FreeLists / bristol-birds / [Bristol-Birds] Moyle announces all-star birding group for BBC Ecuador trip

["Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

    The Bristol Bird Club birding/wildlife expedition to the Andean Mountains 
of Ecuador in July is quickly filling up.

    BBC President Dave Worley, who will also be on the trip,  was proud of the 
club's project and talked about
his making flight ticket arrangements.  

    Dr. John Moyle, who chairs the BBC Rainforest Adventures Committee, said 
later that an all-star group
of experienced area birders have signed up.  

    He told members attending tonight's meeting that nine birders have joined 
the trip list.  

    Amazingly, many birders from across Tennessee and particularly from 
Northern Virginia have sent
in requests for information and are on standby.  Moyle said the capacity will 
be about fourteen birders.
All interested BBC members and other local birders are getting the highest 
priority.

    The standing committee was appointed in August 2006 by then BBC President 
Bill Grigsby.  They
were assigned the task to research and plan regular birding tours to areas of 
Central America, South 
America and the West Indies.  The committee was established as a result of the 
club's highly successful 
2006 trip to Trinidad and Tobago.  That trip to the northern area of Central 
America produced 178 species 
with birders each easily getting 70+ life birds.

    The group will fly into and out of Quito, the capitol.  In Ecuador, they 
will visit a variety of habitats including high 
montane cloud forest, pre-montane cloud forest, paramo, agricultural areas, 
mountain stream valleys and eastern 
slope subtropical cloud forest.  They will delight to a vast diversity of 
species against a background of moss-draped 
trees, bromeliads and tree-ferns or grassy paramo.

    The birders will have great vistas of the high Andes, valleys of cloud 
forest and high elevation towns and farms 
of the Ecuadorian people.  Quito, itself, is a beautiful Spanish-style city 
with fabulous churches and squares.  
It will be a wonderful trip at a great price.  What a great birding and 
wildlife experience!

    BBC members were pleased to learn of the interest and quality of birders 
joining this year's adventure.

    We all owe a great deal of thanks to the wonderful effort and results for 
the Ecuador trip.

Let's go birding......

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN