Wisconsin is for Birders

Wisconsin ranks second nationally in the proportion of citizens considered birders, with fully one-third of residents 16 and older reporting they travel to watch birds, or actively watch and identify birds around home, according to a recently released U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report.

Wisconsin trailed only Vermont, where 39 percent of residents are birders, and tied with West Virginia, where 33 percent of their population also watches birds. However, the Badger State vastly outnumbered those two states, with Wisconsin boasting 1,678,000 birders, compared to 292,000 for the Green Mountain State and 574,000 for the Mountain State.

“Wisconsin is well known for its rich tradition of birding and other forms of wildlife watching,” says Ryan Brady, Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative monitoring coordinator and Department of Natural Resources research scientist.

Wisconsin features both northern and southern breeding species and sits astride a major migration pathway, allowing birders easy access to one of the most diverse collections of bird life in the United States. More than 400 species have been recorded in the state, with the vast majority of species and numbers being migratory birds. Others, such as chickadees, cardinals, grouse and turkeys, are permanent residents

Nationally, there were about 47 million birders, about 20 percent of the population 16 and older, according to the report. They spent an estimated $41 billion on trip related expenditures and equipment, generated a total economic impact of $106 billion, supported 666,000 jobs and generated $13 billion in state and federal tax revenues.

The report, Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis, is an addendum to the 2011 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife Associated Recreation. That same survey found that 1.2 million Wisconsin residents fished, and 895,000 residents hunted in that same survey year.