Marvelous Spatuletail

Northern Peru – Local Specialties and Fun Birding

Thumbnail image for Northern Peru – Local Specialties and Fun Birding by Rich Hoyer 20 March 2012

Northern Peru, with easy access and excellent birding, is a wonderful destination for a short birding tour to the New World tropics.

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The Bird World Cup Winner

Thumbnail image for The Bird World Cup Winner by Gunnar 29 January 2012

The winner is…. It is usually straight forward to pick a winner in a voting game. The participant that gets most votes wins. This is a little more complex. Presenting the results from the final of this contest which has been running since the beginning of December 2011 is long overdue. Things got a bit [...]

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World Bird Cup – Final!!

Thumbnail image for World Bird Cup – Final!! by Gunnar 2 January 2012

Surprise Semifinal It was a total surprise that Philippine Eagle would be able to resist the popular Spoon-billed Sandpiper. It could be that the Spoonie supporters were to busy celebrating Christmas and New Year, and simply did not have time to vote.  I checked the results at midnight on the 31st of December, 2011 and [...]

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The Best Images of 2011

Thumbnail image for The Best Images of 2011 by GlennBartley 1 January 2012

My personal selection – best of 2011 2012 is officially here! The coming of a new year always forces us all to look back at the year that has come and gone. What a year 2011 has been! I am sitting here in a hotel in Quito exactly where I was one year ago and [...]

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Semifinals Bird World Cup

Thumbnail image for Semifinals Bird World Cup by Gunnar 25 December 2011

Semifinals in the Bird World Cup. Wilson’s bird of Paradise did not make it. It was a very close game. Instead it is Spoon-billed Sandpiper against Philippine Eagle and Marvelous Spatuletail verses Harpy Eagle. Can small and peculiar win against giants? What do you think?

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The Ultimate Bird.

Thumbnail image for The Ultimate Bird. by Gunnar 11 December 2011

Second round of Ultimate bird of the world. Choose 8 birds from these 8 pairs. Spoon-billed Sandpiper vs Ibisbill, Marvelous Spatuletail vs Long-whiskered Owlet, Harpy Eagle vs Blue Bird of Paradise, Resplendent Quetzal vs Philippine Eagle, Shoebill vs Inca Tern, Snowy Owl vs Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise, Kakapo vs Emperor Penguin and Wandering Albatross vs Ivory Gull. Difficult huh?

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The best bird of the world

Thumbnail image for The best bird of the world by Gunnar 4 December 2011

Which is the one bird that every birder should aim to see before it is time to leave this life? In Huffington Post there was recently a vote for what place on Earth to see before you die. Not surprisingly, Machu Picchu in Peru was number one.  It made me wonder. If you asked the [...]

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Stunning Peru bird photography

Thumbnail image for Stunning Peru bird photography by Gunnar 30 November 2011

Photographing birds in Peru. Once in a while you come across bird photography that is so jaw-dropping that you simply want to throw your camera to the floor in dispair and scream “I need a new camera with a longer lens, more megapixels and a flash as strong as sunlight”.  Then  you buy a new [...]

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Want to see the Marvellous Spatuletail displaying?

Thumbnail image for Want to see the Marvellous Spatuletail displaying? by Gunnar 19 January 2011

Marvelous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis. The Marvelous Spatuletail is an endemic bird to Peru. One of the most spectacular things to witness in the birding world is the display of  the males spatuletails.  Our guide (then) Roger Ahlman together with our protegé Santos Montenegro were the first to witness this remarkable lek in over a 100 [...]

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