Dear Tim
Thanks for your comments below. Just to add a line, we've had a few
vagrants in the last couple of year that have attracted (for Australia)
large numbers of "twitchers" - the Grey-headed Lapwing and the Lesser
Yellowlegs, and a Canada Goose of doubtful welcome, all being within
relatively easy reach of many keen easterly birders and not requiring
flights from one end of the country to the other, since all were in New
South Wales. I don't know the final numbers - someone no doubt can add
those.
Bird clubs encourage their members to make themselves known to the
locals and why they are visiting an area, bringing cash into the economy
and increasing knowledge and awareness of an area's wildlife, getting
written up in local papers and interviewed on television. There's also a
strong trend now for local clubs to produce leaflets describing local
bird routes, these being available in tourist offices. We've even got an
annual bird fair now!
As you say, Australia's a vast country with not a lot of keen birders
per head of population but the interest/hobby or whatever you like to
call it is growing. The recent drought and of course Global Warming are
making many people much more aware of the problems and needs out in the
bush
Being an ex-Pom, I just wish we had as powerful and well funded a body
as the RSPB.
John
Being a former UK birder I haver to take issue and tell you that your second
paragraph is simply not true except in an absolute minimal number of cases and
the culprits of any such incident get roundly condemned. Your comments are a
generalisation and thankfully this is not the view of most of the UK birding
community. In fact, the interest and behaviour of the the vast majority of
birders in the UK has allowed for a greater level of both awareness and
particularly protection of breeding birds. The public knowledge of sensitive
breeding sites has allowed for greater vigilance and less opportunities for ill
doers such as egg collectors. Almost all UK twitchers are enthusiastic
contributors financially to conservation organisations such as the RSPB and a
myriad of local organisations as well as to a large extent contributing to
local bird knowledge through coverage of their local patches. I spent a lot of
time and effort in my former local area fighting the suppression of bird
information in the UK so I know how this has evolved.
Incidentally, some birds which reach the Isles of Scilly have done so from
North America (whether ship-assisted or otherwise) and are 'on their last
legs'. Unfortunately most vagrants of this type have negligible chance of
surviving long term and no chance of breeding. On the Isles of Scilly there are
public paths, commons and roads but much of the rest of it is private land and
birds can only be observed from public spots. Certain species, especially the
American cuckoos, are prone to dying fairly quickly from exhaustion but not
because of being chased by birders, even though there can be hundreds assembled
to view them.
Unfortunately Australia is not a place, I acknowledge, that a great deal of
publicity can be allowed for breeding birds, simply because there is a far
lower proportion of birders in the population and a far greater area to cover,
and the chance of an egg collector or similar being discovered by birders is
therefore minimal. However, we should applaud enthusiasm for birds and
encourage the positive aspects of it and the benefits that this enthusiasm can
bring towards the conservation of our wildlife rather than mocking members of
organisations which have led the world in the field of conservation.
Personally, I would like to see wildlife observation become so popular that the
destructive elements of our community towards the environment become a thing of
the past. Topically speaking maybe if it was 'popularised' a bit more we might
see dog walkers taking more care around wildlife sites because they would be a
lot more aware of the rich nature around them and those who have an interest in
it.
Finally, if I turned up at a twitch here with a few hundred lined up I would be
delighted because it would mean that the conservation of Australian birds had
become important to an awful lot more people than currently.
Sorry this is a bit of an essay for what was probably just a throwaway comment
but it's something that I am passionate about. I do find that people I work
with and encounter have just that little bit more interest in birds because I
own up to my obsessions and that's how I perceive that things have gradually
changed back in the UK.
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