Julie Brashears runs the Great Florida Birding Trail program within the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Still under development, the birding trail identifies good birdwatching sites around the state. Brashears has to be the best person for the job -- not only can she tell you about the biomechanics of loon knees, but she practices what she preaches when it comes to the economics of birdwatching and helping communities realize some of their tourism dollars come from ecotourists. To that end, she has a warning for nature travelers: make your reason for visiting known, or deal with the consequences. Here's more of what she had to say.

EF: You've been in on the birding trail program since the beginning, right?

JB: Actually, I did have a predecessor who researched the feasibility of the birding trail and initiated the nomination process for the first section of the state. Her name was Nancy Jordan. Then I was hired on in this capacity in 1999. I started working for the agency in the fall of 97, as an education specialist in Lakeland.

EF: What did you do in that position?

JB: A lot of different things. I did a whole lot with bird conservation, working with water bird disturbance issues, coordinating birding festival and Migratory Bird Day events. I helped mediate some wildlife/human conflicts, things like airboat disturbances of wading bird rookeries and that kind of thing. Kind of a jack of all trades.

EF: It sounds like what you did had a lot to do with birds, too.

JB: Definitely. I'm really interested in that interface between bird conservation and how people can get involved with that -- how we affect wildlife and how we can conserve it.

EF: What did you do before working for the FWC?

JB: A bunch of different things. While I was in school, I did some work in an immunology lab, and in the summers, I presented programs at the Orlando Science Center, and I also taught for a science camp to get middle-school-aged girls interested in the sciences.

Then after I graduated, I worked for an avian veterinarian helping with hand-raising birds, and I TA'd introductory biology at the university and did some biomechanical research on the legs of common loons. They have a unique process of what effectively, functionally is their knee. Because of this process where the muscles attach, it would give them incredible leverage. If we had it on our knee, we could basically drop-kick a soccer ball out of a stadium. But at the same time, the whole joint is bound up in fascia, [and] a number of other things, so it's relatively immobile. So what's the point of this cnemial process, why did it evolve in this bird? And then there's several other birds that show the same kind of process, but developed it in a different way, so convergent evolution, so, just trying to figure out why the loon has that, what mechanical advantage that structure gives it.

EF: That sounds really technical.

JB: It was fun. It was really interesting and very hands on.

EF: Where is the birding trail in terms of its progress? The eastern and western sections have been completed. What's going on now?

JB: Now we are conducting site visits in the panhandle, and hopefully, we'll have the section opening for the panhandle early in 2004. There are still things going on in the other parts of Florida, though. In east Florida, the highway signage is going up right now. There's companion highway signage for each site that leads people to the sites from the nearest state road. So that should all be completed by June of this year. And then, even though west Florida is already open, the highway signage will be forthcoming, probably at the beginning of next year also. And then we'll start accepting site nominations for south Florida some time this fall. So regardless of where you are in the state, there's something still going on with the birding trail.

EF: What do you think has been the greatest challenge in developing the birding trail?

JB: Probably convincing people that the birders really are coming and that they're already here. Birders are such good ecotourists. They're fairly affluent, very well-behaved, inconspicuous, so communities don't always recognize them or their economic impact. So to an extent, I've been a bit like Chicken Little, saying, “The sky is falling!” and convincing these communities that ecotourists really can have an economic impact for them. It's been very gratifying to see the birding trail working and seeing those promises realized.

EF: Your birdwatcher calling cards are a great idea: print them out from your Web site and leave them at places you patronize when you're on a birding trip so businesses know you're visiting because of their birds. Have you had any feedback about that program?

JB: We do hear occasionally from vendors, and birders are using them. The important thing is to keep on encouraging them to use them. Again, like I said, we like to be well-behaved and inconspicuous. That kind of runs counter to our whole culture.

