Suberb Lyrebird from Australia is one of the world's best mimics.
The famous BBC series with David Attenborough has brought forward a number of contestants for the “1000 birds to see before you die” project. I think most of the will qualify when I get the final list out by the end of this week or early next week.
Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae
The Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae is one of the best mimic in the world. It imitates the birds around it, but also camera shutters and car alarms. The male clears an area in the forest and makes this its display ground. Another species is Albert’s Lyrebird Menura albert, which occurs much more localized only in Southern Queensland.
Where to see Superb Lyrebird.
The Superb Lyrebird occurs in rain forest in in Victoria, New South Wales and south-east Queensland, as well as in Tasmania where it was introduced in the 19th century. It is not too difficult to see. Locally, the display sites are well known. Display occures between April and September.
Please let me know any link all of a sudden does not work. Superb Lyretail photo Rick Ryan under Creative Commons license. All photos made by Gunnar Engblom on this blog may be used under Creative Commons license as long as they are attributed the original article with a link.
Red-capped Manakin is famous as the bird that dances as Michael Jackson. I can moonwalk.
Some of you may have heard of my book project “1000 birds to see before you die“. If not click the link. In any case, the project is slowly running along. We are still working with the database and the lists to choose the 1000 birds that will be featured in the book. Some birds are just given. So without further a due, I give to you a new daily blog series. I may be very random these birds come up. But one by one – one every day – the 1000 birds will be presented. This means it will take about 3 years to finish the series. And this is also a good deadline for the book. 3 years. First one out is the
Red-capped Manakin Pipra mentalis
This is partly a tribute to Michael Jackson. Here is the bird that does the moonwalk. There are four Manakin species with red heads and black body, but the Red-capped Manakin has the coolest display.
Where to see Red-capped Manakin.
It is distributed from the Yucatan in Mexico to west Ecuador. Many lodges in Central America have lek-sites staked out, where the moonwalk can be seen.
Please let me know any link all of a sudden does not work. Red-capped Manakin photo Jorge Montejo under Creative Commons license. All photos made by Gunnar Engblom on this blog may be used under Creative Commons license for as long as they are attributed the original article with a link.
Marvelous Spatuletail Photo: Gunnar Engblom. Photographed at Leymebamba on June 22, 2009
I am back from one of the best birding routes of the world, packed with endemics and spectacular species. I will have more time to blog now, as I have no birding trips coming up for a while. This week and next I shall make a series of blogs connected in one way or another to Nothern Peru. Come back daily to this page for more news. First out is a short picture summery about the last trip.
My recent tour to Northern Peru started off a bit nervously due to the violant clash against demonstrators and police just 5 days prior to our departure with over 30 dead (and probably more as numbers unfold). See my previous blog-post for more info on this unfortunate and sad news. We were to pass through this same area. Therefore at the start of the trip I decided it was probably better to just re-route the trip via Cajamarca and Balsas to get to Leymebamba, instead of the planned route via Jaen and Bagua, where potentially more problems could rise.
This was a mixed cultural and birding tour. I guided 3 women who had grown up together attending the same school. Only one of them, Laura, was a birder from start. Nancy and Jaynie were good sports and participated in the birding activities as well. Jaynie was not feeling too well part of the trip and took it easy at the serenity of the Abra Patricia Owlet Lodge while we were staying there. In 10 days we noted short of 300 species of birds, but we were not only birding as I just stated. We visited archeological sites and museums, such as the great Sipan Museum in Lambayeque, Tucume, Cajamarca, Leyemebamba Laguna de Condores musuem and Chachapoyas fortress Kuelap. In Lima we made visit to the Gold Musuem and National Museum in Lima. Right now the group is visiting Cusco and Machu Picchu with our guide Alex. Surely many birds are being added.
Lodging highlights were Chaparri and Abra Patricia Lodge, while finding a male Marvelous Spatuletail at the feeders across from the Museum in Leymebamba was the most exciting of all our birds seen.
Coming back to Lima with million things to do I am just posting some of my pictures below with short comments. Upcoming articles this week (tempted schedule….but in reality don’t be surprised if it takes longer!).
