The Gold Coast is famous for its beaches, theme parks and busy nightlife, but a wildlife rescuer says breeding ospreys could become the next big thing to lure tourists to the glitter strip.
Rowley Goonan, who founded Wild Bird Rescues Gold Coast, said there were surveillance cameras mounted on osprey nests in Brisbane and Port Lincoln in South Australia.
"For the Gold Coast it would be a wonderful potential tourist attraction," Mr Goonan said.
One of the most watched osprey nests is in Scotland and George Anderson, from Woodland Trust, which installed and maintained the camera, said it attracted twitchers who watched the breeding pair and their three chicks in real time.
"We certainly get a lot of interest from around the world and this year with the old [COVID-19] virus malarkey, it's really found a special niche with people," he said.
"Last year we had an audience of 60,000 people and this year it's already up around 290,000 people.
"Lots of people have been telling us it's keeping them sane during lockdown."
Mr Anderson said the camera was installed in 2017 and the current breeding pair were not impacted adversely by the technology.
"They absolutely don't care about it. They just ignore it and get on with it," he said.
"It is quite an intimate feeling you get of being in the nest with the birds.
"Ospreys are on camera a lot because they're just so tolerant."
Large online community
Mr Anderson said some enthusiastic bird watchers monitored breeding pairs on multiple computers around the globe.
"It's quite an amazing community that we didn't know existed until before we started our own camera," he said.
Such was the interest, people could watch osprey nests all year round.
"A lot of our people turn their attention to you guys once our lot [ospreys] are away. In the winter time here they're watching the ospreys in the Southern Hemisphere," Mr Anderson said.
"There's a massive community online and they're literally watching it like it's the cricket or Wimbledon."
Mr Goonan said an existing nest on a pole beside the Sundale Bridge at Southport would be ideal for a camera because it would highlight the birds, the Broadwater, and city's skyline.
"People drive past it every day and they see the ospreys standing up there on the upper cross beam or the nest," he said.
"That pair are currently sitting on one chick … their new little fellow is now 10 days old.
"It's an opportunity for us to monitor firstly one of the biggest problems these birds face, which is fishing line entanglements."
Last year, Mr Goonan had to cut down a chick that became tangled in fishing line and later died.
Mayoral support
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate has met with Mr Goonan and supported his request for more nesting poles and upgrades to existing sites.
Councillor Tate said a number of stakeholders would need to be consulted, including the Gold Coast Waterways Authority, but he did support a proposal for a camera to be installed at the high profile Southport nesting site.
"There's no time line. I would just like to get it done as soon as we can," he said.
"This has gone on too long for me, so I will be calling in the officers-in-charge and find out how long it is going to be."
Mr Goonan said a camera would have to be installed after the present nesting season so the ospreys were not disturbed.
