A first b-day treat from TommyOn July 7th, 2007 (07/07/07) I was living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A different country, new people, new places, lots of study hours and little money to spend on things other than rent, food and university.
The interest in birds 'started', as such, in January 2007, when Tommy and I made a trip to Paracas (south of Lima, Peru). Living abroad with no income wasn't exactly helping. I decided to start this blog as a learning tool, as some sort of virtual notebook.
At first, I didn't know what to do, where to look, or what to post. My first post was a video about Peru's birds. National Bird of Peru was my second - the Cock of the rocks (Rupicola Peruviana) started me on reading more about birds, habitats, behaviour, etc.
Then the posts about the birds I saw on that trip to Paracas: Snowy Egret, Guanay Cormorant, Peruvian Pelican, Humboldt Penguin, Larosterna Inca (which got the first comment ever! from John at Born Again Bird Watcher, who has helped me since then, THANKS!), and Peruvian Boovy. In August 2007, a strong earthquake south of Lima that killed few hundred people and destroyed habitats and observation spots.
I couldn't travel and lived in a large grey urban city. I missed home. I started posting about bird related topics, history, nature, environment and conservation, and continued in Peru: Birds in Pre-Hispanic Peru, the Nasca Lines (especially the birds), Promperu, T'ikapapa, the unbelievable Candamo issue (oil companies in Natural Reserves in the Amazon Jungle) and the update, Manu Natural Reserve, Peru World's Catalogue, Owl money, World Wetlands day, Birds crafts, the bird that inspired the Peruvian flag, etc.
Once in Lima, Tommy and I started to walk around the city, trying to get familiar with the local birds. We visited parks and got our first guide (small 100 birds of Lima), we saw beautiful Amazilia Amazilias and families of Vermilion Flycatchers too. We also started attending meetings and activities of the BFS- Brigada de Fauna Silvestre (Wildlife Brigade).
Some family issues forced us to make some quick trips and ended up visiting Guayaquil (Ecuador) and Arica (Chile). Guayaquil was fun, we went Iguana 'watching', walked around the parks, saw some pretty cool birds and unusual bugs. Arica was FAST!
Oh! And we are waiting for our first country guide ever! Birds of Peru is on its way!! I can't believe how much I've learnt this year. It has been an amazing experience. I've met some incredible people and I believe the best is still to come! THANK YOU!!!
