The Steller's Sea-Eagle in North America: An economic assessment of birdwatchers travelling to see a vagrant raptor

Abstract

Birdwatching—a cultural ecosystem service—is among the most popular outdoor recreational activities. Existing economic valuations of birdwatching typically overlook the economic contributions of birdwatchers travelling to see vagrant (out-of-range) birds. Economic valuations of vagrant birdwatching are few, and to date, no valuation of a large, charismatic vagrant species—or of a recurring individual vagrant bird—has been reported. During 2020–2022, a vagrant Steller's Sea-Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus) was reported in several locations in North America, representing the first record of this species in these locations. In Winter 2020–2021, the eagle spent nearly a month on the eastern seaboard of the United States, and thousands of people travelled to see it. We conducted an online survey of individuals who travelled to see the eagle to estimate the individual and collective non-consumptive use value of this vagrant birdwatching event. Using individual travel cost methodology, we estimated an average individual expenditure and, together with estimates of the total number of birdwatchers, we estimated non-consumptive use value of the vagrant birdwatching event. Finally, we used a willingness to pay framework (via hypothetical donations to view the eagle) to evaluate the non-consumptive use consumer surplus of the event. We estimated that, on average, individual birdwatchers spent $180 USD (95% CI = $156–$207) ignoring travel time—or $277 (95% CI = $243–$314) when accounting for travel time—to view the eagle. Furthermore, we estimated between 2115 and 2645 individuals travelled to see the eagle during December 2021 to January 2022. Thus, we estimated that the eagle generated a total expenditure between $380,604 and $476,626, or between $584,373 and $731,809 when accounting for travel time. Finally, based on travellers' willingness to pay, we estimated a non-consumptive use consumer surplus of the event between $139,036 and $174,114. Assigning economic value to nature gives policymakers and business leaders footing to advance conservation in decision-making. Although often overlooked in these decisions, vagrant birds supply ephemeral ecosystem services that might bolster community development efforts, particularly if vagrancy events occur with some predictability (e.g. recurring annually). Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.