March 13, 2018 by Florence
Panoussian
Despite his small stature,
10-year-old Juan David Camacho has big dreams: pacing through Colombia's jungle
with binoculars in tow, he aims to spot all the bird species his country
offers.
It's a mighty goal: Colombia
boasts the greatest number of bird types on the planet—1,920, or 19 percent of
those on the planet—a veritable paradise for birders.
"We leave very early with
our cameras, binoculars and tripods and we watch the birds until around noon,
in silence," says the young boy—continuing to scan the area to make sure
he doesn't miss a rare specimen perched on a branch in the forests near Cali.
Since his father first took him
birdwatching three years ago, his love of searching for feathered friends has
come to rival even his passion for football, a favored pastime in Colombia.
Once a month he journeys through
the tropical forests surrounding Cali, the country's third largest city with
some 2.5 million residents.
Nestled in the heart of the
southwest's massive green expanse, the Valle del Cauca, and the Andes
Mountains, the area counts 562 species of birds, "much more than anywhere
in Europe", according to expert Carlos Wagner.
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