NEWBURYPORT — Hector Bol and Ron Allicock are a couple of guys who are totally out of their element. But, hey, they don't mind a bit.
Bol is from the Central American nation of Belize, and Allicock is from Guyana, on the northern coast of South America. At home, they work for nongovernmental, nonprofit agencies that work to conserve their respective countries' natural resources.
Bol, 36, and Allicock, 30, are spending a month at Massachusetts Audubon's Joppa Flats Education Center on Plum Island Turnpike as part of Mass. Audubon's International Intern Program.
Part of their jobs at home involves guiding tours in wildlife conservation areas, and their stay at the Joppa Flats Center is intended to enhance their field-trip leadership skills.
Belize and Guyana are both experiencing increased numbers of foreign visitors, mostly Americans, as ecotourism gains popularity, the two men said. The organizations they work for are both active in the ecotourism trend, and they have both led field trips of American wildlife observers.
Allicock arrived on Aug. 22, Bol on Aug. 23. They've been on a few birdwatching expeditions escorted by Joppa Flats Director Bill Gette and veteran ornithologist Wayne Peterson, director of the Massachusetts Important Bird Areas program and the birding equivalent of a rock star.
In their less than two weeks here, Bol and Allicock have seen 100 different species of birds — as many as 98 of which were new to them.
"The only two I've also seen in Guyana are the osprey and the spotted sandpiper," said Allicock. "Guyana has 850 species."
Ninety-eight percent of the shorebirds I've seen here I don't see in my country," Bol said.
It's not just about the birds. Bol and Allicock are experiencing a culture very different from their own.
"This is completely different from where I live," said Allicock. "It's amazing, unbelievable. The number of boats on the river, the number of cars on the road; it's a fast way of life."
In Guyana, Allicock said, he is a trained ranger working since 1999 at the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development, on a million acres of pristine tropical rainforest. He said that because he's grown up with rainforest wildlife and sees them every day, he might take them for granted. The Audubon program heightens awareness.
"I get a true sense of the conservation effort back home," he said.
Bol has worked for the last three months at an agency called Programmes for Belize, which had developed a very close relationship with Mass. Audubon.
"I think this is a wonderful program, and I hope it continues," he said. "It's not only learning about birds, but it's also a cultural awareness program. It's all interrelated."
Gette said Mass. Audubon started the intern program five years ago. He said he had led many field trips to Central and South America, which are important areas to what he called "our birds," species that migrate from here to there and back.
He said he noticed that many of the naturalist guides in those countries were not well trained.
Gette said the intern program is intended to produce better guides, who attract more tour groups, who spend more money in the local economy, which convinces the local people that, yes, conserving these natural resources makes good economic sense.
Bol and Allicock both said they have benefitted from something called the Birder's Exchange, operated by the American Birding Association. The exchange puts used, donated equipment such as binoculars and telescopes into the hands of birders who would otherwise be unable to afford them.
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Hector Bol and Ron Allicock will do a joint presentation on birding in their own countries on Tuesday, Sept. 16, at 7:30 p.m. at Joppa Flats Education Center, 1 Plum Island Turnpike. The program is free and requires no pre-registration.
