Birding

• I am extending the special offer 15% discount for March-May until Monday March 26 at midnight (Peruvian time). You best hurry if you don’t want to lose out on this. Check out this blogpost with the details.
  Just as I am writing this, I have a couple interested in a 5 day Manu road and Machu Picchu between April 1-7… spring break. Any other teachers out there who want to join?
  Also, one person just signed up for Carpish/Unchog April 12-16.
• I liked this article by Kenn Kaufman. I Became a Better Birder When I Stopped Focusing on the Males. Even dull birds are interesting.

Upcoming tours

Here are the upcoming and confirmed trips, from Mid-July until September, some still have a few vacancies which you can sign up to for best price. The trips in April to June you find in my last week’s Midweek Bullets.

• July 12-13. Paracas pelagic with birding en route.
• July 14-17. White-masked Antbird twitch  at San Lorenzo with Black-necked Red-Cotinga and Black Bushbird. See blogpost about the birding here. Guide: Gunnar Engblom
• July 17-21. Scarlet-banded Barbet and newly described Cordillera Azul Antbird. See blogpost. Guide: Gunnar Engblom
• July 18. Ventanilla Lagoons – a few hours to kill near airport. Afternoon birding at Ventanilla Lagoons just north of Lima Airport. Good for Peruvian Thickknee and Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.
• July 19. Bird photography in Lima. Best bird photography in Lima with Inca Tern, Red-legged Cormorant, Humboldt Penguin and Many-colored Rush-Tyrant.
• July 20. Daytrip to Santa Eulalia Canyon. A classic, visiting the Andes from Lima with Great Inca-Finch, Black-necked Flicker and Andean Condor.
• July 21. Lomas de Lachay and Paraiso Lagoon. In search of endemic Cactus Canastero and Tawny-throated Dottorel at the desert oasis 100km north of Lima.
• July 24-26. Bird photography at Chuncho Macaw Lick and birding at Chuncho Lodge. 3 days. Introduction to the Amazon and the great Macaw Clay Lick experience. Scarlet, Red-and-Green and Blue and Yellow on the same mud wall. Combine with other scheduled July programs.
• July 27. Machu Picchu – independant . Perhaps guided.
• July 28-29. Two days of exploring Abra Malaga and the many endemics. here.
• July 30-Aug 3. 5 day Manu road Birding and Photography. Mega diverse Manu road with hummingbird feeders and fruit feeders for tanagers in 5 days. Most endemic and special species along the route are also covered. Cock of the Rock close up.
  
• Aug 6-10. Long-whiskered Owlet and Marvellous Spatuletail 5 day get-away. Our exciting 5 day North Peru tour sandwiched between two weekends.
• Aug 11. Pelagic from Paracas.
• Aug 25-28. White-masked Antbird twitch at San Lorenzo.  White-masked Antbird, Black Bushbird and Black-necked Red-Cotinga are the main targets on this great little tour. See blogpost about the birding here.
• Aug 28-31. Scarlet-banded Barbet extension. Now with newly described Cordillera Azul Antbird. See blogpost!
• Sep 3-7. 5 day Manu road Birding and Photography. A short tour to combine with your trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu.
• Sep 9-22. Manu road bird photography expedition.  We have put together the best bird photography options in this action packed program for Manu road. There are presently 4 spots available. Price TBA.
• Sep 15-19.  Los Amigos. Amazing birding. People often ask me, which rain forest lodge I prefer. Amigos is without doubt the one. It has all micro-habitats including bamboo, terra firme, varzea, palmswamps, cochas, heliconia thickets, you name it. And target species such as Black-faced Cotinga, Rufous-fronted Antthrush, Emperor Tamarin and Anaconda.
• Sep 27-Oct 1. 300 species in one day – The Biggest Day during The Big Month, part 1. Prep for Big Day and Big Day attempt. You may sign-up for only this trip.

Big Month October. 
October will be the month of celebration for Kolibri Expeditions in Peru. You may join us to try and raise the bar for greatest number of species recorded in a single country. Hopefully over 1100 species. You can join the full month for $6500 or sign up for parts.
More about the details and the exact program in my Midweek Bullets next week.

