The desire to share one's birding experiences is fairly common in
birdwatchers generally and certainly to find a nest of a rare or uncommon
bird is very rewarding. Sharing the exact location of a nest has its
positives and negatives. The positives are that other caring people will
visit and maybe keep an eye on the nest which can make them more aware of
the species and its needs and possibly prevent disturbance to the nest by
egg collectors and uncaring photographers. Identifying the location of a
nest may mean that it can be protected from any proposed developments (not
applicable in this case as it is in a national park). It is sometimes
better to publicise the location of a nest than to have it destroyed by a
development because the developer and approval authority weren't aware of
its existence.
Certainly publishing exact location details of a nest on a site like
Birding-aus may be unwise. The negatives are that too many people may visit
the site and disturb the birds, egg collectors may visit the site, and
uncaring photographers may disturb the birds. It should be noted that in
the past some egg collectors were reported to have killed nestling birds so
that the parents would relay thereby providing a clutch of eggs for them to
collect.
I would suggest that the best method is to report only a general location
and offer to provide more specific details on request. At least this way
you can record who makes the request and you have a filter operating. In
the case of threatened species the exact location should be kept secret
unless there is a good conservation reason for others (other than the
wildlife authorities) knowing.
Publicising the location of Osprey nests on the NSW North Coast has helped
to protect them as a body of Osprey nest watchers has built up and woe
betide anyone climbing to the nests to steal the eggs.
Greg Clancy
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