A pair of French “twitchers” happily photographing a tawny frogmouth in the Waterworks Reserve gave weight to a news item I had just read reporting that birdwatching tourism was pumping billions of dollars into the Australian economy.
Usually the wave of international birders comes in spring and this pair of enthusiasts had arrived later, in autumn, still hoping to find the 12 endemic species that makes Tasmania special.
They found six in the Waterworks, along with a frogmouth which can also be found on the mainland, and were off next day to Bruny Island to find the rest, including the forty-spotted pardalote which is considered one of the rarest birds in the world.
The report on birding tourism had appeared on the ABC website and it said international visitors spent an estimated $2.6 billion on travel that involved birdwatching in the year to June 2024. The data compiled by Tourism Research Australia also revealed domestic birders contributed $636 million over the same period, up from $414 million in 2021 — a 53 per cent increase.
A national visitor survey report showed those figures included money spent on transport, accommodation, food, and activities by birdwatchers, as they chased rare species across the country, with many travelling long distances and spending thousands of dollars in pursuit of specific birds.
This surge in birding tourism isn’t surprising. Australia is a globally renowned birdwatching destination. The country is home to the second-highest number of endemic bird species in the world, second only to Indonesia. From the vivid plumage of the Gouldian finch of the Northern Territory to the haunting call of the eastern whipbird in eastern Australia, these uniquely Australian species draw passionate birdwatchers, or twitchers, from all over the world. That’s not even mentioning our parrots and cockatoos. Tasmania is famous for its endemic green rosella and the orange-bellied and swift parrots, two migratory species on the critically endangered list.
One in six Australian birds is under threat and the realisation that birders are big spenders has prompted calls for more to be done to promote the “undervalued” sector.
Conservation scientist Dr Rochelle Steven from Murdoch University said Australia was considered the “holy grail” of birding. Despite its economic contribution, Dr Steven said birdwatching remained largely overlooked in Australia, with little infrastructure or strategic focus compared with other nature-based tourism industries like whale watching.
She said birders tend to be high-spending travellers. “Many are at a stage in life where they are not roughing it — they take holidays doing what they love, staying in nice accommodation, and dining out.”
The French birders at the Waterworks were students, on a back-packing trip. I was interested to hear a first-hand account of the kestrels I wrote about earlier in the year which nest in Notre-Dame Cathedral, close to the Latin Quarter where the students have digs.
Like all birders, we were speaking a common language.