birding-aus

FW: Birdwatchers No Featherweights in Contributionsto Economy

To: birding-aus <>
Subject: FW: Birdwatchers No Featherweights in Contributionsto Economy
From:
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:28:36 -0700 (PDT)
I have to agree with Rasemary.  I went to the website and downloaded the 2006 
report.  It describes what they consider "wildlife watching" and it includes a 
lot of things we wouldn't think of.  It includes feeding, which is not 
surprising, but it also includes people who manage their block of land in a 
manner that encourages wildlife.  It also includes people who plant particular 
plants because of the value to wildlife.  This brings in a huge number of 
people.  Those who say they lived here or there and didn't meet any "birders", 
almost certainly did, they just didn't know it.  I know that during the 
cumulative 3+ plus years that I lived in Australia, I met many people who 
planted "for the birds".  And here in Canada where I live most of the time, 
many do the same thing.  Many people plant shrubs and trees that bear berries 
in autumn; many plant flowers that are known to be favoured by hummingbirds; 
many people maintain brush-piles on their
 property because they provide shelter for birds and small mammals; and lots of 
people put out bird baths.  All of these people are considered to be "wildlife 
watchers" in the survey.  So before we are too quick to criticise the numbers, 
we should at least understand the definitions.
(And by the way, in the 2008 Christmas Bird Counts in Hawaii, 113 people went 
out into the field to count.  In addition, there were many who just stayed home 
and watched their feeders who were not included in this number.)
This is not the first survey to suggest that there are far more people 
interested in wildlife than anyone realises.  These figures relate to a survey 
in Florida:
 
SUMMARY THE 2000 ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF FLORIDA’S WILDLIFE VIEWING ACTIVITIES
Number of Participants 3,938,918
Retail Sales $1,887,887,300
Sales Tax Generated $113,273,243
Jobs Created  52,140
 
This particular survey appears to include all wildlife, not just birds.  But 
it's always difficult to determine who has been counted in any particular 
survey.  But if we take the broadest possible definition, I don't think the 
numbers are that far off.
 
Gary
 

 
 

--- On Mon, 7/20/09, Rosemary Royle <> wrote:


From: Rosemary Royle <>
Subject: FW: Birdwatchers No Featherweights in Contributionsto Economy
To: "Birding-Aus" <>
Received: Monday, July 20, 2009, 2:44 AM


I think some of you are being a bit hard on the figures from this report 
because of your definition of a "birder".

In the UK there are relatively small numbers of "birders" (though large 
compared with other countries) but much larger numbers of "birdwatchers". The 
main difference being that a "birder" watches birds as his/her main hobby and 
will go on birding-related holidays.. A "birdwatcher" may be anything from 
someone who regularly goes to a nearby reserve to see what's about to someone 
who simply watches birds on the feeder through the kitchen window. This latter 
group will often be counted amongst your "general interest" tourists as they do 
not generally go on birding-related holidays.

(My own personal way of distinguishing the two breeds is whether they can tell 
the difference between a Willow Warbler and a Chiffchaff (or indeed have ever 
heard of them)!).

I have recently given a "Garden Birds" talk to three local groups, a Women's 
Institute, a Garden Club and a Pensioners Club, and have been surprised at the 
amount of knowledge and experience amongst the attendees though most of them 
would not have defined themselves as birdwatchers. So maybe there is even 
another category one level further down - people who are interested but don't 
consider their interest sufficiently great to deserve a name!.

Another point - this report did define a "birdwatcher" as someone who had 
travelled specifically to see birds. In the UK this question would catch all 
the many families who regularly to go to a local bird reserve as a "day out". 
Bird reserves here are easily accessible, safe and interesting places to go and 
many people who are not really birdwatchers will go there often in the hope of 
seeing something colourful and exciting such as a Kingfisher. It could be the 
same in the USA. (In fact, this generates its own problems - RSPB reserves in 
the UK are very busy and many "serious birders" no longer go there).

One last point - any queries about the economics of birdwatching are put into 
focus by the British Birdwatching Fair. This year there are 8 marquees with 392 
stands (it seems an unreal number but I have just counted them on the plan!). 
This includes 46 stands showing bird/wildlife art, 17 selling optics and 116 
related to bird and wildlife tourism. Also two tents providing a continuous 
program of talks plus workshops, quizzes, celebrity book signings etc (we do 
have quite a lot of TV wildlife celebrities here). I am sure the organisers 
could give you attendance and turnover figures if they would be useful.

Alas, the BirdFair is too far away for us to easily get to - maybe just as well 
as we would only spend money - there go the economics again!

Rosemry Royle
Wales, UK
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