Editor of North American Birds, Ned Brinkley spends as much time pondering the cultural changes in birding as the changes in the distribution of birds. He writes: “Over the 20th century, film and television in the United States almost invariably portrayed birders as marginal and eccentric. For many decades such media strongly influenced the general public’s perception of birders and went nearly unchallenged. As with other subcultures birders began to stake claims to normative American “cool” culture. This shift in self-definition was first reflected in the media in the 1990s. With the limitless proliferation via social media in the 21st century, the process by which birders perceive and promulgate themselves and their pastime as mainstream has accelerated. Birding is seen now as intense, athletic, hip, intelligent, exploratory, edgy, and fashionable.” Brinkley’s talk will trace birding’s evolution from the era of mannish spinsters and knock-kneed milquetoasts to the latter-day spectacle of selfie super-heroism.
