Are there any bird guides out there?

By Birding-Aus, on October 27th, 2025

Hi again

As a postscript to my Grasswren trip with Bellbird Tours, I wanted to mention a new platform developed by one of our guides. Katinka Domen, and her brother Michael, as well as running all4birding.com as an international bird tour company, have built a platform for bird guides (and birders). It's a little bit like AirBnB or Booking.com in that it connects guides with customers, and vice versa. It's called admin4birding

Surprisingly, the platform is free for guides to use (very unlike AirBnB and Booking.com!). Instead, customers, or clients, pay a small % on top of the guiding fee. Why? Many of the guides already using the platform are based in developing countries, and most would not be able to afford an annual subscription, or to lose part of their fee. So the platform is free for them to use, and the client pays a small amount to use the platform. There are lots of safeguards built in, such as communication between guide and client is strictly within the platform, which provides guides with a contact management system, invoicing, expense tracking, website management, and so on.

I know there are a few web-based systems for putting birders in touch with guides, but admin4birding seems to be the only one that has integrated all these features into a single platform, and allows guides to operate it using an app on a smartphone. Just like AirBnB. I talked to Katinka at length about admin4birding and to me it sounds like a great tool for guies, and a safe, reliable platform for birders looking for guides in unfamiliar or distant places. All the guides are thoroughly vetted, and there's a two-way feedback system so both guides and their customers know a bit about what to expect when booking a particular tour or guide.

If interested, you can find out more here:

https://all4birding.com/admin4birding/

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has already used admin4birding – feel free to discuss it on birding-aus.

Now back to work getting my sound recording and photos onto our group checklists