Birding Chaparri (Tuesday)
Birding Abra Patricia (Wednesday)
Culture in Northern Peru – combine birding and archeology (Thursday)
Hummingbird watching in Peru. Best places to watch hummingbirds. (Friday)
Long-tailed Mockingbird Chaparri. Photo: Gunnar Engblom
Striped Owl. Chaparri. Photo Gunnar Engblom
Rufous Flycatcher. Bosque Pomac. Photo Gunnar Engblom. Rufous Flycatcher is one of the most wanted endemic species in the region and generally uncommon to rare.
White-faced (Tropical) Gnatcatcher. Bosque Pomac. Photo Gunnar Engblom
Cinereous Finch. Bosque Pomac. Photo: Gunnar Engblom
Peruvian Plantcutter. Bosque Pomac. Photo: Gunnar Engblom The most threatened species in the region together with White-winged Guan.
White-winged Guan. Chaparri. Photo Gunnar Engblom
Royal Sunangel. Abra Patricia. Photo: Gunnar Engblom
If you are interested in a tour to Northern Peru, check out our extensive offering on our new summery North Peru tour page. There are both comfortable trips that combine birds and culture suitable for non-birding spouses, as well as more intense birding trips.
Simply the best – for anyone interested in birds. Your favorite collection of birding blogs is back with isssue number 101. And our favorite top of the charts Science blogger grrlScientist, who gets on average 9000 visits to her blog daily, is host. What more can you ask for. Jump right in!
To me it is an honor to be participating on this blog. Being on the first page of the number one Natureblogger is almost like making it to the first page of Digg!
Click like mad, and give the participating bloggers some traffic. It works great for the self-esteem and which in the end ensure more top blogs coming.
Pledge: I will run the Lima Marathon 42.195km on May 31 after only 5 and a half weeks of training at 4h13min or less. 4 hours and 13 minutes makes an average speed of 6:00 min per kilometer, which is more or less the speed that I have managed on the long runs I have done so far.
But I aiming higher than 4 hours and 13 min and this is where you dear reader come in. I challenge you that I will run faster and you can help me to push my limits. Let’s do this together for conservation. How? I tell you how! No you don’t have to run a marathon yourself, but I am sure you’d buy me a beer if I make it, right? In fact maybe you’d say that you’d buy me two beers if I shave 5 min from the stipulated time. If I shave 15 minutes you’d throw a party. Having a lot of friends and followers on the social media outlets and lists that I belong to, that could amount to a lot of beer for me to drink – and it would probably not allow me to do any more marathons (or birding for that matter) for a long time! Let’s convert your solidarity for my pain and suffering pushing the limit into a donation scheme for a good cause instead . The challange on your part is to donate 1 dollar for each minute I can shave off the 4:13 Marathon. The cause: Habitat conservation and supporting community eco-tourism project on Satipo road in Central Peru. See google map. View Larger Map
The principal area for birding and the conservation project with the community is the stretch between Mariposa and Carrizales on the map ranging between 1200-3600m altitude.
Background
I am not new to Marathons – the 42.195 km race that represents the ultimate running challenge. I have run 5 so far. My first in 1982 and my last in 2000. My last one I ran after 16 years of absence in 3:37 in a very hot Cozumel.
I have had a dream for a long time to run Boston Marathon – the oldest marathon in the US and the most prestigious. In fact this marathon is so popular that one needs to qualify. For my age-group 45-49 I need to run a qualifying certfied marathon in 3h30min or less to be eligible for Boston. A bit more than 3 weeks ago, when I heard that the Lima Marathon would officially be ranked as an international marathon and thus serve as a qualifier for Boston, I was thinking that in spite of my lack of training I could give it a go. 3:30 makes an average 5 min/km speed. When starting my serious training at that point I was out of shape, but obviously not completely new to running. I had run only about 100km in the first four months of the year and now in only 3 and half weeks later I have run another 250km A week ago however, I realized that I shall not make 3:30 this time. I have got the endurance to last the race, but not the speed. I would need another 5-7 weeks to build speed. My wife asked me: “so why do you run, if you won’t qualify to Boston?” The idea of running for conservation was born (cracked during training of course). A reason to go on in spite of not qualifying for Boston Marathon.
