Kolibri Expeditions news

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Kolibri News Dec 15, 2009

Kolibri Expeditions bi-weekly Newsletter.

Golden-backed Tanager - one of the star birds possible during Kolibri Epxeditions Give-Away of 15 birding tours during 2010.

Golden-backed Tanager - one of the star birds possible during Kolibri Expeditions Give-Away of 15 birding tours during 2010.

I decided to present the full version on the Kolibri News directly on the blog today.  However, the give-away of free birding trips is only for the opt-in Newsletter. If you haven’t signed up yet, do so on the right of the blog.

In this issue:

  • Free birding trip in Peru
  • Upcoming trips – Fixed departures
  • Blog posts by Gunnar since the last newsletter
    A. Birding in Peru
    B. Fascination by Mega twitches, new species to science, re-discovered species and critically threatened species.
    C. Social Media for birders
  • Recommended external links the last month from Gunnar’s Facebook stream

Free birding trip in Peru

Last Saturday, I pulled a PR stunt, giving away 14 birding trips to Manu and Carpish/Satipo road in Peru. The give-away is still active if you follow the directions on my blog.  This is not just bold advertising for my company, but more than anything else an attempt to draw attention to birding areas that have communities that can be involved in the conservation of the same and initiate eco-tourism benefiting the same communities.

To be eligible for a free trip, you need to sign-up for our opt-in newsletter – if you have not done so already (there is a form on the blog), and you need to start sharing this link  https://bit.ly/8s830C where ever you can (Facebook, Forums, Blog, Twitter, Listservers for birders, Flickr, etc.).  The newsletter that will be sent out to you after you have signed up will contain all the additional information and rules that you need to participate.

Fixed departures-upcoming confirmed tours.

The Kolibri Expeditions Birding Tour Calendar for 2009 is beginning to take a more final shape. Our fixed departures have been placed here. There are still a couple of tours that need to be uploaded as fixed departures so do pop in later. I imagine by the end of the week it shall be complete. The give-away hosts will be announced on Christmas Day. The fixed departures shall have both a lower price and an expert leader designated well in advance. Some tours are promotional for new areas and some are an intention to get slightly larger groups so that we can give you a better price.  If you don’t find a departure to your favorite destination for your preferred dates, we can still arrange a trip for you. Just let us know your preferences.

Here are a few examples:

  • Satipo road – short 7 day tour FIXED DEPARTURE Guide: Jose Antonio Padilla. Before: $1085 Now: $868 based on 5 group of five people.. Support the local community at Satipo road. Birding like Manu road and several yet undescribed species. Dec 26, 2009
  • North Peru 1: Tumbes and pelagic FIXED DEPARTURE: One extra day in Tumbes forest (surcharge 120 US$). With pelagic from Punta Sal. Only 2 vacancies. Jan 4, 2010.
  • North Peru 2. Piura to Tarapoto. Featuring White-winged Guan, Marvelous Spatuletail, Crescentchest, Royal Sunangel, etc. Departure: Jan 9. More North Peru trips will be scheduled for later in the year.
  • Amigos SE Peru. The best birding in SE Peru. A place where you have a single base for your birding during the entire stay. 7 or 14 days. At least one departure per month leaving always on a Thursday. Can be arrange also on demand. On Sep 2, 2010 we arrange a lowland amazonian birding workshop. Learn how to separate all the Furnarides, Antbirds, Flycatchers and Woodcreepers by voice. The trip ends with a BIG day for the clients and finally on the last day an attempt for the 24h world record. Everyone should get a personal best.
  • Guyana, Suriname and Roraima (Guyanan Tepui area in Venezuela) 3 weeks. Start on March 27. Price to be announced. It is possible to make a shorter one or two week trip.  I am working on the details and the price for this tour the coming week.
  • Butterfly-watching. Trip in May in Central Peru is under production. Also a the trip to Manu Communities in December with Corey Finger will include a fair bit of butterflies.

Gunnar’s blog the last three weeks.

A. Birding in Peru.

B. Critically endangered species.

C. Social Media and Blog Carnivals for Birders

Recommended Links picked up on Facebook.

