Chris is the proprietor and CEO of Birding Ecotours, and loves being knowledgeable birder!
You may have been main and organizing birding excursions for greater than 20 years now. Are you able to inform us a bit about tendencies previously few years, for instance, with regard to the popular places or the size of excursions?
Sure, it has been very attention-grabbing to be within the birding tour trade for over 20 years and to see some issues altering so much, and others not altering in any respect. One of the vital apparent adjustments that I’ve witnessed is which locations are in style and which aren’t. Typically there are apparent causes for this.
- For instance, Colombia was once a no-go nation, however when it turned secure for birders to go to, naturally (as essentially the most bird-rich nation on the planet), it turned immensely in style, and we now provide many Colombia excursions.
- An excellent many individuals used to go to Peru (which solely barely trails behind Colombia when it comes to its whole hen listing), and its reputation has declined since Birding Ecotours first began, in all probability due to competitors with Colombia.
- The western/Indonesian half of New Guinea (West Papua) was once considered one of our prime sellers because it was much less expensive than PNG, however since prices have burgeoned, many individuals are merely reserving our PNG journeys as an alternative, and we don’t all the time run our West Papua excursions yearly anymore like we used to.
- Malaysian Borneo (Sabah) has additionally develop into expensive.
Masked Bowerbird from the West Papua birding tour, beforehand a very in style tour
There are locations which have stood the check of time, although. Good examples of those are Namibia, South Africa, and Australia, that are, merely, ever in style.
There have been two main world occasions which have had enormous impacts. The Nice Recession of 2008 meant that hardly anybody booked birding excursions for 6-9 months, however fortunately, issues normalized fairly quickly. The COVID pandemic meant we might solely function one single tour (to Kenya) for a full 12 months beginning in March 2020. In 2021, solely our American journeys sailed, however we had stacks of them as People have been itching to journey however couldn’t go overseas but. Our US birding journeys have been oversubscribed, and we added extra departures. It was solely in 2022 that our worldwide journeys began working, nevertheless it was our busiest 12 months ever, and we questioned whether or not that was simply an artifact, however 2023 was busier than 2022, 2024 was even busier, and 2025 has been our busiest 12 months ever (to date). So, a serious development appears to be that there are extra individuals eager to do birding excursions (a minimum of with our firm), since COVID-19 ended.
Concerning the lengths of excursions, we’ve all the time (constantly) had a superb variety of purchasers who love to do back-to-back journeys and spend a month or much more in a area, particularly if it’s a lengthy flight to get there. For instance, individuals typically guide our Australian or southern African journeys back-to-back. However, since not all our purchasers are retired, there has all the time been a requirement for 7-9 day journeys, equivalent to our Costa Rica winter escapes or our Cape City space journeys which might be marginally over per week lengthy.
Snowcap in Costa Rica
In an analogous vein, seeing the elevated curiosity in hen pictures, are your excursions additionally turning into extra geared towards photographers?
That’s a superb query. Solely a small proportion of our excursions are birding photograph excursions, and the overwhelming majority of them are conventional birding excursions. However, with advances in cameras, we’re discovering that increasingly more purchasers are bringing their cameras alongside on our typical birding excursions and getting first rate pictures of many species, with out slowing down the tempo or irritating members who don’t have cameras. Many members actually take pleasure in posting pictures of the spectacular birds they’ve seen on our excursions on social media, additionally one thing that didn’t exist once we first began as an organization. Our group is presently speaking about including some extra photography-oriented excursions, although.
Who’re the standard members of your excursions, for instance, when it comes to age, career, or gender? Are extra ladies taking your excursions nowadays than within the earlier days?
We’ve all the time had many ladies birders becoming a member of our excursions, and I wouldn’t say there are extra now than there was once. Many American and Canadian {couples} be a part of our excursions, and in lots of cases, the feminine associate is essentially the most enthusiastic birder, with the male associate very often simply becoming a member of for the journey expertise. By way of age, two-thirds of our purchasers have all the time been retirement age.
I do, nonetheless, assume that extra youthful/nonetheless working birders are becoming a member of our excursions nowadays than previously. I believe it’s a sluggish however regular development taking place, with youthful individuals becoming a member of our birding excursions.
Our purchasers symbolize an amazing range of professions, and it’s robust to think about one or two professions which might be higher represented than others, aside from these saying “I work at fortunately retired!”. Apparently, we do typically have birding guides becoming a member of our excursions as purchasers, e.g., on our 2025 Angola journey.
Uncommon Swierstra’s Spurfowl in Angola
What do you and your guides consider the rise of apps to detect species by sound or picture – does it make main excursions simpler, or does it take away a few of the information benefit of the tour leaders?
