Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the participation characteristics across two different segments of the population that participate in nonconsumptive wildlife-related recreation. The two segments included casual wildlife watchers and serious birders. For this study, casual wildlife watchers were represented by holders of Texas Conservation Passports and serious birders were represented by member of the American Birding Association. These two subgroups were surveyed using a mail-back questionnaire during the summer of 1996. Initial analysis of the data showed that there were significant differences between these two subgroups with regard to frequency of participation, skill level, and total months of participation. This confirmed the recreation specialization framework, which was used as the conceptual foundation for the study. Further analysis revealed that there were many significant differences in participation characteristics between casual wildlife watchers and serious birders. Specifically, there were differences in socio-demographic characteristics, expenditure patterns, types of information sources used, and desired setting preferences. The implications of this study is that managers and planners will be able to more effectively target casual wildlife watchers and/or serious birders with the appropriate promotional strategy and provide the desired products and services.
Cole, James Stuart (1998). Segmenting participants on nonconsumptive wildlife-related recreation: a comparison of casual wildlife watchers and serious birders. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1998 -THESIS -C65.