Ultimately the price is the price. You either pay for it or not - as Chris
said, a personal thing.
There's always another season when you can make the run to Jupiter Well - by
my calculations the cost of driving in there from Alice Springs, including
fuel and food would have to be $250 or more. So you're certainly paying for
the convenience of seeing the birds close to the Mereenie Loop Road -
however I guess that this makes the birds more accessible to more people.
I wouldn't baulk at paying $450 - the only tragedy as far as Ruth and I are
concerned is that we can't make another trip to Central Australia until
after the new year. Maybe there'll be more trips arranged for the first week
of January?
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Chris Sanderson
Sent: Monday, 29 November 2010 5:24 PM
To: Tim Dolby
Cc: Birds
Subject: Princess Parrots
Hi Tim and Tony,
I think what someone would willingly pay for something like this is a very
personal thing. If Tony can't swing $450 to see Princess Parrots, I don't
think you can blame him. Personally, even if I could afford it, I wouldn't
pay $450 for less than a day's guiding for any bird anywhere in the world.
If I were retired and well off maybe it would be a different story, who
knows? I think the concept of the permit and indigenous guiding is a great
one, I just don't think they have the balance right yet, as I would place
their price well above standard guiding rates.
Regards,
Chris
On Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 4:17 PM, Tim Dolby <> wrote:
> I think you're being a little harsh Tony.
>
> I think the cost is reasonable for a chance to see such an iconic and hard
> to find species. It was not that long ago that Mike Carter resorted to
> drinking radiator water when his vehicle expired on the Canning Stock
Route
> as he went in search of Princess Parrot. There are many species of birds
> that are best seen with the local assistance of a guide / bird guide, with
> this cost not dissimilar from the costs charged by birding tours.
>
> The money also provides valuable financial assistance to the traditional
> land owners. Many conservation / birding organisations recognize the
> importance of establishing positive relationships with local and
indigenous
> people. Creating sustainable livelihoods through birdwatching tourism for
> indigenous people can have a real impact both on the lives of the
> traditional land owners but also bird conservation. A recent example of
this
> is the Kakadu Birding Project (see
> http://www.birdsaustralia.com.au/birds/kakadu-birding-project.html). The
> development of Import Bird Area (IBA) works along similar principles;
> recognizing that working with local people and traditional land owners has
a
> positive impact of local conservation.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Tim Dolby
>
> ________________________________________
> From:
> on behalf of Tony Russell
> Sent: Monday, November 29, 2010 12:18 PM
> To: Birds
> Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Princess Parrots
>
> Thank you John for this report and congrats on finding the PPs. However:
> I too thought about going but baulked at the excessive cost of a permit
> required to enter the restricted areas. $450 for a piece of paper which
> probably took a clerk about two minutes to make out is not my idea of
> good value, no matter what tick is at stake. Someone is ripping us off
> guys.
>
> I'll wait til the PPs appear on non restricted land - and if they don't,
> well so be it, I'll go without.
>
> Tony
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of John Reidy
> Sent: Sunday, November 28, 2010 10:00 AM
> To: Birding-Aus
> Subject: [Birding-Aus] Princess Parrots
>
>
> Hi all.
>
> Have just returned from a successful trip to see Princess Parrots near
> King's Canyon NT. 5 of us (Allan Benson, Rob Benson, Alan Morris,
> Margaret Reidy) booked through the Central Land Council. We met our host
>
> from the CLC and three aborigines representing the traditional owner and
>
> were led to a location off the Mereenie Loop road where the birds are
> breeding. Initially it didn't look good as we were driving directly into
>
> a very sinister looking storm front. It had started to rain solidly
> before we arrived at the site and we had no choice but to get out and
> search for the parrots. We were soaked to the skin, cold and a bit
> despondent before our aboriginal representatives gave a yell and we saw
> two birds in flight. These were rather poor views and we thought that
> that might be it as the birds disappeared and there was no other
> activity. But eventually we saw some more and after an hour or so the
> weather eased up and we were eventually able to see the birds sitting in
>
> full sunshine sitting on dead branches, giving some good photographic
> opportunities.
>
> At this stage we were all ecstatic with the views we were getting. We
> saw all up about 20 birds.
>
> We had travelled via Alice Springs where we hired a Nissan Patrol and
> travelled south down the Stuart Highway and took the Ernest Giles dirt
> road as a shortcut. We paid for this with a blow out. As it rained on
> Thursday and Friday nights at Kings Canyon, we elected to return to
> Alice via the bitumen which was a longer way around, but we did see a
> pair of Bustards on the way.
>
> A word of warning, the Central Land Council is taking legal action
> against some people that have trespassed on their land.
>
> Happy birding!
>
> --
> John Reidy
> Sydney
> Phone 02 9871 4836
> Fax 02 9871 2616
>
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