Hi All and Chris D who started this thread.
Just a couple of points:
>There is no point in having bird tours if there are insufficient
birdwatchers in the >community for operators to be viable.
This has to be a purely commercial decision. We dont just do tours for the
fun of it, no matter how much we enjoy birding, its the bottom line at the
end of the month that will dictate wether or not there is a point in having
bird tours.
In Townsville (Townsville Region Bird Observers Club) we have been doing
bird walks on the Town Common for over 10 years on the first Sunday of every
month. These are open to the public and visitors (no charge) and are
advertised for free in the press and on radio and we get quite a good
turnout most months.
There is also a birdwatching column in the Saturday Townsville Bullitin by a
local birder, this has been running for a couple of years. There are many
way that we can bring our love of birding to the notice of the general
public.
I also spend Sunday morning in the City Mall at the local market, when not
on tour. The majority of inquiries are from people asking about birds they
see in their backyard and not about birdwatching tours, it all helps to
lift the profile of birding. I always get plenty of kids looking through
the scope at the birds in trees.
We also have a local Tourism Birdwatching Committee with people from Tourism
Queensland, Townsville Enterprise and Local Authorities plus myself Jo
Wieneke, John Young and Mark Stoneman (Cromarty Wetlands). The purpose is
to raise the profile of the Townsville region as a birdwatching destination
for visiting birders, both domestic and international.
Regards
Ian Clayton
Birds & Bush Tours
PO Box 6037, TMC, Townsville, Qld, Australia. 4810
Phone/Fax: 07 4721 6489
Phone/Fax International: + 61 7 4721 6489
Email:
WebPage:http:// www.ultra.net.au/~bbt
To a man ornithologists are tall, slender, and bearded, so
that they can stand motionless for hours, imitating kindly
trees, as they watch for birds.
Gore Vidal
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