Hi
This is a long newsletter. You may want to save parts and read it more in detail later. I am sure you shall find it very interesting.
It has been a long time since my regular newsletter. In the meantime, I have visited Space Coast Birding Festival, I have done a trip to Japan again for the fourth year in a row and our
Birding Peru Anytime tours are booking extremely well.
I will make some reports about all this further down this newsletter. But first.....
The Coronavirus
The coronavirus has gotten a grip of the world's news media and people are getting paranoid. Seldom has the old meme K
eep Calm and Carry On, been more spot-on for how we should react. Covid-19 is going to be around for a couple of months more, and we need to make make decissions on a daily basis how to act.
But with the right measures we will get through this. Of some
125 000 infected, already 68000 have recovered and have no symptoms. In the near future this will all be over, and people can get back to being afraid of muslim refugees, islamist terrorists, climate change and Donald
Trump again.
World birding affected!
If you are planning a foreign birding trip these coming months, you are possibly getting worried that your trip shall be cancelled, or the other way around: You may want to opt out, not so much for the risk catching the virus, but the inconvenience of ending up in quarantine. You might find yourself looking for alternatives, as tours get cancelled.
Have a look at the
Live world map of the confirmed cases. Eastern Asia, specifically China, Korea, Iran and Italy are hotspots. And it is getting more and more troublesome in the rest of Europe.
For alternative birding holiday destinations the coming months, have a look at Central and South America, as well as Africa, where there are very few cases so far. Of course this may change, but so far these areas would be good substitutions.
It is also a good idea to understand what is being done in different countries to contain the pandemic. In Lima, for instance, there are now more rigerous entry procedures. People arriving from risk areas getting screened. That is a good thing.
Also schools have just closed in the whole country - even though there are only 15 cases on a population of 30 milion.
So should you cancel or postpone your birding trip?
Take these considerations into account.
- Big events are cancelled and schools are closing all over US, Europe and Asia, because concentrations of 500 or more people increases the risk of creating a massive vector that potentially could spread the virus to a lot of people at the same time, without possibility to trace the connection to the carrier.
A birdwatching tour in contrast is a very small event so it should not be seen in the same light.
- You still need to fly and go to an airport of course. These already have alert systems built, so if you act with care in areas with a lot of transit (airports, stations, airplanes, metros and buses) you should be OK. Needless to say, if you have any cold symptoms yourself you should cancel. Airlines, have generous cancellation policies in light of the emergency.
- In flight, get a window seat and chances are very low to get infected in case of anyone in the cabin is carrying the virus. See the graph in this article from National Geographic.
- As people are getting more paranoid and not flying to the same extent, many flights will not be full. So there is a bigger probability that the seat next to yours is empty. That will give you additional protection.
- For the time being recommendations are not to go to China, Korea, Iran and Italy, and to take care if going to Japan. Always check on the current recommendations on the Center for Disease Control page.
On the positive side is that in China, with aggressive controled measures, the
trend is reversing. There are more people that have recovered from the virus than are getting infected on a daily basis. Hopefully, the rest of the world can learn from
this.
Is this pandemic good or bad for the environment?
China's economy has slowed down considerbly and as China is the leading contributor to greenhouse gases in the world this is very important. Carbon emissions have fallen by an estimated 25% since the outbreak began, nitrous oxide emissions have fallen by 36%, coal use is at a 4-year low, and flights are down 70% throughout the country.
This is also affecting the rest of the world. 20 percent of the world economy is slowly shutting down, one in five global flights is being cancelled.
Fly without flight shame!
In spite the need of having to fly less, and having to be more mindful in our daily choices to fight climate change, the effect of less travelling because of the mass hysteria could become disasterous for eco-tourism that promote conservation.
Not only for the ecotourism projects I am involved in here in Peru, but around the world, is it vital that ecotourism continues.
With all cancelled flights one could argue that everyone now has carte blanche to fly as much as we like, as long as we practice true eco-tourism that favors conservation.
Without the hoards of birders, bird photographers and nature lovers, local businesses will return to exploiting the natural resources instead of conserving them. So unless there are outspoken messages from CDC and the World Health Organization, please go ahead and make that birding trip to the Central and South America.
Trump's flight restrictions with Europe.
Seems way too early, but it is what it is. This makes Central and South America even more attractive for birders and the flight prices are dropping. Do expect rigerous controls at the airport of arrival so plan to stay a night wherever you land as it will take time to come through immigration.
Plan you new birding trip.
There are two strategies for your foreign birding plan. Assess where there are few cases, and plan a short, almost immediate trip. You will be able to go and come back with little risk that the situation has gotten exponentially worse at either end. Flight prices are very low right now, so do yourself and conservation projects in the tropics a favor and book that trip.
If coming from the US you get more for your money while in Peru, the dollar has risen with 5% in two weeks compared to the Peruvian Sol.
The other strategy is to go abroad, ride out the storm and self-isolate while birding. You will likely have far less vectors of infection while birding in Peru than at home.
Lower down in this message, I will suggest some of our upcoming trips, including a great way to self-isolate for three weeks and help conservation at the same time.
Space Coast Birding Festival.
I was attending for the third year in a row. There were many familliar faces among the exhibitors. It is always great to run into friends.
During the mornings there were birding activities and I had volunteered as assistant guide. I especially enjoyed Shiloh Marsh, where I got a life bird - the Saltmarsh Sparrow. Great views and we also got good views of Nelson's Sparrow, so we could compare the features. Saltmarsh had pale throat and the breast coloration was also paler than the orange eyebrow, while on Nelson's the eye brow and chest/breast has the same color. Easy once you get
the hang of it.
Like last year, I also helped guiding at the immense Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area. It is a good place to see Brown-headed Nuthatch.
At noon the vendor sector opened. It was sparsely visited over the days. But with over 30 people signing up for the newsletter, I hope it will mean that we get to see each other again on a tour in Peru or elsewhere. This is the first personalized newsletter the new subcribers get.
I also gave two presentations. The second one on the Birding Revolution and 7 Wonders Birding was quite well attended.
I will probably be back at Space Coast again next year in January.
Winter Japan 2020
The #1 reason why I never hesitated to emmigrate from Sweden was winter. I really hate snow and cold weather. Yet, I have been going to Hokkaido, Japan in the wintert four years in a row now. Lots of snow and ice.
But......
As usual it was simply spectacular. It is an amazing trip with Steller's Eagle, Red-crowned Crane, Blakiston's Fish-Owl and the Snow Monkeys. It is definitely one trip that you should put to your bucketlist.
Here is a video I shoot with my iphone that I have uploaded to our YouTube channel. I will upload more eventually, but in the meantime check out more videos on
7 Wonders Birding Facebook Page. Watch, like and share the videos, please. Give the page a like, while you are at it! Thank you!
