Last Chance to See (2023 edition) (2 Viewers)

[lgonz1008]

Was looking at them. I notice some tours like this used to go for Brazilian merganser and blue-eyed ground-dove as well, but not anymore. Are they just further apart than I thought?

They seem to have a different tour for it, Treasures of Minas Gerais, and even that one needs a separate tour for the Ground-Dove: Treasures of Minas Gerais – Agami Nature Tours

Though they'll l probably cater to your targets like most tour companies.

 

[jurek]

If you are really committed, you can contact one or two Brazilain bird tour companies directly, and they could arrange you a private few day tour, or link you with some other birders into a shared tour. Or you can move independently and arrange day guides.

 

[Tiraya]

I'm pretty committed, but I haven't yet done a lot of international tours, and certainly none that are not in a highly modernized English-speaking country. So the mindset and knowledge of how to dive into such an experience is still a learning curve for me. The feedback here is helpful!

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

Much of my interest in Galapagos is not only for birds, so the potential "yield" for me is higher than the weight of X # of endemic finches. Some really interesting plants, invertebrates, and the likes, that also contribute part of my life list. Having said that though, I probably won't go unless I can find a tour that offers all the finches, since I probably won't do a second trip there in my lifetime.

Does Cheeseman's get all the finches? For what they charge, they certainly ought to.

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

I really don't think you need to be able to ID the finches to enjoy the Galapagos, it's so much more than just birding/ticking. In fact, I barely remember the finches and they were NOT a highlight. Whether many Ecuador tourists miss the mainland biodiversity doesn't really have anything to do with whether the Galapagos is a worthy destination or not. I mean, I agree with your points, but they're totally separate from the question of whether the Galapagos is a trap that isn't worth the money. I rate it as one of my all time top wildlife / seeing the world experiences, even if I also was not able to see all the endemic birds. Sometimes the experience is greater than the number of ticks and, in fact, those are the experiences I seek out rather than just rote listing.



I disagree here - a lot of people can and do afford it, and there are boats at a lot of different prices. What we paid for a live-aboard boat was expensive-ish but in the realm of what most ecolodges charge and the experience was tremendous. Galapagos is sort of a bucket-list / once in a lifetime experience for most people. I get the impression that a lot of people save up for a trip to the Galapagos, it's not only wealthy travelers with nothing better to do. And of course a lot of visitors aren't students of biology nor biodiversity but doest that matter? Do you need to be an art historian to go to the Louvre or Prado? Do you need to be an architect to appreciate the Sagrada Familia? I don't think that birders are magically more deserving of the Galapagos experience or that they even get more out of it than others. I would actually guess it's the reverse - that there's a subset of birders who will go there for the ticks and will not really appreciate the whole experience as much as many non-birders do.

It has its price, and for me it is worth it. As I said, I am hoping to return at some point, it was absolutely magical for me. Most world birders can afford to go to the Galapagos if they are making regular international trips, and I just wanted to comment that I don't think it should be discarded off hand due to cost / popularity / limited number of ticks / other subjective prejudices.

I am planning to go to the Galapagos--with great reservations about being one of the tourists to love them to extinction. Also, I would be taking time and money away from, say, the Amazon and the West Slope. Checking off finches isn't nearly as interesting to me as observing birds and other wildlife in their tremendously threatened ecosystem(s).
Is it even ethical to go to the Galapagos when they are threatened by tourism? So for me, the equation is actually a bit different value = (numbers of birds)/$. My equation includes the factors (what else can I do in Ecuador with that time and money) and (value of not helping destroy what's left of the Galapagos). Unfortunately, it also includes a hearty dose of FOMO.
I know people will freak out at me for this, but what do I get if I die with all the Galapagos finches on my life list? Sure, I thrill to see a "new" species like we all do. I'm just not sure the financial and ethical costs are worth bagging the species count.

