Cost (Time, Distance & Money) of "seeing" 200 birds in Home Country, 2008? (1 Viewer)

ChinaBirds · Dec 28, 2007

Cost (Time, Distance & Money) of "seeing" 200 birds in Home Country, 2008?

With 2 days left in 2007 I am still trying to find my last two birds of 2007 to make 200 birds in the UK, (like I did for the first time in 2006, by mid September). See following thread

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1073030#post1073030

While I am not a big twitcher, and missed some relatively easy birds this year, like Puffin, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time I thought it would still be relatively easy to hit 200 despite spending nearly a quarter of the year in China with work, how wrong I was! Will certainly have to plan better in 2008 and twitch the local rarities more to achieve my goal.

This got me thinking, just how much does it cost in both time, distance and money to see (not just hear) 200 species in the UK on average? I have an Alfa 1.9JTD, which can do around 50 miles (or more) to the gallon if I am careful. Therefore from 1Jan08 I am going to monitor all of the above to see how much it has cost me, and will update this thread accordingly. Based in Derby I have a bit of a handicap as it is a long drive to the coast.

Would be interested if anyone else is up for the challenge both in the UK and overseas so long as you are in your home country, i.e. this does not include hopping on a plane to say Ecuador. OK if you live in Ecuador of course. I can imagine the cheapest will be incredible cheap for someone who lives in a tropical rain forest.

Anyway just a thought while I await my last two birds of 2007!!!!

Cheers
Nick

ColinD · Dec 28, 2007

ChinaBirds said:
....This got me thinking, just how much does it cost in both time, distance and money to see (not just hear) 200 species in the UK on average? I have an Alfa 1.9JTD, which can do around 50 miles (or more) to the gallon if I am careful. Therefore from 1Jan08 I am going to monitor all of the above to see how much it has cost me, and will update this thread accordingly. Based in Derby I have a bit of a handicap as it is a long drive to the coast.....

I think it is totally dependant on where you live. 200 in a year isn't that difficult if you live in the right location, plan your year and have a bit of luck along the way.

If you lived in Norfolk, you could probably do it very cheaply just by making sure you went out locally on a bike every weekend, and perhaps had a few days in Northern Scotland. Based in Derby, I would imagine it's going to cost you a lot more.

I'm close to 200 myself this year. I live in Merseyside, do a lot of birding by bike, but also visit Martin Mere and Marshside regularly, Leighton Moss and Hilbre Island occasionally and have had two short breaks to Northern Scotland and Northumberland. I've also twitched a couple of birds outside my region over the year. Medium range twitches are actually quite cheap if you have a car full. For example, sharing the petrol, it cost me 10 pounds to go to Scarborough yesterday with a couple of mates for the Desert Wheatear.

From a carbon footprint point of view, those visits to Martin Mere etc. and the holidays and my share of the twitches probably come to about 3070 miles or about 77 gallons at 40 miles to the gallon (I probably get more than that). The holiday to Scotland was over a third of the total at 1200 miles, or 30 gallons.

Sancho · Dec 28, 2007

Coigach said:
From a carbon footprint point of view, those visits to Martin Mere etc. and the holidays and my share of the twitches probably come to about 3070 miles or about 77 gallons at 40 miles to the gallon (I probably get more than that). The holiday to Scotland was over a third of the total at 1200 miles, or 30 gallons.

So when a rarity pops up and lots of folk go to see it.....that Canada Warbler at Loop Head, for example, caused a few hundred tons of Carbon emissions. Careless bird, ought to be ashamed of itself!

Barred Wobbler · Dec 28, 2007

I haven't knocked myself out this year and I've still got over 200 in the County (not Country). As Coigach says, it all depends on where you live. My county total for this year is 208, well down on my last two years' counts of 232 and 235 and is my lowest since 2001 when foot and mouth caused such havoc to birding opportunities, but I still managed 204.

I've been much more relaxed about the birding this year and this has shown in the lower count, but Northumberland is such a good spot it's not too hard to hit the 200. Other counties (With some exceptions) without the coastlines and moors just don't give the same opportunities.

