VENTflash #73 September 11, 2006
Posted by Victor Emanuel
Victor Emanuel
Victor Emanuel started birding in Texas 63 years ago at the age of eight. His travels have taken him to all the continents, with his areas of concentration being Texas, Ari...September 8, 2006
Dear friends:
What do bird tour leaders do when they go on a vacation? Go birding, of course. I recently returned from a vacation in Ecuador. I spent time at the fabulous Napo Wildlife Center in the Amazonian lowlands. Paul Greenfield was there with a VENT group. This was my second visit to this superb lodge. I came away convinced more than ever that the Napo Wildlife Center is by far the finest lodge in Ecuador and the best example of ecotourism done right that I have ever seen. Anyone who visits the Amazon lowlands of Ecuador and does not stay at the Napo Wildlife Center is making a big mistake. The birding there is superior to any other site. People who stay at lodges on the north bank of the Napo must come to the south bank to see many of the birds of the region. The Napo Wildlife Center’s 52,480 acres (82 square miles) are located on the bird and wildlife-rich south bank. Other lodges in the area have much less land.
In this issue:
Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand
Arizona Winter Birding Festival
Not only is the birding better at the Napo Wildlife Center, but the accommodations and service are far superior to the other lodges. It is exactly the kind of lodge I love: small (only 10 cabanas) and attractive with big spacious rooms, a fantastic view, and incredibly attentive service. As an example of the latter, every time you return to the lodge you are met at the dock by a staff member with a tray of delicious fruit drinks. Also, on my last night there I gave my dirty field clothes to the staff before dinner. The clothes were washed, dried, and returned to me later that evening as I was packing! You do not get service like this at any other lodge.
Finally, you can feel good about staying at the Napo Wildlife Center because the local community owns 49% of the lodge. Many of the community members work at the lodge while the rest form the support and maintenance structure of this complex operation. The pride they have in their lodge is obvious from the smiles on their faces. None of the other lodges have any local ownership. They have even built an interpretive center to show visitors how they live. Better birding, better accommodations, better wildlife (including giant otters), better service, and support for one of the world’s best examples of true ecotourism; why stay anywhere else?
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Napo Wildlife Center — Photo: Peter English |
VENT took the first group to open the Napo Wildlife Center. Word has spread fast. The lodge is now fully booked in the high season and 75% booked year-round. It has been such a success that the community members are planning to build a second lodge in another bird-rich area in a few years.
The next VENT tour to the Napo Wildlife Center is scheduled for January 5-14, 2007. It will be co-led by David Wolf and Paul Greenfield. The tour fee is $2,795 from Quito. It is already filling up. I can’t imagine a better getaway than this superb tour. It can be combined with our Northern Andes tour, January 13-21, for over two marvelous weeks in one of the best countries in the world for birds and wildlife. The Northern Andes tour will be co-led by David Wolf and Paul Greenfield. It will include a visit to the property of Angel Paz to see the amazing antpitta show. The fee is $2,395. If you take both tours you will receive a discount of $200. A few spaces are also still available on our November 13-24, 2006 Ecuador: Northwestern Andean Slopes tour. It will be led by Paul Greenfield and is limited to eight participants. The fee is $3,055. This trip will also visit the property of Angel Paz.
THE ANTPITTA SHOW
In over 50 years of birding the American Tropics, Angel Paz’s antpitta show is the most amazing birding event I have ever witnessed. It is described in detail in an excellent article by Kenn Kaufman in the July/August issue of Bird Watchers Digest magazine. Antpittas are some of the hardest birds in the world to see. They live in dense habitats and have an uncanny ability to keep some object between themselves and the person who hopes to see them. Prior to this trip I had seen 17 of the 51 species of antpittas in the world. Each sighting was a major birding experience for me. Then I heard about Angel Paz’s antpitta show. At that point I had already planned to go to Ecuador. Needless to say I added a visit to Angel Paz’s property where I hoped to see three species of antpittas.