The details of the pledge
I hope to get at least 100 people to help out. You can choose to make pledges according to the following plans.
10 dollars. I think this is a great cause, and will support you no matter what with 10 bucks.
1 dollar/min shaved off from 4:13. You can do it Gunnar! For every minute faster you run I will donate one dollar more. Have this in your head at all times!
42 dollars. That’s one dollar per kilometer. You are crazy Gunnar, but you have my support for each kilometer you run.
To give you an idea of the speeds involved for different finishing times here are some examples
It shall be fun to support, because I will be posting at least every 10km on Twitter during the marathon.
I don’t know, but the whole thing may actually get some coverage in Peruvian press if I get it out through some Peruvian media.
Rainforest Partnership
For this to be successful and to channel the donations we need involvement of a recognized (and quite flexible) non-profit organization. Since similar pledges are not unheard of in the US, the US is the best base. Niyanta Spelman of Rainforest Partnership was in Peru last year checking out the Satipo road area making contacts with the community and is well aware of the needs and possibilities. During this coming week, Rainforest Partnership will be informing of ways of receiving donations on their web-page and facebook page. Check them out to keep yourself updated.
What can your donation achieve?
Since 2000 Kolibri Expeditions have run birding trips to this area, but only a few trips per year. These trips have been quite rough, but we have supported the communities by using their communal schools as base for camping. We have brought school material, given talks about conservation, and small donations to install water and a toilet near the school. In spite of our effort, this can hardly sustain any major income for the community. Nevertheless, during these years awareness have increased, culminating last year when 3 community members were invited on a special trip with Kolibri Expeditions to Mindo in Ecuador to see with their own eyes what can be achieved in an area with same geographical conditions as their own. The same year they received visits from Rainforest Partnership and University of Huancayo was granted a conservation and research concession in their area.
Now is the best time ever to start supporting the communities. They have a school building and a communal building that can be used as lodging presently, but there are no beds nor dividing walls. This is what we can achieve with different amounts.
2000$ – Implementing beds and improvements of shower and toilet area in Apaya (2350m) as well as hummingbird feeders. The community can raise the current price per person for lodging of 5 soles per night to 20 soles (7 dollars). That is me running 10 minutes faster than 4:13 and 200 people making pledge.
5 000$ – the above and a Butterfly house/butterfly farm in Mariposa (which incidentally means butterfly in Spanish!!). There is much unsustainable collecting of butterflies near Satipo. With a butterfly farm it can become an important export business and it is sustainable. Later it will become a tourism attraction. I cut 20 minutes and run in 3:53 and 250 people make the pledge.
10.000$. With an additional 5000 dollars would ensure the building material to build a new building at Apaya for tourism and price can be raised for lodging can be raised to 12 dollars per person and night. I cut 25 min and we get 400 people to sign up for the pledge.
With additional funding we shall be able to do some workshop for local guides and how to deal with tourists.
Every goal met will help to lessen the pressure on the forest and allow for an alternative way of subsistence.
This old article give you a little bit more background on the Satipo road project. The trip to Mindo was done in April 2008 and huge success. In a future posting I shall upload the video to You Tube so you can see what we did there.
UPDATE:
I completed the marathon in 3h59min16s. 25 people made pledges. It gives an important addition to the Satipo road conservation project. Donations can be made on https://www.rainforestpartnership.org
Additional later posts about the Marathon can be found here:
1. Brian Allen, Gran Rapids, MI
2. Michelle Townsley, Ventura, CA
3. Carol Foil, Baton Rouge, LA
4. Dawn Simmons Fine, US (everywhere!) of Dawn’s and Jeff’s blog as they travel the US with their motorhome
5. Janet Zinn, NY of janetzinnphotography.com
6. Alan La Rue, Lima, Peru of Expat Peru. Learn spanish online
7. Joe Church, Harrisburg, PA. Great pledge. Joe writes: On the same day of the Lima Marathon I will be running the San Diego Marathon. So here is a deal for your cause: I will pledge the $1/km or $42 no matter what for your marathon. I will also pledge $1/km for my marathon no matter what and $2 for every minute I exceed 4 hours or $1 for every minute I am under 4 hours.
