ABSTRACT

Although amateur birding makes important contributions towards conservation and the tourism industry, the precise motivations driving birders have not been extensively investigated. The aims of this study were to analyse birders’ highlights for birding trips within southern Africa and to establish whether local and foreign birders preferred to see rare or morphologically unusual birds, as opposed to common or morphologically indistinct birds. Morphological traits included: average body size, colour and unusual features; rarity-related traits included: maximum abundance, and range. A total of 673 terrestrial birds were included, and morphological and rarity-related traits were recorded for each species. Birding trip reports for long (two to four weeks) trips across southern Africa that included full sightings lists and highlights were used to indicate which species qualified as highlights (morphologically unusual, rare or both). Both among local and foreign birders, large-bodied birds were the main highlights, with the other characteristics not retrieved as significant. This contradicts the expectation that local birders would be more interested in rarity; however, this result could be explained by the fact that only long birding trips were considered, whereas rarity may more often be sought by specialized local birders on shorter, targeted trips.

摘要

尽管业余观鸟对保护和旅游业做出了重要贡献，但尚未对驱鸟的确切动机进行广泛调查。这项研究的目的是分析鸟类在南部非洲观鸟旅行的亮点，并确定本地和外国鸟类是否更喜欢看到稀有或形态上不寻常的鸟类，而不是常见或形态上模糊的鸟类。形态特征包括：平均体型、颜色和不寻常的特征；与稀有相关的特征包括：最大丰度和范围。总共包括 673 只陆生鸟类，并记录了每个物种的形态和稀有相关性状。南部非洲长途（两到四个星期）旅行的观鸟旅行报告，包括完整的目击清单和亮点，用于表明哪些物种有资格成为亮点（形态异常、稀有或两者兼有）。在本地和外国鸟类中，体型较大的鸟类是主要亮点，其他特征并不显着。这与当地鸟类对稀有性更感兴趣的预期相矛盾。然而，这一结果可以解释为只考虑了长途观鸟旅行，而专业的当地观鸟者可能更经常在较短的、有针对性的旅行中寻求稀有。其他特征没有被检索为显着。这与当地鸟类对稀有性更感兴趣的预期相矛盾。然而，这一结果可以解释为只考虑了长途观鸟旅行，而专业的当地观鸟者可能更经常在较短的、有针对性的旅行中寻求稀有。其他特征没有被检索为显着。这与当地鸟类对稀有性更感兴趣的预期相矛盾。然而，这一结果可以解释为只考虑了长途观鸟旅行，而专业的当地观鸟者可能更经常在较短的、有针对性的旅行中寻求稀有。