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Giant Antpitta — Photo: Pete Oxford and Renee Bish |
I met Angel and his brother at their farm and followed them down a well-constructed trail. All of a sudden Angel started yelling “Manuel, Manuel, Manuel, venga (come), venga.” When you are using a tape recording to attempt to lure in an antpitta it is essential that everyone stay absolutely still and quiet. Here was Angel walking along the trail yelling! Then it appeared. My lifer Giant Antpitta (Manuel) hopping up the trail to feed on the earthworms Angel was tossing out. At one point Manuel was almost taking the worms out of Angel’s hand. Angel told us he had to get Manuel satiated so he could then call up Willy (a Moustached Antpitta).
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Moustached Antpitta — Photo: Pete Oxford and Renee Bish |
If Manuel wasn’t full, he would chase Willy away. Finally Manuel was so full he couldn’t swallow any more worms. He took a big beak-full and hopped away to cache them. Then Angel called in Willy, another lifer for me, and finally Esmeralda, a Yellow-breasted Antpitta, yet a third lifer.
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Yellow-breasted Antpitta — Photo: Pete Oxford and Renee Bish |
Three lifer antpittas in one morning, all seen exceptionally well?truly an amazing experience, and one you will have if you take our Northern Andestour, January 13-21, or our Northwestern Andean Slopes tour, November 18-29, 2007.
After the antpitta show, Angel told me that he and his brother are giving up farming. They had been growing tree tomatoes and passion fruit on the land they had cleared. They plan to pull up their trees and replant the native forest. One of our leaders, Tony Nunnery, lives in Ecuador, and is advising them on what native trees to plant to attract more birds. On their property they already have Golden-headed Quetzals, Toucan Barbets, Orange-breasted Fruiteaters, a host of tanagers, and many other birds. After the antpitta show Angel’s wife served us a second breakfast which we ate at an outdoor table. Birding in the tropics is wonderful almost anywhere, but Angel’s antpitta show is in a class by itself. It is truly unique.
After their stay at the Napo Wildlife Center, Paul led our Southern Ecuador tour where they saw five other antpittas including the spectacular Jocotoco Antpitta, as well as many other great birds.
Ecuador is rapidly becoming the Costa Rica of South America: a small tourist and birder-friendly country with many good lodges and ecotourism sites with fantastic birding. It is easily reached on several US airlines without very many hours of travel. Quito is, perhaps, the most attractive South American capital. Thanks to Robert Ridgely and Paul Greenfield, Ecuador has a superb bird book. Public and private conservation efforts, especially by the well-run, highly effective Jocotoco Foundation, are resulting in the setting aside of superb areas throughout this diverse country.
VENT has been operating tours in Ecuador since 1981, longer than any other company. Two of our leaders, Paul Greenfield and Tony Nunnery, live in Ecuador. David Wolf and his wife Mimi own land in southern Ecuador and have a special affection for that wonderful country.
As a result of all these exciting developments, VENT will be expanding its Ecuador program. We hope you will take a look at what we offer. We think our Ecuador tours are of the highest quality and that our leaders are second to none.
I hope you will sign up for either our Napo Wildlife Center tour in January or our Northern Andes tour in January, or both. I can assure you that you will have a fantastic time.
ATTU REPORTS
Marshall Iliff will be emailing reports and photographs to the VENT office from the Spirit of Oceanus during our Attu Cruise, September 7-24. These reports will be posted on VENT’s web site.
SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND
Anyone who has been to South Georgia en route to Antarctica knows that the Subantarctic Islands have some of the greatest concentrations of wildlife, as well as superb scenery. The Subantarctic Islands of New Zealand are among the best places in the world to see penguins and other seabirds, including several species found nowhere else in the world.
We have reserved 10 spaces on the Spirit of Enderby for a trip to these islands, November 20-December 4, 2007. This trip will visit Snares, Enderby, Macquarie, and Campbell islands?all fantastic sites. Cabins begin at $4,472 per person in double occupancy. Dion Hobcroft will accompany the group as the VENT leader. Rodney Russ, who owns the Spirit of Enderby, has sold all of the other spaces on the trip. VENT will have to turn back any unsold space on December 1.
This is a rare opportunity to visit some of the world’s most scenic and bird-rich islands. I hope you will be able to join this trip.
