Since, Kolibri Expeditions is turning 20 years next year, I’d like to celebrate in two different ways. First a recap of 15 news stories about:

• Peruvian birds and how to see them.
• Our conservation committment.
• Kolibri Expeditions innovative thinking how to provide birding trips for all kind of birders.
• Our new programs in 2018 that includes Peru, Japan, Mexico and Brazil, as well as a BIG MONTH in Peru.
• Get to know Gunnar (that is me). Sometimes it is easier to connect if there is a real person behind the company and learn about the private challanges.  So apart from getting to know Gunnar the Birder, you get to know Gunnar the Runner and Gunnar the Rocker.

Secondly, THE CYBER WEEK DEAL is on.  At the end of this recap of 15 news stories, there shall be a special time limited offer to take part of our trips at a discount.

If you subscribe to our newsletter, you should already have received a copy of this because it was sent out in a haste at the beginning of Cyber Monday.  There were however a couple of links missing and also some text errors. I am a bit sleep deprived currently on this birding tour on  Manu road with Klaus Malling Olsen and my circadian rhythm up the wall with jet lag effects still from being in Korea last week .

I thought it would be a good idea to get this up on the blog as well and this way correct the mistakes, and also give you something you can share to your friends. Maybe we can get some more subscribers to our newsletter as well, because more info on these news will be shared in upcoming newsletters. So thanks to you for continued support through subscription. Having said that, do feel free to unsubscribe if you don’t want to get more stories and special offers for birding with Kolibri Expeditions in your mailbox. You SHOULD read on if you want to get an time-limited offer straight away. This is just for CYBER WEEK.

1. New Antbird species to science recorded from North Peru.

Check out the report about the new antbird found at the Scarlet-banded Barbet site.

2. How to see White-masked Antbird.

The newly rediscovered White-masked Antbird can now be seen relatively easily at San Lorenzo. Here are some tips for anyone planning to go there.

3. Pelagics from Lima.

Kolibri Expeditions have the longest track record in Peru for arranging Pelagic trips. Check out the 10 best pelagic birds in Peru.

4. Five day trips.

We have launched a series of 5 day birding trips in Peru for those with little time but still want to see a lot of birds during a trip sandwiched between two weekends and only take 5 days off of work. In total there are 9 different itineraries to different areas of Peru. For instance Long-whiskered Owlet and Marvelous on the same trip to North Peru or Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager and Junin Grebe on the same trip to Central Peru.

Long-whiskered Owlet at Fundo Alta Nieva in January

5. Peruvian food is conquering the world.

Read about Mistura festival in Lima – sign up for a combined Culture, Food, Archeology and birding experience.

6. Discover Japan with Kolibri Expeditions.

Stellar’s Eagle, Hakkaido, Japan. Photo ChunHsien Huang.

In February 2017, Gunnar lead a successful short budget to Hokkaido, Japan. Here is the blogpost about how to DIY Winter Japan or take a short trip with us. Only one spot left with departure  on Feb 17, 2018.

7. Kolibri Expeditions goes to Mexico.

Check out our trip recent San Blas, Yucatan and El Triunfo trip report. New departures in March 2018

8. Kolibri Expeditions in SE Brazil and Pantanal.

We did a trip with Swedish birders in 2015 and repeated again with Chinese bird photographers in September 2017. New tours to SE Brazil and to Pantanal are coming up in September 2018.

9. Birding without Borders by Noah Strycker.

In February-March 2015, Gunnar and Kolibri staff, took Noah Strycker around in Peru for three weeks for Noah’s Big Year around the world. Read about Noah’s adventures with us in his new book Birding without borders. To find someone to help him in Peru he turned to us. Noah writes: “In the end, I realized there was only one man to turn to: the bird-crazy Swede of Peru, the man who, when mentioned his name to several friends, came across as a modern-day warrior, post-punk rocker, and international birding legend. His name is Gunnar. It rhymes with lunar.“…..
“By the end of 21 days, I had recorded 784 species in the country, more than I would see in any other nation during the year. Of those 488 were new additions, and 242 turned out to be unique – not seen anywhere else…..It could not have been done without the help of generous Peruvians and the unflappable genius of Gunnar Engblom”
Wow!.

10. Big Month Peru.

As a tribute to Noah and a celebration to ourselves for 20 years we plan a BIG MONTH in October 2018 to get plus 1000 birds in a month. The itinerary is not 100% ready in detail but an outline can be found on the Kolibri Expeditions Friends group on Facebook. You will be able to join for parts of the month or the Full Monty. October 1 will be a dedicated Big Day that shall start in Puerto Maldonado and end in Lima. We hope to come well over 300 species Day 1 – maybe more. 

11. 100% Money back guarantee!

Sounds incredible, but some of our Central Peru and some of our Lima day tours come with a money back guarantee. Here is how it works.

12. Satipo Road has a new community lodge.

Satipo road has a number of undescribed species and new discoveries. Yet it rarely visited by birders. Maybe this will change now with a community lodge . We have supported the community Lodge on the Satipo road and will continue to promote this Poor Man’s Manu Road. Last year Birdquest stayed here. We hope to help the community with gradually improving the lodge infrastructure.

13. Junin Grebe conservation work.

Kolibri Expeditions is promoting a Junin Grebe survey. One of Peru’s more threatened birds is getting some attention as we do daily point counts to get data that can detect population trends faster than yearly obtuse intents of counting the whole population of the lake.

14. Gunnar Rock and Roll.

Didn’t Noah call me Post Punkrocker? On a personal level showing that it is never to late to rock, I relaunched my band Guran Guran, recorded a CD with 13 songs this year, and we have had a massive success on YouTube with almost 150 000 views of the video about Rinkeby and Tensta.

15. Gunnar the Marathon Runner.

The rest of my free time, I run. Since 2013, and a mediocre 3:58 in the Lima Marathon in May that year,  I changed my running style to a forefoot strike and became able to run more and faster than ever. In a year the change was dramatic. In 2014 I qualified for Boston Marathon with 3:24 in Lima (See: My Secrets How to Qualify for Boston ), I ran NYC Marathon in 2014 in 3:14, Boston Marathon in 2015 in 3:17 and  Peak to Creek Marathon (NC) in 2016 in 3:04 Now I am training for Miami Marathon Jan 28, 2018 and Gold Coast Marathon in Australia July 1, and hoping to break 3 hours in the latter race.  Sub 3h, would break my 21 year old self. In 1982, I ran my first marathon, and still my best time ever, in 3:00:32.
You can following my running, as well as other personal thoughts and passions, that may include also birding, music, movies, books and self development, in my personal blog. I am constantly experimenting.

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Those are 15 bullets that lay close to my heart. Hope you enjoyed and continues to subscribe, and hopefully we see each other on a tour somewhere in the worl

If you have been checking out Cyber week for buying the airfare to go birding somewhere, you should check out our Kolibri Expeditions calendar and our tours. From Black Friday Nov 24 until Saturday Dec 2, we offer 10% discount on any tour – scheduled or non-scheduled – and 15% on the tours marked as “Fixed Departure” on the Kolibri Expeditions website calendar. 

So go ahead! Buy that bargain air-ticket NOW and we shall have a few more days to sort out details of the program – with a discount.