I would say that if someone [who knows their "business"] organises and
leads a trip at cost price [no net profit] then the people who go
along are getting a good deal - particularly if the itinerary is
logistically difficult and/or the birds are hard to locate. I doubt I
would ever get to bird around the Torres Strait Islands or the Canning
Stock Route etc on my own ...
Regards, Laurie.
On 18/06/2008, at 12:18 PM, Jeff Davies wrote:
Hello Tim, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said
birding can be
"very very expensive". If a small number of birders are motivated
enough to
organise trips at cost and go through all of the logistical stuff to
make it
happen without a profit margin factored in, then the limiting factor
of how
many of these trips they organise would be how many they can
personally
afford to go on. If they deduct the cost of their involvement then
they will
in theory be able to organise a greater number of trips which if at
cost
price would be of obvious benefit to other birders. These trips are
often to
locations not well served by the commercial companies. The bottom
line is
does it benefit other birders, I suspect yes. I personally have no
idea how
any of these trips are set up and have no vested interest in any of
them.
Cheers Jeff.
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Tim Dolby
Sent: Wednesday, 18 June 2008 11:33 AM
To: Simon Mustoe;
Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Ashmore Reef Whales and Seabirds
Yes, excellent points Simon, well said, and thanks for your honest
reply. I
couldn't agree more. As mentioned I have absolutely no problem with
the
Ashmore Reef trips, or anybody who organises them, or for that
matter any
other organised birding trips. Birding trips are what birding is all
about -
and for whatever reason - whether it's data collection or just pure
birding
fun.
This was not the reason I replied to your message. The reason I
replied was
because you contextualised it in terms of 'commercial' versus
'non-commercial' birding.
My problem is (and it's a bit of a personal gripe, apologies
everyone and
Simon for the whinge) when birders try to get other people to pay
for their
birding trips, whether in Australian waters or to overseas
destinations
(such as South America), often under the guise of trip sharing
rather than
commercialisation. You mention that as long as people are honest and
don't
take the proverbial there's no problem. I couldn't agree more.
However what
about when people are taking the proverbial. From personal experience
birding is very addictive. It can also be a very very expensive. As a
result, like anything else, it is open to potential bad practice.
Although,
as you pointed out, rather than being a negative, there may be some
merit in
this?
Tim
Ps. if anybody wants to send me negative reponses send it to me
personally.
PPs. I might change the topic. Anybody seen any good birds today? My
most
interesting bird for the day so far is Scaly-breasted Lorikeet.
===============================
www.birding-aus.org
birding-aus.blogspot.com
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
===============================
|