Kind of hard to chose a favorite external link from the past 3 weeks, but since Christmas is coming up and I just announced on my Facebook wall, that I don’t want people to put bulky Christmas greetings applications there (If you are on Facebook, you know what I mean – the hideous virtual gifts are worse than spam), I thought I had best show that I am not Scrooge or the Grinch, the following video has been viral on Facebook. Happy Christmas everyone.

Links about Peru

From the last newsletter, you may remember the story of the Peruvian human oil extractors – The Pishtacos. Dan Tallman who accompanied the LSU expeditions in Peru in the 70s, wrote a great comment on this blogpost about his experiences in Carpish in the 70s. Things have calmed down now and a visit to Satipo road last week had no incidents. Good to know for all of you who plan to host Central Peru in the freebie bird tour give away.

Just a few days after my post about the Swim-with-the-Sealions tourism activity in Lima, I find a local post (in English) that praises the whole thing. I just had to ventilate my thoughts in the comment section….and get insulted!
Check it out – and do leave a comment to show that I am not the only one thinking this is too much intrusion.

Diana Fruguglietti and Paul Ippolito posted some of their pictures from our recent Northern Peru trip. The pics are on Facebook, but with the new more lenient privacy rules I hope they can still be seen by all.

Alan Wilkinson did part of the North Peru trip and part of a Manu road trip with us. Here are his photos.

Rich Hoyer has don a fantastic job blogging from the latest Field Guides birding and natural history tour to SE Peru including Manu and Machu Picchu.  Here is delivery of Day 6, but any of the posts in October and November from the trip is worth you time.  There is also a lot of photos about herps, butterflies and plants.

And a couple of referrals to the Manu and Carpish trips giveaway here. All websites are well worth a visit per se, not only to see the referrals.

Here a great picture of one of my favorite Hummingbirds. The Sword-billed Hummingbird. Check out that bill.

Other birding links

One of my favorite bloggers, Jochen of Bell Tower Birding, made this hilarious view on The Splitting of Birds.

The Guardian has provided a number of good posts on birding, especially in The Observer supplement. Here is a piece that explains what make the birders “tick”. To a birdwatcher, one glimpse, one moment is happiness enough.

You may remember I wrote about Floreana Mockingbird in the last issue of this newsletter. This post also received some interesting comments from the main scientist that made the study of the DNA from Darwin’s specimen. What an honour for me and my blog to get such qualified comment to my review!

David J. Ringer has a great blog for anyone interested in new species and taxonomy. His posts are ofter very thorough, and I always feel I learn something from his detailed style, but yet easy to understand. Here he writes about the recently described Limestone Leaf Warbler from limestone karst region of West Vietnam and Laos.

Darwin Finches Tatoo. You got to see this.

Again from Facebook – and not sure if you will be able to see it. But this photo on Jeffrey Gordon’s wall of  people looking at an Ivory Gull at Cape May is probably one of the coolest picture of birders doing their thing I have ever seen.

The ultimate birdfinding guide to iPhone. Kenn Kaufman reports on Birdseye – an amazing application for your iPhone.

Some Funny Videos that I shared on Facebook.

Warning: You watch on your own risk. I find these funny, but it may not be your case.

Rowan Atkinson tells the Gospel of John

Robin Williams on Bush and Obama – introduced by John Cleese.

Por eso es mejor sin condon

You need to know Spanish for this one

That is all folks. Another newsletter will be published in about 2 weeks. The winner of the 15 trips to Manu and Carpish will be published on Christmas Day. Maybe you get a trip to Peru for Christmas?

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Content in the bi-weekly newsletter

Newsletter summary

The lekking males can be seen December to April at our private reserve. Marvelous Spatuletail. Photo: Alejandro Tello

The lekking males can be seen December to May at our private reserve. Marvelous Spatuletail. Photo: Alejandro Tello

Thought I’d share with you some content from the last newsletter sent out about 10 days ago. I have done some editing, so please have a read through again if you already read this once. Another newsletter is in the pipeline. If you have not signed up, please do so now to the right. You will get blog summaries, notes on upcoming trips, discounts and special offers. This particular newsletter is a compilation of 6 weeks of posts and hence way too long. Future newsletters will be shorter.