8. Antonio Coral, Massachusetts and Puerto Maldonado, Peru pledges $1/km. Thx Antonio. I told him I could knock it off his salary, because he is our main guide for Kolibri Expeditions’s Amigo research station program 🙂
9. Bob Warneke, Austin, TX. Boardmember of RainForest Partnership.
10. Stephen Greenfield, Minneapolis, MN.
11. Lyn Nelson, Las Vegas, NV.
12. Juan Liziola, Lima, Peru.
13. Nigel Vouden, United Kingdom.
14. Mark Egger, Seattle, WA
15. Elizabeth Gross, Michigan, of Backyard Wildlife Journal
16. Debbie Blair, Lexington, KY
17. Phillip Brown, Santa Cruz, CA
18. Domenic Tomkins from Expat forum.
19. Olivia Gentile, NY. Author of “Life List” about Phoebe Snetsinger.
20. Linus Thiel, Stockholm, Sweden aka @yesbabyyes.
21. Christopher, Boston, MA. Owner of Picus blog
22. Peggie Veggie
23. Mary Ambler
24. Stuart Starrs, Lima, Peru. enperublog.com
A few months ago I wrote a blog post about the director Alex Karpovsky and his feature film Woodpecker. I missed that film which seemingly mostly only showed on film-festivals. It is likely that this new documentary Ghost Bird will also have the same sort of viewing history. The world premiere is on the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto tomorrow night.
Here is the trailer:
Thanks to Zenbirdfeeder for posting a tweet about the film. Later I saw that she had also posted on her blog. Well, well. How many newspapers around the world do not cover the same story headline story? Shouldn’t upset anyone if two bird bloggers deal with the same topic.
I am really getting into this Twitter-thingee. It is a great way to spread the word of the things that really matter to you. So what matters to birders? Birds of course.
Yesterday, I posted a post called What is #ecomonday?. Now it is time for the birders to step forwards and promote both our hobby and share it with other birders on #birdsaturday.
This is how it works.
On Saturdays, the day of the week when many birders get out in the field and see good birds and with time to tell others where to see specific birds or where to go birding on Sunday. Thus, post bird sightings and localities to visit on Sunday. Also, promote your local birding walks and bird talks on #birdsaturday.
Furthermore, let’s start a Retweet Club on Saturdays. This is the day of the week when we make a cooperative effort to promote each others blogs or specific bird related web-pages. Only one rule. Choose blog posts and links that have a broad topic as possible as your contributions to be re-tweeted . Particularly links that have the possibility to transcend also to non-birders or give useful tips for birders to connect with each other.
Thirdly, yes why not use it as a followbirder day on twitter as well. Therefore, if you are not recommending birders to follow on Fridays, do it on Saturdays.
Last but not least. Retweet, retweet, retweet. Both for the retweet club as well as sightings, birding activities and locality tips
If you send your post at 9 AM someone logging on at noon will probably not see it. Use the retweet function for the stuff you like most and always promise yourself and your fellow birders that on Saturdays you shall commit to retweet at least 10 posts throughout the day.
Let’s try to make some more birders out of the no-birders out there. The more we are the stronger we become for habitat and species conservation.
Finally a book about a birder’s quest you don’t have to be a birder to enjoy.
Sometimes it is good to be a blogger. My blog had caught the attention of author Olivia Gentile and I was asked to review the new biography Life List: A Woman’s Quest for the World’s Most Amazing Birds she had written on Phoebe Snetsinger, the first birder ever, and still the only woman, to pass 8000 species of birds seen in the world. Phoebe hardly needs a presentation among birders, but for the rest of the world the words of Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond sums it up nicely:
“Except for one thing, this book would rate as a great adventure novel and fictional psychological portrait, about a woman’s obsession with bird-watching, its effect on her relationships with her husband and her four children, and the horrifying mishaps that she survived on each continent—until the last mishap. But the book isn’t that great novel, because instead it’s a great true story: the biography of Phoebe Snetsinger, who set the world record for bird species seen, after growing up in an era when American women weren’t supposed to be competitive or have careers. Whether or not you pretend that it’s a novel, you’ll enjoy this powerful, moving story.”
