A few weeks ago we spoke about the importance of venues to having a list of birds that have been seen at the location (read the post here). We then saw the importance of highlighting the special birds that can be found at the specific venue (read the post here).
If you need help with these first two steps, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us – we would love to assist where we can.
In this week’s Tourism Tuesday article, we continue to build on these two important tips.
Guests will often arrive at your venue with limited time to try and see the possible birds that your venue promises. I have arrived at venues before and had the owner or one of the guides telling me all about the birds that have been seen. They might have a printed list and even know what special birds there are — the problem is when you ask them when and where they were last seen, they often don’t have the answer for this.
I feel that it is important for those who work at the venues to be taught which birds to look out for and to have a system where those sightings can be recorded.
I love that when you go to some of our National Parks, there is a sighting board showing where sought-after mammal species have been seen. Birds have wings, which means they move around a lot, but they often seem to stick around certain areas. Once the venue knows these areas, when a guest asks where they can see a certain species, you will be able to guide them to the right areas to look.
When you use apps such as Birdlasser, you can not only record the birds that have been seen but also record exactly where they have been seen. This means that when a guest asks, you can give them an exact pin of a previous sighting.
It is also good to know when those species were last seen. I would rather have an accommodation venue tell me that a species hasn’t been seen for a while than get my hopes up that I will see a bird that hasn’t been around for years at the venue.
Tip Number 3 – Work on a system to record when and where special species have been seen at your venue.
Until next time,
Adam
