Cultural representation instead of ecological traits, explains the knowledge of bird species in the general public – a case study from Germany

Previous studies have examined individual-level factors influencing bird species knowledge or the popularity of species. Here, we analyse for the first time which bird species can be identified by the general population using knowledge tests and whether knowledge can be explained by ecological factors, species traits and social/cultural factors. Until now, there is no empirical evidence as to why some bird species are better known or more familiar to humans than others. We hypothesize that bird species with a higher probability of human encounters and high public appeal should be more familiar, and hence, better known. Further, species that visit feeders and species that are more represented in culture should be more familiar to the public. We constructed a bird species familiarity index based on 50 bird species presented to 3438 respondents from Germany. This was linked to different ecological and morphological species traits, encounter probability, species appeal and cultural representation (cultural representation). Encounter probability, species appeal and cultural representation were subjected to exploratory factor analyses and finally correlated with the familiarity index. We found medium to high correlations between species familiarity and appeal and cultural representation, respectively. No relationship was found with encounter probability. Finally, familiarity was positively correlated with eBird entries and scientific data from bird feeders. Typical bird feeder species were better known by the public. The study shows that appeal and cultural representation are the most important sources of bird familiarity in the public, but bird feeding also contributes to knowledge.