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July 2015 e-mailing
Hello, birding friends! This month we have 2016 schedule additions in Panama and Ecuador, cool natural history news from Borneo, and of course all our regular features, including recently posted 2015 triplists and 2016 itineraries and fresh tour images in our July Recent Photos gallery (samples at left, IDs at bottom). Now, are you still hoping to get away birding somewhere exotic this summer? If so, we have three late-August tours still open: our second Jaguar Spotting (Brazil) tour (check out this great video for a little preview!), Aug 25-Sep 5 with Marcelo Padua & Pepe Rojas, Kenya Safari Spectacular, Aug 28-Sep 24 with Terry Stevenson (it's a small-group "go" with just 3 folks right now), and New Caledonia, Fiji & Vanuatu: Aug 31-Sep 18 with Phil Gregory. Contact our office if you want to come along! Enjoy reading below!

Schedule & news: Ecuador, Panama & AZ
Willy PerezECUADOR -- With our March tour fully booked, guide Willy Perez has added a second Southwestern Ecuador Specialties: Jocotoco Foundation Reserves departure for Jun 21-Jul 5, 2016. The tour focuses on numerous regional specialties, from Jocotoco Antpitta and El Oro Parakeet to Pale-headed Brush-Finch. We of course think Willy's great, but this post-tour evaluation comment from an Ecuador tour really made us smile: "I would go anywhere Willy is leading a tour. If Field Guides announced a tour with Willy to, say, Rochester, New York, you bet I'd sign up!" Now there's an endorsement!
John CoonsPANAMA -- In our listing of 2016 tours, you'll also see an extra 8-day trip just added to guide John Coons's schedule: Panama's Canopy Tower & Lodge, Mar 7-14. This itinerary is a great, short getaway for rich birding, first visiting the lovely Canopy Lodge for some highland birds, then on to the famous Canopy Tower (Pipeline Road, etc.) for four nights. There are just three spaces open.
ARIZONA -- Speaking of John Coons, participant Joyce Miller penned a fun article on her quest to see California Condor, which happened to be on one of John's 2015 Northern Arizona: Canyons & Condor tours. John has posted triplists for his 2015 tours with plenty of great images you can find at these links for the first tour and second tour.
Cool findings on bats in Borneo
Our groups and guides have long been fascinated by not only the fantastic birding in Borneo but also the amazing other creatures and phenomena that complement the birding experience. Adding yet another gee-whiz to what we know about Borneo, we spotted this recent article about quite a fascinating and unexpected connection between bats and, of all things, pitcher plants! Read the article here...
Our 2016 catalog
2016 Field Guides catalog
Our 2016 catalog has mailed and should be arriving in your mailbox soon, if it hasn't already. We hope you'll enjoy leafing through it, and we look forward to seeing you on a tour to one of our more than 110 destinations!
Recent triplists from Alaska to Galapagos
Purple-throated Fruitcrow by Willy Perez Below are some fresh, illustrated post-tour triplists with wonderful photos and some video clips from both guides and participants:
Arizona Nightbirds & More II with Dave Stejskal & Tom Johnson, Colorado Grouse I with Chris Benesh & Tom Johnson, Alaska II (Part One) with Megan Edwards Crewe & Pepe Rojas, Spring in Cape May with Megan Edwards Crewe & Tom Johnson, Point Pelee with Jay VanderGaast, Montana: Yellowstone to Glacier with Terry McEneaney, Arizona: Birding the Border with Dave Stejskal, Holiday at San Isidro, Ecuador with Mitch Lysinger, Northern Arizona's Canyons & Condor I with John Coons, Northern Arizona's Canyons & Condor II with John Coons, Amazonian Ecuador: Sacha Lodge III with Willy Perez, Galapagos with Willy Perez.

