Wisconsin has gone to the birders.

The state ranks second in the country in bird-watching, with one-third of residents 16 and older reporting to have traveled to watch birds or actively watched and identified birds around home, according to a report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Vermont led the nation in bird-watching, with 39% of residents reporting to be birders. West Virginia tied with Wisconsin, with 33% of residents taking part in bird-watching activities.

Wisconsin leads the nation in total numbers, however, with nearly 1.7 million birders — far more than Vermont's 292,000 and West Virginia's 574,000.

America's Dairyland has the benefit of sitting along a major migratory route for birds; more than 400 species have been recorded in the state.

"Wisconsin is well known for its rich tradition of birding and other forms of wildlife watching," Ryan Brady, Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative monitoring coordinator and DNR research scientist, said in a statement.

More than 75 communities have earned Bird City Wisconsin status, a program that began in 2010 to recognize cities with good bird conservation practices.

Nationally, birders spent nearly $41 billion on bird-watching trips and related expenditures (equipment) in 2011.

State parks users spend $1 billion

Visitors to Wisconsin state parks, recreation areas, forests and trails spend more than $1 billion a year, according to a report from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

The report found that the park system had an average of 14 million visitors per year in recent years, with state forest visitors spending an average of $41 per day, park visitors spending $50 per day and trail visitors spending more than $90 per day.

Of the 69 properties that were studied, 45 were state parks and accounted for nearly 70% of the overall spending.

That spending accounted for more than 8,200 jobs and $350 million in income for Wisconsin residents. Operational funding for the state parks system is less than $25 million per year, according to DNR secretary Cathy Stepp.

—Chelsey Lewis