"Bad toupee" = more money + more birders?

A Crested Caracara has been visiting northwest Oregon lately. The Corvallis Gazette-Times includes these observations by Joel Geier, field notes editor for the Audubon Society of Corvallis:

If it stays around, Geier said, the Caracara could actually be a boon to the economy, as word gets out and more and more birders come from farther away to see it.

“Potentially people could come down from (as far as) Seattle,” Geier said.

And the longer the Caracara stays, the more people who might rent hotel rooms and spend money in town, in pursuit of the bird.

It’s not too hard to find it, just look for birders who’ve already spotted it.

“Look for a knot of people looking intently at something with happy looks on their faces,” he said.

The article raises another potential benefit from out-of-range species: increased interest in birds and birding.

As for Jan Lane, who first spotted the unusual bird, she may end up driving down from Blodgett to see her new friend again.

“It makes me want to get more involved with birds.”