Environment
Michigan birders ID favorites
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By CHELSEA MONGEAU
Capital News Service
LANSING – If you ask about their favorite birds of the region, they almost always have one response: “That is a really hard question.”
Bird watching is a social activity as much as an appreciation for nature’s only feathered vertebrates. According to a U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife survey, there are 47 million bird watchers over the age of 16 in the United States. About 30 percent are over the age of 55, while 16 percent are between 16 and 34. “Birds are our most-watchable form of wildlife,” said Jonathan Lutz, executive director of the Michigan Audubon Society. “We tend to think of them as ‘well they’re just birds,’ but it’s the form of wildlife more available to the most people in different settings.”
Sean Williams, a doctoral student studying zoology at Michigan State University, is no stranger to tracking down rare birds.