First recorded in 1900–05
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That's one reason why we say birder instead of bird watcher.
From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2023
He recalled that Katherine, an avid bird watcher, said she wanted to be cremated and to have her remains scattered in the Montrose Beach area of Chicago, where there is a bird sanctuary.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2022
A black bird watcher, Christian Cooper, asked Amy Cooper to leash her dog in Central Park.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2022
Keen bird watcher Dragan Simic said he did not care about the statue.
From Reuters ● Nov. 15, 2018
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
What’s especially charming about the latter is that Gary, a nerdy sweetheart who lives alone with his two cats and is an avid bird-watcher, is clearly the opposite of danger.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Slowly, taking great pains, he wrote Christos Theodorakis, bird-watcher.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