Brazil in October – Want to see a jaguar?
We are setting up another jaguar and birding safari in Pantanal first week of October. If you are dreaming about big cats and wildlife, and spectacular birds, you should join us on this epic trips. It will last a week for best pricing and still ample time. One can combine with a week of birding and bird photography from Sao Paulo afterwards.
Details to follow in the next week. Stay tuned.

Best podcasts this week.

• Fascinating life story from Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia on the Tim Ferriss Show. Part 1. Some of the stories from Joe are telling. Also lots of Life Lessons to learn here. To see opportunity. To work hard to meet a goal. To find a solution to something which seems impossible. The word tenacity comes to mind. Don’t give up. Don’t get discouraged by rejection.
  I listened to the podcast while running. Many of the latest interviews come with video like this one below. This is a fantastic interview. Don’t miss it. Download the podcast and listen to it while on the run or doing chores.
  

Productivity

I found a few easy applicable tips just flipping through Flipboard. Best tip is usually, not to do too much Flipboard, because you get sucked in. On the other hand you may learn something. Just set a time limit, if you do find yourself flipping.
Here is how to be more productive. This is old stuff really, but worth repeating.

My Running

I am still not running as much as I would like, since I needed to catch up with a backlog of Kolibri Expeditions stuff including quotes, new programs, marketing and planning after almost 5 months of way too many days away from the office.

I am still getting some extra aerobic training while working, by using the treadmill above walking for 3-4 hours per day, apart from shorter runs around 10k. Skipped a run day yesterday, but just ran 16k today, so hopefully the long walks will make up some for lack of running. I shall make a test next week to see what my what speed I can maintain at a low HR of 135.  I think I have not too much in fitness, by maintaining all this walking. I am considering doing the NatGeo 10K race on April 22, just to check if I am losing a lot of speed by doing all this slow aerobic training. It will be about time to start with faster workouts around then anyway.

Guran Guran

That’s my band. In 2016-2017 we got together again after a hiatus of 25 years. Last year we released a brand new album. Since a month  ago, you find the songs on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and other digital media platforms. 

Productivity

I found a few easy applicable tips just flipping through Flipboard. Best tip is usually, not to do too much Flipboard, because you get sucked in. On the other hand you may learn something. Just set a time limit, if you do find yourself flipping.
Here is how to be more productive. This is old stuff really, but worth repeating.

My Running

I am still not running as much as I would like, since I needed to catch up with a backlog of Kolibri Expeditions stuff including quotes, new programs, marketing and planning after almost 5 months of way too many days away from the office.

I am still getting some extra aerobic training while working, by using the treadmill above walking for 3-4 hours per day, apart from shorter runs around 10k. Skipped a run day yesterday, but just ran 16k today, so hopefully the long walks will make up some for lack of running. I shall make a test next week to see what my what speed I can maintain at a low HR of 135.  I think I have not too much in fitness, by maintaining all this walking. I am considering doing the NatGeo 10K race on April 22, just to check if I am losing a lot of speed by doing all this slow aerobic training. It will be about time to start with faster workouts around then anyway.

Guran Guran

That’s my band. In 2016-2017 we got together again after a hiatus of 25 years. Last year we released a brand new album. Since a month  ago, you find the songs on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play and other digital media platforms.

Although, my songs are 20-30 years old, but just released, it seems in many ways they are still very current.
Check these two YouTube videos. They are in Swedish of course, but you can activate the English captions to get what they are all about.

The first one and title song to the album is about refugees fleeing wars and conflict, to be met by xenophobia and threat of rejection of their asylum status. The song was written during the Balkan refugee crises.

More videos will be uploaded with English lyrics shortly. I would very much appreciate if you subscribe to our channel.
Oh, and there is a song about birding too. You may have heard it. This one is in English. BIRD PARTY.

I will be going to Stockholm in June and get the band together again to do some more recordings and one gig. Also in August we shall also be doing some gigs in Sweden.

It is a wrap up, folk. Not quite as long as last week, but still a bit long. OK! Next week under 2000 words, promise.
Let me know what you liked and what you did not like about this post.

Gunnar Engblom is a Swedish birder who lives in Peru since 1998, where he operates birdwatching and nature tours for Kolibri Expeditions. He is also a dedicated 3:04 marathon runner, right now training for Gold Coast Marathon, Australia in July 2018. In 2016, Gunnar additionally re-launched his rock’n’roll singer career with his band Guran Guran.