Birds that are more commonly encountered in the wild attract higher public interest online

Large body size, the defining characteristic of “charismatic megafauna,” is often viewed as most significant correlate higher public interest in species. However, common, local species (many which are not large) can also generate interest. We explored relative importance size versus occurrence patterns online birds using a large sample digital human-wildlife interactions (367 million Wikipedia pageviews) that included more than 10,000 bird and range cultural geographic contexts (represented by 25 language editions). compared Wikipedia, measured pageviews, with bird's its regional observation frequency (using data from eBird.org). found (i.e., those occur wild country responsible for majority edition's attract pageviews global Both had positive correlation across languages, but eBird explained variance on average. In model both was significantly better predictor 24 languages. Our results demonstrate opportunity to encounter increased multiple linguistic contexts. This relationship provides insight into why some greater others emphasizes overlooked potential common conservation marketing.