Dictionary

twitcher en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈtwɪt͡ʃɚ/ (Canadian, General-American, Standard)
• [ˈtʰwɪt͡ʃɚ] ~ [ˈtʰwɪt͡ʃɹ̩] (Canadian, General-American, Standard)
• [ˈtʰwɪt͡ʃə] (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈtwɪt͡ʃə/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From twitch + -er. The birdwatching sense first recorded in 1970 and recalled as being in use in 1968; claimed by R.E. Emmett to have arisen in 1950s Britain in reference to birder Howard Medhurst who often arrived at rare‑bird sites shivering after riding pillion on Emmett's motorcycle.

Meanings

1. Someone or something that twitches.
2. An avid birdwatcher who travels long distances to see rare species, or to add a new species to their personal list; a birder who goes on twitches.
   • I do not consider myself either a twitcher or an expert. 2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 21:
   • Twitchers are very mobile and may travel great distances to see rare birds, of which they hear through their efficient 'grapevine'. 1981, Peter Weaver, The Birdwatcher's Dictionary, London: T & AD Poyser, page 120:
   • It is difficult to classify them precisely, but, in roughly ascending order of productivity, we now recognise the purely chance observer, the locality regulars (now recognising that ‘time in’ eventually equals ‘rarity out’), the ringers (particularly when working in groups), the occasional tally-hunter (most of us, if we are honest), the full-time observatory workers (exhibiting the highest standards of discipline) and the growing group of full-blooded rarity collectors (self-styled ‘twitchers’, covering individually up to 30,000 miles in their annual pursuit of ‘lifers’). 1970, D.I.M. Wallace, “The first ten years of the Rarities Committee”, in British Birds, volume 63, number 3, London, page 124:

Forms

Deriveds

curtain twitcher

Translations (8)

nl twitcher (eager bird watcher) · fr cocheur (eager bird watcher) · fi lintubongari (eager bird watcher) · de manischer Vogelbeobachter (someone or something that twitches) · fi bongari (eager bird watcher) · fi sätkijä (someone or something that twitches) · fi nykijä (someone or something that twitches) · fi hiplari (someone or something that twitches)