The Business of Birds

Birding, at first blush, may sound like nothing more than a sleepy hobby for the senior set. But that’s far from a bird’s eye view.

Come harvest time, the traffic in these parts is for the birds. But that’s no reason to flip up our feathers at the prospect of ecotourism in Napa Valley. Yes, we have more than 400 wineries, which is one of the chief reasons people visit our valley, but there’s some low-hanging fruit beyond the grapes that yearns to be plucked.

Birding, at first blush, may sound like nothing more than a sleepy hobby for the senior set. But that’s far from a bird’s eye view. If you’re not seeing the nest through the vines, check out the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) latest survey. The report, which comes out every five years (the most recent in 2011), includes an addendum, Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis, which tells a pretty interesting could-be tourism tale.

According to the report, 30 percent of the U.S. population ages 16 years and up enjoyed wildlife watching activities. That’s 71.8 million Americans, 22.5 million of whom traveled outside the home to see wildlife. While that number includes fishing and hunting, the birding stats are equally staggering, with 41.3 million around-the-home-birders and nearly 18 million who travel outside the home to track Tweety. Here’s where the prospect of ecotourism gets even more interesting: Those traveling birders spent $15 billion on trip-related expenditures, 52 percent of which went toward food and lodging. Who wouldn’t like to see some of those dollars come wintertime? Add to that equipment-related expenses, and the total direct and indirect (including things like employment, retail and wholesale business) impact of birding in the United States weighs in at $107 billion. And let’s remember these stats are from 2011; we can only assume the numbers have trended upward.

Who are these birders?

Much like our wine swilling set, the average birder is fairly well off, with more than half of the feathered-friend followers having household incomes of $50,000, with more than one-third earning $75,000 per year or more.

While I’d never suggest we abandon our wine drinkers for birders, it seems that with some tweaking to the tourism master marketing plan, we could grab even more revenue from our natural assets. According to Murray Berner, a birding professor at Napa College, there’s excellent bird watching right outside our doorstep at Lake Hennessey, Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, Skyline, American Canyon Wetlands and Bodega Bay. Napa-Solano Audubon Society (NSAS) president, Wendy Schackwitz, agrees the area is a prime spot. “The Wetlands is located on one of only 150 Important Bird Areas in the entire state of California (San Pablo Bay). It has very diverse habitat and is so easily accessible.” The area is so ideal, the NSAS is lobbying hard for a nature center to be built onsite.

When the season of swilling slows, marketers are always looking for ways to increase tourism. According to local bird enthusiast Bob Dwyer, birding in our off season is a natural fit. “From the end of August through November, we see a lot of waterfowl in the Sacramento Valley and reaches of the San Francisco Bay. This extends through wintertime. They come south from Canada and the Arctic.”

Catering to the birds

While there’s much to be done about ecotourism, the good news is: We have the birds. There’s also an eagerness to leverage our natural assets, according to John Woodbury, general manager of the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District. “Visit Napa Valley and others within the hospitality industry have increasingly embraced the concept that the way to strengthen the hospitality economy is to get existing visitors to Napa Valley to stay an extra day by broadening the experience beyond wine and food to also include outdoor activities.” His organization, together with the city of American Canyon, have been hard at work on the Napa River and Bay Trail, which provides five miles of trails and grants American Canyon its first public land access to the Napa River. The group is developing a smartphone-based audio tour of the trail, and the city created a video aimed at raising funds, awareness and use of the Wetlands and Newell Open Space. For the first time ever, visitor center promotional materials were created for Bothe-Napa Valley State Park and Bale Grist Mill along with an in-progress, Internet-based guide to all of the ecoutourism destinations in Napa Valley.

So, while birding will likely never trump the wine biz when it comes to tourism, it seems adding another egg to Napa Valley’s tourism basket isn’t a bad idea.