In this issue:

  • Upcoming trips Dec-Jan
  • Request for suggestions for fixed departures 2010
  • Blog posts by Gunnar since the last newsletter.

    1. Fascination by Mega twitches, new species to science, re-discovered species and critically threatened species.
    2. Social Media
    3. Peru
  • Recommended links the last month from Gunnar’s Twitter and Facebook stream.

Upcoming trips December-January.

After our busiest November in Kolibri Expeditions’s 11 years in business, December is slowing down somewhat. In fact a month ago we did not have a single booking. But now we have 3 upcoming trips that are confirmed in December and will run regardless of number of number of people and one trip that needs more takers.

In January, 2009 there are more trips. Some are already full, but we can open space on other trips if we get demand.

The rest of the year 2010?

There are still very few departures scheduled for 2010. And in the coming two weeks, we shall start filling the calendar. I would like your help.Are you ready to interact with me? I am playing with the idea of offering some fixed departures for max 10-12 people, with 2 fixed top well prepared guides (not only for birds), fixed (good very compatible) price and fixed dates. What do you think?

When and where should the tours go? How long should the programs be. One idea which is already happening is promoting the community lodges in Manu through the blogging tours, but one may also do a longer trip to maximise the yield. There are also the community programs in Central Peru of various lengths (one week or Birding Carpish and Satipo road 18 days). We may also want do offer some more comfortable trips ot Manu and Amigos as well as North Peru.
For Amigos, I am playing with an idea of offering a 14 day workshop at Amigos in September to learn rain forest species both by sight and ear ending with a BIG DAY attempt – and a go at the world record. Have to break 332 species for the record of one site!
North Peru could have a combined Cactus/Orchid/Butterflies and Birds trip in January-April. Furthermore the lek of Marvelous Spatuletail is active between December and May and can be sampled in trips as short as 5 days or 7 days.
Please send me a lot of comments.
I have a several other trips piled up that needs to enter the web-page and the calendar – work for the coming two weeks. Several trips in Asia with Ashley Banwell, a trip to Guyana/Suriname/Roraima in SE Venezuela and possibly trips to Bolivia, Colombia and NE Brazil as there are already requests for these areas.
Also contemplating maybe make our family holiday in mid-February to Thailand into a tour. Are there other couples of mixed birder/non-birder that would like to squeeze in tropical birding in Thailand during a family holiday? Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Guerney’s Pitta, elephants, tigers (tiger temple), temples, thai food, beaches, mangroves, theme parks. Our kids are 7 months and 3 years by then.

Gunnar’s Blog

Recommended links from my Facebook streams.

I would have included links from Twitter here as well, but this got quite voluminous as is, so I won’t this time.

The number one link was without doubt the BBC high speed footage of the Marvelous Spatuletail lek from the series Life – presented by David Attenborough. A bit bitter-sweet though, because our protegé Santos Montenegro was paid peanuts (290 US$ for 3 weeks of work) and no funding was secured to protect the lek-site on the small reserve which Kolibri Expeditions have funded by raising the money so Santos could buy the land. I am preparing a longer blog post about this issue during the coming days so please check in later – and BBC will be approached. I am sure it wasn’t intentional not to give a larger donation for the conservation project of the lek.side. Needless to say, I was not involved in the filming. I was however approach in an early stage of BBC:s planning and did recommend both Santos and our reserve as well as mentioning the importance of securing the site.
In any case, if you want to see this lek live and in action – the only known place in the world where it can be seen with certainty is within Santos and Kolibri ‘s reserve between December to May.

Seabrooke Leckie is a blogger who is invited by us to blog at the Manu-Amarakaeri community eco-tourism project that Kolibri is support. Her blog explains it all – this is what it is all about. Learn how your trip to Manu can help the local indigenous community

Jean Paul Perret has done some excellent blog posts on Neotopical birds that I highly recommend. For example.
Some trip reports from Peru – not necessarily in our regime – are always worth sharing:
Niall Perrins from South Africa has a report from North Peru and Lima.
Rick Hoyer from Wings has made an excellent trip report in 19 parts from his Lima-Cuzco-Machu Picchu-Manu recent trip on his blog. Here is part 1. Nice to see a trip report that also include plants and critters.

