Usually introduced to birding by a relative or friend, the novice birder begins with a focus on backyard birds, content to fill the feeders and watch for new visitors. He soon graduates to local parks and nature preserves, learning that many species will not be found in residential areas. Spurred on by the joy of finding new birds, he begins to expand his range, using free weekends to travel about the State and planning vacations that take him to new birding territory.
Birdwatching has become big business. Special stores cater to the birder, offering premium seed blends, squirrel-proof feeders and high-tech spotting scopes. In like manner, travel companies offer packages that appeal to birders, spawning the industry of ecotourism.
But the conservation movement has benefited most from this avalanche of birders. The more we learn about birds, the more we appreciate the diversity of the natural world and the more we understand the importance of protecting natural habitat. And more than any other family of wildlife, these mobile creatures, which often winter and summer on different continents, teach us about the interdependence of ecosystems across this planet. Unless we take a global approach to conservation, our efforts will surely fail.
