Birding economics: conservation through commodification

In the long-run, the quality of our birding (and the length of our lists) depends on our success in conserving birds and their habitats. Who would not love to see a Labrador Duck during a pelagic trip, have Carolina Parakeets fly overhead on a CBC, or photograph a Bachman's Warbler foraging in a canebrake-not to mention observe a half-ton Malagasy Elephant Bird or tick any of the estimated 2,000 bird species thought to have gone extinct as a result of human colonization of Pacific Ocean islands? It may be too late for those species, but if birding and bird conservation can be better integrated, it may not be too late for the Madagascar Fish-eagle, the Whooping Crane, the Marvelous Spatuletail, and many other endangered species that birders would love to see.