AcknowledgementsWe acknowledge the final support provided by the Eastern ARC Seed Fund that enabled us to undertake our survey design and data collection. An Economic Analysis of Twitching Behaviour and Species RarityAbstract Avid birdwatchers, or 'twitchers', expend a considerable amount of money and time pursuing viewing experiences of rare or vagrant species. By vagrant species we mean a species found outside its normal range/distribution. To enhance our understanding of this form of behaviour, we present results from a UK survey of twitchers. First, we examine the relationship between cost and rarity based on actual viewing experiences. Our statistical results reveal that the relationship between cost and rarity is positive and very inelastic. Second, we present results from a hypothetical Best-Worst Scaling exercise examining aspects of species rarity. We find that rarity is a more nuanced construct than simply the frequency with which a vagrant species has appeared. Our results provide insights into the meaning of rarity, as well as the economic value attach to it and why.

Improving the efficiency in the domestic energy consumption has become a showpiece of how behavioral economics can be applied to the field of All the authors conceived and designed the study. M.B. implemented the field study and data collection. N.B. performed the data management and analysis of the data. All the authors contributed toward the interpretation of the results and the writing of the manuscript.