It should take some 3 weeks until I eventually got the book sent to me by Olivia. I was sold on this book even before I started reading it. I just love the flash promotion intro to the book inserted above. This is the coolest thing I have seen for years. The simplistic design, the fast change of birdnames, ticking away 2 names per second on white background, the loose illustration and the music build up to a final crescendo and gran finale are just awesome.
The picky birdwatcher would maybe object that some full birdnames are not shown completely (i.e. Parrot), but the whole concept just blew my mind. I put it on my facebook, recommended the site www.oliviagentile.com to my Twitter friends and some of the lists I subscribe to. Some said to me that they ordered the book of Amazon as soon as they’d seen the ad.
I guess I earned my free copy already!
Did the book hold up to the expectations?
While Snetzinger’s own memoir Birding On Borrowed Time was well received among birders and very well written, some reviewers complain there are just too many birds mentioned to be of interest for a non-birder. Olivia Gentile’s book also mentions many glorious species, but it is well balanced and gives the reasoning of the complete switch and obsession that came to Phoebe’s life with birding. It was about self-fulfilment that was impossible for a woman in the 50. Phoebe had straight A:s through college and could have had a tremendous carrier had she been living two decades later. Instead she became a housewife. After she found birding at the age of 34 she started becoming more at ease with her situation. At the age of 49 she had just started taking some organized birding trips outside the US and was diagnosed with Cancer and given one year to live. This was the turning point. She had seen less than 2000 species of birds. From now on she would grasp the day as it came and do what she like most. Birding!
It turned out that the cancer receded and she was to add over 6500 species more to her life list over the next 18 years to finally die in (ironically not from cancer) in a car crash during a birding tour on Madagascar. The birding during these years became an obsession that put strain on her marriage, the relation with her kids and also exposed her to many dangers on her trips during some brutal hikes and dangerous boat and car-rides.
The book covers well her motives and the reactions in her surrounding.
Her friend Terry Witt who participated on many tours with her writes on BirdChat list:
Those of you who have read her autobiography, “Birding on Borrowed Time”, will be familiar with the fascinating story of her birding career. “Life List” recounts again much of this material, but in addition, delves into the extended family history in detail, and makes an effort to explore her personal side in incredible depth. The author had cooperation from Phoebe’s family, and a wealth of information from her many friends in her effort to try and understand this remarkable and most unique individual.
Phoebe was a good friend of mine, and I thought I knew her well, but after reading the book, I was amazed at how much of her private life and thoughts she kept hidden. The real irony is, that I am sure that much of this materiel would never have come to light save for her untimely death.
The author Olivia Gentile writes in the introduction:
I decided to write some sort of essay on birdwatching, and I called a few bird clubs near my home in Manhattan to see what they had going on. One man misunderstood and thought I was interested in joining his club. He tried to encourage me. “Who knows?” he said. “Maybe you’ll be the next Phoebe Snetsinger.” The man had never met Phoebe, but he knew all about her (as most birdwatchers do, it turned out) and he told me a little. That was back in 2001, two years after her death, and I’ve been piecing together her life ever since.
Phoebe liked to write things down, and I’ve been able to reconstruct her life largely by following her paper trail. In addition to the poetry she wrote in her forties, I read letters she wrote to friends and family; notes she wrote to herself during good times and bad; and the notebooks she kept on her trips, which were meticulous and often quite personal. I read articles she wrote for the newsletter of her bird club and for magazines, and the many articles that were written about her. When she was 65, she started working on a memoir, which was almost complete when she died.
I interviewed Phoebe’s family: her two brothers; Dave, her widower, who still lives outside St. Louis; and her four children, now in their forties and fifties, all of whom have careers in the natural sciences. The Snetsingers are private, dignified people, but they shared with me what they were comfortable with (and, generously, allowed me to read and quote from Phoebe’s papers). I interviewed dozens of her friends, most of them birders, and I found that a lot of them had stories worth telling, too. I did a lot of birdwatching myself, both in New York and in some of the places that were important to Phoebe, including Kenya and Peru, two countries in the tropics that are particularly rich with birds.
