I’ve been a very casual birder for many many years (one of my early birthday parties was a birding trip my parents organized with our local Audobon society, and my family has visited Central and South America half a dozen times primarily to check out the wildlife there), but I started seriously birding in late 2024.
Birding is obviously a super popular hobby (especially post-pandemic), but it’s still a little unusual for my age demographic so I get a lot of questions about the appeal. I think the best way to explain it is that it’s like playing Pokémon GO but the pokémon are 100% real. Why birds and not snakes or mammals? Birds are both more accessible and more diverse than any other class of animals. I could search all day in a park not find a single snake, but I guarantee you I can spot at least a few different species of birds.