Model for others Athens, Ala.-native Madge Lindsay helped develop the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission In 1995. Cronenweth, the Boston birder, appreciated the trail map and other attention during a 1997 trip to the Texas coast. The difference is like night and day. Eight communities have developed festivals specifically to draw birders, she said, and the city of Port Aransas was inspired to buy 30 acres of wetlands to ensure it had enough bird habitat. Kerlinger developed a demographic profile of these visitors in part from the answers on 379 questionnaires completed in the fall of 1996 and spring of 1997.
Birders generally are slightly older than hunters and anglers, the report states.
They are also better educated and have higher incomes. Nearly 86 percent attended college and almost 49 percent attended graduate school. Only 6.2 percent reported no college. Now, it may also be linked to a trail for bird watchers. Tourism groups are joining with the Friends of Dauphin Island Audubon Bird Sanctuary and federal wildlife officials to create the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail.