Hi ,
Here is an action-packed newsletter with some virtual birding and armchair-ticking when travelling is not possible.
In this newsletter:
- My birthday! I am turning 60.
- 8 new species to Peru as Rufous and Chestnut Antpitta are split.
- Satipo road project updates
- COVID 19 in Peru - updates.
- Confirmed Complete Central Peru trip in October, 2020.
- New Australia and New Zealand itineraries for 7 Wonders Birding.
- Productivity challenge completed
- Hummingbird contest
- New Guran Guran video
- Latest Vlogs
July 25, 2020. I am 60 years old as of today. No big party! There is no money for booze.
Some birding in the morning. Then spending time with the family.
But you get a present! This newsletter! It is one of my challenges to complete before I turn 60.
Maybe, you get some armchair ticks with the Antpitta paper just published? I have also prepared a brand new Guran Guran video. More about all this below!
8 New Antpitta Species in Peru.
From what used to be 3 species Rufous Antpitta, Chestnut Antpitta and Bicolored Antpitta, there are now 18 species presented in a seminal publication by MORTON L. ISLER, R. TERRY CHESSER, MARK B. ROBBINS, ANDRÉS M. CUERVO, CARLOS DANIEL CADENA & PETER A. HOSNER
Taxonomic evaluation of the Grallaria rufula (Rufous Antpitta) complex (Aves: Passeriformes: Grallariidae) distinguishes sixteen species (Zootaxa 4817).
For the time being the paper can be downloaded from Andrés Cuervo's dropbox.
Peru gets no less than ten species from what used to be only two. Here they are from North to South with notes where to best look for them in Peru.
- Equatorial Antpitta Grallaria saturata. Quite common near pass in the Chinguela range north of Huancabamba.
- Cajamarca Antpitta G. cajamarcae. Near Celendin.
- Chestnut Antpitta G. blakei. Abra Patricia or Carpish.
- Graves Antpitta G. gravesi. Abra Barro Negro and Bosque Unchog.
- O'Neill's Antpitta G. oneilli East and south of the Huallaga river at Bosque Montepotrero, near Panao. Will be included in our complete Central Peru trip.
- Oxapampa Antpitta G. centralis. Villa Rica-Oxapampa road and Satipo road.
- Junin Antpitta G. obscura. Satipo road.
- Ayacucho Antpitta G. ayacuchensis. Complicated. The area is not generally safe. Needs to be coordinated with local experts and the local communities. Contact me if you want to go for this and Ayacucho Thistletail.
- Urubamba Antpitta G. occobambae (with two subspecies - the one at Abra Malaga is occobambae and the one on Manu road marcapatenis ssp nov.). The Abra Malaga one is quite easy above Carrizales.
- Puno Antpitta G. sinaensis. Near the Peru-Bolivia border on the new Sina-Flor del Oro road. Also, Red-faced Antpitta recently recorded here. I plan an expedition here in 2021 if anyone is up for some inexpensive and adventurous birding.
Here are the distribution map of what used to be Rufous Antpitta.
And here is the distribution map of what used to be Chestnut Antpitta. The form formerly known as "Pasco Antpitta" or "Oxapampa Antpitta" has finally been described. The correct name is Grallaria centralis. The range is that of the junensis (an error) below.
Satipo road project community hostel update.
I have mentioned the plan for Satipo road community lodge before in my newsletters. Thanks to everyone who have donated so far.
If you want to wish me Happy Birthday and do a good dead, then please donate 1 US$ or any amount you like. It is easier than ever now.
I have updated the project description here, and added a new crowdfunding option called VAKI which works very well for Peru; or you can use Paypal. Both Paypal and Vaki generate rather high fees up to 10%, but that is OK. For amounts larger than $10, or if you want to use an alternative currency for your donation, Paypal seems to have a somewhat smaller percentage fee, and it is easier to transfer money to the Peruvian bank. But it is great to have options.
Currently, short of US$300 has been collected. More is needed. No amount is too little. One dollar from a lot of people makes a lot of dollars.
The last week the number of new cases have been going up slightly. We are again at over 4000 new cases per day. I am learning of many new cases in Arequipa, and also in Cusco.
Although, domestic flights have been resumed, there are still many provinces who are not too keen to receive any domestic tourists. My plan was to resume some birding in Lima, Cusco and Chiclayo for Fiestas Patrias week (Peru's National day on July 28) coming up this week, but because of local restrictions many areas are not available to visit yet.
