New Oregon trail is for the birders.

Byline: Winston Ross The Register-Guard

PORT ORFORD - Michelle Duarte is adept at luring visitors to her WildSpring Guest Habitat, even during the slowest months. Now she has a new enticement to bring people to the south coast: The 5-acre resort is one of only three commercial sites on the brand-new Oregon Coast Birding Trail.

Duarte was surprised to learn last year from one of the trail's creators that WildSpring's five wooded cabins share land with Pacific-scope flycatchers, tree swallows, chestnut-backed chickadees, golden-crowned kinglets, Swainson's thrush, wrentits and a half-dozen other feathered varieties, all spotted by sound in a five-minute period by birder Steven Shunk.

`He said, `You know, with the population you have here, you could qualify as a birding site, if you want,' ' Duarte said.

It didn't take much convincing. Duarte already understood that the birding trail could draw high-income environmentalists to the Oregon Coast during the seasons when resorts such as hers struggle to fill their rooms. Waterfowl and shorebirds migrate south in the fall and spring and, even during the worst weather, loons, grebes and ducks are abundant on the coast.

"We've discovered we're in an outstanding birding region here," Duarte said. "It seems so natural."

Natural is also a perfect description of the new birding trail, which features no signs, no construction and no interpretive centers. That's because its path is virtual, described only on a Web site.

But, beginning this week, its existence will be known to birders across the nation as organizers of the state's third birding trail print and distribute 100,000 copies of a 52-page guide, describing in detail how to find the trail's 173 sites and the Oregon Coast's 498 species of birds.

With the guide's release, out-of-towners will learn what local birders already know: that the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area is the closest place you can get by land to a colony of 65,000 common murres; that Sally's Bend in Newport is a great place to see northern shrike, American pipit and all six species of grebes; and that Sweet Creek Falls near Mapleton offers glimpses through old growth trees of the American dipper, a grey-colored songbird that walks under swift-running streams, eating cranefly larvae.

Organizers hope the guide will produce a flock of birdwatchers who will migrate west, bringing their binoculars, cameras, hiking boots and wallets with them.

"Birdwatching is the fastest-growing outdoor hobby in America," said Dawn Grafe, public use specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "(Oregon is) fifth in the lower 48 and seventh among all North American states and provinces in the different number of bird species."

More than 18 million people watched birds away from home in 2001, according to a recent Fish and Wildlife study; of those, more than 5.8 million traveled out of state. Oregon hosted nearly 1.7 million wildlife watchers, who spent $300 million on trip-related expenses, ranking Oregon fifth in the nation.

"It's a big market to draw people to come look at birds," said Shunk, one of the first to envision a birding trail in Oregon. "The people are environmentally conscious, they spend money, it's good sustainable tourism. It also gets communities to realize if they protect their natural resources, there's money in it. If you have good birds, you can have good birding and you'll get birders."

The idea for an Oregon trail network came up a few years ago, Shunk said, when he discovered that he and the Portland Audubon Society were both looking into the concept. They joined forces and found partners to create a fundraising task force to put together a guide and develop a Web site.

Of the eight trails in various stages of planning statewide (including one for the Willamette Valley), the first one was dedicated in the Cascades in 2004. It spans more than 1,000 miles and 200 sites. Members of the public nominate sites - which are reviewed to study what species live there and how to find them - and local businesses help pay for the guide and Web site. There are 200,000 copies of the Cascades guide in print, and it's distributed throughout the country.

"We'll send it to whoever requests a copy," said Rebecah Morris, executive director of the Oregon Coast Visitors Association. "We also do travel shows, and will take them to the show with us."

The second birding trail details wildlife in the Klamath Basin in Southern Oregon.

The trails' target market isn't necessarily the expert birder, Grafe said. Some take the hobby so seriously they buy books on a region's bird locales that pinpoint the exact nesting spot (down to the tree) of, say, a spotted owl. Many of the more serious birders are competitive, keeping lists of rare birds they spot to compare with friends.

"We needed an alternative, for folks like you and me, who may have feeders in their backyard," Grafe said. "When I go to Oklahoma, Texas or Florida, I want to pick up a free guide and just hit the hot spots. There are a lot of birders who fall into my category."

The Oregon Coast will be the first birding trail in the country to offer pelagic sites, accessible only by boat to view seagoing birds such as the black-footed albatross, sooty shearwater and fork-tailed storm-petrel - "birds you'll never see standing on the mainland," Grafe said.

Winston Ross can be reached at [phone] or [e-mail].

MORE INFORMATION On the Web: Visit www.oregonbirdingtrails .org or www.oregoncoastbirding .com