The increasingly vast amount of widely available information on the internet provides novel opportunities to analyze levels and drivers of public interest and attitude towards nature. We investigate seasonality in public interest of six bird species in Japan for which observation data and Japanese Wikipedia pageview data are available. We identify seasonality by applying linear regressions and sinusoidal models to Wikipedia pageview data spanning a 6-year period from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2021. High seasonality in public interest in four of these six species is apparent, especially for species with famous calls which people commonly encounter, and for species closely associated with Japanese culture. This suggests that both culture and seasonality are important determinants of public interest in these bird species in Japan. Increased urbanization decreases direct contact with nature, with online interactions between people and their environment becoming increasingly important. Bird phenology may inform people of seasonal changes, and play an important role in establishing the value of species in culture. Monitoring public interest, including seasonality, can improve our understanding of why people are more interested in some species than others, which in turn can be applied to improve conservation efforts.