What factors affect the ‘flocking’ of birdwatchers during bird rarity observations?

Abstract Detecting rare bird species is an essential aspect of ornithological culture. The pursuit of observing rare bird species is not only a key facet of birdwatching tourism but also a fascinating intersection between ornithology and sociology. However, patterns in birdwatcher gatherings around rare birds and the factors affecting these patterns in situ are largely unexplored. We directly asked 50 birdwatchers and analysed available photos to obtain details on birdwatcher gatherings at the occasion of 103 observations of 71 rare species recorded in 1996–2022 in Poland. Our analysis revealed that the number of people participating in rare bird observations was influenced by the rarity status of the species (rarer species attracted larger groups), the year (with an increase in recent years) and the interaction between these factors (there was an increasing trend for birdwatchers to ‘twitch’, that is participate in sightings of very rare bird species, in recent years). Furthermore, distance to urban centres significantly negatively affected the size of birdwatcher groups. In addition, we found that the proportion of observers who successfully saw a birding rarity at each site decreased in recent years but increased during the weekend. We also found that the proportion of women in these crowds has grown in recent years and that female birdwatchers were more willing to participate in observations of more common rarities than male birdwatchers. Our results indicate that birdwatching gatherings around bird rarities can be impacted by several factors, including the general rarity of species, year and distance to cities. A dynamic increase in the proportion of females participating in birdwatching in Poland resembles trends reported in other countries. Increased female engagement in observations of more common rarities may be potentially influenced by distinct motivations. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.