Billions for birds

What's the fastest growing outdoors sport? Fishing? Hunting? Frisbee golf? Guess again.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, more than 3.3 million Floridians viewed wildlife near their homes in 2006, and another 1.6 million Floridians and tourists traveled around the state to watch various critters, i.e., birds, gators, squirrels etc during the same time period.

State officials are big on this user-friendly, non-consumptive sport not only because any body can do it, but more importantly because those outdoors enthusiasts pumped an estimated $3 billion (yes billion with a "b") into the state's economy.

Sure, laugh while you can, but more an more people seem to be content with just heading outdoors and soaking up the sights. In fact, retail sales associated with the sport have almost doubled since 2001. Wish the same could be said about the sale of boats and fishing equipment.

Florida has done a good job promoting the state as a destination. In fact, we rank number one in the country when it comes to places to go to birdwatch. That could be in part to the Great Florida Birding Trail, a 2,000-mile, self-guided highway tour that hits 445 great birding sites from Key West to Pensacola.

For more information, check out birding.