Machu Picchu is still closed, and all natural reserves managed by the state or municipalities continue to be closed.
International flights are to resume on Oct 1. So there is still some time to go for things to get better. I hope we shall be able to travel in the interior in most parts by mid-August to early September, and hence commence the pilot trip to Satipo road.
Afterall, the birding tourism is not a large vector for spreading the virus compared to shopping malls, restaurants and markets. It should be quite possible to do with social distancing. If you want to be updated with what is happening in Peru in regards of COVID19, check out my frequent vlogs on the Kolibri Expeditions Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Confirmed Complete Central Peru trip Oct 6
We've received a dedicated booking for October 6 to our 16 day Central Peru itinerary, of which
Satipo road is a part, and it is hence confirmed. There should be international flights by then, and there shall be no quarantine arriving to Peru.
The one client is going regardless of other people booking, but others may join and this will make a better price for everyone.
As mentioned above, 5 of the 10 antpittas should be seen on this itinerary. It is a great itinerary packed with endemics, newly described species plus a bunch of new species that still don't have names. The cost is lower than the itineraries for Manu road or North Peru.
There are also bookings for August 5, 2021 and with a few spaces left.
New Australia and New Zealand itineraries.
We have new 5-day itineraries uploaded for New Zealand and Australia scheduled back to back on 7 Wonders Birding's website.
Hopefully, they shall run in January, 2021, although both Australia and New Zealand seem reluctant to open for international visitors before there is a vaccine available. In any case, they are also uploaded the same dates for 2022, so you can go ahead and plan for this.
Both the NZ and AUS itineraries focus on the unique bird families. Lots of intense birding, and thus a tad more intense birding than our regular 7WB tours.
Productivity challenge completed
I usually have a very hard time to focus, and I easily get distracted, but on the other hand, I love challenges. So to focus, I challenge myself. I felt I needed to set the bar of what I was able to do the last week in my 50s, in order not to slack when I am 60. I presented the 7 projects for the week in
this vlog.
The 7 things were:
- Birding. Done. I birded Lomas de Asia last Sunday, guided in a park on Wednesday, and some guiding tomorrow.
- Full program for Fiesta Patrias. Done. Published and promoted, but it seems hard to get anything happening in Cusco and Chiclayo.
- Run half a marathon in training in two hours with HR below 133. Did a great run on Wednesday. Half marathon in 1:59:20. HR was higher, but not that much. Had to push the last 4K in order to come make it in less than 2 hours. Great training run.
- Make a new Guran Guran Video. Completed a video for Gula Lilla Vatten on Thursday. It will be on the Guran Guran YouTube Channel in about 5 hours. Here is the link to see it (it is in
Swedish). Subscribe to the channel.
- Satipo road fundraiser campaign. DONE. I created the Vaki Page and posted on Facebook to donate 1 US$ to support the project when wishing me Happy Birthday.
- Best Hummingbird Contest on Facebook. DONE. This is part of the 1000 best birds project I am working on. There are a lot of great hummingbirds, so I reached out in the FB group 363 Hummingbirds with a poll to see which ones people want to have included on the final 1000 best birds
list. You can also vote if you become a member in the group.
Later I am thinking of doing a World Cup of Hummingbirds, to nominate the best Hummingbird of all, much like the popular games on the #BirdTheFeckAtHom Facebook group. Incidentally the final of the "feckest" passarine is happening right now in that group.
- Kolibri Expeditions Newsletter. DONE. Well, that is this one, and I am almost finished.
I am very pleased of completing all my weekly goals. I will probably continue a similar strategy in the coming weeks, because it seems to be a great way to boost productivity. One plans a week ahead seven main tasks/projects to complete during the week and then focus on each of those, one at the time. It worked for me, so it could work for you too.
Here is the vlog from Thursday, when I had finished 5 of the 7 things. I'll do a new vlog tomorrow for a final summary.
Saludos
Gunnar
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Guide/Owner
Kolibri Expeditions/7 Wonders Birding
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P.S. I now have all info available to price our February, 2021 pilot Egypt trip. Price shall be ready next
week.
Also, if you are thinking about Japan next year it is high time to make a booking. The Blakiston's Fish-Owl hide book up long in advance.
Remember, if for any reason the trips can not run, your deposit is safe to be used for any tour within three years. Booking ahead of time, even in this uncertain situation, keeps us afloat, and we are very flexible to make any necessary changes.
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