The rise of birding apps makes life simpler, in my thoughts. Earlier this 12 months, after I was looking for Firecrest for somebody, Merlin picked up the decision of 1 amongst a cacophony of different species’ calls, and it was helpful to know one was there, and it helped us lay eyes on it rapidly, whereas it was at eye stage. Instruments like this could solely assist; it’s like having an additional set of ears. Typically the apps aren’t appropriate, for instance, they typically detect Eurasian Treecreeper erroneously as Brief-toed Treecreeper right here within the UK, and that’s the place the information’s information after all overrides the app/birding AI.
Eurasian Treecreeper
On a extra common be aware about expertise, when Birding Ecotours was a brand new firm, navigating to birding websites was far tougher than it’s now. We had to make use of typical paper maps. Now we’ve entry to Google Maps, eBird instructions to hotspots, details about every species, and so forth., the lives of birding guides are simpler (for my part). We will additionally now do eBird lists within the discipline, after which revise our day’s listing every night with the printed listing/tour booklet.
How typically do you alter the locations of your excursions? By now, is there kind of a hard and fast set of locations, or are locations dropped and added regularly?
We are inclined to get very enthusiastic about including new locations to our current repertoire. So, sure, we do hold including them. The world is such an enormous place, and there are all the time new locations so as to add. We’re presently busy including some locations we actually ought to have been doing for years already, however have not likely had time. Some examples of those are Mexico, complete Zambia, new components of Brazil and Australia (such humongous nations), new islands throughout the Philippines and Indonesia, and so forth. We even have locations able to go as quickly as security and different points permit – e.g., Socotra and Cameroon.
We do “pause” or discontinue excursions or locations sometimes in the event that they develop into unsafe. Typically additionally it is about staffing. We have now simply employed a full-time particular person in Colombia, Giancarlo, so we’re including extra excursions there; previously, most of our Colombia excursions have been about 2.5 weeks lengthy, however we’ve not too long ago added brief journeys for people who’ve much less time, e.g., are nonetheless working. In South Africa, we’ve not too long ago added two “price range” excursions simply to supply individuals a means of performing some nice birding there with out paying as a lot as ordinary.
Santa Marta Mountain Tanager, an endemic to Colombia’s Santa Marta Mountains
How differentiated are the larger birding firms – do they beautiful a lot all provide the identical excursions, or are there main variations?
The worldwide birding tour firms do differ. Whereas this will likely not apply to all of our excursions, the overall/ordinary philosophy of Birding Ecotours is to
1) Attempt for the very best hen lists (and evaluation of journey experiences exhibits that this aim is commonly achieved – yay), however to
2) Add a day or two to the itinerary, as we additionally need tour members to have enjoyable, moderately than to get fully drained out.
On most of our excursions, we additionally cease for every new mammal, so in some African nations, we are able to find yourself with over 50 mammal species and amazingly excessive hen lists. Different firms could ignore mammals and as an alternative focus 100 % on hen itemizing. So, some firms will focus solely on hen itemizing, however others (like us) will think about hen itemizing essential, however will moreover think about getting good views of the birds, and stopping for mammals (and another issues) essential as nicely.
Namibia might be the best nation to see the Black Rhino
When doable, we err on the aspect of utilizing increased high quality lodging and automobiles, even when it prices extra, and typically, however not all the time, this implies our excursions are a bit dearer. Naturally, different firms attempt to make their journeys as low cost as doable, and that’s their precedence. So, if you wish to hen on a price range, it might be price selecting a kind of firms though you “tough it” extra through the tour.
Some, however not all, firms have a conservation ethic. For instance, it’s a part of Birding Ecotours’ marketing strategy to donate a minimal of 10 % of its annual earnings earlier than the proprietor’s wage to conservation.
What benefits do birders have in taking birding excursions along with your firm moderately than hiring an area information on their very own?
This can be a nice query. There are a number of doable benefits, e.g.:
- Typically a gaggle journey (with say 4-8 members) with a global tour firm might be inexpensive than a non-public journey with an area information (as there isn’t a one else to share car, information, and different prices with). Naturally, this isn’t all the time the case, as greater tour firms have a number of overheads (many workplace/help employees and different giant prices).
- Typically our tour leaders are, in actual fact, native guides. For instance, our Peru excursions are guided by considered one of our unique full-time group members, the superior Eduardo Ormaeche, considered one of our hottest guides. He’s primarily based in Peru and is aware of his nation completely. The identical applies to our unbelievable South African employees members. They know southern African birds higher than any overseas visiting chief would ever have the ability to know as a result of they’ve been birding the area since childhood. Since we’ve quite a few employees members in South Africa, they operate as native guides there. This not solely permits us to get a few of the finest hen (and mammal) lists (due to the native information), however the costs are aggressive as we solely have 1 information/chief, not 2, though the utmost group measurement of our South African excursions is barely 6 paying members, and though we have a tendency to make use of superior lodging in comparison with different firms. We even have guides primarily based in Colombia, Indonesia, and so forth.
