Ecotourism and Birds in Coastal New Jersey: Contrasting Responses of Birds, Tourists, and Managers

Abstract

People of diverse cultures appreciate and observe wildlife. With the increase in the importance of economic, social, and aesthetic, values of wildlife comes the responsibility for wise management and use of these resources to ensure biodiversity and the continued wellbeing of the populations. We describe several ways in which ecotourists affect the behaviour, reproductive success, and population levels, of breeding and migratory birds in New Jersey — a heavily industrialized, coastal US state with a dense human population. We use several case-studies to illustrate the effects of ecotourists on birds: heronries, breeding Least Terns (Sterna antillarum), foraging Piping Plovers (Charadrius melodus) during the breeding season, migrant shorebirds and gulls at Caven Point and Delaware Bay, and migrant hawks at Cape May.