When one
is feeling anxious yet excited over the coming adventure despite
running a temperature and a face full of rubbish, how fabulous to see
that a donation has come in for Birdlife International!
Thank you
Mark Ballamy. What a thrill to see your kind donation. 4% of my
target achieved. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you also to the Basingstoke RSPB local group and the Northants Bird Club for their donations too. Wonderful.
This
morning : 9:45 a.m.
Sitting on
railway station platform, awaiting the train to London Victoria,
having just been dropped off here by Kerry Reynolds, mother of the
wonderful young man, Dominik Reynolds and thinking of Peru.
Nine days
to go before a flight to Lima, carbon-offset of course. Nine days to
get rid of my third bout of sinusitis and with my head aching and
with a temperature I know that a visit to the doctor's is necessary
next week. Not the most perfect preparation for the trials ahead.
Lima . . .
Peru. I love the place and the country but what I particularly love
are the people. Let's have a positive outlook and remember that the
best thing about Biking Birding adventures is meeting so many amazing
people.
Ahead of
me the next Biking Birder adventure, Biking Birder IV – Peru 2018
or BB2018-Peru for short. Ahead of me 1,200 miles of cycling from
Lima and up and over The Andes, reaching altitudes of over 15,000
feet, down to The Manu National Park, via Machu Picchu.
Ahead of
me a four hundred mile packraft adventure along the Madre de Dios,
Mother of God, and Manu rivers; both are tributaries of the mighty
Amazon.
Ahead of
me, nine days hence.
Reasons to
be cheerful :
Part 1.
Life back
on the road, back on the bike I love, my trusty and not too rusty
Claude Butler Black Diamond. With brand new panniers for the back
rack and nine new cuddly toy friends, we are going to look
interesting as together we climb the mountain roads. That wonderful
sense of freedom and challenge.
The route
from Lima may take me north along the coast or directly inland to
Junin. The choice will be made on assessment of both my health at the
time and what birds are possible on route. Cactus Canestero? Possible
and useful.
Part 2.
The start
date is decided upon and fixed, April the first, All Fool's Day! The
start place is decided upon and fixed, Los Pantanos de Villa nature
reserve south of Lima. The birds there are fantastic and with around
sixty species assured on that first day, a good start to the Green
Birding list is assured.
Black
Vultures will be atop tatty Palm Trees to start the list. Ducks,
Great and Pied-billed Grebes, Neotropic Cormorants perched on the
diagonal supporting ropes of the tall radio masts, Multi-coloured
Rush Tyrants, herons and egrets of many species; Their names will
soon be written down on the virgin paper of a brand new notebook.
Walking round the tall reedbed-lined lagoons, climbing the bird
viewing platforms and watching the hundreds of birds present will be
as superb as ever. Doves, Purple Gallinules and seedeaters, the
weather may be misty yet it will be warm and windless. Black and
White Swallows will be skimming the lagoon surfaces or chasing flies
over the marsh.
With my
permit bought from the portacabin visitor's centre and having passed
a security gate, it is to the sandy, scrubby areas adjacent to an
access road for beach lovers and residents, past the large, white
water tower, Vermilion Flycatchers, families of Groove-billed Anis,
Long-tailed Mockingbirds, Peruvian Meadowlarks and American Kestrels
will be seen and maybe Burrowing Owls and Peruvian Thicknees will be
there too.
Across
dry, dessicated grass and shrub areas, to arrive hopefully at some
wet and shallow pools where on past visits there have been a variety
of waders; peeps, those delightful small and quite difficult birds to
identify. Lesser and Semi-palmated Sandpipers may have other
sandpiper species scampering the margins with them. Bairds would be
nice.
Both
Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs have been here before and Wilson's
Phalaropes. Black-necked Stilts will be as stately as ever walking on
those preposterously long legs whilst dipping their sharp, black
bills to probe for a small mollusc.
Puna Ibis,
Common Moorhen and Killdeer; all should be added to the growing day
list.
Over short
grassed grazed by tethered horses to a long sandbank, a wall of
protection for the day a tsunami may arrive, and views over tall
reeds. Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Wren-like Rushbird and House Wrens will be
there and by heading south the first coastal lagoons may be viewed.
Masses of
Black Skimmers and gulls, a few Slate-coloured Coot, gulls of many
species and duck, such as White-cheeked Pintail and Cinnamon Ducks
will be there with Spotted Sandpipers and Whimbrel walking along the
shoreline. There may be Willets too.
To the sea
and the surge of the waves hitting the steep sandy shore. Little Blue
Herons, Snowy Egrets and American Oystercatchers will be obtaining
food items as Peruvian Pelicans, Peruvian Boobies and Inca Terns
pass, heading north. Flocks of terns will be resting on the beach.
Further out masses of Guanay Cormorants will be fishing.
Back to
the visitor's centre late afternoon to watch as hundreds of Cattle
Egrets arrive to roost for the night.
Time to
peruse the day list of possibly sixty different birds and reflect on
another visit to a surprisingly favourite Peruvian nature reserve.
Maybe it is my love of a nature reserve with a proximity to a major
urban sprawl and therefore the opportunity for thousands to enjoy
nature first hand. Whatever it may be, I find hat I can ignore the
rubbish, the vehicle noise and the views inland of massed Favellas
and instead enjoy the differing natural habitats and the thousands of
birds present. There are also a few insects there too; the occasional
dragonfly and butterfly is to be found.
Reflections
about the first day and the first bird place to be visited transport
me through my train journey north; a train journey to my daughter,
Rebecca. A final weekend with my little girl . . . . .
Six months
of the toughest Biking Birder challenge will be ahead of me; oceanic
Pacific, shoreline, desert, mountain and finally the deepest, most
remote of rainforests to be explored and marvelled at.
And all of
this is for two reasons. As usual I am trying to raise money for
charities; namely Birdlife International and Chaskawasi-Manu. The
former a huge international charity of immense depth and influence in
the bird conservation world, the latter a parochial, locally-based
charity in the Manu National Park.
My target
for Birdlife International is £5,000. A start has been made but how
lovely it would be for you to make a donation via the Birdlife
International – Just Giving page link.
Thank you so much everyone. Your messages of support are wonderful.
Love to you all, Gary xx
