Sunrise leads birders to ends of the Earth

Earlier this month, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection posted zones for hunters of migratory birds, winging south for warmer climes.

Gina Nichols and Luke Tiller can get their clients a better shot ”“ eyeshot that is ”“ of fowl in the field, whether that field is in Greenwich or the Galapagos.

With many travel companies struggling to stay aloft in the recession, Wilton-based Sunrise Birding L.L.C. has survived the extraordinary hit to leisure travel caused by the trip hammers of high airfares coupled with job losses and uncertainty.

As it turns out, birders simply puffed up their feathers and are riding out the chilly economy. Sunrise Birding has a full slate of tours scheduled for the coming year, including to Brazil”™s rainforest in November ($2,000 per person plus travel expenses); and Costa Rica in January and February.

According to a July report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, there are some 48 million people in the United States who consider themselves birdwatchers, those who either avidly eyeball birds in their yards, or who traveled more than a mile to do so in the 2006 calendar year. Connecticut is among the dozen states with the highest percentage of birders at 28 percent of the population, with Montana and Maine leading the nation at 40 percent and 39 percent of the population.

Nichols started Sunrise Birding several years back ago after volunteering for Greenwich Audubon Center, while the Cornell University graduate was teaching science at Greenwich Academy. In 2007, Luke Tiller joined the business; both are board members of the Connecticut Ornithological Society.

Nichols said the recession has definitely impacted her business and the larger eco-tourism industry. Still, some 35,000 people turned out for the British Bird Fair in late August, though Nichols said she was not aware of another American birding tour operator attending the fair.

While fowl are the focus, Nichols considers Sunrise Birding a broad-based eco-tourism tour operator; it is hard not to be when locales like the Galapagos Islands find their way onto the calendar.

This year, Nichols has been consulting officials in Colombia on potential sites in that country to promote eco-tourism destinations to tourists from the U.S. and elsewhere. She has visited twice and is planning a third trip this fall to scout locations and suggest ways for the country to best lure such travelers. From a birdwatcher”™s perspective, among the draws are tanagers, whose plumage spans the colors of the rainbow.

Of course, Sunrise Birding does not ignore its own backyard. Tiller leads Saturday morning birding hikes in Wilton.

Nichols”™ most recent regional tour was to Chatham, Mass., on Cape Cod to view terns, sandpipers, godwits and other coastal species. (Drawing national attention that weekend were the great white sharks that prompted officials to shut down beaches in Chatham).

Sunrise Birding also leads an annual New England winter bird watching tour, hunting down snowy owls and other northern birds.

The most unusual species closer to home?

“Depends on the day,” Nichols mused.

On a squally day in mid-September, birding enthusiast flocked to the shores of Long Island Sound to spot multiple species of pelagic birds blown ashore from their normal bailiwick far out in the Atlantic Ocean.

And there are nearly 50 adult bald eagles nesting in Connecticut. While officials are not disclosing their nesting locations to protect them, Tiller said he not infrequently sees them at Audubon Greenwich and other locations.

The company has advertised in a magazine published by the American Birding Association, and Tiller is in the process of creating a company presence on Facebook and using the Twitter ”“ no surprise ”“ messaging service.

More than anything, though, the queries are hatched via word-of-mouth, whether from a novice on one of Tiller”™s Saturday morning bird walks in Wilton, or from farther afield.

For Nichols and Tiller, part of the wonder of the hobby is spotting the wonder it evokes in others.

“You get a lot of new people, maybe it”™s their first time,” Tiller said. “You almost see something click as you watch them watching the bird.”