Jump To:

• bird watcher
  bird watcher

  noun

  a person who identifies and observes birds in their natural habitat as a recreation.
• bird-watcher
  bird-watcher

  noun

  a person who studies wild birds in their natural surroundings

bird watcher

American  

Or birdwatcher

noun

1. a person who identifies and observes birds in their natural habitat as a recreation.

---

bird-watcher British  

noun

1. a person who studies wild birds in their natural surroundings

---

Other Word Forms

• bird-watching
  noun

Etymology

Origin of bird watcher

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bird watcher bird-watcher

“This is huge. This is unbelievable,” said Edelhuber, an avid bird watcher and photographer.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2023

That's one reason why we say birder instead of bird watcher.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2023

As longtime bird watcher Stella Hamilton pointed out, he was “like a fledgling” mastering the art of surviving, but a fledgling who compressed weeks of learning into a couple days.

From New York Times ● Mar. 3, 2023

A black bird watcher, Christian Cooper, asked Amy Cooper to leash her dog in Central Park.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2022

Miss Ellis was looking at the two of them like a bird watcher onto a rare species.

From "The Great Gilly Hopkins" by Katherine Paterson

“I want to say it was the happiest day of my life, but I have two children,” said Debra Schiff, 69, a bird-watcher, while admiring a turtle at the lagoon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026

"You look at people the way a bird-watcher looks at birds," said a friend.

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026

He posted a series of short-form videos on social media in which he told viewers to “come with me as a 32-year-old hungover bird-watcher in New York.”

From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2025

Hours before George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, Black bird-watcher Christian Cooper was doing what he loved in New York’s most famous park.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 3, 2023

Officer Delinko wasn’t a bird-watcher, but he was intrigued by the toy-sized owls.

From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen