We recently read a short essay in the Birding Community E-Bulletin about what the authors called “The Shrimpy Effect.” It turns out that “Shrimpy” was the affectionate name bestowed on a particular bird — a gull, in fact — that was fed shrimp by the staff of a seafood restaurant along the Maryland shore.

What made this gull different was that it was not supposed to be there. It was a kelp gull — a species that is a fairly common resident in the Southern Hemisphere — but on a few rare occasions has made it up to North American shores.

Rather predictably, birders came from all over the U.S. to see “Shrimpy” and many enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Sea Breeze Crab House and Restaurant where the staff fed the bird its favorite shrimp snacks. The bird knew a good thing when it saw it and came back for seven winters in a row before disappearing after 2005.

Of course, the owners of the Sea Breeze also knew a good thing and made thousands of dollars off of the visiting birders who came to see Shrimpy. 

Thus, “The Shrimpy Effect” is the revenue generated by local businesses by visiting birders who come to see a particularly special bird.

Some of the many snowy owls that were so easy to see last winter must have provided some “Shrimpy Effect” to local communities when visiting birders stopped by for meals, snacks and fuel. A rare Townsend’s solitaire that was in residence in Freeport this past early winter probably added some birder-generated revenue to some businesses in that town.

Our friend and colleague Derek Lovitch compiled a report to estimate the possible economic impact of birders to the southern Maine and coastal New Hampshire area who came to see the exceedingly rare western reef-heron that spent six days in Kittery before relocating to New Hampshire.

Derek estimated that at least $9,000 was spent in Kittery alone, and that tens of thousands of dollars were spent in southern Maine and New Hampshire combined, by birders who came to see the bird — all revenue that would not have occurred without the presence of the bird.

The Boothbay-Edgecomb-Wiscasset area has its own more long-term version of “The Shrimpy Effect” in its natural beauties and particularly in its publicly accessible open spaces.

The Boothbay Region Land Trust’s preserves and trails, for example, were found in a 2013 study by researchers at the University of Maine to contribute $3.9 million annually to the local economy and have a worth to the community of $32 million.

Not to get too much into accounting here but those black-throated green warblers and hermit thrushes whose songs echo from the preserves throughout the spring and summer are doing their part to help the economy!

And of course we can’t forget that ultimate “Shrimpy Effect” bird, the Atlantic puffin that brings many hundreds of people to our area every summer to take boat trips out to see them at Eastern Egg Rock from both Boothbay Harbor (Cap’n Fish) and New Harbor (Hardy Boat). That’s a bird worth its weight in gold, or better yet, shrimp.

Jeffrey V. Wells, Ph.D., is a Fellow of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dr. Wells is one of the nation's leading bird experts and conservation biologists. His grandfather, the late John Chase, was a columnist for the Boothbay Register for many years. Allison Childs Wells, formerly of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is a senior director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Both are widely published natural history writers and are the authors of the book, “Maine’s Favorite Birds.”