BBBB - Between Birthdays Birding Book!

It has been a while since my last post. Between work and thesis I had no time to do some birding and relax, but I plan to change that this weekend.

A few days ago Tommy and I were sorting out some pictures and trying to id some birds from our trip to Tacna (Perú) and Arica (Chile) a few weeks ago. We found pretty awesome hummingbirds and birds like the one above.

We decided that it was time to get a field guide for Perú (our first one is a smaller one for a selection of Lima birds), and we made our first online purchase!! We are so excited about it, it's supposed to arrive the first days of August. Tommy's birthday is today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMMY!!!) and mine is on August, so, it is kind of a birthday present for both, as it will arrive (hopefully!!) between birthdays.

We decided to get 'Birds of Peru' (Princeton Field Guides) by Thomas S. Schulenberg, Douglas F. Stotz, Daniel F. Lane, and John P. O'Neill (Hardcover - Oct 15, 2007). It is unbelievable that over here (Peru) it's almost impossible to get it in bookstores. If found, it costs about 70.00 usd!!

If you consider that the minimum wage is S/. 500 (five hundred nuevos soles) a month, which is about 170.00 US dollars (current exchange rate), and the fact that 51% of the population lives below the poverty line and 14% lives in extreme poverty (with 1 nuevo sol a day or less), then you can understand that something like this guide is a luxury for most people over here. Plus, there are no guides in Spanish either (although I know this guide will have a Spanish edition soon!!)

I've been getting in contact with some birders over here, and they all regret the fact that not many people here are interested in birds, even though we are currently the first country in the world with diversity (at least it was the last time I checked, if not, we might be second only after Colombia), but hopefully, that will change in time, and I plan to be a part of it! :)

I'm really happy to have found a way to learn a little bit about bird watching, birds, nature, etc. using this blog to contact other people. You have been (and still are!!) wonderful teachers, and I hope that this guide (if it ever arrives!!) will help Tommy and I post more facts and figures for you to learn - as we do - a little bit of our birds in this side of the world.

We can't wait for it to arrive!!!

Family Vermilion Day

I finally got some time to post. Last Sunday a friend asked for our help. She needed to take some pictures, so we took her to the lagoon.

While she was busy taking her pictures I saw an adult male Vermilion Flycatcher, flying low to get a moth and going back to its post to start all over again.

After a while a juvenile appeared, and since then they wouldn't separate.

Adult male was feeding the juvenile, who kept calling for dad. I tried to take a picture of the feeding, but had no luck... at least I got one of both together!