Bird Hobbyists: More #'s, More $

Bird hobbyists pay for live songbirds and more people, a lot more, participate in wild bird watching and spend more doing it than any other outdoor activity - including all forms of hunting combined.

For the nation as a whole (2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation), over 66 million people 16 years or older spent $38.4 billion observing, feeding, and photographing wildlife (additionally, 12.6 million participants age 6-15 years are not included in these stats). Nearly 46 million of all wildlife watchers (69%) were wild bird observers. Feeding wildlife, especially birds, was the most popular activity enjoyed by 54 million enthusiasts (82%). 31% of the US population participated in residential wildlife watching activities around the home and 10% of the population took trips away from home for the primary purpose of observing, photographing, or feeding wildlife.

In Michigan (2001 FHWAR MI Survey), more than 2.7 million people 16 years or older participated in non-consumptive wildlife-watching activities and spent more than $692 million on equipment and other expenditures relating to the activity. Adding to wildlife-watching expenditures is the total industry output (TIO) with an overall economic 'ripple effect' which creates jobs, employment income, and state and federal income tax. Total expenditures for wildlife watching increased 41 percent from 1991 to 2001.

Our doves play a large part of the multi-billion dollar bird watching and feeding industry in Michigan. As a backyard bird, the mourning dove is the second most-frequently reported bird at feeders in the United States (Barker and Tessaglia-Hymes 1999). We "pay" for our songbirds!

CLICK HERE for 2003 Survey Overview.

CLICK HERE for Professional Economic Analysis of Mourning Dove Hunting in Michigan.

Note: While only .5% of the US population (and an even smaller percentage of sportsmen in Michigan) has an interest in hunting mourning doves, that small segment removes tens of millions of mourning doves from the breeding population each year.

Source: 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau.

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