This book is about Phoebe, and about birding, a way of life I wanted to better understand. But it’s also about the broad and fundamental questions Phoebe’s life raises. What happens when society pushes you into a role you aren’t meant to play? If you’re told you only have a short time to live, how should you spend it? Where is the line between dedication and obsession, and when does obsession cross the line into pathology?
What does it mean, ultimately, to live, and die, well?
Final verdict – Phoebe Snetsinger and I.
I LOVED THE BOOK! I am 48 years old, and turning 49 this year. The same age as Phoebe had when she was given her “death sentence”. It scares me! Particularly, since I have a 2 year old daughter and my Peruvian wife Elita is almost 6 months pregnant with another daughter. I have to last for at least another 20 years! I have to keep fit and have taken up my Marathon running again. But, I also want to see some more birds and travel the world. It will be tough balls to juggle .
My life list is a around 3600 species maybe more (I haven´t done the math for a long time) so I would have a head start on Phoebe. But, I don’t think I will be as “mad” as Phoebe, that would be too irresponsible. In the bird tour business and birding in remote areas, albeit rarely, shit happens, which the book illustrates with rape, kid-napping, gunpoint assaults, shipwreck, car-accidents, fatal altitude sickness, poisonous snake bites, tropical diseases, broken limbs, murder and simply disappearing in the forest. (Don’t tell my wife!).
I am not taking long trips at present. I suffer being away only a couple of days from Luciana, my daughter, but I will be guiding a two week trip next month. And next year I shall be taking even longer trips. I have to juggle it gently, I think.
The book inspired to my recent idea of writing a book: “1000 birds to see before you die”. Maybe this is a reasonable compromise? Not to go for all the birds in the world, but for the 1000 best ones. Don’t be surprised if I suddenly start offering birding tours to far-flung places around the world, with myself as leader/coordinator employing local guides. Anyone up for going to see the Helmeted Vanga on Madagascar – Phoebe Snetsinger’s last zest? I’d take you!
With a Carpish trip just finished as and a Central Peru trip, featuring Carpish and Satipo road starting on May 17, I’d thought I’d tease you with some pics of some of my favorite birds in the region. In spite of not being exactly colorful, they are great birds – just to give you an idea.
Bay-vented Cotinga
Bay-vented Cotinga can usually be seen at Bosque Unchog, where it will sit on the tree-tops.
Taczanowski’s Brush-Finch
Taczanowski’s Brush-Finch, soon to be split from Slaty Brush-Finch of Ecuador, is endemic to Central Peru.
Eye-ringed Thistletail
This is a Thistletail with personallity. A fantastically cool bird found in the bamboo in the upper part of the Satipo road. This is practically the only place where it can be seen.
Obscure Antpitta (Grallaria rufula obscura)
I call him Obcure Antpitta due to its scientific name. It is absolutely clear that this subspecies Grallaria rufula obscura should be split out from Rufous Antpittas. Just listen to these recordings! Obscure Antpitta vs Rufous Antpitta ssp rufula.
The problem is what to do with the other subspecies and define exactly where the limits are. Rufous Antpitta most likely contain up to 7 or 8 species!!
Diademed Sandpiper Plover
Not exactly an endemic (it occurs also in Chile), and a bit too particular to be called a Little Brown Job. This is one of the most wanted birds by the birders that come to Peru. Why? I think the fact that it is something in between a plover and sandpiper, and lives at 4600m above sealevel. How is that for a Shorebird (sic!).
Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager
It can’t be acccused of being a little brown job, but I include it anyway, because it is the most wanted bird on the route. It can be seen at Bosque Unchog. If you are looking for some last minute travelling, the trip starts on May 17. And is offered with a 20% discount.
All photos by Gunnar Engblom under creative commons license. You may use the photos as long as you link to this source. Recordings by Willem-Pier Velinga and Nick Athenas under creative commons license at https://Xeno-canto.org