We appreciate your post-tour comments on our evaluation form...they help us strive to continue to offer the best possible tour experience and service, in the field and in our Austin office. Here's a recent one from Machu Picchu & Abra Malaga, Peru with guide Jesse Fagan:

"A friend asked me to rate the tour from 1 to 10 and I said 10. From the planning with the office staff to the actual tour details (e.g., travel in Peru, hotels, meals, van, check-in/out, etc.), the trip was almost seamless. Since coming home, I am absolutely filled with the birds, people, culture, terrain...I am very grateful for this experience!" --C.D.

 
July through November Field Guides
open tours
Above: A skein of Scarlet Ibis by guide Eric Hynes comes in to land in late afternoon at Caroni Swamp on Trinidad. It's one of the great birding spectacles of the world, and you can see for yourself with guide Tom Johnson over New Year's later this year. Below are remaining spaces on tours for September through December:

France -- Camargue & Pyrenees II: Sep 2-12 with Jay VanderGaast & Eric Hynes (2 spaces)
Ecuador's Shiripuno Lodge: Sep 25-Oct 4 with Willy Perez (1 space)
Barrow, Alaska -- Search for Ross's Gull: Oct 2-6 with Dave Stejskal & Dan Lane
Cape May Megan's Way II: Oct 4-10 with Megan Edwards Crewe (1 space)
South Africa: Oct 8-31 with Terry Stevenson & Joe Grosel
Australia (Part Two): Oct 20-Nov 4 with John Coons & Tom Johnson (1 space)
Northern Peru -- Endemics Galore: Nov 1-21 with Richard Webster
China's Yunnan Province: Nov 6-28 with Dave Stejskal & Jesper Hornskov (1 space)
New Zealand: Nov 8-26 with Dan Lane (2 spaces)
Namibia & Botswana: Nov 10-29 with Terry Stevenson (3 spaces)
Spectacular Southeast Brazil (Part II): Nov 14-29 with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Padua (2 spaces)
Holiday at San Isidro, Ecuador: Nov 21-30 with Mitch Lysinger (1 space)
Mysteries of Southern Peru: Nazca Lines, Undescribed Antpittas & Tapaculos: Nov 21-Dec 5 with Jesse Fagan & Chris Benesh
Holiday Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista I: Dec 19-27 with Dave Stejskal (1 space)
Holiday Peru: Iquitos--Canopy Walkways & Ancient Forests: Dec 19-30 with Pepe Rojas & Dan Lane
Arizona Winter Specialties: Dec 27-Jan 2 with Chris Benesh (2 spaces)
Holiday Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista I: Dec 27-Jan 4 with Jesse Fagan (1 space)
Trinidad & Tobago: Dec 27-Jan 5 with Tom Johnson
Holiday Colombia: Santa Marta Escape: Dec 29-Jan 6 with Richard Webster (1 space)
 

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Till next time, from all of us at Field Guides, good birding!

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Recently posted itineraries for upcoming tours
Recently posted itineraries include Winter Japan: Dancing Cranes & Spectacular Sea-Eagles (Feb 5-20 with Phil Gregory), Cambodia (Feb 20-Mar 4 with Phil Gregory), Panama's Canopy Tower & Lodge (Mar 7-14 with John Coons), Dominican Republic (Mar 12-19 with Tom Johnson), Puerto Rico (Mar 19-25 with Tom Johnson & Pepe Rojas), Colorado Grouse (two departures: Apr 2-12 with Chris Benesh & Tom Johnson or Apr 10-20 with Eric Hynes & Pepe Rojas), Bhutan (Apr 2-20 with Richard Webster), Texas's Big Bend & Hill Country (Apr 23-May 2 with Jay VanderGaast & Jesper Hornskov; Cultural & Historical Beijing ext. to May 21), China: Manchuria & the Tibetan Plateau (Apr 26-May 17 with Chris Benesh & Tom Johnson), Classical Greece (May 1-15 with Megan Edwards Crewe), Arizona: Birding the Border (two departures: May 6-16 with John Coons or May 12-21 with Dave Stejskal), Spring in Cape May (May 15-21 with Tom Johnson).

Cheat sheet
All photos at left are from our July 2015 recent photos. Enjoy!