens, 33, said some of the principles of birding translate into her art.

“When you’re out in the field, you have to be patient, you have to observe and you have to be kind of mindful to your surroundings,” she said. “Those are all skills I’m trying to cultivate.”

The walls of Berens’s tattoo studio are adorned with bird-influenced artwork.

“Probably like 75 per cent of my clientele are birders, and like, extreme birders too, not just backyard birders. They are doing bird banding and are doing research with birds,” said Berens. “The majority of them are … in their 20s.”

Berens said her grandmother was a naturalist and avid backyard birder. Her influence helped ignite Berens’s passion for nature.

She said birding is also appealing because it’s a low-barrier hobby — it can be done nearly anywhere and without any equipment.

A generational interest

Greg Blomme, 35, has been birding in the Sudbury area and beyond for most of his life. He came by the hobby honestly, with his father, Chris Blomme, being a lifelong birder and a biologist at Laurentian University.

“As a young kid who needed to burn off a lot of energy, he brought me along to jump into the ponds and hit some trees with some sticks and say, ‘Hey, go scare up those birds.’ And it just developed from there,” Greg said.

He said he has enjoyed learning how the same species can have a different “dialect” to its call, based on where it lives – similar to humans.

Greg said he appreciates the work of groups like the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee for hosting learning walks, getting more people introduced to the hobby.