 

[Tiraya]

The way I see it, at the least you'll be someone who appreciates what you're seeing, and really understanding and respecting the value of a unique ecosystem and its involved species, which the average tourist will not. The rate of tourism is so high that a single person choosing not to visit is not really a solution. It's important in general that it is all at least remembered, rather than lost and forgotten. So it may be the lesser of the two evils to be a naturalist with the passion to explore the islands, rather than let it all go to casual tourism. It's not just a personal list, your own memories, photos, and recalling of what you saw can inspire, promote and bring recognition to all that you saw, and that can be really valuable. I don't know anyone in my age range or younger who has been to the Galapagos or even knows what lives there aside from "those finches", and that's a very sad thing.

But I think it could be argued both ways.

 

[lgonz1008]

I am planning to go to the Galapagos--with great reservations about being one of the tourists to love them to extinction. Also, I would be taking time and money away from, say, the Amazon and the West Slope. Checking off finches isn't nearly as interesting to me as observing birds and other wildlife in their tremendously threatened ecosystem(s).
Is it even ethical to go to the Galapagos when they are threatened by tourism? So for me, the equation is actually a bit different value = (numbers of birds)/$. My equation includes the factors (what else can I do in Ecuador with that time and money) and (value of not helping destroy what's left of the Galapagos). Unfortunately, it also includes a hearty dose of FOMO.
I know people will freak out at me for this, but what do I get if I die with all the Galapagos finches on my life list? Sure, I thrill to see a "new" species like we all do. I'm just not sure the financial and ethical costs are worth bagging the species count.

The way I see it, at the least you'll be someone who appreciates what you're seeing, and really understanding and respecting the value of a unique ecosystem and its involved species, which the average tourist will not. The rate of tourism is so high that a single person choosing not to visit is not really a solution. It's important in general that it is all at least remembered, rather than lost and forgotten. So it may be the lesser of the two evils to be a naturalist with the passion to explore the islands, rather than let it all go to casual tourism. It's not just a personal list, your own memories, photos, and recalling of what you saw can inspire, promote and bring recognition to all that you saw, and that can be really valuable. I don't know anyone in my age range or younger who has been to the Galapagos or even knows what lives there aside from "those finches", and that's a very sad thing.

But I think it could be argued both ways.

I agree with both sides here, lesser of two evils but still would spend my money elsewhere if I could see more in other parts (I personally was not a fan of Yellowstone for a similar reason, even though everyone I've met says it's one of the best wilderness experiences in the US)

On an extra note, I actually learned about the islands first when I got a wildlife picture book when I was less than 10, so I didn't really know or understand Darwin or his finches, since the book focused solely on the current wildlife of the islands. Needless to say, the Blue-footed Boobies, Marine Iguanas and Waved Albatross grabbed my attention a lot more than the finches ever could at that young age.

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

I agree with both sides here, lesser of two evils but still would spend my money elsewhere if I could see more in other parts (I personally was not a fan of Yellowstone for a similar reason, even though everyone I've met says it's one of the best wilderness experiences in the US)

On an extra note, I actually learned about the islands first when I got a wildlife picture book when I was less than 10, so I didn't really know or understand Darwin or his finches, since the book focused solely on the current wildlife of the islands. Needless to say, the Blue-footed Boobies, Marine Iguanas and Waved Albatross grabbed my attention a lot more than the finches ever could at that young age.

 

[LittleBrownCreeper]

I agree with you/@Igonz1008 re Yellowstone. I hated Yellowstone, probably because we spent hours in stop-and-go traffic, bumper-to-bumper with giant motorhomes, with wildfires burning on either side of the road. I'm sure there's lots to see if you can backpack there or go in the off-season. The most interesting thing I saw there was a bison scratching itself on a red Yugo in the lodge parking lot. 🤣 The car was bouncing up and down. I wonder how the owner explained to insurance how all the shocks got wrecked in one night.

 

[opisska]

We were in Yellowstone in summer, just after the eclipse, which passed nearby, so it was as peak of a season as possible probably. But accomodation in the park has limited capacity so there is a limit to how many people can be there. Yes there was traffic in places but it was quite simple to avoid traffic jams, just go to the super popular places (prismatic spring and big geysers) early in the morning. Other parts were quite empty, in patricular any place further than a couple hundred meters from a parking lot.

It was one of the greatest places we have seen when it comes to wildlife watching, it's a safari of the moderate zone that's really hard to match worldwide.