Birds elsewhere

Disturbing pictures how albatross chicks on Midway are fed garbish and died from it.

Superb Lyrebird special by Paul Hurtado

Susan Myers blog post about Asian Owls was featured in the Blogger ‘s Tweet Club.

Other links:

If you ever wondered what I did in my previous life, well here is the answer. I was a punk-rocker singer/song-writer. Turning 50 next year, was probably the trigger that “forced me” to set up a My Space page for my music project “Guran Guran”. Now, you can be nice and say its good – not to hurt my feelings.
The Cow-parade finally made it to Lima. Took my family to see part of it last Sunday.
Laura Miller book review: Why can’t we concentrate?
Twitter and e-mail aren’t making us stupider, but they are making us more distracted. A new book explains why learning to focus is the key to living better.

Funny videos shared on Facebook:

Old secretary back to work again!

Swedish Midsummer – German banned IKEA advertising.

The biggest snake found dead. (Not for faint-hearted)

Bathroom break.

What to not do on a one-night stand.

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Fixed departures for 2010?

Help me define 2010’s birding program.

Marvellous Spatuletail. Photo: Gunnar Engblom

Marvellous Spatuletail. Photo: Gunnar Engblom

What fixed departures shall we offer next year? Traditionally, Kolibri Expeditions have offered trips on request, but I am wanting to set a few fixed departures that people can take for a lower price.

Yesterday I sent our first opt-in regular newsletter. Within this newsletter is an invitation to help us define what trips to offer to a larger public at a better price next year. I am reposting that part of the newsletter here. I am looking forward to your comments.

The rest of the year 2010?

There are still very few departures scheduled for 2010. And in the coming two weeks, we shall start filling the calendar. I would like your help. Are you ready to interact with me? I am playing with the idea of offering some fixed departures for max 10-12 people, with 2 fixed top well prepared guides (not only for birds), fixed (very compatible) price and fixed dates. I know everyone prefers small groups – and most of our trips are like this, but there are advantages being in a larger group. If split between two guides, there be less need to compromise. One part of group can bird from dusk to dawn if they wish, while the other part of the group can take it easier. One part of the group may want to do trails, while the other part do the road. You can not have this flexibility with a small group with only one guide. What do you think?

When and where should the tours go? How long should the programs be? One idea which is already happening is promoting the community lodges in Manu through the blogging tours, but one may also do a longer trip to maximise the yield. There are also the community programs in Central Peru of various lengths (one week or Birding Carpish and Satipo road 18 days). We may also want do offer some more comfortable trips ot Manu and Amigos as well as North Peru.
For Amigos, I am playing with an idea of offering a 14 day workshop at Amigos to learn rain forest species both by sight and ear ending with a BIG DAY attempt – and a go at the world record. Have to break 332 species for the record of one site!

North Peru could have a combined Cactus/Orchid/Butterflies and Birds trip in January-April. Furthermore the lek of Marvelous Spatuletail is active between December and May and can be sample in trips as short as 5 days or 7 days. I am planning one fixed departure to North Peru for June with myself and Santos Montenegro (yes, the Marvelous Spatuletail famed Santos) as guides.

I have a several other trips piled up that need to enter the web-page and the calendar – work for the coming two weeks. Several trips in Asia with Ashley Banwell, a trip to Guyana/Suriname/Roraima in SE Venezuela and possibly trips to Bolivia, Colombia and NE Brazil as there are already requests for these areas.
Please comment below

Gunnar

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How to write an unsolicited Newsletter without pissing anybody off

