A brighter spot: the Pope has begun to openly push for more action to curb climate change.
And there may be help on the way for Europe’s glorious, huge Griffon Vultures. A veterinary chemical that is deadly to the birds is beginning to get banned in some countries. The drug: diclofenac. If you’d like to see a Griffon Vulture in France or Spain, PIOB can get you there.
And here in the U.S. the Red Knot has been put onto the list of threatened species by the federal government.
Here at PIB we have come up with a way for you to save money on your next trip by making a tax deductible donation. Your $100 donation goes to Rainforest Trust. They will then use it to save a rapidly developing section of Peru’s highlands. And they have matching grants that will quadruple your gift. You get the tax deduction and we will give you $100 off any trip you take with us in the next 2 years. This is described as a win-win-win, we believe.
Here’s a map of the area we’re helping to preserve:
The Peruvian government has pledged to turn the land into two national reserves once enough land is taken out of timber and agricultural use. The area is known as Sierra del Divisor.
Click here to find out how the donation and discount work together for you and the Peruvian rainforest. By the way, your $100 will actually lead to saving 800 acres from despoliation and exploitation.
Click here to read more about Sierra del Divisor and its species diversity.
This is a Goeldis’s Monkey, a threatened species, and one of sixteen primate species found in Sierra del Divisor.
Lelis Navarette, one of the superb regional guides we work with, took this picture of a Versicolored Barbet. It is one of over 550 bird species found in the highlands of Sierra del Divisor.
We’re talking wondrous species diversity: 38 medium and large-sized mammals (20 of them threatened) including giant armadillo; 10 endemic plant species with likely many more to be discovered among the 3500 species thought to survive in the area; at least 3 known endemic bird species with much exploration still undone; 300 fish species and over 100 reptiles and amphibians. All these beings depend on human intervention on their behalf for survival.
If you decided to help, PIB will give you our gratitude and our discount.
Cornell University’s Ornithology Lab is putting together a comprehensive list and description of Neotropical birds online. Here is the link. I am about to get my first look at Panama’s avians so this site has been fun to explore. I’m on one of our PIB trips with a great local guide.
This Neotropical site works very much like the Birds of North America Online which I find to be a valuable resaource when I am writing about our native birds here in the U.S. The Noetropical site already has 4000 species, more than 4 times the total on the older BNA site. Such is the species diversity of Central and South America plus the Caribean Islands. We regularly get four breeding species of tanager in North America, further south there are many dozens. Even more flycatchers in Latin America than any other family, nearly 400 species.
Partnershipfor International Birding now has 80 trips scheduled for 2012 with a score more in the works. Check out our website for the list. We can take you to almost every birdable cranny of the planet. And you’ll be in small groups, not with a busload.
AFRICA: We now have trips to Gambia, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Ghana, Uganda. There are many birds you’ll never see if you don’t get to Africa.
This four-foot high, pedestrian pelican is the Shoebill. He lives in papyrus swamps around Lake Victoria in Uganda. Once we’d seen this guy at eye-level from our small canoe the other hundreds of birds, the numerous antelope species, the elephants, the warthogs digging up the lawn…those were all a bonus. Shoebill is the single best reason to bird Uganda. He won’t show up as a vagrant at Cape May.
ASIA: India, Phillipines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia.
In all our overseas trips we use only the best local guides. We stay in local eco-lodges. And we plan these trips with your lifelist in mind. And we can get you to six continents and then get you to the birds you want to see.
This colorful character is the Masked Trogon female. She liked hunting outside our breakfast hall at one Ecaudoran lodge.
LATIN AMERICA; Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina,
Guyana. And our Ecuador trips can include a few days in the amazing world of Darwin’s Galapagos.
OCEANA: New Zealand and Australia, where the endemics are pandemic. Don’t you want a couple Kiwis and a Kookabura on your life list?
We can put together custom trips for your small group of birding friends so you get the time to find your target birds.
NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE. Of course we also provide great trips in the U.S. From Lark Bunting to Hermit Warbler. From Sprague’s Pipit to Cassin’s Auklet, we have the trip you need to fill out your lifelist. North Dakota, Colorado, Pacific Northwest for winter specialties from the Arctic, Northern California, Tennessee in spring. If you hanker after some of Europe’s goodies, we can plan your trip for Great-crested Grebe, Black and Red Kite, Hoopoe or Wallcreeper. From Spain to the U.K. Or from Turkey to France, we have your ideal bird trip to the Old World. Below: a Common Shelduck at the Camargue in southern France.
Then a Pied Wagtail playing the ancient field at Stonehenge.
Brazil is the largest nation in Latin America and its habitat diversity is legendary. One sparsely-traveled area that’s become a favorite of our birders: Pantanal in the western lowlands. I spoke via Skype with Lelis Navarette.
He’s a top guide working for Neblina Forest Tours and PIB. Lelis described the broad, low-lying valley of The Pantanal. Sounds like it was designed for bird diversity. Six months of the year it is a flooded grassland. Interspersed are areas of scrub, and then islands of rain forest. Talk about habitat edges! Birds zeroed in on Pantanal long before we birders recognized it.
Red Pileated Finch
Immature Harpy Eagle.
Some of the 600+ bird species known to occur in the area.
Some names to conjure as you dream of fattening your life list: Greater Reha, Maguari Stork, Jabiru, Bare-faced Curassaw, Chaco Chachalaca, Chestnut–bellied Guan, Rusty-margined Guan, Ash-throated Crake, Picazuro Pigeon, Long-tailed Ground-Dove, Scaled Dove, Hyacinth Macaw, Golden-collared Macaw, Black-hooded Parakeet, Buff-bellied Hermit, Ruby Topaz (this one’s a real gem), Gilded Hummingbird, Campo Flicker, White Woodpecker, Pale-crested Woodpecker, Great-rufous Woodcreeper, Planalto Woodcreeper, Red-billed Scythebill, Choty Spinetail.
OK, you may only need one reason to visit this part of Brazil. Just look below, the Hyacinth Macaw:
Besides the great birds, Nature Conservancy describes the Pantanal as one of the most productive natural habitats on earth. It’s a wetland ten times the size of Florida’s Everglades. In Pantanal there are over 200 species of fish, giant river otters, tapir and marsh deer.
All photos were taken by Lelis. If you want to catch our next trip to The Pantanal,click here for details. Or call 1-888-203-7464.
Partnership for International Birding 