- Some native guides are wonderful, however some are horrible, after which there may be every part in between. So nice care must be taken to decide on somebody who’s going to search out the birds, present a top quality expertise, and above all, present a secure expertise. Seasoned and adventurous vacationers could also be much less involved about this stuff, however in order for you the security and constantly excessive normal that a global tour firm can provide, then this generally is a main benefit
- Some firms (together with Birding Ecotours) will prepare a visit with an area information they belief, when you ask them to take action. The largest benefit, aside from the fee financial savings, is that they’ve the experience and community to know which native guides to make use of. In lots of circumstances, these would be the floor operators they’ve relied on. We have now, for instance, despatched individuals to Madagascar, Indonesia, India, and so forth., with our native guides, and we’ve additionally offered backup help in case one thing goes mistaken. If there’s a vacation spot during which we really feel the expertise received’t be secure or of top quality with an area information, we, after all, can be sincere about that and say so. However in lots of nations, we all know of superior native guides, and we are able to set issues up if requested.
- Utilizing a global birding tour firm does include the help of workplace employees simply in case one thing goes mistaken, which native guides don’t all the time have (however there are some superb native birding tour firms, and never all worldwide firms have correct workplace help, so all that must be taken into consideration).
Inca Tern seen alongside the Peruvian coast
What are your largest challenges in working the corporate and the excursions?
- Discovering one of the best employees members who’re 1) wonderful with individuals (put 1st as it’s much more essential than the 2nd merchandise) and a pair of) sensible birders, is just not straightforward. So, staffing is all the time an enormous problem, which suggests we actually attempt to take care of group members as soon as we’ve discovered them. Because of this, for instance, we paid our guides in full by means of the Covid pandemic – a serious problem in itself, after all.
- Discovering communicative, competent, authorized (all their paperwork so as), and so forth., floor operators/native guides to associate with is one other main problem. Through the years – and many years – we’ve constructed up a community of wonderful individuals and native firms we are able to depend on
- Discovering purchasers is all the time tough, however the excellent news is that we’ve stacks of repeat purchasers preferring our means of doing issues.
How do you see the hyperlink between birding excursions and conservation? Presumably, birders and birding excursions do create a specific amount of disturbance for birds – how do you decide these in comparison with the advantages?
This can be a good query that’s near my coronary heart, so in actual fact, I wrote an article about precisely that: “The conservation worth of avitourism – Birding Ecotours.” The abstract of what I wrote there was that the conservation worth of avitourism far outweighs the prices, as a result of hundreds of individuals at the moment are birding guides as an alternative of loggers and hunters, so they’re defending the hen habitats (their livelihoods) moderately than destroying the habitats. In some nations, equivalent to Costa Rica and Botswana, this has reworked every part, and these are nations which might be conserving their fauna and flora fairly nicely (due to ecotourism).
It must be executed the proper means, although. As one instance, now that Botha’s Lark has been uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered (see The conservation disaster going through Botha’s Lark), we keep away from exhibiting individuals this hen. Any disturbance might trigger its extinction. It’s on the verge. We put the birds first. Some birding tour firms do disturb birds (even threatened ones), however that isn’t obligatory; birding tour firms can select to place the birds first and to maintain far sufficient away, and even keep away from a few of them, equivalent to Botha’s Lark.
Botha’s Lark
A serious potential downside with birding tourism is the carbon value of journey concerned in flying to a vacation spot after which being pushed round on the lookout for birds. Just a few firms, together with ours, try to be carbon impartial, paying into habitat restoration initiatives that offset the carbon expenditures from this. Whereas this stays an enormous difficulty, I strongly consider that far fewer species are going extinct now due to ecotourism for the explanations talked about above than with out it. We’re within the midst of an amazing extinction attributable to us people, and ecotourism is slowing this down.
Frankly, if any person requested me to be a birding tour information, I’d decline for 2 causes. The primary, apparent one is that I’m not a ok birder – that is irrelevant for you. The opposite is that taking a birding tour, even for two weeks, leaves me pretty exhausted, and that’s with out having to do all the extra duties of a tour information that don’t apply to me as a consumer. How do you handle? Isn’t it too tiring?
One other nice query. Sure, guiding a two (plus) week birding tour might be exhausting. Nevertheless it entails a distinct form of stress in comparison with workplace work. What I really like about my job is the combination between the 2. After three months of workplace work, a two or three-week guiding stint relieves the traditional stresses of being within the workplace and rejuvenates the thoughts and physique in some ways. My spouse Megan typically tells me I get drained and weary from all my pc work, and that I want a visit, and he or she’s, after all, all the time proper. However as soon as the journey is over, I’m for positive exhausted bodily, however in a greater psychological state to benefit from the workplace work once more, for some time. All of us are completely different, and my colleague Andy appears to have the ability to do back-to-back excursions eternally and by no means get drained out. However others within the firm are extra like me and have to punctuate the guiding with stints at dwelling for recuperating.
Is there something you would like I had requested?
No, you coated this very nicely, with nice questions!