NewsLetter – Kolibri Expeditions

Yes, we all hate spam. And most unsolicited mail would qualify as spam. However, once in blue moon I do get some unsolicited stuff, that catches my attention and that I don’t dislike. Those occasions always have to do with targeted messages. If as a birder I get an unsolicited message about birds, that should not ruin my day. And especially if there is a lot of value in the message such as a trip report or some great photos there is good chance I don’t send it straight to the trash bin. I have tried to use such strategy in my business, admittedly with mixed success, as I on rare occasions get very strong negative reaction. Some would argue that anything unsolicited is spam. However, with the commercial bombardment of ads for totally un-relevant stuff and spam such as Nigeria scams, Viagra sales and explicit porn, a very rare newsletter about birds would be quite harmless for most of us as long as there is no problem unsubscribing.
I have until now included some ads for my tours in these newsletters, but from this day on I am changing strategy. Why? Because, I would like to inform those interested in new tours and offers on a more regular basis, which would be too frequent for an unsolicited newsletter. So I am splitting my previous efforts into two different strategies – a massive non-commercial informative targeted twice yearly newsletter and a more direct opt-in bi-weekly newsletter which also features some tours.
I chose not to push any tours in the first newsletter, to strengthen the message that I am sharing my knowledge with you, without expecting anything in return. This past 9 months as a blogger has taught me that in order to be successful with a business using social media, one has to share much more than one tries to push sales. When someone wants to buy, they will hopefully look me up. This non-commercial approach should be great for branding.
Although I would be nice to take some credits for these thoughts myself, I humbly credit 100% to my house-hold social media heroes for the inspiration. They are probably familiar to you and if not check out the links to their blogs. Darren Rowse of Problogger, John Haydon and Chris Brogan.
It would be interesting to read your comments. Will I get away with my massive unsolicited but targeted newsletter? And will I get anyone signing up for the opt-in newsletter, I wonder? Comment below.
Below, follows the sales-free Newsletter that is currently being distributed to a lot of birders. The content should be interesting if you are a birder and if not serve as an example of my points in this introduction to unsolicited newsletters.

Newsletter Nº 008
Date: October 9 – 2009
Dear birdwatcher,

This birding news bulletin from Peru is the 8th since its start in 2004. If you receive this newsletter we probably have birds and birdwatching in common, but you are right, it is unsolicited. You did not ask for it. On the other hand, this is an informative newslettter about birds and their conservation and links to articles which you hopefully find useful if you are a birder. There is no sales pitch in this newsletter and the links presented here are not directed to pages where you are asked to buy something from us.

This newsletter is different compared to previous newsletters. It contains some posts from my blog A birding blog from Peru by Gunnar Engblom, that I think many of you will find useful. The blogposts can be commented, so you can give feedback directly. I answer all questions best I can.

This newsletter covers bird conservation projects, social media for birders, some selected blogposts from the last year – both on broad topics as well as more specific birding in Peru and finally a few updates on the Kolibri staff who are re-producing and producing future birdguides.

Here is the table of content:

1. Facebook for birders
2. Blogging for birders
3. Twitter for birders
4. 11 best birds in Peru as tourism attractions
5. 1000 birds to see before you die.
6. How to become a birdwatcher in the 21st century.
7. 10 best ways to avoid chiggers.
8. A marathon for Satipo road
9. Amarakaeri Communal Reserve next to Manu.
10. Life List – a new book on Phoebe Snetsinger by Olivia Gentile
11. Kolibri staff news: We are producing new birders!

1. Facebook for birders.

With 300 million users, Facebook should not need a specific presentation to you. However, I have seen that many of my birding friends still have not jumped on the band wagon or have not realized the potential it has for birders to connect with each other as a community. It is the perfect place to search for advice when planning for a birding trip. And you don’t have to be real friends to be friends on Facebook. Having birdwatching in common is at least for me enough to connect with you through Facebook. Read the full article: Facebook for birders. A Beginner’s Guide.

For those already on Facebook and would like to become Facebook friends with me here is my Facebook profile. https://www.facebook.com/Gunnar.Engblom/

Also note that I have started three Facebook groups open for anyone to join.

These groups are NOT commercial vehicles for Kolibri Expeditions, but rather open for all that share the same interest.

