Birding

The term birdwatching was first used in 1901 while "bird" was introduced as a verb in 1918.[3] The term "birding" was also used for the practice of "fowling" or hunting with firearms as in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor (1602) She laments sir... her husband goes this morning a-birding.[4] The terms 'birding' and 'birdwatching' are today used interchangeably, although 'birding' is preferred by many since this includes the auditory component involved in spotting birds.

The term 'twitcher', sometimes misapplied as a synonym for birder, is reserved for those who travel long distances to see a rare bird that would then be "ticked" off on a "list". The usage of the term twitcher began in the 1950s originating from a phrase used to describe the nervous behaviour of Howard Medhurst, a British birdwatcher. Prior to that the term used for those who chased rarities was "pot-hunter", "tally-hunter", or "tick-hunter". The practice of travelling long distances to spot rarities was aided by the rising popularity of cars.

The goal of twitching is often to accumulate species on one's lists. Some birders engage in competition with one another to accumulate the longest species list. The act of the pursuit itself is referred to as a "twitch" or a "chase". A rare bird that stays put long enough for people to see it is called "twitchable" or "chaseable".

Twitching is highly developed in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Finland and Sweden. The smaller regional size of these countries make it possible to quickly travel inside their borders with relative ease. The most popular twitches in the UK have drawn large crowds, such as a group of approximately 5,000 people who came to view a Golden-winged Warbler in Kent. Twitchers have developed their own vocabulary. For example, a twitcher who fails to see a rare bird has dipped out; if other twitchers do see the bird, he may feel gripped off. Suppression is the act of concealing news of a rare bird from other twitchers.

Extract from Wikipedia entry on birding.