Hola ,

Birding is very virtual these days. At least the international birding. So like many others, I have been spending time on social media, dreaming about different birds as friends are posting beautiful pictures and making enticing polls. 

I have also made a few polls, as I am preparing a checklist for the 1000 best birds of the world, as explained in the vlog from July 8 (Fast forward to 6.36 into the video - listen at 1.5x-2x speed to save time!).

The rules I had set up for choosing the 1000 birds are a bit obtuse, so for some families I have made polls on Facebook in order to crowdsource which are the best birds. The last family I have been working through is hummingbirds.

Being in game mode, I wondered which hummingbird would be voted as the best if you only had to pick one.  Many years ago, I did a Bird World Cup on BirdingBlogs.com, so I thought it would be fun to do one on only hummingbirds.  

Proudly presenting HUMMINGBIRD WORLD CUP 2020!

16 species has already been nominated. The remaining 16 will be chosen among the Endangered and Critically Endangered hummingbirds listed by Birdlife International. 

The poll is up. Click the link to 363 Hummingbirds Facebook group to vote. 

Next week we shall have 8 groups with four hummers in each 

 

In a similar vein, there is a poll for the top 10 birds you have seen, and the top 10 birds you want to see. Check what others have on their bucket lists and become a member of the Bucket List Birding Facebook group. 

 

In my last newsletter I mentioned the new video from my band Guran Guran. Here it is with English captions that can be activated in the settings. Translated to English the title is Yellow Little Water and it is about the Beer Cycle in Nature. The beer will never taste quite the same again. 
Subscribe to Guran Guran's YouTube Channel.

Talking about bucket lists and best birds seen. Many of the most wanted birds will make very good stories. A new podcast with Charley Hesse and Ken Behrens from Tropical Birding focuses on these stories, as Charley and Ken countdown their best birds seen and the stories around them. There are some amazing accounts here.

 

The podcast is called Naturally Adventurous and is available on all podcast platforms. Here is the link to Apple podcast. Highly recommended.
A new installment was just published today. My run shall be easier today!

 

A lot of people, both birders and non-birders, have bucket lists of places they want to visit. World heritage sites are high on the list. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog series about birding at or near World Heritage sites. 
I give the historic framework and present some of the best birds in the vicinity. 
There is no better place to put the new blog than on 7 Wonders Birding's webpage. Enjoy the first installment about birding Machu Picchu. 

 

I have fixed the dates and the price for Egypt and Petra in February 2021 and 2022 and supplied the tour description with more details. Have a look! Jam-packed with archeology, history, culture and amazing birding. Even a Nile cruise is included. Expert guides, good hotels, great comfort, and most meals included. 
 

The Petra extension is presently three days, which allows for some birding and a full day at Petra. However I am considering making the Jordan trip a full five days, because there are quite a few Arabian species that are is easier in Jordan than in Egypt, and it would be nice to include also Arabian Oryx and Dead Sea Sparrow in the itinerary. 

 

It would make the Petra/Jordan part a full stand alone program. And it would run Mon-Friday.  

I am also considering adding a dash to Hurghada on the Saturday at the end of the Egypt program, to be able to add White-eyed and Sooty Gulls and Spotted Sand-Grouse, and to do some snorkeling in the Red Sea on the Sunday. The area is also good for wintering gulls and terns including Caspian and Pallas's Gull.
 

This would make the Egypt itinerary a 9 day program, but of course there is always the option to cut it short if 8 days is all you have

Let me know what you think of these ideas? Is the program good as it is, or should I add the Hurghada day, and make a full 5 day Jordan/Petra program? 
 

Sad state of COVID 19 pandemic within Peru. The number of new cases daily is steadily increasing. The weekly average of new cases in August is double of that of July. It is not looking good. 
Consequently, there are a few new measures to slow down the spread. One is total lockdown on Sundays. The other is NO SOCIAL GATHERINGS. There is a nightly curfew all over the country between 10 and 4 AM. 

Even if local birding is done in the open and it is relatively easy to maintain social distancing and complying to the rules, it is likely frowned upon if I start promoting birding programs for locals on the social media channels here in Lima. It leaves me again practically without ways of getting a small income, while there are no tours. I have listed a few alternative ideas to make some money in a recent blogpost - How to survive as a birdguide during COVID 19 pandemic.  Let me know if you have any other ideas. 

I am considering setting up some sort of online business. I already have an Amazon Shop, but I am thinking about a proper seller account on Amazon and or Shopify.  

One item that could possibly sell is a phonescoping adaptor.  This works on all models of scopes and cell phones, and would be half price compared to the popular Phone Skope set-up. 
Two questions:

I will try out the product myself here in Peru, but meanwhile it would be good to hear your comments. 

 

30 day challenges are great for adding new habits. You can test out various things. It is always recommended to stick to one challenge at a time. But I tend to get a bit bored with these challenges and in the end I often do not last the whole way. 

 

So an alternative is to decide that you should do a 30 day challenge, but with four different things, one challenge at a time, and then change after a week. 

Some of the things will work easily and you can just keep going after the week, or resume after a few days of a break. With others maybe a week is just enough to test drive. 

 

Right now I have several challenges/routines running on daily basis to create habits. This is not recommended if you start from scratch, but if you have some track record and been doing these before, then some items on the list are already almost habits.

A great way to keep track is to use Google Calendar's Goal function. You can schedule your workout and training sessions, and give yourself reminders. The calendar will also learn if you do the workouts at another time, and then remind you the same time the next day. Here are my challenges/habits I am trying to keep up with on a daily basis.

Another habit I have started, is to give myself weekly goals. In a way, it is the similar to breaking up the 30 day challenge into weeks, rather than a full month and to get some variation. 

I simply list 7 Important things I want to undertake during the week. It is easy to take on too much, but then you will know that for the following week to make adjustments.

The idea is to tackle and eventually finish major tasks and projects. Get into the habit of summarizing each week to learn from the progress. 

 

My 7 things are not all work related. There could be a particular goal of my 30 day challenge included, but also setting apart time with kids and wife. Put aside time for reading and exercise. One simply make a weekly plan where these 7 big items get priority. It is nice to have one item per day, but it is also OK to have a fixed recurring block of time throughout the week for the habit you want to complete in the week. 

There are a couple of great books I recommend to get you more productive which I have learned from. You find links to all them on my Amazon Shop. (Disclaimer: I get a 4-6% commission when you purchase from my shop. It does not cost you more, but helps me through the pandemic). 

Check out these on the link above.

 

That was all I had for you this time. Are you ready to take on some challenges next week? What are the bad habits that you want rid off,  and what are the good habits you want add to your life?

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Saludos and STAY SAFE!

 

Gunnar

P.S. There are many new ways to support the Satipo Road Community Birding Lodge Project. We still need your help to carry out this project once the interior of Peru opens up for travel. I hope this shall be at the beginning of September.  
Check out the link above. 

Oh, and don't forget to keep on checking my Live Vlog on the Kolibri Expeditions Facebook Page or the edited versions on YouTube. 
Here is the latest that explains a lot of the content in this newsletter.