Birdwatching was a $463M industry in 2011. The Rio Grande Valley knows it’s even bigger now.

Last April, Michael Francis, past president and current newsletter editor for the Fort Worth Audubon Society, led a group of birders to the Rio Grande Valley for a four-night stay. They checked into the Alamo Inn B&B, ate at local restaurants, paid entry fees at birding sites and state and national parks, and shopped locally.

“That’s what we do,” Francis, who lives in Fort Worth, said. “My wife loves it there.”

They’re among thousands of birders who descend on the Valley every year to see hundreds of species — and in the process pour hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy.

You can almost hear the ka-ching when the spring and fall migrations roll around.