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Tiger Girl – who is she really?

Birdingblogger 3. She is funny!

And Now Check the ears

And Now Check the ears - comment by my birdingblog "friend"

Here is  a photo by the third of my BirdingBlog” friends” I have never met. The contest goes on! I still have not revealed who BirdingBlogger 1 and BirdingBlogger 2 are, to give you some more time (and chance to win a good prize – see below).  Please, place your guesses before it is too late.

Birdingblogger 3. Who am I?

  • Sadly, she does not blog anymore – too time consuming she says.
  • She is still active on Facebook – the fearless Tiger Girl.
  • From Melbourne, Australia
  • Tour Guide
  • Birds of Borneo.

See, was that not easy? Put down your guesses for this friend and the previous ones in the comment section below and take part in the contest. Prizes? OK, time to reveal!

First prize is a free daytrip in Lima (yes, I know the trip to come here will cost you much more but the price is valid for 10 years…so take your time.)  The day trip may also be a pelagic if you coincide the dates we are running such.

Runner up prizes. Everyone who gets all 10 answers right will get a Kolibri Expeditions  cap or a rainponcho! So what are you waiting for? Don’t worry if the comment does not show up immediately. I have activated moderation so the comment doesn’t show right away, giving others the chance to start taking part in the contest.

UPDATE: Only one correct answer in the comment section and one correct answer away from the blog.  Susan Myers  is author Birds of Borneo and started a blog called the Life of a bird tour leader, which was very promising, but as she said to me – never got enough traffic to justify the hard work writing post. I think the new platform on Birdingblogs.com will be perfect for her, as she may do a combination of her witty Facebook posts as well as ocassional longer blogpost.  Here she shall have a larger audience.

Photo credits: Susan Myers


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Birdingblog 2. Who am I?

Everybody’s friend on Facebook.

European Oystercatcher. Photo: Gyorgy Szimuly

I said ten “friends”. Here is the second friend in the streak of  10 birding friends. Why 10? Because something big is about to happen on 20.10 2010. This is what this 10 friend presentation will lead to. Best to follow the blog series to learn what it is all about.

This guy I feel I have known forever – although we never met.  We know each other best on Facebook.  If you are on Facebook and you like to connect with other birders it is likely he is your friend too.

Birdingblogger 2. Who am I?

  • Hungary
  • Shorebirds
  • Facebook active birder

Do I really need to say more? If you haven’t made a guess yet on BirdBlogger 1, do so here.

UPDATE: Yes, of course! It was the Hungarian shorebird fanatic Gyorgy Szimuly (aka Szimi) who was presented here. Here is Szimi’s new Posterous blog. 10 people who have made the correct answer go on to the 3rd round.

Photo credits: Gyorgy Szimuly
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10 birdingblog friends. Guess who I am?

New series of posts

Flying Geese - Denis ColletteI am just back from 9 days photographic expedition with Hadoram Shirihai, and now want to get on blogging again. I’d like to introduce you to some “friends” I have never met in real life. Think about that phrase a moment and put yourself back in time 10 years. It would have sounded a bit silly then. Today, it is not uncommon to have a lot of “friends” over the social media platforms. Within the birding community, this is possibly even more frequent than what is normal. I have 10 birding blog “friends” that I would like you to meet. Although I am not going to tell you who each one is. It is for you to guess.  How well do you know the birding blogosphere? Let me know in the comment section who you think each one is. The first person to name  all 10 bloggers correctly shall win a fine price.

Birdingblogger 1. Who am I?

  • Lived on cat-food in his youth when birding
  • Rock n Roll
  • Field guides
  • Identification guru

Answer in the comment section, which is  moderated..and …why your answer will not show before minimum 24 hours. Good luck! Look out for a prize if you get all the  10 birdbloggers right!

Update: Yes. Of course it was Kenn Kaufman. Here is Kenn’s and Kim’s blog.  Kenn shall be blogging on Mondays on our new platform.

Here are some of Kenn’s most well known books.

Photo from Flickr by Denis Collette


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Gunnar’s weekly Twitter links about birding, birds and Social Media 2010-10-11

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Gunnar’s weekly Twitter links about birding, birds and Social Media 2010-10-04

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Star-spangled Pelagic

Join the 8000 club for a Lima Pelagic

Hornby's Strom Petrel. Photo Gunnar Engblom

Hornby's or Ringed Storm Petrel. Photo Gunnar Engblom

It is not often I find a reason to write a blog post about a pelagic trip, before it actually happens. But on this trip, there is a reason. Some of the participants on this shine more than the birds we will be seeing. There are several participants who have seen more than 8000 species in the world. There are experienced Peru birders. There is a former Vice minister of Tourism. Some renowned bird illustrators and one famous author and photographer.  Are you intrigued?

Let me make a small presentation of the birding stars that shine brighter than the birds on this pelagic.

