What a gift!!!

If you follow Tommy at Unnaturally Natural, then you will already know that the guide arrived on July 7, EXACTLY a year after I started this blog!! What a blogoversary present!!

Even though we had little time during the week, we managed to start identifying some birds we had pictured this year. It proved to be a challenge. Our pictures were not exactly the perfect close ups, and checking out details on faces and plumages was extremely hard but also sooo exciting!!

We have now 656 pages of pure gold. 1,792 species of birds. What a treasure!! So much to learn and enjoy!!

I've posted many times about Vermilion Flycatchers that visit our garden or the nearby parks, so I leave you with a pic of pages 450 and 451, where they are shown. You can now have an idea of why are we so excited with this guide: coloured distribution maps, clear descriptions and amazing plates.

I am happy :)

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!!!

UPDATE - Something fishy

Yesterday we visited the lagoon again, trying to find some answers and hoping for good news. We were not expecting this at all.


We found the fish that two days before were struggling for air.
They were dead.

Some of them at the bottom, some of them on the shore. A few small ones still fighting, breathing heavily and swimming on their sides.


The smell was very strong and the sight was sad, sad, sad.


Still nothing on the news. I don't want this to just dissappear. Last night I talked to my friend Yolanda, she's a young student and an activist for conservation of native flora and fauna. I met her a few months ago at the Wildlife Brigade. She said she was going to get a couple of friends from the university to go there and test the water, collect samples, and try to find out what is going on.


I recorded a short video too.
Sad.

It's in our country logo

The Peru logo has three elements that identify our country: Ancient history, archeologycal sites and natural riches, represented with four specific elements: The 12 angle stone in Cusco, the Nasca lines, the gold and a bird.

The Inka Empire is represented by the gold letters and the 12 angle stone. The 12 angle stone is located at the Archbishop's House in Cusco. This Vice-royal building with Arabic influence was raised on the foundations of the palace of Inca Roca. Presently, it is the main centre of the Museum of Religious Art. On Hatunrumiyoc Street, you can see an old Inca wall that was part of the Inca Roca palace and demonstrates the admirable construction skill of the Inca in terms of polished and perfectly placed stones. The most remarkable part is this stone, famous for the perfect work and assembling of its angles, keep in mind that stones are just placed one on top of the other, without any sort of cement...


The Nasca Lines is a vast network of lines and drawings of animals and plants credited to the Nasca, culture covering an area of approximately 350 km2 /135 miles2. Some of the best drawn figures are the hummingbird, the dog, the monkey, and the long-tailed mockingbird.The German, Maria Reiche, devoted 50 years of her life to studying and researching the area and came to the conclusion that it was an astronomical calendar. From a 12 meter / 39 feet lookout, you can partially observe the shapes of the hand and the tree. However, in order to appreciate the drawings fully, it is recommended to fly over the area in a small airplane. The Nasca Lines were placed on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1994.


And finally the representation of a bird, the idea of the colourful variety not only of birds, but of exotic fauna that you could find in the Amazon Rainforest. The bird seems to be coming to life, free from the stone, leaving a shape as the ancient peruvians saw it...

Did you know about these elements and why they were placed in our logo? What do you think about it?

Wish I asked Santa for one...


Recommended by a friend a few months ago.

Ironically, I've been in Peru for over a month now... and I can't find it anywhere!!! Thought maybe I could find a copy somewhere around here but nooooooooo... I had bad experiences before with "delivered?" (more like charged but never delivered) books from the US in the past and my current just-student-non-working status doesn't give me enough courage to do so...

Anyway, I'll keep looking for it, for those of you that have it, ENJOY! and those who don't, try to get it and ENJOY! (and let me know how it is and if you like it!)