But anecdotally, I moved my brother to Arizona a couple falls ago, and on the way out there, I told him, “I'll move you if I can plan the itinerary.” So of course, we birded the whole way, all along the Texas coast and across and through into southeastern Arizona. The really interesting thing was I left those calling cards the whole way, and when I got back to Tallahassee, I could see that there were guide requests through our Web site on those successive days moving westward through Texas into Arizona. So people really were picking up the cards and saying, “What the heck is this?” and trying to figure out why I had left them.

EF: That's proof, then, that the places you were patronizing were paying attention to the calling cards.

JB: Exactly. It was really heartening, too, because admittedly, I was even skeptical that, is the waitress that picks this up really going to care? Or at the gas station, do they even look at it, or do they just throw it away?

EF: I've thought about this, and it still seems like the calling cards are the best way yet to show you're spending money because of ecotourism.

JB: Definitely. The really frightening part is if you're not seen as spending money for ecotourism, at least in Florida, you're presumed to be spending money for traditional tourism. And Florida communities pave and drain for traditional tourism. So our dollars would actually be motivating development rather than conservation. So it's not a matter of silence, at least, is a “no” vote; it's actually voting against what we believe in.

EF: So silence votes against what you believe in?

JB: Yeah. It's scary just thinking about that, but it's true.

EF: For someone who isn't familiar with the birding trail, what would you tell them it's good for?

JB: It's good for people to help them find locations to go birdwatching, from a recreational perspective, and it's good for demonstrating the value of wildlands to Florida communities, from a conservation and economic perspective.

EF: You must be a birdwatcher yourself. Do you have any favorite birds, birdwatching places or birds you're just dying to add to your list -- or do you even keep a list?

JB: That's a very interesting point. I have kind of a contentious view of lists. I don't begrudge anyone else's right to keep a list, but I personally don't. I know what I've seen and what I haven't. When I see a bird I haven't seen before, I know it, and I'm very excited. But I don't really count or tally just because that's not really where I find my bliss in birding. You know, it's not about the numbers, and it's not really about competition, it's more of a matter of what I've seen and enjoyed. I'm not just seeing the bird and ticking it off, but observing it and getting a feel for its behavior and its habitat.

EF: I think a lot of readers will be happy to hear that, knowing that an expert like yourself isn't really out to see as many birds as you possibly can.

JB: When you talk to birders, one of the most common themes in why they enjoy birding is because they're always learning something while they're out there. You can bird your entire life and still not know it all and still not have seen it all. It's really just a mechanism for getting out there and exploring the natural world. If you think about it, they're so diverse. You can find them in almost any habitat that you're in. No matter where you go, there's some bird exploiting that niche. So it really is a very easy hobby to work in with your activities. And hence, people who do list keep some interesting lists. They'll keep lists for their yard, or lists from their car or from their office window. I even know someone that has an ambulance list! I think [with] that one, you're better off with fewer birds. The smaller the list, the better.

Favorite birds -- very hard to pick. They're all favorites, is the really hard thing. There's definitely birds like swallow-tailed kites that just kind of grace you with their presence. You only have them for a few minutes at any one viewing, and you're kind of holding your breath, hoping they won't leave. [I like] spotted sandpipers, which have this eccentric behavior when we have them wintering here. They constantly bob their tails. When they fly, they have this persistent flicking of their wrist. It looks like they're shaking off water with every flap. But really, there's just a huge number of things in Florida. We've got burrowing owls, which are just the most counter-intuitive little raptors you could imagine -- living underground and hunting by day.

And as for sites, I mean, Florida's full of them. I bird at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge most frequently just because of its proximity to where I live and [because] it has excellent songbirds and raptors in migration and wintering shorebirds and waterfowl. But some of my most favorite places in Florida are very remote, too. I like places like Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, that are so far out there that you really feel like you're in Florida the way it once was. That's one of the very few last remaining parcels of dry prairie in the state, and it's in such good condition because it was grazed by cattle for so long and it was adjacent to the Avon Park Bombing Range, so stray bombs actually helped maintain the natural fire regime that's been extinguished on so many other properties. So it's been healthy as a contiguous tract for a long time, and it's just gorgeous. Singing Florida grasshopper sparrows, short-tailed hawks down by the river, wood storks in the sloughs -- just that raw, visceral expanse of Florida.

