I'm considering going on a tour with him, but would like some info about his style, strengths, and any weaknesses as a guide in the group tour context. Feel free to PM me if you prefer. A bio and photo of him here in case you are not sure who I'm talking about: https://www.birdquest-tours.com/ourteam.cfm?team=87
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Any Experience with Brazil bird guide Eduardo Patrial? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Jim M.
- Start date
DMW
Well-known member
I spent a day birding with Eduardo while he was guiding a BQ group in SE Brazil. Based on that limited experience I would say he is excellent, being a highly competent guide and a really nice guy, with very fluent English. I think the fact that he leads pretty full on BQ tours in Brazil speaks for itself.
Xenospiza
Distracted
He guided me and a friend for over a week in Bahia some years ago. Although he stressed that it was not his favourite area (he's from the southeast), he was excellent, coming up with some very nice unexpected species and sites.
Note that this was (just) before he did BQ!
Note that the logistics of our trip had been arranged by Paulo Boute (who guided us on-and-off at the start of the trip – an entertaining guy but not a hardcore birder like Eduardo). I am not sure if Eduardo was ready for doing the non-fun part of guiding yet, but I assume he has had a few years to learn.
(I believe there is one negative report about him on the internet, so maybe that's why you're asking? We were quite surprised).
Note that this was (just) before he did BQ!
Note that the logistics of our trip had been arranged by Paulo Boute (who guided us on-and-off at the start of the trip – an entertaining guy but not a hardcore birder like Eduardo). I am not sure if Eduardo was ready for doing the non-fun part of guiding yet, but I assume he has had a few years to learn.
(I believe there is one negative report about him on the internet, so maybe that's why you're asking? We were quite surprised).
Thanks Xenospiza. I'm not aware of any negative reports--just one that raised some questions without answering them. Having had a few bad experiences, I'm just being extra-cautious. Never had a complaint about a guide's birding skills--it's the people skills and other factors that worry me in general. But it looks like Eduardo is a go for me.
To follow-up on this, I did in fact go on a 2 week set departure Brazil tour with Eduardo. Here are my personal impressions:
The good: the tour was highly successful, and I would rate Eduardo’s birding skills as excellent. He also makes the extra effort to get the bird, when necessary, and he is enthusiastic and generally in good spirits. I was also impressed that he had recordings of some mammal calls, and was even able to call back marmosets that would otherwise have quickly fled from us.
My concerns: he can be somewhat inflexible, focusing on birds he thinks participants ought to see (or that he wants to see) rather than what they want to see. On occasion, important logistical information was not communicated to us in a timely fashion. Occasionally he was irascible without apparent reason. Also, I was overcharged for laundry at one hotel, and he declined to translate or be my advocate in the dispute, he just stood there waiting for me to pay. In certain respects, he seemed to play favorites among the participants. His English sometimes fails him when having to quickly describe the location of a bird.
I think most of the participants were happy and would go on a tour with him again. Personally, I would think twice before doing so for the reasons mentioned.
The good: the tour was highly successful, and I would rate Eduardo’s birding skills as excellent. He also makes the extra effort to get the bird, when necessary, and he is enthusiastic and generally in good spirits. I was also impressed that he had recordings of some mammal calls, and was even able to call back marmosets that would otherwise have quickly fled from us.
My concerns: he can be somewhat inflexible, focusing on birds he thinks participants ought to see (or that he wants to see) rather than what they want to see. On occasion, important logistical information was not communicated to us in a timely fashion. Occasionally he was irascible without apparent reason. Also, I was overcharged for laundry at one hotel, and he declined to translate or be my advocate in the dispute, he just stood there waiting for me to pay. In certain respects, he seemed to play favorites among the participants. His English sometimes fails him when having to quickly describe the location of a bird.
I think most of the participants were happy and would go on a tour with him again. Personally, I would think twice before doing so for the reasons mentioned.
