A trip to the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve in Mexico is now in the planning stage. Contact Audre Newman at audrenew@gmail.com after July 1 for up-to-date information.

Brazil is expected to be a major focus of LAC activities over the next several years. Bob Risebrough, our past chairman first went to Brazil in the 1980s to undertake a study sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund of the distribution in the environment of the persistent pesticides that accumulate in food webs. He has since travelled extensively throughout the country. In January he will be visiting national parks, reserves and lodges in southern Bahia and the Atlantic Rainforest areas to prepare itineraries for future trips. If you might be interested in joining him, sharing rental car expenses and experiences, contributing both ears and eyes, without the necessity to learn any Portuguese, please contact him at pelecanus@igc.org.

Go-Yourself Tours of Panama: after our nine tours to date of Panama and several private visits we have developed a network of contacts and a data base of places to visit and where to stay. We recognize that many people prefer to make their acquaintances with new birds at their own pace, on their own terms, and on their own itineraries. It is possible to stay in inexpensive hotels in Panama City and to take a bus to the principal birding areas in the Canal Zone, spending no more than a few hundred dollars over a week. Or to hire a rental car. Some might prefer a full-time or part-time guide. For information contact Bob Risebrough, address above. A (very) modest contribution to the Latin America Committee is negotiable.