It is interesting to see how the internet is changing the dynamics of
birding and birdwatching tourism. Prior to the development of email
chat groups, birders largely maintained contact with one another via
meetings, newsletters and phone-calls. Rarity sightings were
distributed via word-of-mouth.
Now we have email chat groups like Birding-Aus, online forums such as
birdforum.com, and reporting services like Eremaea Birds. Birding
societies, birding guides and birding accommodation providers all have
an online presence. A number of birders with commercial interests
maintain a presence in fora such as birding-aus, and are starting to
make use of social networking such as Facebook.
Following on from the post I sent to Birding-Aus last month regarding
a field guide titled "Birds of Peru", I received an interesting email
from Gunnar Engblum - an occasional correspondent on Birding-Aus.
Gunnar organises birding tours in Peru and has mentioned his interest
in involving local communities in conservation via ecotourism. In
some parts, it may be a case of "last chance to see" as it is possible
that some of the limited-range species in the region may be overtaken
by poorly regulated mineral exploitation [see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/18/AR2009121804139.html
"Rising prices spark a new gold rush in Peruvian Amazon"].
Gunnar has launched a drive to drum up demand for his bird tours - you
can have a look at it on his blog: http://www.kolibriexpeditions.com/birdingperu/blog/index.php/do-you-want-to-go-on-a-birding-trip-in-peru-for-free/
[short link http://bit.ly/8s830C ]. The interesting thing about his
campaign is the way he is looking to make use of social networking
sites such as Twitter and Facebook to raise awareness of his tours. I
notice that Gunnar has structured his campaign in such as way so as to
encourage groups of birding friends to book trips together. I will be
interested to see to what extent other commercial birding operators
focus on getting people to book as groups rather than as unconnected
individuals. The dynamics from the birder's perspective would
certainly be different.
As a periodic pelagic twitcher, I was interested to see that Gunnar
has integrated "connecting" pelagic birding trips with his land
tours. I can't think of many other set ups that have this
integration. These trips are pitched at overseas birders - I notice
that Gunnar has a two-tier pricing regime so that local people can
join the trips if there aren't enough primary birders to cover costs.
Again, I am unsure if this approach is used by the organisers of
pelagic birding trips in Australia.
Ultimately, I am thinking about launching another survey of the
attitudes and activities of birdwatchers. I hope to submit an article
based on my last survey for publication in the near future. If you
have a topic that you would like to have woven into that survey [if it
gets off the ground] please let me know.
Regards, Laurie.
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