Robin Who? Bird Species Knowledge of German Adults

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Biodiversity is declining worldwide, and knowledge of species and interest in nature are decreasing. The present study investigated the knowledge about bird species among the adult Bavarian population. Data were collected through a representative online survey with over one thousand respondents. The participants were asked to identify the species of birds they were shown pictures of. On average, 6 of the 15 species were identified correctly. Older participants scored higher than younger ones. The Eurasian blackbird showed the highest recognition rate, which correlates with the species abundance. Participants who performed better showed a higher tendency to act proactively for nature conservation, for instance donating money to NGOs. ABSTRACT: Knowledge of species is the basis for involvement in biodiversity awareness and protection. For the first time, we investigated how bird species knowledge is spread among adults in Germany in a representative study. It was shown that of the 15 species presented, only 6 were recognized on average, and 4.5% of the tested persons did not recognize any species at all. Only 0.5% knew all presented species. Younger participants in particular knew significantly fewer species than the group over 60 years. We also tested if species knowledge has an impact on the motivation to act for nature conservation. In this study, knowledge of species correlated directly with the willingness to take action for species protection, e.g., through donating money for proactive nature conservation. Simply being in nature was meaningless for the test result. However, if one was actively involved with birds, e.g., via bird counts or bird feeding, species knowledge was significantly better.