Finally, there is a Kolibri Expeditions Fan page. In a previous newsletter I introduced Kolibri Ambassadors – a community for our past and future clients. However, with the growth of Facebook, this initiative has become obsolete. I regret that I did not know about Facebook back then. This “Fan Page” shall be a great place to discuss Kolibri Expedition trips with others. I am planning to post a lot of photos and videos here for your enjoyment.

2. Blogging for birders

To maintain an on-line web-log (blog) has become extremely popular in recent years. Digital photography and free resources such as Blogger (by Google) and My Space has made it easy for birders to also publish their own tales and photos of birds on their own site at no cost. In contrast to Facebook you may share with everyone on a blog, not only with your near friends. I too have had a few blogs that I have nourished all to rarely, until I recently understood that a regular blogging section on our company page could actually bring traffic to the main web-page, as well as improve ranking on search the engines. I down-loaded the WordPress blogging platform to my web-page. This platform is also free and popular among businesses because it can be uploaded on your own domain and it has various plugins that makes it easier for search engines to find your posts. You find more info about blogging and how to connect with other bird bloggers and get traffic to your blog in my Blogging for birders blogpost.

3. Twitter for birders.

I am sure I am loosing some people now. Twitter seems to most birders like a complete waste of time. I could not have agreed more, when I first looked at this Social Media fad. I have changed my mind since. If you want to learn more how Twitter can be useful for birders check out Twitter for birders. The biggest value of Twitter for us, apart from the obvious link-sharing, is that we can recruit more new birders from the huge Twitter pool and pass on birding news very fast.
If you would like to connect with me on Twitter, here is my twitter handle @kolibrix. Click on the link and you shall see my latest tweets.I have covered Twitter quite a bit on my blog. You might find the following blogposts interesting.

4. Birds as tourism attractions

This is an interesting exercise. Say you were to name the birds in your country or your state that are or could be tourism attractions for non-birders. These are the kind of birds that everyone likes with a lot of Wow-factor. The kind of attraction one would make a detour to see. They could be arena birds displaying in leks, big colonies, penguins, hummingbirds, places of concentrated migration or just very special birds.

Here is my list of the top 11 bird tourism attractions for Peru. Make a list of your best tourism attractions for your area and upload it in a blog and I’ l write a follow-up post linking to you.

5. 1000 birds to see before you die.

Do you feel that there is no way you can keep up with the world birding. There are just too many birds to see. Instead of trying to see them all, why not just concentrate on the top 1000 birds. The most magnificent and special birds that you would like to see during your lifetime. Not only does this make your targets more manageable, but it all also invites you to be less fanatic during your holidays with your non-birding spouse and just concentrate on those special birds that maybe he/she would also enjoy. This idea will summit with a book, and you can help decide which species to include. Click this link: 1000 birds to see before you die.

6. How to become a birdwatcher in the 21st century.

I predict that birding and nature watching will grow very fast in the coming years. Why? Because, the birders are very good at promoting and recruiting, by putting a pair binoculars and field guide in the hands of a teenager? Hardly! That is so 20th century!

I have two blogposts that develop the new way to recruit new birders.

7. How to avoid chiggers in the Tropics.

Chiggers can be a nuisance and difficult to protect oneself from. Often one takes measures after the damage is already done. Here is a fool proof 10 step approaches to avoid chiggers on your visit to the Peruvian rain-forest.

8. A Marathon for Satipo road.

I have the ambition but not always the time to train to become a half decent Marathon runner for my age. My dream is to be able to qualify for the oldest marathon in the world – the classic Boston Marathon. The problem is that there was no Marathon in Peru that was internationally recognized, so I had my mind to train for a Marathon in the US late in the year. But in April I still had not even gotten started to train and I hear that all of a sudden there would be a Marathon in Lima May 31 and the first one to be a qualifying race for Boston and only 5 and half weeks away. I should give it a try although time was short. I needed yet another stimulus and challenge and making my race a fund-raiser for the conservation of Satipo road and for eco-tourism infrastructure was a perfect match. Below follows a series of blogposts on the marathon and the Satipo road project. We are happy to been able to work on this together with Rainforest Partnership.

