Hello!

I’m Michael Hagedorn and I’ve been a birder since age 10. A few years ago I started traveling abroad to bird, and this year I went to Ecuador. There I met Yacu and his family, members of the Quijos Nation. This is their story.

YACU IS 47, WITH A BIG DREAM

Yacu is a birding guide. And he’s making a birding reserve on his family’s property. This is a stunning landscape in eastern Ecuador, in the foothills of the Andes with waters that flow into the Amazon, at about 3,000 ft.

His efforts on that land proved how much he’s invested in his project—we walked on miles of trails he’d made with a machete. As we tramped along Yacu said with a laugh, “This is hard work. It’s always growing!”

THE BIRDS ARE AMAZING

I saw 27 lifers on his property—including the spectacular Amazonian Umbrellabird. He had a rare bird there on the property, the Wire-crested Thorntail, a hummingbird that birders come specifically to his place to see.

Yacu is a quick study. He started training himself in birding only five years ago, and yet already has an excellent ear for birdsong, and is planting flowering plants that attract certain birds.

(Photos from Merlin app)

TWO OF YACU’S BOYS JOINED US

On our treks Yacu took the time to point out to the boys what we were seeing on the Merlin app, and why the bird we saw was not another, similar one. The kids were also learning English.

Yacu wanted his boys to also become birding guides. Like other kids I met in rural Ecuador, they were helpful, kind, and devoid of artifice.

They were also good spotters. One pointed out Crimson-crested Woodpecker—a huge, startling, crow-sized bird with a flame red crest and a surprised look—and the other found a Swallow-tailed Kite, a magnificent, delicate raptor, far above.

I applauded their sightings, which they acknowledged with shy smiles. 

TROUBLE WAS, THESE KIDS WERE STUDYING TO BE GUIDES WITH THEIR NAKED EYES

Neither of them had binoculars. Yacu himself has a pair of binoculars that barely works, steaming up in the humid climate from a vapor leak.

Simply put, you can’t learn, and you can’t guide others to see, what you can’t see yourself.

Binoculars are the single tool all serious birders—and all serious birding guides—need. 

I SOON LEARNED YACU HAS BIGGER DREAMS

He told me there were 10 Quijos Nation kids he wanted to train as bird guides. And then they’d train others in more communities. Yacu’s dream: to create a network of indigenous guides to provide sustainable income without the pressure to sell their lands for deforestation or gold mining.

The story of Brazilian deforestation gets in the news more often, but similar habitat loss is happening in neighboring Ecuador.

What do they need?

THEY LACK THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE: BINOCULARS

After my day and half with this family I realized this lack was easily corrected. With your help, we can give this family, and their rural community, a big leg up. 

A good guide can make $80-100 a day, where the median income is $475 a month. One guide can support a family.

WHAT WE NEED:

• 10 good binoculars

• Overseas shipment

They need binoculars of good enough quality to be waterproof in a wet climate, and befitting a professional. This is a chance to get them tools that will last a lifetime, in an economy where a cell phone can be a month’s income. Such binoculars will run $400-500 each.

I’ll post updates on the ones we buy. 

IF WE DON’T REACH OUR GOAL:

• I’ll look into used binoculars
• I’ll encourage donated binoculars
• If we have over-funding, it may be used for a dish for better internet, which is spotty in rural Ecuador and a frequent loss of business for Yacu. 

PLEASE HELP THEM!

Yacu wrote me when I suggested this campaign: “This is super important help to be able to continue teaching in the world of birds and instill a conscience in conservation.”

When I asked Yacu where he learned such good English, he said, “I read a dictionary.” Given my failure with Duolingo to learn Spanish, I had to hand it to him. He was willing to do things slowly and well.

Again and again I was impressed with Yacu’s determination and skill. On my first day there saw a Canada Warbler, a neotropical migrant that breeds in North America, and I said how fun it is to see them down there. Yacu replied with a quiet smile, “The Canada Warbler is only up north three months of the year—the rest of the time it’s down here. So really, it’s an Ecuadorian bird.” I was learning things. 

Thank you for your help!!! These are people with a big dream. You can help change their lives, and in so doing, protect an endangered ecosystem.

Cheers!

Michael Hagedorn