Gibson’s World

Rich Pagen is the ornithologist on the Explorer 2, our ship that goes to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica.  He has been working on the Explorers since 2004 (4 years from this year).  He started out on the Explorer 1 as a marine mammalogist, but when the Explorer 1 sank he became the ornithologist for the Explorer 2.  While we were on the Explorer 2, I had to interview somebody, so I decided to interview Rich  and learned a lot about him.

Rich has been interested in wildlife since he was a child.  At first he liked turtles and fish but later he moved onto other animals.  His favorite birds to see in Antarctica are the Wandering Albatross and the Gentoo Penguin (right).  The most amazing bird he has ever seen though is the Ground Cuckoo which lives in the Amazon Rainforest.  It runs on the ground, has a big bill, and follows army ants.  Ground Cuckoos follow army ants because the ants score lots of insects out of their hiding, so the Ground Cuckoo can then find food much more easily.

Rich usually doesn’t have a lot of free time, but when he does, he likes to be on the deck, do laps around the top deck, play his guitar, and write music and songs.  Back in the U.S., he also likes to do the Christmas bird count when you try to see as many species of birds each day around Christmas.  Rich’s favorite place to bird is Minnesota, his home, because he likes seeing the warblers fly over each year.

While we were on the Explorer 2, Rich gave interesting bird lectures to the entire ship and told us what type of birds we were seeing from the deck. I was really glad that we could have Rich on the ship with us.

Benjamin is a guide we met at Sacha Lodge in the Amazon who went on all of the hikes with us and spotted many amazing things, including the Dwarf Iguana, lots of frogs, birds, and insects.  While I was in the Amazon, I interviewed him and learned a lot of things.

Benjamin lives in a town called Tena (40,000 people), about eight hours from the Sacha Lodge where he guides.  He has been guiding for six years now (2008) and his family tradition is to share with people their knowledge about plants, animals, and the Amazonian jungle.  On the hikes, he showed us lots of medicines from the jungle which he uses all the time.

Since he has been guiding for six years, he has experienced a lot.  He has never gotten lost in the forest, but has gotten stung by a scorpion.  The most amazing animal he has seen is a Spectacled Bear in the Andes Mountains, but his favorite to see is the Paka (a type of rodent).

The worst group he ever had was a really rude French group who complained about everything.  One of the most surprising things I learned was that all of the hikes were easy because he was used to walking for days with his father (a shaman) in the jungle.  He also said that he could survive in a jungle with only a pocket knife.  This is what I learned about Benjamin and I think that it would be really fun to guide in the Amazon.