i’m 15 and i want to find other teenagers who enjoy herping and birding. every other teen i know has little interest in the outdoors. any advice on where to look or where to start?
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Hi, I stumbled into the same problem last year (I’m almost 15). I met some awesome guys on iNat the same age as me or, at least, near my age.
I was lucky enough to find some in the local community, with which I soon started talking and going herping or birding.
Besides iNat, you could start looking in your neighborhood for guys doing the same things as you do. At first, there seems to be none, but they show up at some point. I recommend going to a local park, forest or anywhere you like, because others with the same passions might go there too.
There are always dudes loving birds, animals or bugs.
After you find them, you can start chatting about what brought you both there: birds, some cool snake or a weird tree. The best part it that you don’t even have to look too far. You might just bumb into them in one of your walks.
Who knows?
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I’m 15 as well! I go to my local audubon’s young birders meet ups, and joined school clubs. I’m lucky enough to have found friends that go birding with me.
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I’m 14, and I’ve also found it hard to find other people with similar interests! As it is, I’ve broadened my friendships e to those of all ages, because sometimes older people are those who seem to take more time to slow down and pay attention to nature.
Most of my young friends are on iNat, and, needless to say, I’ve never met them. We can still have some really fun discussions though!
I would suggest just bringing nature into a discussion with others and see if they find it interesting! My brothers have found lots of fishing enthusiasts, and have even brought people into fishing!
I myself have sparked their interest in birds, which they now take to avedly, so you could maybe find someone to inspire too!
Good luck!
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Do any of you have nature areas such as refuges, state parks, and such? They may offer events where you might meet some others.
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Piggybacking off of this good advice, you might also try local university lectures, too, and museum events.
I am glad you have a robust group project here. :)
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My suggestions assume that you attend a traditional school, which might not be the case.
If you do, maybe you could ask the science teachers there. There might be other kids that you don’t know about because they’re not in your classes. Teachers might know which kids like to talk about snakes or birds or whatever.
If your school allows clubs, can you start one, or find a teacher to sponsor one? Or if not a club, maybe just a one-time event.
Back at the dawn of time when I was your age, I didn’t know anyone who shared my interest in nature, except for my brother, and a beloved high school teacher. We didn’t have wonderful things like iNaturalist to help us connect with other like-minded individuals!
Good luck, and let us know how things work out.
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@nikthecowboy mentioned local young birder groups. That is probably the most visible and active community of young naturalists that you can find. They often have websites or social media and regular field trips. And birders are often all around naturalists.
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Assuming you’re based in the US, you may consider looking into your local 4-H club or FFA chapter. Although they primarily focus on agriculture, they still have many resources for students interested natural resources and wildlife
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oooh thank you i didnt know this existed
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that’s a good idea, thank you. i think i might have some places like that
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i go to a private school for neurodivergent kids but i think that actually increases my chances of finding someone lol. my teachers would probably tell me if they knew any kids like me in the school, but maybe there’s some in the other ones. thanks for the advice.
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ooh thats an interesting idea. i’ve never heard of those. thank you.
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Unfortunately in today’s society most teenagers are so disoriented to the nature around them.
Young Inatters are far and few between. I’m one myself and have been on Inat 6 years. I have never met another person Inatting.
Please feel free to reach out to me for any questions. I hope I can make other young naturalists experience on Inat better.
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It’s a paradox: on one hand, ecological literacy has never been lower. Humans have never been more disconnected from nature, and probably teens most of all.
On the other hand, thanks to social media and various types of platforms, it has never been easier to find people who share your interest in any niche topic!
One name for this is intergenerational connection. It is a best practice in human connection, because it benefits both parties. The young get the benefit of wisdom and experience, and the old get the benefit of youthful energy and enthusiasm.
At the same time, your teens are when you start to leave your family group and make your way in the world. It is natural to want to team up with other teens around your age, who share your context.
This thread is already full of great suggestions. One thing that I’ll underline is, social media platforms or communication platforms tend to skew younger, especially if they’re newer platforms. So the more you engage with the platforms, the more young people you will meet.
Matthew shared
Which contains links to a Discord server and a WhatsApp group. There is also the unofficial iNat Discord server.
You get out of it what you put into it!
One of the hardest, but most effective things to do, is to build a large social media following focusing on nature. This will eventually attract a lot of people, and some of them will be teens.
Or, along the same lines of “tons of work but very effective”, you could follow in the footsteps of @thebeachcomber: https://thomasmesaglio.com/bio-journey
Robbie, although
40% green stuff (plants) in 2025:
young botanists are rarer than young birders.
Since
Here is an eBird list of young birders’ clubs
and an article on the Best ways to meet other teenage birders in person
Robbie, in Thomas’ bio, he explains that he had plant blindness until the lockdowns. He started with shells (beachcombing). Everybody starts somewhere! Birding could be a gateway drug into nature, and maybe, it could even lead to botanizing!
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On top of what was already said:
Force your friends into uploading stuff to iNat. And as a next step go out together looking for stuff.
If they resist at first, keep annoying them with it and erode their defences until they finally make an account :p
Jokes aside, everyone I go iNatting with nowadays (though I usually go alone) has gotten iNat (directly or indirectly) because of me. So this genuinely works. It takes a bit of effort at first, but a lot of people start getting really into it.
That being said, most of those people are fellow biology students. I assume your success will vary. But the other big group who usually enjoys iNat is Pokémon lovers.
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Many City, State and National Parks have guided tours and events that they sponsor. Many of those are geared toward young people, even ones that are not may have young people participating. Find out what’s in your area and look at their websites to see what events and/or tours they have. Then sign up for or show up for some. Good luck and have fun.
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This could be a dangerous fine line. We don’t wish for them to attract predators. If you use social media to find others, please be careful.
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Just wanted to write how wonderful it is that some young people are getting interested in nature. I am so proud of each of you for getting outside and not getting bound to your phone, tv, or games. Good on each of you!
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