Bird-watching Tourists in Australia

Ronda J. Green and Darryl N. Jones

Ronda Green and Darryl Jones 2005

This project was funded by the Sustainable Tourism CRC.

Many thanks also to all the bird-watchers, tour operators and others who participated.

This was a nationwide survey

on the practices, needs and attitudes of bird-watching tourists in Australia

primarily by

questionnaires
I particularly like to see birds that are: Little or no importance to me Of some Very importance important to me to me unique to Australia ......................................................................... unique to the part of Australia Im visiting..................................... rare .................................................................................................. vulnerable or endange red species ................................................... species Ive never seen before ........................................................ species my friends/colleagues/family have never seen .................. brightly-coloured, elegant or attractive in some other way............. exhibiting unusual or intriguing behaviour ..................................... interacting with me (e.g. appro aching for hand-feeding )............... readily photographed ...... .............................................................. big (eagles, cockatoos, herons etc) ................................................. predatory (eagles, owls etc) ............................................................ singing or giving strange, memorable calls .................................... species Ive read about or seen on documentaries ..........................

 to tourists, guides of bird walks and eco-lodge owners.

256 birdwatching tourists responded

Nationality Australian Australian & other New Zealand British & Irish European North American South African South American Asian Unanswered Total non-Australian

No. 164 17 4 28 9 9 3 1 1 20 55

Completed forms were posted from:

Southeast Queensland Queensland - other New South Wales Victoria South Australia Western Australia Northern Territory New Zealand Unknown 72 53 34 5 6 8 14 1 63

Covered (briefly) in this paper:

Demographics Variation amongst birdwatchers Preferences Birdwatchers and the tourism industry Conservation aspects

80

60

40

female male

20

<14 yrs

14-19 20-34 35-59 50-65

>65
60 40 20

age group

Most respondents were well-educated and middle-age to elderly

0
l to ur ism ic ed uc at e/ io m n an ag e.. . ad em ed i ot he r ca m

ac

fin an c

profession

> 95% were very interested in seeing other wildlife

Most commonly expressed views I [do not] enjoy hunting or wish to try it I want to see other wildlife as well as birds I [would not] rather disturb a bird from its nest than fail to identify it I'll probably be bird-watching on my next travel I can identify most birds around home I would join a tour to reach difficult places I plant bird-attracting species in my garden I [do not] mainly join bird-walks because family and friends want me to

% 96.68 95.51 94.17 93.03 86.12 85.96 81.85 81.74

Slightly less than half kept life-lists of birds seen

Most variable views

%

I like to see birds doing something interesting I go bird-watching in places I like for other reasons I read about birds of my destinations Birds are my favourite animals I would willingly go camping to see a new bird I can identify females and juveniles of many

48.37

47.33

56.33

45.30

54.20

54.62

Attitudes of life-listers
R2 B ir d - wat c h in g i s m y favo u r i t e act i v i ty 0.403 I ca n i d e n t if y ma n y f e ma l e s a n d j uv e n il e s 0.338 I d l ik e t o i d e n t if y a ll Au st ra li an bi r d s 0.312 I r e ad a b ou t b i r ds b e fo r e v is it in g 0.301 B ir d s a r e my favo u r i t e an i ma l 0.293 I of t e n car r y b in oc ul ar s 0.268 I m in t e re st e d in b ir d b e h avio u r 0.252 I m in t e re st e d in b ir d e c o l ogy 0.248 0.247 I of t e n vi si t n at i ona l p ar ks fo r b i r d wa t c h in g 0.243 I of t e n tak e n ote s o n b i r ds s e e n

Group 1: keen birders

R2

Bird-watching is my favourite activity I can identify females and juveniles of many Australia birds I often record birds I see Id like to be able to identify all Australian birds I generally carry binoculars I read about birds of my destination Im very interested in bird ecology I would willingly camp to see a new bird I keep a life-list of all birds seen Im very interested in bird behaviour I like to see rare birds Ill probab do some bird-watching on my next ly travels I like to see birds unique to the part of Aus tralia visited [I mainly go birding because of family or friends]

0.772 0.700

0.674 0.668 0.649 0.627 0.614 0.610 0.556 0.512 0.501 0.455

0.431

-0.420

Cumulative variance 18.9

Group 2:

thrill-seekers
Statement R2

I like to see big birds I like to see predatory birds I like to see brightly-coloured birds I like to see birds interacting with me I like to see birds Ive read about I like to see birds doing something interesting I like to see birds that are singing I like to see birds my friends have never seen I like to see birds that are readily photographed I like to see vulnerable birds I like to see rare birds I like to see birds Ive never seen before

0.780 0.704 0.701 0.672 0.655 0.649 0.630 0.531 0.466 0.440 0.429 0.401

Cumulative variance explained 35.283

The most commonly-preferred bird features:

endemism to Australia
and

endemism to the part of Australia being visited

Aussies and others

Number of % responding very responden ts in important to see birds unique group to Australia Lived only in Australia Lived in Australia & elsewhere Never lived in Australia Watched birds only in Australia Watched birds in Australia & elsewhere Never watched birds in Australia 104 102 35 43 207 5 76.34 66.15 71.42 79.06 69.56 80.00

No apparent difference between Australian and visiting birdwatchers in desire to see birds endemic to Australia

un iq ue

mean response
1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1
to

un iq ue Au str to al pa ia rt of Au st

ra re th re ne at ve en rs ed ee fr n ien be ds fo ha re ve n' br ts ig do ee ht in n ly g -c so ol m ou in et re te hi d ra ng ct in in te g r.. wi . th re ad ob ily se rv ph er ot og ra ph ed bi

I like to see birds that are.

birders nonbirders

g ed at s in or gi y ng /c a lli ng re ad ab ou t pr

The most common preferences on bird-walks were identifying birds and social contact.

