Subject: [Tweeters] FYI From BIRDER'S UNITED
Date: Aug 25 14:12:37 2009
From: Kevin Purcell - kevinpurcell at pobox.com


I posted some comments on this (a while back) here

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=146707

For example I used the information to make a SWAG about how much
people spend on binoculars and other birding equipment ...

> For 2006 data they estimate expenditure on Wildlife-watching
> equipment to be $6,869,054,000.
>
> They define Wildlife-watching equipment as: "Equipment expenditures
> consist of binoculars, cameras, bird food, nest boxes, day packs,
> and other wildlife-watching equipment."
>
> They say there are 47,693,000 birdwatchers in the USA defined pretty
> much as anyone who pays attention to birds. For people who travel
> away from home to see birds they say there are 19,860,000 people.
> Make of that what you will.
>
> So average equipment expenditure per birdwatcher is 6869 million /
> 47.693 million or about $144 per year.
>
> Interesting ballpark figure for estimating how much people spend on
> bins (or spotting scopes and backpacks and cameras and bird food)
> per year.


You can find the whole "Birding in the United States: A Demographic
and Economic Analysis" report here

http://library.fws.gov/Pubs/birding_natsurvey06.pdf