Remember - Jimi Hendrix

I start today's post with the great pleasure of welcoming the 175th country to our readership by way of

 SWAZILAND

a country I was most pleased to visit back in November 2006 accruing no fewer than 30 new species on the World Bird List including, Speckled Mousebird, Purple-crested Turaco, Gorgeous Bush-Shrike and Greater Scimitarbill. We welcome our new reader and hope the LINK The Bagsy Blog can be passed to others in that fine country.

Yesterday was a bright sunny and calm day, ideal for my first visitation attending the Remembrance Day Gathering. More people about than I remember on any previous such Sunday and as a result the

FARMER'S MARKET on Westham Bridge appeared to be doing very well.

As ever there were lots of vintage military vehicles

and as mentioned before lots of people. However, that's when I started to loose the plot arriving for lunch with Lesley and the first bottle of wine. By the time I got home it was slightly 'one over the eight; hence none publication of these shots along with a couple of other items.

Weather wise, today has been the complete opposite of yesterday with heavy rain continuing right up to the time of publication, but allowing for more investigation and planning of the upcoming trip and selection of a few more shots from the archive which seem to be going down well with many of you.

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859) was a Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Hunboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of bio-geography. Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time in a manner generally considered to be a modern scientific point of view, leaving many creatures bearing his name such as the

HUMBOLDT PENGUIN (also known as Peruvian Penguin or Patranca) first seen by myself in 2003,

 with these images being taken subsequently in 2010 at a Peruvian Rookery.

BARE-EYED THRUSH

MUSCOVY DUCK

PUMA

RUFESCENT TIGER HERON

 SPOT-BREASTED WOODPECKER

SWALLOW TANAGER

 

CARIB GRACKLE

YELLOW-HEADED CARACARA

Don't Cry For Me Argentina - Madonna

As my departure date gets ever closer, so begins a series of lunches and dinners with those who want to wish me bon voyage starting with daughter Julie and her partner Nigel at the Gurkha Resturant on Friday, unfortunately I forgot the camera. Last night was the turn of my longest standing friend in Weymouth

SOOTY and GILL STOCKEY at the fabulous ENZO Italian on Weymouth sea-front. The wine was of particular note, a 2010 Valpolicella Ripasso Superiore, a light bodied red which is as fruity as tuttie! On the subject of good wine today we take a visit to what for me is one of the Top 5 cities in the world, Buenos Aries.

My first, of what has been 4 visits, was along with Mike Hughes back in 2001 after 3 weeks on the road travelling through Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and northern Argentina. We were just about ready for a shower, clean cloths and a comfortable bunk so opted for the Castelar Hotel in mid-town BA before setting about discovering this magical city.

The gateway to RECOLETA CEMETERY

where lies the body EVA PERON, undoubtedly Argentina's most famous person.

At 11 pm on 15 October 1945 – Eva Duarte de Perón stepped on to the balcony of the CASA ROSADA and addressed the crowd.

World famous for meat production, particularly beef, there was no chance we would walk on by.

We struck very lucky in this particular restaurant where we were requested to shift table and agreeing were rewarded with a bottle of Champagne.

Doctor Roberto Gomez and son Juan where 2 lovely people I me at the Costanera Sur Nature Reserve in the heart of the city. They were of great help in both bird identification and where to go making my day far more enjoyable than had I been alone.

To all friends and followers in WONDERFUL Argentina

TREMENDOUS

BAY-WINGED COWBIRD

 

MONITOR LIZARD eating a BAY-WINGED COWBIRD

 

GUIRA CUCKOO

BLACK & RUFOUS WARBLING-FINCH

BLACK-CAPPED WARBLING-FINCH

BLACK-NECKED SWAN

BRAZILIAN GUINEA PIG

CHALK-BROWED MOCKINGBIRD

COSCOROBA (Swan)

GIANT WOOD RAIL

GREEN-BARRED WOODPECKER

Have A Cigar - Pink Floyd

 Come in here, Dear boy, have a cigar.
You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high,
You're never gonna die,
You're gonna make it, if you try;
They're gonna love you.
Well I've always had a deep respect,
And I mean that most sincerely.
The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.
Oh by the way, which one's Pink? 

Today's post highlights a most enjoyable and successful trip to CUBA in year 2000 with my friend Andy Lindsay, not simply a birding trip but much more besides.

Just one of the places visited, excursively by taxi, having befriended a driver we hired him daily for all of our tours. By and large all the cars on the island were either of the large AmericanMobile type (USA occupation) or Moskvitch (associated with USSR rule) we were tied to the latter. A hard bumpy ride where ever we went but worse still, the exhaust came through the dashboard.

Anyway for the first couple of days it got us around the capital Havana and the surrounding countryside, recording just a few birds in the process.

However, on the third evening we were enjoying the usual half dozen Cuba Libre and were asked by a couple of young men if we needed transport during the rest of our stay? They undercut our previous driver and agreed a time and rendezvous for the next morning.

Having boarded our new found and cheaper transport it was suddenly surrounded by armed police, who handcuffed and dragged off our similarly new found escorts, never to be seen again. We decided on a quick exit ourselves and luckily we were not pursued.

Articulated 'Dragon Buses' were very much part of the urban scene.

An 11 year old street urchin drew this sketch of me for a few $'s more.

Che and Fidel were very much in evidence where ever we went.

Just about every evening we dined on Crayfish of the very best. We had taken advise as to where we should eat, with the 3 main seafood restaurants charging $5, $4 and $3 respectively for their Crays. Which would be best we enquired, "they all come from the same ocean" was the reply, so as cheapskates we opted for the $3. When you've got to go, you've got to go and on Andy's return he reported that the toilet was absolutely disgusting, but soon enough I had to pay a visit. On my return I concurred but advised him not to look in the kitchen as it made the toilet look immaculate by comparison. That said, the food, especially the speciality, were the best we had ever eaten and returned to the same place most evenings.

Without doubt the highlight of our visit was the Zapata Swamp, despite the 186 miles round trip, which hold 3 of its own endemic birds, a Wren, Rail and Sparrow, we saw none of these. We did however clock up 7 of the Island's endemics including

 CUBAN TROGON

the tiny CUBAN TODY just an inch bigger than our own Goldcrest. It is notable that both of these species were seen in the same tree within a coupe of minutes of arriving at a woodland in Pinar del Rio on our very first birding trip.

CUBAN BLACKBIRD

 CUBAN BULLFINCH, not an endemic but a 'BLACK' Bullfinch - WOW!

Lots of War Memorials to be seen here, after which each evening we would visit the hotel a little further down the main street.

While our hotel was adequate, the other had a fumador and a far better restaurant, where

we occasionally enjoyed a fine Cuban Cigar (Andy's favourite being Cohiba and mine Punch) and more Cuba Libre.
and finally another amusing contribution from Willie Downes - at least I found it funny!

Wherever You May Be Let Your Wind Blow Free