Birders, Brits and stats

By Birding-Aus, on January 1st, 2013

Interesting thought from Ed who wrote:

The obvious inference being that there are more birders in Britain than species of birds or, alternatively, that Australia has more bird species than actual birders. Do we really have fewer than about 1000 birders throughout Australia?

In round ball figures, we have some 850 species; the Poms around 550. However, perhaps the geographical maths can be a little more enlightening. Our 850 include all those species recorded on the mainland [approx. 2 970 000sq. mls.], Australian Antarctic Territories [2 277 000 sq mls] and a few other spots, including some 6 sq. mls of Cocos[Keeling] Islands. That’s a total of about 5 747 006 sq. mls of territory for 850 species of birds – or around 1 bird species for every 6761 sq. mls.

The Poms, who do not count their 150 000 sq. mls of Antarctic territory, nor their Indian Ocean possessions, stretch to 90 504 sq. mls. for 550 bird species – or 1 species for every 165 sq. mls!

Again, if Australia is approximately 30 times bigger than Britain and the Brits have 550 bird species, shouldn’t our total be nearer 16 500 species rather than the current meagre 850?

Or was that just a throw-away comment?

Happy birding to all throughout 2013.

Julian

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PennyDB

January 2, 2013 at 12:28 pm

Dear birders

I was recently in the Shetland Islands from 20-28 September. Not the best time to visit as all the breeding Puffins had departed and those I really wanted to see, but family arrangements……………. However it’s always nice to renew acquaintance with far northern birds.

What was obvious was the ease of bird watching/chasing. Although the winter migrants were just beginning to arrive, at several “noted” sites the largest number of birders we found was 6, including 2 specialist photographers trying to get the perfect shot of a Yellow-browed Warbler at Quendale Mill on a gloomy windy drizzly afternoon. Very friendly and helpful too. I guess one would get a few more birders if a really really rare bird turned up but maybe not the 100s or more than bother the property owners further south.

An unusual sight was a fall of Goldcrests foraging in the sheer mossy sides of a geo on the wild north west coast of Hermaness. Also saw falls of Twites, Golden Plovers, Wheatears and Bramblings plus a few Lesser Whitethroats and 2 Whooper Swans. And a Merlin trying to its luck (unsuccessful) with the Bramblings at Quendale.

If I ever go there again, it will have to be June – August, as recommended in all the literature!

In the meantime, happy New Year and may it be full of pleasant surprises, birds or otherwise, for all.

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Tim Jones

January 2, 2013 at 9:27 am

Happy New Year to all,

I agree that the list would certainly be significantly bigger. When twitching and rare bird seeking weren’t such big things in the UK, there were smaller lists and less records. However, when you look at the British List, probably about half of it consists of rare vagrants and accidentals which have been dragged in by unusual weather conditions. It is also a rather small island in an entirely temperate zone and subject to a large proportion of migrants from regular migration routes. Appling the same maths to Australia would probably double the Australian list, but I don’t think Aus would see anything like the proportion of vagrants and accidentals as the UK, just because of the geographical issues. At an optimistic guess, you might add 50 to 100 if it had the same kind of birder coverage as the UK? P.S. we might discover a new species, though!

Cheers

Tim

Dave Torr

January 2, 2013 at 7:00 am

I think you are right Ed – there must be areas the size of the UK that rarely see a birder – especially in the wet season. How many Grey-headed Lapwings (or similar) are in remote country towns waiting to be seen? How many Hoopoes secretly holiday in the north of WA far from prying eyes?

Dominic Funnell

January 1, 2013 at 8:57 pm

Hi Ed et al. I can certainly confirm the point about queues to get in. On several occasions when a good bird has turned up on sites I have been managing have had to open early amd been met by 150+ people at dawn waiting for me. Have found birding over here a far nicer and relaxed experience and long may it continue. Dom

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Ed Williams

January 1, 2013 at 8:05 pm

Hi Dom, Dave, Julian and all – and a very Happy New Year!

Yes, guilty as charged when it comes to a throw away comment…! It was merely one Brit in Australia to another wishing him all the best back in Britain… (apologies to those who take my wording too literally!)

There lots and lots of birders in the UK (sorry if “lots and lots” isn’t technical!) – you can have hundreds of people at one site at one time (all looking at one bird!), and of the 550 species in the UK how many are “regulars” versus the 850 in Australia?

I would suspect if there were the same density of Birders in Australia as the UK there would also be significantly more than 850 on the Aussie list. However I am obviously unable to prove this statement

Anyway as Dom say this can be a blessing out here – imagine somewhere like the Western Treatment Plant if birding was as popular here as in the UK – there would be queues at the gates at sunrise! (one would suspect but again I can’t prove that either!) Cheers all,

January 1, 2013 at 1:56 pm

I think it was alluding to the fact that in parts of UK, especially England, any half decent bird that turns up is surrounded by birders. That was one reason why I moved to NE Scotland where this is not the case. My experiences over here since March indicates that this is def not the case over here. in Aus you can, in fact have to, find your own birds and enjoy them with far smaller crowds (if any crowds at all) which having birded and twitched the UK for 30 years makes the situation over here one to celebrate. Happy New Year to all and have a great birding year. Dom

January 1, 2013 at 2:03 pm

The Antarctic Territories are usually excluded from the Aussie list (C&B included them but most “listers” – see http://www.tonypalliser.com/totals.html – do not). That roughly doubles the Aussie density.

Birding-Aus

Birders, Brits and stats

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