The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

New Maine Map for Bird-Watchers Could Be a Tourism Boost

August 04, 2009 - SCARBOROUGH -- From their perch on the Pine Point pier, Derek Lovitch directed David Buckley's attention to a bird flying up the channel. Buckley homed in on it with his binoculars, taking in the absence of smudginess on the upper wing, its bright white color and a very long tail. It was, in fact, a roseate tern.

"There you go, David. One down," Lovitch, a private guide, said.

Buckley, a 60-year-old property manager who lives in northern Virginia and upstate New York, came to Maine with a mission. On this trip – his third to Maine for birding – he wanted to add the roseate tern and the Nelson's sparrow to the other 583 birds on his life list, the record birders keep of the species they've identified.

Buckley and his ilk are the type of visitor who Maine's tourism industry hopes to draw to the state, whether they are as focused as Buckley or more casual bird-watchers. Maine is already a destination for avid birders, but there's potential to further develop this niche, said Phil Savignano, a senior tourism officer with the Maine Office of Tourism.

To that end, a number of state agencies and other organizations collaborated on the Maine Birding Trail. The finished project was unveiled in May, and the first batch of 20,000 maps has been snapped up. Another batch is currently being printed.

No birds are found only in Maine, but the state has a concentration of birds that are difficult to see elsewhere, said Bob Duchesne, a state representative from Hudson who conducted the primary research, writing and mapping for the trail.

The key, Duchesne said, is making sure that birders know about opportunities in Maine, which should be at an advantage because it offers both Northern forest birds and ocean birds, including puffins.

"For all these assets that are nature-based, you have to put together a product that people can use," he said.

From a tourism perspective, birders are a desirable group of visitors. They tend to be middle-aged or older, with more education and higher incomes than the national average, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In 2006, the nation's 48 million birders spent an estimated $12 billion on trips, with 57 percent going to food and lodging, 35 percent to transportation and 7 percent to other costs including guides, user fees and rental equipment. Birders poured another $24 billion into equipment that year.

"If you look at them, they have very expensive binoculars, they dress well for the elements, they spend money on their essentials. They enjoy a good dinner, a good bottle of wine," Savignano said. "They're upper-income, they take more frequent trips, and they'll come on a whim."

Enthusiasm for birding is growing, the federal survey found. The number of people who travel for birding rather than bird-watching around their homes increased 8 percent, to 19.9 million, between 2001 and 2006.

Greg Dugal, executive director of the Maine Innkeepers Association, said it makes sense for his industry to motivate potential travelers by catering to their hobbies, especially when they're being choosy about how they spend their money.

"They move for reasons. They have a hobby," he said. "The days of just going on vacation just for the sake of going on vacation, because it's an American right, are over."

Birding is getting a boost from baby boomers entering retirement age as well as a greater awareness of the environment, said Scott Cronenweth, a South Portland naturalist who offers bird programs.

"I think that there are more and more people who are interested in wildlife observation and engaging in the natural world in general," he said.

For Rusty and Raye Gregory of Montgomery, Ala., birding provides a good way to enjoy the outdoors.

The couple had traveled to Southwest Harbor for a wedding and hired Michael Good of Down East Nature Tours to make the most of their birding time, which included spotting a Nelson's sparrow.

"We walked through a bog a bit, and here was this bird just sitting 100 yards away, like it was just waiting for us," said Rusty Gregory, 58, who owns an art gallery, frame shop and lighting gallery. "He got it in his spotting scope. We got a real good look at it, could hear it call and everything."

The Evergreen Lodge at Moosehead has been getting a few more birders in each of the past several years. The lodge, located in Shirley, has been offering packages in conjunction with Duchesne's business, said Janice Dyer, the innkeeper.

Dyer hopes the birders' numbers will continue to grow, and that other lodging businesses in the area will also benefit.

"They're such a wonderful group," Dyer said of birders. "Anybody who doesn't mind getting out there and getting out in the dampness and the mud in the morning – that's my kind of people."

Buckley, the property manager who had traveled to Scarborough, is willing to suffer a fair amount to spot a "life" bird – a first-time species for a birder – or to jump in the car to spot a rare bird.

Birding can be addictive, Buckley explained, for those who start identifying birds and find they have a knack for it.

"We call it 'the birding flu.' It's very contagious," Lovitch said. "A lot more people call in sick because of the birding flu than with bird flu."

For this trip, it turned out that Lovitch was free for a half-day, so Buckley made the seven-hour drive from Piercefield, N.Y. – stopping overnight in New Hampshire first for what turned out to be an unsuccessful attempt to find a black-headed gull.

After packing up at the pier, the two headed to the Eastern Trail in Scarborough Marsh, where they soon found their Nelson's sparrow. Mission accomplished, they worked on getting better looks at that bird and others – gravy for this trip, Buckley said – before heading off for lunch. Still, Buckley's work in Maine isn't done.

"I probably have a couple more to do," Buckley said. "I may be back next month."

By ANN S. KIM, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, August 3, 2009


Lakes:
Regions:


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News