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Well, and welcome to the American Birding Podcast from the American Birding Association.

I am Nate Swick. Could a birding boom in the U.S. help conservation take flight?

It is a question asked by Robin Catalano for National Geographic recently and one that we've been asking ourselves if we're honest for the last 18 pandemic months or so.

A nod, a guess, to the headline writer for the birding pun.

That could have been much worse.

There's a lot of interesting ideas in this article linked in the show notes, of course,

but the course seems to have to do with the sort of existential crisis wildlife and game agencies are facing as hunting and fishing whose practitioners have long

funded conservation initiatives through usage fees and licenses are declining and yes birding in

nature photography and other non-consumptive ways to enjoy the natural world are seeing an increase

in popularity but without a way to replace that passive revenue stream birding is increasing but it's

not really helping the bottom lines all that much so yes birding is growing there are more

millennials burning there are more social media savvy people birding which helps with getting

the hobby out in front of people.

There is more diversity in the birding world.

You can say that there is still not enough.

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