Setting a new Big Day world record at Los Amigos!
Alex Wiebe, a biologist and Jonathan Franzen Fellow at the Los Amigos Bird Observatory recently broke the world record for an on-foot Big Day, recording 347 species in a single day.
From dung beetles to tinamous: A researcher’s time at Los Amigos
Last summer, I completed my first field season at the Los Amigos Biological Station. My research focused on sampling and identifying dung beetles across a variety of habitats. As an avid birder and student of ornithology, I spent my time off birding, and quickly realized I wanted to come back to the station to complete another project focusing on the birdlife there. I am thrilled to be returning to Peru [...]
Global Big Day Results: Breaking Records and Finding New Species!
Global Big Day took place earlier in May, and our teams of expert local and international birders took full advantage of our three lodges to find a whopping number of birds in a single day. This year we had a fantastic team representing us, including Fernando Angulo, researcher at Peru's Center for Ornithology and Biodiversity (CORBIDI) and Advisory member for the Los Amigos Bird Observatory; Alex Wiebe, Johnathan Franzen Fellow and student at Cornell University; [...]
Living in “sympatry” with sympathy: a story of tamarins at Los Amigos!
Their long and sometimes prehensile tails, and their capability to climb and jump among tree branches are a few of the key features of Neotropical primates. These highly arboreal organisms are perhaps one of the most charismatic groups in a tropical forest. Los Amigos harbors eleven primate species, from the largest and highly vulnerable spider monkey (Ateles chamek) to the smallest and very rare Goeldi’s tamarin (Callimico goeldii). Among the [...]
Great Tinamou egg predation caught on camera at our lodge!
Long, daily hikes in the forest always reveal remarkable events in nature, which could be easily overlooked if not for our curiosity for nature and its complexity. The Los Amigos Bird Observatory (LABO) is currently studying the ecology of the 11 sympatric tinamou that cohabit the forest at our Los Amigos birding lodge. Unfortunately, a male tinamou, whose presence would have certainly increased the survival rates of these beautiful eggs, [...]
Bird migration in the Amazon basin
The migration of animals is one of the most studied phenomena by scientists, and one of the most anticipated events by nature lovers. This annual phenomenon, which is affected by many factors such as age, sex, resistance, and survival skills, involves animals leaving habitats in winter and reaching the ideal and warmest places for feeding and reproduction. Birds -- with their ability to fly, a highly developed nervous system [...]
Global Big Day is just around the corner! Let’s break a record!
Global Big Day is May 5, and our teams of birders are ready to break records at our lodges in Peru! Besides being birding’s biggest day worldwide, for us, it represents a unique opportunity to raise awareness about the astounding bird diversity found in Peru and at our birding lodges, and the importance of their conservation. We'll be live tweeting our finds throughout the day and on May 6th we'll have [...]
Jonathan Franzen Fellows selected to begin avian research
Last year, we began the search for the most talented and passionate students and/or professionals that have found their greatest inspiration and reason to protect the Amazon rainforest to be birds. The Franzen Fellowship was created as part of our Los Amigos Bird Observatory program to increase current efforts in avian research and conservation, as well as to train the next generation of ornithologists. After a competitive and arduous selection process, the [...]
Andean Amazon from top to bottom: 9 days, 11,000 feet, and 468 birds
Sunrise on a steamy tropical palm swamp; the daily ritual at a salt-rich clay lick; and scores of amazing birds that you have only seen in a field guide, inspiring the mantra, “I must see that bird!” The Amazon Conservation birding circuit offers these and myriad other nature experiences that inspire a lifetime of amazing memories. In late October 2017, the nonprofit hosted our crew of three professional naturalists for [...]
2018 is the Year of the Bird!
Our board member Tom Lovejoy, the renowned biologist and "godfather" of biodiversity, once said "If you take care of birds, you take care of most of the environmental problems in the world." 2018 marks the centennial of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the most powerful and important bird-protection law ever passed. In honor of this milestone, nature lovers around the world are joining forces to celebrate the “Year of the Bird” and [...]