9. Amarakaeri Communal reserve next to Manu.

Last year I got the privilege to visit four new lodges on the Manu circuit owned by Wanamei – a tour company formed by the 8 communities of three native ethnic groups Yine, Matsiguenka and Harakmbut. I immediately saw a potential for a niche marketing these lodges for birders and we set up some programs. Here is the first report about the potential for birders of this area. The birding is quite spectacular and many of the special birds of the Manu region are easier to see here than at many of the better known lodges in the area.

However, this year two of the lodges never got restored to functionality after the rains. It is quite a shame, so I thought Kolibri Expeditions best make something about it. We are very excited to be committed to make sure that the lodges are re-opened again. Read about the strategy in this update to the community lodges next to Manu.

The first support and promotion trip is scheduled on Oct 29, 2009 and hosted by the well known blogger GrrlScientist (Devorah Bennu). The trip she hosts would be particularly interesting for anyone that loves parrots. Devorah Bennu is a parrot expert. Read my interview with GrrlScientist here.

Also check this blog post by Seabrooke Leckie who host the blogger promotion trip in Nov 2010.

10. Book review: Life List by Olivia Gentile.

One of the nice things about writing a somewhat popular blog is that sometimes one gets a free book. The new biography Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds I probably would have bought anyway. It is a wonderfully told story of the world’s greatest birder Pheobe Snetsinger. Read my review of Life List here.

11. Meet the crew. We are producing more birders.

It is time to present to you our staff for the season 2009-2010. Here is Kolibri Expeditions staff and the latest additions to the pool of new Peruvian birders. We are very pleased being sponsored with great optics from Vortex Optics during 2009. Reviews of our equipment will follow in future blogs.

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That is it folks. There is no commercial interest in this newsletter, but I admit that the link to Life List on Amazon.com would give me coffee money if anyone would buy it after clicking the link. Do sign up for the twice-monthly opt-in newsletter below if you got interested in our tours or just want to stay uptodate with my blog posts without having to check the actual blog to see what is new.
Good birding to you all
Gunnar

New twice-monthly email birding news mailing list
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Social Media for birders, blog summeries, conservation news, new trips, special offers.

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Meet the staff of Kolibri Expeditions

Meet the crew. We are producing more birders.

It is high time to present to you our staff for the season 2009-2010. Here is the Kolibri Expeditions family and the latest additions to the pool of future Peruvian birders. This is a great Peruvian company with high spirits and friendship although quite small in size. You must get to know all the people that are involved in the operation of our successful birdwatching holidays. I enclose the birthdays of everyone if you want to send your saludos to us (hihi!) once a year.

Commander in chief

Gunnar, Luciana and Elia

Gunnar, Luciana and Elia

Gunnar Engblom (Jul 25, 1960) – that is me. No need for too much information if you are already reading this blog.  Just check the About Gunnar Engblom and Kolibri Expeditions page. In BirdingPeru news 6 I presented my daughter Luciana born Jan 26, 2007.  Recently on July 31st this year her sister Anahi was born. In the same newsletter I have also presented my wife Elia Gallo, who is a good dentist from prestigious Cayetano Herredia University in Lima. Be sure to let us know if you would like to combine inexpensive quality dental treatment in Peru with birding or other touring.

Anahi Engblom Gallo 2 months

Anahi Engblom Gallo 2 months old

More birds need more birders.

It is time to present some of our other collaborators. Many of us are producing offspring. The Peruvian birdguides of the future are secured. I have not yet all the photos wanted for this article, so come back in a few days to see the additions.

Office:

Jorge Quevedo

Jorge Quevedo (Jul 20, 1954) is the office manager doing almost everything you can think of, except guiding birders. Jorge has two grown-up boys in their early twenties.

Jorge Quevedo (Jul 20, 1954) is the office manager doing almost everything you can think of, except guiding birders. Jorge has two grown-up boys in their early twenties.

Antonio Hurtado Account.

(Nov 17, 1975) keeps our accounting in order. Serene and practical. No kids in sight.

Antonio Hurtado (Nov 17, 1975) keeps our accounting in order. Serene and practical. No kids in sight.

Andres Garcia Programmer.

