Hi Chris, Yes that is a fair point. Yes some observers would probably do that. The emphasis though is for many wishing to going there at short notice and stay not long enough to gather much data, in order to tick off a species for their life lists. Nice experience but which contributes little, if anything. Sure that would be nice and I wish I was in a position to do that too. I like that people enjoy bird watching but I submit that being primarily motivated by lists to tick is a trivial pastime. The suggestion to go and visit other places to search for the birds probably adds more value. Under the circumstances of the distance, the expense, the energy used, the disruption to local people etc, I still think that some of the people should be a little less self indulgent and support a bit more coordinated study of the birds by fewer people, especially by the people who already live near the area and maybe already have good local knowledge and resources, not to mention permits, to be there.
How many non-local birders also know enough about the vegetation to be able to contribute a lot to even identifying what these birds are feeding on. I know I wouldn’t. I also find it a bit amusing to talk about keeping to tracks, in central Australia. How many tracks exist out there and in the sparse vegetation it is sometimes hard for the untrained person to see tracks anyway. Do we know whether the tracks themselves are, or lead to, sacred sites? How many bird observers keep to tracks anyway? If I spent a huge amount to go somewhere to see a bird and was wandering around relatively unmarked bushland and heard the bird 50 metres off the track, with no signs or guides to tell me not to and if the track was only vague, I don’t think I would stay on the track.
The following extract also recently posted could sort of support what I write. As in what useful motive could exist to indulge in doing this expense:
“I recall (look in the BirdingAus archives) some friends who twitched Ostrich by flying over the station as the owner no longer allowed access to birders. Unfortunately twitching a parrot from a plane is probably a little harder! ”
But it is a good discussion to bring out a lot of these issues.
I hope the Princess Parrots are doing well, they are such a lovely bird………
Philip