0.5

Preferences on a bird-walk

pr mean response ef er sh or tb ird en -w jo y al so k ci al co lik nt et ac o t se ec hi ld pr re ef n er no ta lik lk et in pr g o ef id er en to tif di y stu al l rb pr th ef an er to no ... di stu rb at pr ne ef w st er at ch to w be ha al tb on ird e sa re do in g
-0.5 -1 birders nonbirders

Cons rva e tion-related respon ses

I wan to seevu t lnerab or endanger speces le ed i During the past 10 yearshave I : belonged a conserva organ ion to tion izat . attended meetngrelatedto bird con a i servat ion . attended meetngrelatedto consevatongeneally a i r i r Feed wildbirdsgives good rtuniies fo pho ing oppo t r tography I havetended inju or orphnedwildli e red a f Feed wildbirdsis usual okayif theright foods are used ing ly Feed wildbirdsgives afeelngof interac w natu ing i tion ith re Feed wildbirdsis okay cleared or non-natuareas ing in ral Its okay flush bi from gra or hea to rds ss thlands fo sigh r a ting Feed wildbirdsshould be ing allowedin some nationparks al I wou rathe di turb a bird than fa iden t ld r s il to tify i I enjoy hunt forsport or woulike to try i ing ld t I wou rathe di turb tifrom a nest than fa ident i ld r s il to ify t

%
61 .7 54 .8
51 .6 50 .0 40 .7 37 .5 29 .0 28 .2 18 .1 16 .5 9.3 7.7 1.61 1.6

Observations by tour guides suggest that serious disturbance of birds is a rare event.

Question How often do your guests: Talk loudly enough to disturb birds? Disturb birds while trying to identify them? [Behave as though they] would have disturbed birds if guide hadn't stopped them?

No. of responses
Never Rarely Sometimes Often

1 3

4 4

4 3

0 1

Feeding birds

0.5 mean response

+ -

0 -0.5 -1

birders nonbirders
okay in national parks
1

+ -

okay in cleared areas

good photo opportunity

allows interaction

okay if right foods used

thrill-seeker
mean response

0.5 0 -0.5 -1 okay in national parks okay in cleared areas good photo opportunity allows interaction okay if right foods used

+ -

others

+ -

NP

cleared

photo

interact

diet

Comment by a respondent
From an ex-pat Brit's point of view, the opportunities for birdwatching are amazing. Also totally untapped as far as tourism goes. My local catchment area contains >190 spp. Why doesn't Brisbane market itself as the 'city of birds' (rather than 'most liveable', whatever that means!)

Travel agents and travel books were the least-used sources of information on where to go bird-watching.
How I decide where to watch birds I visit places I like for other reasons books (not travel) I do it at places I'm going to anyway national parks info friends/family natural history organizations internet documentaries travel book travel agent

% 47.33 44.31 42.21 38.11 37.86 30.99 19.57 16.12 7.98 2.11

Most likely to join commercial tours:

Keen birders
(bird-watching named as favourite activity, often record what is seen etc) and

Thrill-seekers
(wanting to see big and colourful birds etc)

. Rep dent wo dgobyse o smal g p n: s on s ul lf r l rou i Au aon strali ly allreg s ion m t region(inc ingA tralia) os s lud us Au a(w ther noelsewh ) strali he or t ere wet rn tri s&A a,no A ca r LainA erca s e coune si t fri o t m i

. no. 22 40 26 136 62

totalwhow go by ould self but never ona tou r totalwhow ouldtou r bu never goby self t

51 24

Most common attitudes of birdwatchers who would join tours

I lik e to s ee bi r ds Iv e r ea d a bout I ge t in f o on birdwa tch i ng lo ca liti e s fro m n a tur a l h i sto r y org a ni za tion I en j oy s oc i al c onta c t w hil e bi r ding B ird- wa tc hing i s my f a vouri t e a c tivi t y [ I do n t oft e n photog r aph bird s ]

0.5 mean response 0

-0.5 -1

Keen birders were more birders likely than others to nonbirder choose camping or lodges over hotels

hot el

bud get

cam p

lod ge

but frequency of camping declined after the age of 65

40 30 20 10 0

ehotel
ebudge
ecamp
elodge

m <20

m f 20-35

m f 36-49

m f 50-65

m >65

age group and g

The most common suggestions for improving the enjoyment of bird-watching in Australia were :

provide better information on where to see birds

 and conserve bird habitat