Andres Garcia (Feb 21, 1985) is programmer and is responsible for the birding peru data base and the kolibri expeditions web-site.

Andres Garcia (Feb 21, 1985) is programmer and is responsible for the birding peru data base and the Kolibri Expeditions web-site. Here Luciana tries to teach Andres about birds.

Drivers:

Julio Benites

Julio Benites (Jul 24, 1969). King of the roads in Peru, our mechanic and extremely skilled driver is a favorite among our clients.

Julio Benites (Jul 24, 1969). King of the roads in Peru, our mechanic and extremely skilled driver is a favorite among our clients. Her e is Julio on tour in Chile.

Rodrigo and Piero Benites

Julio's two sons. Rodrigo (Oct 18, 2007) and Piero (Jun 19, 1996). Piero has already accompanied dad on some trips and enjoys the birds.

Juan Jose Villanueva

Juan Jose Villanueva (Jan 7, 1972) has a daughter Diana who just turned 1 on Sep 22.

Juan Jose Villanueva (Jan 7, 1972) often drives our Lima excursions. He has a daughter Diana who just turned 1 on Sep 22. From the Diana's birthday-party I can't resist to include this cute flick of Diana walking over the floor towards the camera below.

Bird Guides:

Alex Duran (Apr 22, 1973) is now leading guide for Kolibri Expeditions. He is one of the sharpest birders in Peru and especially strong in the rain forest. He never quits.

Alex Duran (Apr 22, 1973) is now leading guide for Kolibri Expeditions. He is one of the sharpest birders in Peru and especially strong in the rain forest. He never quits. From 2010 Alex guides exclusively for Kolibri Expedions.

Sara Centeno and Mayer Durand Centeno

Alex's son Mayer was born Abr 15, 2009. Alex’s wife Sara is also studying to become a guide. Sara has been helping us with practical details in Cusco as well as cooking for some Manu groups.

Alejandro Tello

Alejandro Tello (May 31, 1968) guides many of our groups in Lima and Junin. Alejandro is a recognised photographer and well known wetland conservationist. No kids yet, an but amorous trip with partner to Colombia recently may have sown some seeds.

Alejandro Tello (May 31, 1968) guides many of our groups in Lima and Junin. Alejandro is a recognised photographer and well known wetland conservationist. No kids yet, an but amorous trip with partner to Colombia recently may have sown some seeds.

Antonio Coral

Antonio Coral.

Antonio Coral who also guides in the SE rain forest and Central Peru got married to Ant researcher PhD laureate Megan Frederickson a few years ago. He spends half the year in the Amazon and the other half in US or Canada. No plans for kids for now.

Antonio Coral (Apr 22, 1966) who also guides in the SE rain forest and Central Peru also got married to Ant researcher PhD laureate Megan Fredrikson a few years ago. No plans for kids for now.

Antonio Coral is native from Puerto Maldonado and has interesting stories to tell. Once a Puma entered the boat when he was working as motorist in Tambopata.

Juan Jose Chalco

Juan Jose Chalco.

Juan Jose Chalco (Feb 26, 1964) guides Southern Peruvian Andes around Arequipa and Puno, as well as Central and Northern Peru.

Juan Jose Chalco (Feb 26, 1964) guides Southern Peruvian Andes around Arequipa and Puno, as well as Central and Northern Peru. His son Juan Ignacio (Oct 29, 2006) is almost the same age as my Luciana.

Juan Jose's son Juan Ignacio (Oct 29, 2006) is almost the same age as my Luciana.

Ashley Banwell

Ashley Banwell (Aug 16, 1969) is responsible for our forth-coming Asia and Africa programs. He has also guided extensively in Peru in the past. He and Claudia are expecting a daughter in February.

Ashley Banwell (Aug 16, 1969) is responsible for our forth-coming Asia, New Guinea and Africa programs (shall be uploaded within a few days). Ash has also guided extensively in Peru in the past. Here he is at the British BirdFair at Rutland representing Kolibri Expeditions with his wife Claudia and Kim Arut of Kumul Lodge on Papua New Guinea. Ashley and Claudia are expecting a daughter in February 2010.

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