Several years ago VENT offered a series of Amazon cruises on the Explorer. They were all very successful. Now we have chartered another fine ship, the La Turquesa, for another memorable voyage on the Amazon. We’ll board the ship in Iquitos, Peru and head up the Amazon into some wonderful country. The La Turquesa is a very comfortable ship. We have once again assembled a superb team of leaders: Steve Hilty, Paul Greenfield, David Ascanio, and Andy Whittaker. This trip will be limited to 40 participants. It is already half full. I highly recommend it.
Amazon River Cruise, January 20-28, 2007. Cabins begin at $4,995 per person in double occupancy from Lima.
ARIZONA WINTER BIRDING FESTIVAL
Our 30th Celebration in South Texas last April was such fun that we’ve decided to put together another event?the Arizona Winter Birding Festival. We’ll assemble in Tucson and spend five nights at the Embassy Suites. Each day participants will visit an exciting bird-rich area with a different set of VENT leaders. There will be a late afternoon social hour, followed by dinner and, on most nights, an evening program. Kenn Kaufman and I will both be giving evening lectures. Contact us soon if you would like to receive more information or sign up for this exciting event.
Arizona Winter Birding Festival, January 10-15, 2007. Fee: $1,995 from Tucson. Sign up by October 1 and receive a discount of $100. Limit: 56.
FANTASTIC AUSTRALASIA REPORTS
One of the many pleasures of my job is receiving phone calls from David Bishop when he returns from a tour. His enthusiasm is boundless. He often starts off by saying “Victor, I’ve just come back from one of the best tours I’ve ever led with one of the best groups of people I’ve ever been with.” If I didn’t know David so well, I’d think this was a canned intro, but with David, I know it is genuine. Here are his reports on tours he led to Borneo and Papua New Guinea this summer:
PAPUA NEW GUINEA, August 2006
(David Bishop and Dion Hobcroft just finished co-leading our 25th Papua New Guinea tour. One of the participants was Daniel Lopez, who had attended one of our summer youth birding camps a few years ago.)
"We lived the dream. Since an early age Daniel had dreamed of birding in New Guinea, of seeing the amazing birds of paradise amidst teeming tropical forests and some of the wildest and most fascinating people on our planet. In 2006 Daniel’s dream came true and he, together with his father Carlos (a world renowned biochemist) and ten other equally motivated participants, traveled on VENT’s tour to Papua New Guinea. Led by me (I have 30 years field experience in the country) and the ever sharp Dion Hobcroft, our tour visited the fabled highlands in addition to the vast lowland forests of the Fly River, the fascinating hill forests of the Star Mountains, and the balmy island of New Britain. We all lived the dream! Never before have we seen so many birds-of-paradise so well. Never before have we been able to enjoy so many displaying males so well, at such leisure, and so often. Indeed it was a dream come true.
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Brown Sicklebill — Photo: David Bishop |
The addition of Kumul Lodge to our itinerary allowed us to watch and photograph at length Brown Sicklebills, Ribbon-tailed Astrapias, and male Crested Birds-of-paradise competing with tiger-parrots and a wonderful assortment of honeyeaters, as they dined at a bird feeder not 20 feet from our veranda?totally and utterly amazing. This tour just kept getting better and better, aided and abetted by a wonderful group of like-minded enthusiasts. From crowned-pigeons at dawn along a tributary of the Fly River to four species of paradise-kingfisher?all seen outrageously well in the scope, to a kaleidoscopic variety of cockatoos, parrots, lories, lorikeets, and pygmy-parrots, we soon discovered that Papua New Guinea is another world. The weather was perfect. Yes, perfect. The food was delicious, the accommodations were comfortable?sometimes astonishingly so, and all the people we met or who worked with us to make our tour such a success greatly enhanced our appreciation of all things New Guinean! And even I garnered a lifer, albeit on the very last day; thanks to a very knowledgeable park ranger we all got to dwell at length on one of New Guinea’s forest sprites, a Barred Owlet-Nightjar sitting at the entrance to its roost hole for us all to drool over and photograph?quite simply, amazing. That last day at Varirata National Park encapsulated everything that is New Guinea, from total surprise at the adult and immature Gurney’s Eagles which flew past us at eye level to Raggiana Birds-of-paradise courting and displaying to us after we dragged ourselves from a sumptuous picnic lunch. We indeed lived the dream.“
I hope you can join David and Dion on our August 8-30, 2007 ”blue" href=“http://www.ventbird.com/tour/653/”>Papua New Guinea tour, which will be limited to 12 participants. It is already half full.