  • Hadoram Shirihai. With books such as The Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife and  Whales, Dolphins, and Other Marine Mammals of the World Hadoram has earned a place as an authority among seabirders. Additionally, he is now in Peru to do a photographic expedition with Kolibri Expedition in his quest to photograph 7000 species of birds for the book in production with Hans Jörnvall “The photographic guide to the birds of the world”. I interviewed Hadoram in this blogpost regarding the re-discovery of Fiji Petrel.
  • David Beadle is a British Bird Illustrator living in Canada for many years and has illustrated work such as Birds of Chile and Warblers of the Americas.   Currently he is finishing a book on Moths of NE North America and illustrating Birds of Brazil.
  • Eustace Barnes another British bird illustrator who made major contribution to Field Guide to the Birds of Peru and Pigeons and Doves: A Guide to the Pigeons and Doves of the World will also be onboard
  • Barry Walker – owner of Manu Expeditions and the person who has seen most bird species in Peru – close to 1700 species.
  • Hugh Buck -Currently number 3 in the world with a world list of  8523 species.  My guess is that Hugh is after Markham’s Storm-Petrel or Ringed Storm-Petrel.
  • Phil Rostron another Brit in the 8000 club number 4 in the world with 8430 species.
  • Pablo Lopez de Romaña – former Vice Minister of Tourism in Peru

And then there are other well known world birders that you may have met in the field or heard about. Brian Beers, Neal Clarke, Pearl Jordan, JOhn Pennhallurik., Mark Eaton, Lieven de Temmerman and many more.

Oh yes, guess who is guiding? ME! (HELLLLLLPPPP!!!!). Not at all intimidating. I will find some corner to creap into and hide!

We have room for yet a few birders if there is someone keen on joining on Oct 2. We shall do an early start at 5 AM to have some additional time at our chumming spot. Next Pelagic is planned on Oct 4 (full) and on November 13 and November 26. Hope to see you.

Last Pelagic

To wet your appetite what we will see below follows the result from the last pelagic on Sep 25. Here are some of the highlights. I did not fill in the names yet. See if you can ID them?


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More pelagic birding nuts

Some tricky ID:s on our last Pelagic Sep 25.

Sorry folks. Here are some eally poor pictures from the last pelagic on Sep 25, 2010 and some nuts to crack. I will be very pleased and honored for your help to solve the riddles.

South Polar Skua?

South Polar Skua I presume 25 Sep 2010. Gunnar Engblom.

South Polar Skua I presume 25 Sep 2010. Gunnar Engblom.

Albatross

Salvins or Chatham Island ALabtross Sep 25 2010. Photo: GUnnar Engblom

Salvins or Chatham Island Albatross Sep 25 2010. Photo: Gunnar Engblom

I would have said Salvin’s by default, since the lack of yellow orange on the bill? But could it be a very young Salvin’s?

Salvins or Chatham Island Albatross. Photo: GUnnar Engblom

Please leave comments in the discussion below.

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The Zen of Birding

Birding as a Religion or Philosophy

Zen of Birdwatching

Recently, as I was birding in SE Peru, in a break I checked my Twitter stream and saw Dawn Fine’s post referring to the CBS coverage of the Great Birding Texas Classic.

I thought it was kind of cool to see a birding special on US national television. What impact would that not make? So I Digged the CBS website, I tweeted it and I put it on my Facebook and imagined that I had contributed to a viral post that would spread across the Universe to introduce birding to a much wider public. A week 10 days later I am still the only one who Digged the CBS post.

What went wrong? Maybe it was the comment ” Welcome to Dorky Town”? Or the fact that the birders were imitating birds. Birdchick makes a good argument in her plea to birders:  Birders, for the love of Pete, when a news camera is on you: DO NOT IMITATE BIRD CALLS.

Jannet Zinn writes on my Facebook wall. “Oh god, another report that perpetuates the stereotype as birder as dorks. Where do they find these people? None of the birders I know are remotely like that.”

I came to think of it, and recently discussed this with Rick Wright who was visiting us from Vancouver. Why is it that everytime mainstream media covers and depicts birding, it always deals with the competetive side of birding?  Rick pointed out that (in his opinion an awful story) The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession
 (aff link) was to be put to the white screen later this year or early next year. While it will introduce a wider public to birding, one wonders if it will benefit birding per se. Steve Martin in all honor probably makes it worth seeing, but Jack Black will inevitably screw up this film. He is not funny, just silly! And that will be the end of coolness of birding. Birding will forever be just dorky.

Why don’t mainstream get it? Why can’t they see what I see? Why not make a one hour CBS TV special about the Zen of birding? Birding as a religion or a philosophy. The closeness to nature, the contemplation of being one with nature, the ability to put a name to every living thing you see, the envy of flying ability, etc…
Wouldn’t that be more mainstream and less dorky?….I wonder!!!

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Gunnar’s weekly Twitter links about birding, birds and Social Media 2010-09-27

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Gunnar’s weekly Twitter links about birding, birds and Social Media 2010-09-20

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