By Mike Lu
I believe in fate.
Unlike most birders, I do not maintain a target list and I deliberately try not to twitch. Birdwatching should be relaxing and enjoyable. I will not allow birdwatching to increase stress and add disappointments to my life because I did not see a bird I wanted to see. I believe that the bird will come to you when you deserve to see it 😊
I love travelling and exploring yet I do not keep a bucket list of destinations to visit. Last January, I had to back out from an ocular trip to Nepal for the Asia Bird Fair due to schedule constraints. I also turned down another free trip in June to attend the 1st North America Bird Fair in Costa Rica due to conflicts in schedule.
The third opportunity came from my Brazilian friend Guto Carvalho whom I met at the VIII South America Bird Fair in Colombia. The invitation was to be a resource speaker at the 20th Avistar Bird Fair in Sao Paolo (Brazil) happening on May 15-17, plus a 5-day post-fair birding trip to the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Filipino passport holders do not need a visa and my schedule was free on those dates, so I said YES !
I was given two speaking slots: introduce the Asian Bird Fair and promote birdwatching in the Philippines. Club Secretary Maia Tañedo helped me to come up with the presentations. n the midst of Manila’s stifling mid-30C summer heat, I flew via San Francisco-Chicago-Sao Paolo on a 2-day flight. Brazil in autumn with temperatures below 20C was just perfect. I was happy to meet the other foreign speakers, most of whom were my friends from the South America Bird Fair network or the Asian Bird Fair: Horacio Matarasso (Argentina), Oscar Rodriguez (Paranguay), Carolina Yanez Rismundo (Chile), Carles Santana (Spain), and new friends Pamela Garcia (Mexico) and Diego Calderon (Colombia).
Celebrating its 20th year, the Avistar Bird Fair was held on the lush grounds of the Jardim Botanico. The white tents housed exhibitors, mostly representing different state governments promoting their birdwatching sites. There were also birding tour companies, resorts/farms, educational booths highlighting not just birds but the whole ecosystem, and lots of bird-themed merchandise from bags and shirts to paintings and traditional crafts.
What impressed me the most is the number of speakers. There were 5 tents with resource persons speaking simultaneously covering a wide range of topics from opening time in the morning to closing time in the afternoon. Aside from conducting two 30-minute speaking sessions, I also participated in a business matching where I had a one-on-one session with birding tour operators and lodge owners for them to promote their sites and to learn about promoting their sites at the Asian Bird Fair. Although many locals understood English, I wish I could speak or understand Portuguese so I could speak with more people.
On the first day at the fair, Martha Argel (biologist and author, whom I met in Colombia many years ago) took me birdwatching around the fair venue. I also explored on my own for the next couple of days. Neotropic Cormorants, Picazuro Pigeons, Southern Lapwings, and Black Vultures were the most common species on the fair grounds but the most memorable birds were the ones I saw by myself like the Fulvous Whistling Duck and the Slaty-breasted Wood Rail. Aside from birds, I was surprised and delighted to see other mammals like the armadillo, cavi (a wild guinea pig), marmoset, and even a howler monkey! It felt like the animal drawings were popping out from the pages of my kiddie storybooks 😊
The 5-day post-fair birding tour went fast from the seaside Ilha Bella, the marshy grasslands of Caraguatatuba to the montane forests of the Serra do Mar, stopping by a few times to visit hummingbird feeding gardens. As expected, birds of all sizes and colors were everywhere … hummingbirds, tanagers, parrots some with weird names like euphoria, guan, and fire-eye. Even birds I did not expect to see showed up, open sea birds like boobies and frigatebirds! I simply lost track of the names and just enjoyed the moment. I felt like an explorer seeing all these birds for the first time in my life. Yet the discoveries included so much more … capuchin monkeys, capybaras, forest frogs, tarantula spiders, lizards, snakes, butterflies, wild orchids and heliconias, the iconic araucaria “pine” tree, the list just goes on and on.
Our tour was ably handled by Brazilian Birding Experts, a Brazilian-based tour company specializing in birding tours throughout the country. Our bird guide Luciano Lima was not only an expert guide but also very flexible with the itinerary, changing destinations when the weather did not cooperate with us. I enjoyed the comforts of the vehicle and the the delicious and sumptuous traditional meals. I enjoyed all the meals, including the breakfasts!
It has been a few of months since my visit to Brazil and it still feels like a dream I do not want to wake up from. Despite the long and tiring flight and the ensuing jet lag which took me two weeks to recover from, I would gladly go back to explore the other parts of Brazil. Thank you Guto for inviting me to the Avistar Bird Fair, to the most enjoyable birding trip by Brazilian Birding Experts and to excellent company of and craziness of fellow birdwatchers. See you at the 2nd World Bird Fair in Colombia next year!
Tchau! Tchau!
Omg what an experience! You’re so blessed Mike. Thanks for sharing all those beautiful pics and stories with us. Next year ulit