BORNEO, June/July 2006
"Victor, you really must come and join me soon on the Borneo tour. It is absolutely superb. I know I always rave about this trip, but it is really special, and this year arguably more than ever. Unlike most tours to the Tropics, especially forest-based trips, we see a lot of mammals, and this trip was no exception. We had barely begun our boat ride up the Kinabatangan River when we spotted a Bornean pygmy elephant. As we nosed up to the bank we soon discovered we had insinuated ourselves into the midst of a herd of 40+ elephants barely a few feet from our boat. To say the experience was exciting would be the understatement of the year. To see such a little-known, wild animal at length and at such close quarters left us all exhilarated. Strange-looking proboscis monkeys were seemingly present everywhere, from ones and twos to large energetic troops. And this was just our first day in eastern Borneo. Little did we know what was to come. I’m still on a high?near the gigantic Gomantong caves we thrilled to a pregnant female orangutan and then watched in disbelief as a huge mammal lumbered across our path.
The lovely Menangol River and nearby oxbow lake produced fabulous views of seven of Borneo’s eight species of hornbills in 24 hours, including exceptional dawn views of the rarely encountered White-crowned Hornbill. The supporting cast of endangered, forest-dwelling Storm’s Stork; an absolutely exquisite leopard cat hunting at dusk; Buffy Fish-Owl; and a whole host of broadbills, trogons, and pittas had us all salivating at the prospect of Danum Valley. The weather there this year was nigh perfect?even the three-inch downpour in two hours waited until we had returned from our night safari! In all we saw at least seven orangutans, often prolonged studies at fruiting trees together with Rhinoceros Hornbills and a wonderful array of other frugivores such as Gold-whiskered and Red-throated barbets, and Dusky, Banded, and iridescent Green broadbills. Add to this an amazing experience with a male Great Argus Pheasant that “visited” with us five times after crossing the road in front of us?Paul Davis described this as the greatest bird he had ever seen in his life. Then there was another leopard cat plus giant flying squirrels, both species of mouse deer, amazing encounters with both species of endemic wren-babblers (typically very tough to see, but seen by us to the point where we had to walk away from them), a total of six species of primates in one day, and a Red-bearded Bee-eater that defied description. Perhaps most of all though, I was most gratified by how the entire group so loved these beautiful “big ole” forests.“
Regretfully, I will not be able to take David up on his offer, as I will be co-leading our Camp Tejano youth camp in July 2007. But I hope you will consider visiting this fabulous country with him ”blue" href=“http://www.ventbird.com/tour/639/”>July 1-20, 2007. The limit is 14.
ANTARCTICA, SOUTH GEORGIA & THE FALKLANDS, December 15, 2007-January 7, 2008
I am delighted to announce that veteran VENT Antarctica leader, Greg Lasley, has agreed to co-lead our December 2007/January 2008 Antarctica/South Georgia/Falklands cruise. He will be co-leading with Denver Holt. This will be Greg’s 14th voyage to Antarctica, one of his favorite places in the world. Both Greg and I were close friends of Roger Tory Peterson. We often heard him talk about how fond he was of Antarctica. We share his feelings.
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Antarctica — Photo: Greg Lasley |
Antarctica has become very popular. VENT has reserved a block of cabins on the Clipper Adventurer. We have cabins in a variety of categories. At some point we will have to give up any unsold cabins. If you are interested in Antarctica, we urge you to reserve a space early so you can get the cabin you want.
Call us at 800/328-VENT (8368) or email shirley@ventbird.com to obtain more information or to reserve a space.
CUBA BIRD STUDY OPPORTUNITY
We have recently learned of an opportunity to study and gather data on the birds of Cuba through the Cuba Bird Study program. They have a trip scheduled for January 5-17, 2007. The trip will be limited to 16 participants. Steve Hilty will participate in this bird study program. The fee for this program is $4,400 per person from Cancun. If you want to reserve a space, please contact the VENT office, and send us a deposit of $800.