Spending time in nature has been linked to a variety of benefits, ranging from lower stress to improved cognition and memory.

 

An increasingly popular activity

 

According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 96.3 million people engaged in birdwatching in 2022, with nearly 43 million people embarking on trips away from their homes to birdwatch—up from 18 million in 2011.

US Department of the Interior, US Fish and Wildlife Service. 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. September 2023.

Trovall E. Bird-watchers drive business to this coastal Texas area. Marketplace. May 8, 2024.

 

 

The growing popularity can be attributed to the fact that it is a relatively inexpensive and widely accessible hobby—for the most part, anyone anywhere can observe and appreciate birds and other wildlife.

Popularity of birding also soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when people were searching for a safe and mostly free outdoor activity.

Peterson MN, Larson LR, Hipp A, et al. Birdwatching linked to increased psychological well-being on college campuses: A pilot-scale experimental study. J Environ Psychol. 2024;96:102306.

Catalano R. Could a birding boom in the U.S. help conservation take flight? National Geographic. September 2, 2021.

 

 

Mental health benefits

 

A study published in Scientific Reports sought to investigate the benefits of encountering birds in a real-world context.

Hammoud R, Tognin S, Burgess L, et al. Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife. Sci Rep. 2022;12(1):17589.

The study included 1,292 participants who used a smartphone-based application to self-report on their mental well-being in the context of seeing or hearing birds in their every-day life. The participants completed a total of 26,856 ecological momentary assessments between April 2018 and October 2021. 

 

Investigators found that the participants’ mental health was significantly better when seeing or hearing birds in comparison to times where birds were not heard or seen. The mental health improvements also applied to participants with depression. The positive effects on mental well-being were observed even after adjustments for confounding variables such as age, gender, ethnicity, education, and occupation were made.

To account for this, the investigators modeled seeing trees and plants and seeing or hearing water as additional confounding variables. The results of the study were still significant, demonstrating that there is a specific benefit to watching birds on psychological well-being that extends beyond the benefit of being in nature.

“There is growing evidence on the mental health benefits of being around nature and we intuitively think that the presence of birdsong and birds would help lift our mood," said the lead author of the study.

Feeling chirpy: Being around birds is linked to lasting mental health benefits. King’s College London. October 27, 2022.

"However, there is little research that has actually investigated the impact of birds on mental health in real-time and in a real environment. By using the [smartphone] app we have for the first time showed the direct link between seeing or hearing birds and positive mood. We hope this evidence can demonstrate the importance of protecting and providing environments to encourage birds, not only for biodiversity but for our mental health.”

 

A 2024 article published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology reported on a study that evaluated the impact of a 30-minute weekly birdwatching walk on self-reported well-being.

Peterson MN, Larson LR, Hipp A, et al. Birdwatching linked to increased psychological well-being on college campuses: A pilot-scale experimental study. J Environ Psychol. 2024;96:102306.

The participants were college students on the NC State University campus and were randomly assigned to control (no birdwatching walk) and treatment groups. The results supported previous work that showed that nature engagement, and birdwatching in particular, may increase mental well-being and decrease psychological distress.

 

 

So, what is it about birds?

 

Charismatic fliers

 

Andrea Mechelli, PhD, a professor of early intervention in mental health at King’s College London and an author of the Scientific Reports study, hypothesized that multiple factors could explain why encountering birds is beneficial for psychological well-being.

In addition, birds attract people to the outdoors, and being outdoors is well-documented to improve mood. 

Tina Philips, PhD, assistant director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Center for Engagement in Science and Nature, also spoke with TIME about the allure of birdwatching: “They can fly. They can do something that we can never do, outside of a plane, so there’s that fascination. There’s a lot about birds in terms of their charisma, their behavior, and their accessibility that makes them this perfect group of animals that people can really relate to and resonate with.”