A BROMSGROVE man has gone bird watching in Peru – on his bike.
Gary ‘The Biking Birder’ Prescott, a former teacher at Rigby Hall Special School, decided to go green on his six month trip, choosing a bicycle and and an inflatable Packraft kayak as his modes of transport.
And his adventure got off to a great start on April 1 at Los Pantanos de Villa, a nature reserve with coastal lagoons, reed beds and scrubby desert habitats where he saw 63 species, including 15 different sorts of wader.
More advetures followed but a dose of toothache led to an extraction and stitches in Lima, the capital of Peru.
However he didn’t waste any time, visiting the famous Olive Tree Park and spotting the spectacular Vermilion Flycatcher bird while there.
Eventually, with stitches removed, it was time to get back on his bike and set off for The Andes.
Along dirt track roads that clung to precipitous slopes around which each bend was yet another breathtaking views, and birds such as Variable Hawk, American Kestrel and Black-breasted Buzzard Eagle too.
“Imagine the thrill as looking up to the top of one high mountainous ridge I counted 11 Andean Condors,” said Gary.
From a highpoint of 15,670 feet his road plunged down, the landscape changing to grasslands and shallow pools in valleys packed with Chilean Flamingoes.
“April finished with a bird total of 180, a total way beyond my dreams,” he said.
“Five months to go, my route will take me along the Andean range to Machu Picchu and down the equally famous in birding terms, Manu Road.
“More adventures to come, more landscapes to take my breath away and best of all, more incredible birds to see.”
To follow Gary’s cycling and birding adventures visit https://bikingbirder2016.blogspot.pe/
To see photographs of the birds he sees, visit the biking birder on Facebook.
Gary is also asking for donations to Birdlife International and a project to help educate indigenous children called Chaskwasi-Manu. Links to his Just Giving page are on his blog.