ColinD · Dec 28, 2007

Sancho said:
So when a rarity pops up and lots of folk go to see it.....that Canada Warbler at Loop Head, for example, caused a few hundred tons of Carbon emissions. Careless bird, ought to be ashamed of itself!

Exactly

If these birds will get themselves lost, what do they expect?

chowchilla · Dec 28, 2007

ChinaBirds said:
With 2 days left in 2007 I am still trying to find my last two birds of 2007 to make 200 birds in the UK, (like I did for the first time in 2006, by mid September). See following thread

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1073030#post1073030

While I am not a big twitcher, and missed some relatively easy birds this year, like Puffin, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time I thought it would still be relatively easy to hit 200 despite spending nearly a quarter of the year in China with work, how wrong I was! Will certainly have to plan better in 2008 and twitch the local rarities more to achieve my goal.

This got me thinking, just how much does it cost in both time, distance and money to see (not just hear) 200 species in the UK on average? I have an Alfa 1.9JTD, which can do around 50 miles (or more) to the gallon if I am careful. Therefore from 1Jan08 I am going to monitor all of the above to see how much it has cost me, and will update this thread accordingly. Based in Derby I have a bit of a handicap as it is a long drive to the coast.

Would be interested if anyone else is up for the challenge both in the UK and overseas so long as you are in your home country, i.e. this does not include hopping on a plane to say Ecuador. OK if you live in Ecuador of course. I can imagine the cheapest will be incredible cheap for someone who lives in a tropical rain forest.

Anyway just a thought while I await my last two birds of 2007!!!!

Cheers
Nick

I live with tropical rainforest, tropical savannah, palm swamp, paperbark swamp, mangroves, mudflats, lakes and lagoons and various urban settings withing easy walking distance.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, my 'walking distance' list exceeds 200 species for this year.:t:

James_Owen · Dec 28, 2007

Sancho said:
So when a rarity pops up and lots of folk go to see it.....that Canada Warbler at Loop Head, for example, caused a few hundred tons of Carbon emissions. Careless bird, ought to be ashamed of itself!

That's something I tend to worry about more and more. A while ago I suggested to the RSPB that members could pledge a limit on the number of 'bird miles' they drive, which they said they'd take under consideration. At least now they charging car park fees instead of admittance.
Not sure an environmentally sustainable approach a very popular topic among some birders/twitchers though.

For what it's worth, here in landlocked Notts I managed just short of 150 for the year, with a couple of weekends in Norfolk and less than a dozen local twitches of about 40 miles into surrounding counties, pushing me up to 190 for the UK.

AlanR · Dec 28, 2007

Unless you are lucky enough to live somewhere like Norfolk, I reckon 200 needs a good bit of travelling. For my estimated 4000 miles of driving this year I am just below the 150 mark.
Unfortunately you get to the law of diminishing returns where each additional spot may cost you increasingly more miles.
[I didn't want to achieve too much in my first year. Now at least I have something to try for in 2008.]
Alan

canadagurl123 · Jan 15, 2009

I paid about a total of 100 dollars for bus transportation which was my main source to get 200 birds by June last year. Also lots of money on pick-me up coffees at Tim Hortons/ Starbucks. The rest was transport by carpooling and my parents giving me rides. Also 20 dollars on a Vancouver ferry trip. I probably travelled over 300 miles combined travel to get 200 last year.

Birdingcraft · Jan 16, 2009

chowchilla said:
I live with tropical rainforest, tropical savannah, palm swamp, paperbark swamp, mangroves, mudflats, lakes and lagoons and various urban settings withing easy walking distance.

Unsurprisingly perhaps, my 'walking distance' list exceeds 200 species for this year.:t:

Sounds wonderful!

Birdingcraft · Jan 16, 2009

I should get 200 species pretty quick- I think I am close to that number already but it helps living in a tropical country (Costa Rica). 200 sp. Britain might equal 500 here. I hope to surpass that number as I am doing a big year- probably use car and buses for the most part- more or less necessary to get to biding spots from my overly-urban setting.

Cost (Time, Distance & Money) of "seeing" 200 birds in Home Country, 2008? (1 Viewer)

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