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Henry K. Svenson to Zetek. Salinas Ecuador March 22 1941

"There has been an unexpected rainy season in Ecuador, different from anything that has occured here within memory. In 1939 there was a very heavy rainfall, in 1940 almost nothing, so far over 18 inches of rain have fallen in Salinas and the precipitation has been increasingly greater toward Guayaquil. The temperatures here range up to 88, the hottest weather that anybody can remember. Countless thousands of guano birds are flying back and forth looking for food, and the beaches and fields are littered with dead birds that have come over from Peru- thousands upon thousands of them (mostly red-eyed cormorants) so that the smell is almost unbearable in the coves along the ocean. There have been heavy rains also along the coast of Peru and the ocean in this part of Ecuador has turned green instead of remaining deep blue as usual. As Dr. Murphy wrote [[strikethrough]]?[[/strikethrough]] in one of his recent books such a tragedy to bird life also occured in 1926. The woods are filled with mosquitoes and none of the roads in eastern Ecuador are passable except the asphalt road between Salinas and Ancon. I am going to Talara at the end of the coming week."