What is on your bucket list? Birds, mammals and 7 Wonders.

Published: Sat, 03/30/19

21 years ago, I started my bird watching company in Peru called Kolibri Expeditions. We have provided quality birdwatching trips since, not only to Peru, but also to many other Latin American countries. AND, for the majority of this time our customers have been "old school" birders - that is people who got into birds through a left half of the brain approach, with an analytical mindset, wanting to learn the details how to identify one bird from the other and keep track of all the birds seen, collecting them almost like stamp collectors in a long life list. Every bird had the same value, and the main goal was to see new birds to increase the life list. I am exaggerating of course, but I am sure you get point.

BUT things are changing very rapidly. People who get into birdwatching nowadays are not following the classic route of getting binoculars, a field guide, keep a notebook, become members of a birding club and join their birdwatching excursions with expert leaders as mentors.

Today, everyone has a phone in their pockets. They snap a picture of, share it on Facebook, learn its name, see pictures of beautiful birds on Instagram, and before they know it they are getting hooked. But in most cases it is the right half of the brain that gets activated. It is all about esthetics. They seek the beauty of birds, they want take a picture and share it on social media. There is no need for a big list to become satisfied. Rather than buying binoculars they will buy a bigger camera. Maybe a point and shoot bridge camera with a mega zoom of 50x and above. Next step is to get a DSLR camera with a lens of 400 mm and above.

Most bird tour companies totally neglect this new group of birders, and these new inexperienced birders are also too intimidated to take a tour abroad because they feel they don't have the knowledge. The tours appear too long and too focused on only birds.

THEREFOR, to include also the new birders in the loop, I have created a new product called 7 Wonders Birding which is built on experiences of not only birds, but also the places we visit and the iconic mammals that everyone wants to see. We want the concept to be easy to understand and well defined so you can tell all your friends about this novel approach to birding. This should attract a larger number of people than the more traditional (nerdy) listing and the meticulous bird identification focus. It is not inconceivable to bring a non-birding friend on this kind of birding trip. Both of you will LOVE it.

In short bullet points - This is how to define 7 WONDERS BIRDING.

Short trips. By just taking 5 days off from work, you can go anywhere in the world to see the your most important targets for that area, being that spectacular birds, iconic mammals or world heritage sites like the New 7 Wonders.
Lots of WOW - factor. Concentrate on the essential with sightings you will remember and try to get photos of these that you can share with your friends on Social Media.
Perfect for non-birding spouses and friends, as an intro to birdwatching.

Here are some Frequently Asked Questions.

I'm a serious birder and I want to see all the birds, not only the showy ones. Surely these trips are not for me?
All our trips contain the best birding for the limited number of days that are included. This is the core of the experience. Before and after we offer extensions. Most of these extensions are specifically for hard core birders who want to get a long list of birds and especially see the endemics. For non-birders and newbies we will also offer cultural experiences as extensions.
I just started birding. Will I feel intimidated by the experienced birders on your tours?
No. The tour is only 5-7 days, and they concentrate on the specific targets, even if we are also watching many other birds. On the contrary, you will learn from more experienced birders and your leaders both the birding skills and how to take better photographs.
I am mostly interested in photographing birds, and I don't even carry binoculars. Can I still join your trips?
Yes. We are all interested in getting photographs of our bucket list items. We encourage you to take photos and share with your friends.
Why are your tours so short? I need more time to photograph the birds?
We are quite aware that serious photographers will want to have more time for the main targets. The market is full of bird photography tours and they are usually two weeks long. However, we believe that there are also a bunch of serious photographers who don't have the time to go on two week tours. We encourage these photographers to come with us. If you don’t manage to get the photos you are after because the light did not play it your way, you can always come back again

We have just concluded the full 7 Wonders Birding program for 2019 and all the trips and dates will be up within the next couple of days (the new website has some quirks to work through). We are also preparing the 2020 and 2021 programs.

7 WONDERS BIRDING TOURS IN 2019.

May 27: Andalucia. Iberian Lynx and Alhambra
June 23: Tasmania, Australia
September 23: Borneo (in production. 5 days in lowlands. Pre-tour Sep 19-22 to Mt Kinabalu 4 days).
October 5: Pantanal, Brazil
October 12: Bird Photography with Hummingbirds, Tanagers and Toucans, and many endemics.

November: several trips in Peru and Ecuador back to back in production. Ask for details by replying to this email.
November 6. Machu Picchu, Cock of the Rock, Torrent Duck and Condor in Peru. 5 days
November 11: Luxury Amazon cruise in Peru (4 days)
November 15: Galapagos 5 days. Southern Islands
November 19: Galapagos 7 days. Northern and Western Islands
November 25. India Taj Mahal and Tiger. 5 days - back to back with Bhutan.
December 1. Bhutan 7 or 10 days.
December 11. Extension to 10 day Bhutan. Corbett, India 3 days. (In production - ask us about details)

If any of these are of interest, just reply to this email and we shall send more information immediately.

2020-2021. Ramp it up!

Our goal is to have a birding tour to all of the New 7 Wonders in 2020 - Petra (Jordan), Rio (Christ the Redeemer), Rome (Coliseum) which will be combined with Tuscany, Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Chinese Wall and Taj Mahal. Hence there will be four new tours to Jordan, Italy, China and Brazil. Let us know which other targets you would be after in these countries to take into consideration. Furthermore, we plan a tour to the only remaining of the classic 7 Wonders which is the pyramids of Giza, Egypt. This will be a week long birding and archeology trip in almost equal amounts.

Other trips in production which probably will be introduced in 2020 are Cambodia, Taiwan, Patagonia, Easter Island, and New Zealand.

In 2021 we'll add New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Alaska, and many more, to have one 7WB trip running every week. Technically, you should be able to do a Big Year of Bucket Listing with 7 Wonders Birding.

Flying far and wide does come with a price. The CO2 footprint is large. We are researching which CO2 offset program is best for birders. While there is a positive impact on both environment and for conservation of threatened species when doing world birding, it is still a large chunk of CO2 for those long haul flights. We shall come up with ideas to ease your conscience, and to have answers for your envious "friends" questioning your solidarity with the planet.

As far as I can see. World birding is necessary for conservation of threatened species and maintaining biodiversity. So if we all intent to go carbon neutral the overall effect of our travelling would only be positive. Life is short. Start planning your bucket list. We'll take you!

Saludos

Gunnar Engblom

PS. BTW. Tomorrow Saturday March 30 at 22.50 GMT (that is 6.50 pm Eastern and 3.50 pm Pacific time) you can tune into Facebook and our Andalucia Watch Party to see what is on the itinerary for our May Iberian Lynx, Raptor Bonanza and Alhambra World Heritage tour. It will only take 15 minutes of your time, and you can ask questions live. Don't forget to like our Facebook page. There is also a new Facebook group for Bucket List Birding in general. We hope it shall stimulate to posting bucket list items related to travelling in general and birds, mammals and natural history in specific.