Hey
How has lockdown been for you? Did you still get a feel for the migration of birds where you live? Are you planning any travel within the next 6-9 months to see birds?
The situation is problematic here for myself and my company. There is no work, and who knows whether there will be even any tour running this year. Credit card is maxed out. Perhaps, I should take up doing Corona spoof songs instead of trying to make a funny birdwatching video (see below).
Anyway, I can't say I have not tried to re-invent ways of getting some cash-flow coming this way. You will find out what they are below.
There has been a long time since I sent a newsletter on the Bucket-list Birding email-list. So this is about time!
All New 7 Wonders are now covered on the 7WB website with tour departures in 2020 and 2021, and I am adding more details and tours all the time.
Don't hesitate to hit me back telling me what tours you would see in the future.
I would also like to get feedback on how this model of birding works for you. Do you dig the concept? Have you told any friends about it yet?
5 things in this newsletter:
- All 7 Wonders Birding trips for cancelled or planned in 2020 are run also in 2021
- Webinars on the Birding Revolution.
- Gunnar's vlog - short video updates live on Facebook, shared to Twitter, InstagramTV and Youtube too.
- Birdparty video.
- How to survive COVID 19 when there are no tours running. How I am coping.
7 Wonders Birding in 2020 and 2021.
This email is sent to everyone who is on the Bucket List birding email list, and there are a few updates I would like to share with you.
Since all the departures through July have been cancelled, and those from late August onwards until the end of the year, may or may not run, all depending on how the international travel will regulated the coming months, I have simply put up departures around the same dates for next year in the tour calendar. I hope this gives you an incentive to book one of the great tours that we have lined up.
There is also a brand new tour to New Zealand published and the Egypt+Petra trip is also up. Next I am working on the East Australia program for five days that will run before the Tasmania tour. This way New Zealand and Australia will be run back to back for 24 days of birding. Check my two recent vlogs how this will work (New Zealand, Australia)
Check out the website and the calendar to find a 7WB tour for you. If you do a booking and you need to change (the uncertainty of these times), your deposit will be valid for 3 years for any other 7WB or Kolibri trip.
Webinars about the Birding Revolution and the Bucket List Birding approach.
I think you are very tuned in on this idea, so perhaps you don't need any further explanation, but if you need to convince a friend, then there are a few resources I have created.
I did a series of webinars on FB during lockdown, which are now available on YouTube. I inserted the important ones into these blogposts which also explains the ideas in text.
Check them out and share with your friends. It is a good way to learn about the philosophy behind this thinking and to get an overview of the concept.
The Bucket List approach and 7 Wonders Birding is really for every type of birder out there, even those who have never been on a traditional birding tour before.
Gunnar's Vlog
If you follow me or Kolibri Expeditions on social media, you have probably seen my practically daily vlogs on Facebook that I started in the beginning of June. It is a bit of an experiment. There is a better reach with Live video broadcasts, than just posting videos and it is instant, which is why I have chosen this format. It also gives me a chance to get better at
talking in front of the camera. I find it somewhat awkward and have a hard time finding the words... but I am getting better at it (I think... I do appreciate feedback, also negative such)
Not sure what will come out of these vlogs and if I will continue doing them, but for now I enjoy doing them. Perhaps they will grow into a more regular Podcast. I have an idea for a format for interviews and weekly summaries
For now the best way to consume previous vlogs is on Youtube, simply because you can set the speed to 2x and listen to them a bit faster.
And just listening is OK! You don't need to see me, really.
I give summaries what is happening in Peru on a daily basis, about upcoming tours and plans for the future, how to survive during the pandemic, my local guiding services during the pandemic and the marathon training that I am doing. I also often include interesting books I read or movies I watch.
Birdparty.
Of course you have already seen the video, right? And you have shared it with your friends, right?
Here is the YouTube link just in case.
However, if you are on Facebook, it makes more sense to share the Facebook upload so it does not get punished by the FB algorithms when you share. Did you like it? Thanks for sharing.
How to survive economically in Peru during Covid 19 pandemic.
After 15 weeks of forced quarantine, the total lockdown in Peru is finally over and on Wednesday July 1 we are able to move a bit more freely, although always keeping social distancing in place. Some areas of Peru will still have restrictions of movement and extended curfew. These areas include Ica (Paracas and Nazca included), Ancash (Cordillera Blanca) and Junin (Satipo road, Junin Lake and Chanchamayo) and
this effectively locks us from any overland birding tours beyond Lima department. Instead we shall do day tours aimed to new Peruvian birders (see below) and longer tours in Cusco and Chiclayo during the upcoming holidays.
International borders are still going to be closed until the end of July at least. It is not clear when international flights will resume, but likely from the end of August sometime.
The last three weeks we have had a bit more freedom being allowed to do recreation within a 3 km radius from home. Therefore, I have been able to resume my marathon training and I have also offered some free guiding to people who are completely new to birding in their nearby parks. It has been very rewarding to show birds to total newbies.
During the month of June I have recorded 37 species within this range, and 41 species in total since lockdown on March 16.
The first thing I shall do on Wednesday is to bird at the wetland of Pantanos de Villa providing there are not continued restrictions.
