What you can do to help show that Birds Mean Business

How many trips a year do you take to watch birds? From taking a walk in your local park, to traveling across the state and region to your favorite birding hotspots, already you are contributing to the economic engine of bird watching!  Even though this fiscal impact is happening, many local businesses and tourism agencies are not aware that people travel to their communities and spend money to watch birds, nor are they actively working to promote and enhance those opportunities.

To make municipalities and businesses aware of these facts, we are asking Audubon members and birdwatchers across the state to show firsthand the economic potential bird and wildlife watching by using our “Birds Mean Business” cards.

How to use the Cards:     

1)      First off, don’t forget to fill out the back of the card with information on where you traveled from. Either write your hometown, Chapter Name and website, your name and contact information, or anything else to describe where you’re from.  We left enough space so you can even print labels (5160)  instead of writing the info by hand.

 2)      Whenever bird watching, make sure you stop in local shops and eateries to support the local business of the  communities you visit.  Leave this card when you pay to let them know what brought you to their store. 

 3)      In addition to local businesses, be sure to leave these cards with tourism promotion agencies, Chambers of Commerce, members of Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils and offices of local elected officials so they know why people are visiting their town, and do more to protect the places that attract them there.

Once you get their interest, you can work with these business and communities on promotional events to attract bird watchers (and their bucks) to the area, like sponsoring a birding festival similar to the Adirondack Birding Festival in Hamilton County. 

Long term, you can work with these same partners to encourage their support of protecting local Important Bird Areas and open space through municipal funding or from New York’s Environmental Protection Fund. 

To get started showing Birds Mean Business, order your copies of Audubon New York’s Birds Mean Business cards today by contacting our office.