I hesitate to name sites because then it's like I'm playing favorites. But really, each one serves its purpose. Some sites you have to really invest a lot of energy in hiking long distances, and the birds that you see are hard-won, but worth it. Then there's the other sites that are eye candy birding: you jump out of your car and instantly, you're flooded with all kinds of different birds. Each of those experiences has its own rewards.

That's something that we've tried to do with the birding trail, is to indicate with icons what kind of experience to expect, whether you're going to see a diversity of species or a single sought-after bird. If it should be birded by foot or can be birded by car for those that are mobility impaired. If you should expect it to be a quick stop or one that'll last all day. Something you should go to year-round or in a particular season. Because we recognize that birders come from a lot of different directions when it comes to motivation. And instead of dictating what your itinerary should be, we'd rather you knew all of the options, and you can map out your own itinerary based on your personal preferences and abilities.

EF: Your agency put a lot of forethought into the guides, and they work well.

JB: We've definitely tried really hard because we recognize that once the guides are in the hands of birders, they could keep that same guide for 20 years. We want it to be an accurate reference for them. It doesn't do anyone any good if the trail is a mediocre one.

EF: You have written a book that's a guide to the eastern section.

JB: Basically, that guide is an extended guide to the trail with extended descriptions and details about access on the properties, but I personally think its biggest strength is a series of essays throughout it that are compiled from the writings of various natural-resource specialists in Florida, about various issues facing Florida wildlands and Florida birds. So it's really a companion piece for your travels. Not only are you seeing the birds, but you're learning about the birds and the habitats that support them. All of the royalties from that book go into a nonprofit account in support of the trail, so it's a way to help fund the trail in the future.

EF: Have you ever come across the attitude that some folks don't want to promote an area because they're afraid it will become swamped with people, and then they won't have the area all to themselves anymore?

JB: Occasionally, but not very often. More often, their concern is a legitimate one, which is if a site that's particularly sensitive, something that might have a sensitive habitat type or a species at a time in its life history like breeding period, for example, when it's very sensitive to disturbance. That's a more common concern and a legitimate one that we respect than the one that people just want to keep their private birding place to themselves. Most birders, they're pretty good about sharing. They don't mind welcoming new people to their property because they know they'll benefit from what sightings are made there by others. That's one reason why hotspots, not just in Florida, but everywhere, kind of take on a life of their own. Once a site is recognized as a hotspot, lots of people go there, and whatever rarities show up are more likely to be found.

EF: Fast forward 6 or 7 years or however long it would take for the birding trail to be completed. What would be next for the Great Florida Birding Trail?

JB: Probably a number of different things. First of all, the sections of the state will have to be revisited in sequence because details about the sites change over time. It might be access issues. It might be contact numbers. We might want to add more sites or remove some others. But also, I'd really like to see more community-based conservation centering around the trail. Working with sites as a group to apply for grants for improvement and to coordinate habitat management, to help communities rally around those resources and really maximize the economic benefit of tourism coming to their area because of it. So right now, the birding trail is a motivation for some communities, but it could be more so. And it's simply a matter of having the time and staff resources to kind of help them rally around it.

EF: What else would you say about birding in Florida?

JB: Growing up in Florida and growing up birding in Florida, I took for granted the wealth of wildlife that we have here, and just would encourage people to get out there and see what we have because people come from all over the world to enjoy the things that we have in our own backyard. By spending more time outdoors, we become more connected to it and understand those processes better so we can advocate for it and make wise choices with regulation and the conservation. It's kind of part of engaging in your environment and playing a role in its conservation.

To request a free guide for the Great Florida Birding Trail, visit the trail's Web site.