Looking forward to 2015
It has been a long time since I sent out an update with news from myself and Kolibri Expeditions. High time! Wishing you a great new year 2015. May all your
goals become fulfilled.
In this newsletter I am sharing a few thoughts about social media, some conservation projects, some personal goals – and finally some time-limited special offers.
Junin Grebe project.
After a trip to Junin Lake in early December when only 1 (ONE!) Junin Grebe was seen, I felt forced to rant on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/gunnar.engblom/posts/10152970414878573.Why has there never been a proper yearlong survey that measures breeding success and survival of the young? Every time anyone starts a new project at the Junín Lake it is always about counting the current population, instead of trying to find out why the
population does not increase. Is it the extreme and rapid changes of water levels of the regulated lake (for hidro-electric purposes) or is it pollution from the mining that inhibits population growth?I made some calculations. It would only cost around $5000 dollars to have Cesar Zevallos employed full time for a year to carry out daily counting of breeding birds and their offspring as well as measuring the water level on a daily basis, and also carry out a similar long term study of the
Junin Rail, as well as some toxicological analysis of dead birds found.
To finance this, I will repeat an old recipe that I have used before. If you donate $100 to this cause, I shall give $100 discount on your next trip with us starting from August 2015. I will probably also start a Kickstarter campaign as well. With 50 donations of $100 each, this vital information could be obtained and more pressure could be put to fight the forces that inhibit
population growth. Right now all is hypothesis. It could be the mining, it could be the water regulation, but no one has shown exactly why the Junín Grebe is not increasing the population.
Satipo road goes to Mindo again.
You may remember the other fund raiser I did a few years back when I took 6 campesinos from Satipo road and Carpish to Mindo in Ecuador so they could experience with their own eyes how habitat conservation, ecotourism and
adventure tourism has totally transformed Mindo and Tandayapa valley into a multi-million dollar eco-industry.
Similarly, we like to repeat the trip in 2015. Some people in the communities around Calabaza and Huancamachei are not so convinced about the benefits of conservation and ecotourism yet. The village is divided. I thought it would be a good idea to bring some of the members who are not yet convinced to Mindo and once again boost the conservation spirit in the Pampa
Hermosa Valley where the Colibri Cloud Forest is situated. This is the area birders know as Satipo road. Once again, the Satipo road shall go to Mindo. I will use the same fundraising strategy with offering a $100 discount on a future trip against your donation. And there will likely be a Kickstarter campaign as well. Additionally, we hope that Rainforest Partnership, which is the NGO that works in the area, will be involved raising the funds for the trip. I calculate the cost for the trip
to cost around $4000.
Run for Birds
Most of you know that I run the Marathon. 2014 was truly a great year for me. I ran 2000 miles in total, and ran my third fastest Marathon ever in New York on Nov 2 at 3:14:13. My two faster marathons I ran when I was 21 (3.00.32) and at 23 (03:10:20). Now I am 54!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/RunForBirds/
Facebook Sharing Group.
If you are into social media and Facebook in
particular, as a blogger or photographer you may have noticed. It is becoming more and more difficult to reach a large audience through Facebook in spite that everyone has more friends and fans than ever. The really good blogposts, the excellent videos and mindblowing photos don’t always reach the audiences they deserve. It is the FB algorithm that has tightened and less of the stuff you share is actually seen by your friends or fans. You may have a couple of thousand friends and still you
get only 10 likes and no comments for a post that would have gotten some 100 likes a few years ago and a thread of comments. What if there was a way that your best post could reach a larger audience? What if we could trick the algorithm?
I have long thought of getting a number of good FB sharers together in a “share-club” where each member selects one or a few good share-able items per week – and then each member share the same items on their timelines, groups, twitter,
Google+, etc. For this to work, it is necessary that the items are not about selling anything for one’s own gain and that the items really feel worthy our attention and willingness to share them. https://www.facebook.com/groups/KolibriExpeditions/ to get the essence of this idea. I hope you join if you are not on the group already.
http://www.kolibriexpeditions.com/Birding/Calendar.aspx?IDM=5
From February 14 and March 5 ABA:s
Noah Strycker will be with us as he is on his World Big Year itinerary aiming to score more than 5000 species of birds. We will allow a limited number of birders to join us during these dates – also with a 15% discount when booked until Jan 1.
Finally some videos and a photo worth clicking to get the full picture.
Saludos
Gunnar Engblom
Kolibri Expeditions
Kolibriexp@gmail.com