As there is virtually ZERO income from tours for myself and the company since mid-march, this means I have had to come up with alternative incomes. This is a very difficult times for us, and it will be for a long time. For a while, I was thinking of throwing in the towel, but I think we can emerge stronger from this afterwards with the help of some of these new ideas I have.
Here are the current strategies. Needless to say, you can help in many ways. Check out to see how:
- Support me as a creator. Does any of these points below provide value to you?
* I do a daily vlog Live on Facebook one to two times per day. To see the past episodes check out the playlist on Youtube.
* I have put out videos for my band Guran Guran on our Youtube Channel. The latest one was all about birding - Birdparty. There is also a song about Summer in English which you may like. And of course the Rinkeby and Tensta video which has 313
000 views on Youtube!
* I blog mainly on Kolibi Expeditions Blog, BirdingBlogs and my personal blog and I always trying to create content that can be useful for others.
* I have started and I admin a number of popular Facebook groups with thousands of members. Check this Vlog about these FB groups.
So far, I have not monetized any of this, because there has not been any need to, when Kolibri and 7WB were selling, but now the situation is quite different. So if you enjoy what I am creating there are seven ways to support me with very little effort and at very low cost for you.
1. Give a monthly tip from US$3 to support the creative process. I have set up a Patreon Page here.
2. Give a one time donation via Paypal.me/BirdingPeru
3. Download the Guran Guran songs on Bandcamp (gives a larger share to the artist), Apple Music, Google Play
or Amazon.
4. Subscribe to Guran Guran's YouTube channel. Once there are 1000 subscribers, I am able to monetize the channel with ads. Right now there are only 460 subscribers.
5. Play the songs over and over again on Spotify and add them to your playlists. The more people who listens to the songs here the more likely that the songs are discovered by others, or are put on a Spotify curated playlist.
6. There are affiliate links to products that I mention or recommend in my blogs and vlogs. If you purchase from these links, Amazon gives me a small commission. I created a Amazon Store page with some of the stuff I have mentioned recently.
7. I just added Google ads on my blogs. Not sure how this will work, but go ahead and click if you find any interesting ad, and it should generate a small stream of income for me.
- Support the Satipo road project. This supports not only the staff of Kolibri Expeditions, but creates a great birding resource that benefits the local community at Calabazas on Satipo road and gives them an incentive to safeguard hundreds of hectares of cloud forest. This is a very good way to do carbon offset.
Read how you can support the project in this blogpost.
Our presence in the area will commence in August, since the department of Junin, where the Satipo road is, will continue with the emergency regulations until the end of July, and hence no travel here from Lima will be possible.
- Book a trip now, decide when you want to go later.
As mentioned above, the 7WB schedule for the remainder of 2020 and all of 2021 is now up on the calendar, and also there are a number of tours on up the Kolibri Expeditions
calendar (more will be added next week).
The absolutely best way of supporting, is to decide on a tour you want to do with us within the next three years, set a preliminary date and pay a deposit. This will keep us afloat, get a fixed date to which others can join and result in a better price for you. If you need to change the date due to COVID 19, your deposit will still have 100% value to be transferred to another time or another destination with Kolibri or 7WB.
Also note, that you may use the Patreon page to support us, as you save up for the trip, with a recurring monthly deposit.
- Birdwatching excursions for Peruvian beginner birders.
For the people in Lima I have guided for free the past month, I am planning to supply somewhat longer trips for pay. This way, we could have some income during the month of July also for our local guide Juan and driver Manuel.
I shall be offering daily guiding for free in the parks also next week and by the weekend offer guiding for heavily discounted pay at Pantanos de Villa, Pucusana and the Lomas de Lachay North of Lima.
The public holiday Fiestas Patrias 28-29 July, which includes Peru's National Day on July 28, is in the middle of the week, so it seems likely that people will take Monday July 27, and Thu-Fri Jul 30-31 off to enjoy a complete 9 day holiday. This is a time of year when people often travel, but this year it shall only be possible to travel domestically, and many areas where people have traditionally travelled will be closed.
In light of this, birdwatching will be a great way to travel and do social distancing at the same time so we shall offer a tour a Manu road tour, + a tour that include Machu Picchu with Alex Durand as guide and a tour to Northern Peru with Juan Julca as guide. I will be guiding in Lima over these days.
Unfortunately, San Martin department is off so we can not run a tour in Tarapoto and Moyebamba.
Again, our prices will be a fraction of our normal fees.
So, these are few ways which I hope to get some stream of income the coming months. So.....
....Thanks a lot in beforehand for the support you are giving in these difficult times. Just by reading this, clicking on my links, or sharing with a friend are ways to show your support, and for this I am very grateful. If you can use any of the above methods to support us financially, I'd be humbled by your generosity.
Hopefully, soon we shall be traveling the world again to watch birds. World Birding conserves forest habitat and is necessary. If the areas that give resources for birders today would all close because there are no visitors, we would lose tremendous amounts of forests, as the locals will soon start converting forests to plantations and pastures to survive.
Supporting your favorite birding outfitters is a good thing.
Saludos
Gunnar
PS: Please share this newsletter with a friend. It would be great to have an army of Bucket List Birders when this pandemic is over.
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