Human-nature relationships are an important aspect of leisure research. Previous studies also reported that nature-related activities have a health benefit. In this study, we surveyed US-American birdwatchers at two time points during the COVID pandemic (independent samples). During the beginning of the COVID pandemic in spring 2020, we analyzed their comments with an AI sentiment analysis. Approximately one year later (winter 2020/21), during the second wave, the study was repeated, and a second data set was analyzed. Here we show that during the ongoing pandemic, the sentiments became more negative. This is an important result because it shows that despite the positive impact of nature on mental health, the sentiments become more negative in the enduring pandemic.

Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamýcká 129 CZ 165 00 Prague 6 Czech Republic

Department of Biology Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Auf der Morgenstelle 24 D 72076 Tübingen Germany

Department of Zoology Poznań University of Life Sciences 60 625 Poznań Poland

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