On eating birds, watching birds, and conserving birds

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy thanksgiving!! This weekend I joined a group of expats (some working for MCC) as they celebrated the American Thanksgiving Holiday. Better late than never, I suppose. It was quite a big deal having this even hosted in Prey Veng Town at the home of some MCC service workers. Several families came in from the city, and much of the food had to be brought in from the city as well. Yes, there was turkey, and potatoes, stuffing, green beans, sweet-potato, corn, pumpkin pie, and apple crisp! It was amazing! To make the weekend even better, I got to spend the night with Lisa, another MCC worker. We watched the first few episodes of Firefly together while I indulged in a most delicious mug of hot chocolate. But enough about food. I realize it is probably not nearly as exciting for you as it is for me. I ALSO got to go bird-watching this weekend: once by myself, and the second time with Lisa. Apparently my enthusiasm for birding was catching because last weekend she asked if I would introduce her to the world of birds next time I visited. But once again I have entered upon a subject very few of my readers find great interest in.

I am actually thinking of starting a birding blog. One of my professors from university suggested it to me as a good way to help out ecotourism in Cambodia. He said a lot of traveling birders look for blogs people write about what they see in other countries. The way ecotourism works is this: locals live in an area of great ecological and biodiversity significance. The fact that the only breeding site for this particular critter is in their backyard, or that they sit on one of the few remaining types of this forest, or that the lake they fish in is teeming with hundreds of endemic species, or that the bird eggs they eat belong to an endangered species is of little significance in their everyday lives. Or maybe they do have an idea and are making a living selling it illegally. Populations grow; greed grows; the take becomes unsustainable.  People interested in the conservation come and convince locals that these things are worth more alive and intact than dead or destroyed. Tourists come and pay to see these things, benefiting the local economy by hiring local guides, etc. BUT, how can tourists come if they don’t know about it? Hence the birding blog.

 My apologies, I promised to stop talking about birding.

Work has been going well. I’ve been helping out a lot recently with some reports and grant proposals. It is nice to feel like I am useful for SOMETHING at least!  We are all geared up to start working on some plant trials on the demonstration farm, but are a bit stuck now wondering where we can get our hands on some good seeds. Unfortunately there is no Canadian Tire Gardening section to be found anywhere in Cambodia. And the vegetables we are trying to grow are not the most widely grown in Cambodia (hence the experimental trail), which adds to the challenge of finding a reliable source of seeds. As soon as I get back from vacation, we plan to test some potatoes and garlic from the market to see if they can be successfully grown here.

Speaking of vacation, I have been proud of myself for being so regular in providing blog posts… I realized that if I did not set myself a firm guideline it could too easily slip by the way-side. In light of this, dear faithful followers, please be aware that next week I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks and will therefore not be writing a blog post next week. I don’t want anyone worrying that I have fallen of the face of the earth or something. On the other hand, if birding on the coast is as good as I’ve been lead to believe it is, maybe I will be stuck out there forever!

I can't decide which I love more, the sea or birds. Getting to see them both at the same time beats all. I am really looking forward to this chance to get out and see some more of this beautiful country. Nature is at risk all over the world, and Cambodia is no exception. The more I learn about the natural wonders here, the more I want to get involved in some kind of conservation work. God says we are to be stewards of this planet, and it is about time we took that responsibility seriously.  But more about that another day. Now is the time to get out and soak it all in!! To let the warm rays of the sun tan my skin, feel the while sand between my toes, awake to the songs of new birds, and stand in awe watching the sun set over the ocean in glorious splendor.  

Until next time,

Rebecca

Rice paddy in the distance with several Egrets feeding.

On the way back to Mesang one day, I realized I was heading into the darkest storm clouds!Amazingly I never felt more than a sprinkle of rain before the clouds dispersed.