Our Alaska tours are a GO!
We've heard from you recently that Alaska tours with some companies are looking iffy or may cancel. Fear not, all four Field Guides Alaska sections (two tours of two parts each) are already officially a go, so if you book with us you'll indeed be heading north for great birding come June!

Chris “The best features of the tour were the pelagics, hikes in the beautiful forests, the Milford Sound boat ride, and seeing the kiwi.  And we always enjoy traveling with Chris Benesh.” —J.J., New Zealand 2009

The Future of Baffin Island: Our 2010 tour is on...
But after that -- who knows?
Dovekie, Ivory Gull, Yellow-billed Loon, Narwhal, Polar Bear, Bowhead Whale, and fantastic scenery are some of the high-arctic attractions of our Baffin Island: Pond Inlet tour (June 15-24 with John Coons). We have everything set for this summer (and still a few spaces), but we don't know when we might be able to offer the trip again as arranging the logistics has been a challenge in recent years. Last chance? We're not sure.

Oman & the UAE: some recent tour pix
George Armistead returned recently from our Oman & the UAE: Birding Arabia tour (next up, January 2011) with some beautiful images and put together a short, captioned slideshow from the trip. Enjoy!

Namibia & Botswana: two spaces remain
Only two spaces are still open on our upcoming Namibia & Botswana tour with Terry Stevenson, April 6-25. If you've seen the Planet Earth series, we needn't say more -- except that the limit is just 6 participants!

Upcoming Events With Our Field Guides
Megan Crewe is slated to co-lead two events offered by Cape May Bird Observatory, the first titled "Wintering Hawks, Eagles and Owls" in February and the second "Peak of the Red Knots" in May. Both offer a great chance to get out birding with Megan for one or three days in her "backyard." Bret Whitney will present Brazil: New Species in Old Places in March as part of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's seminar series.

This Month: A Little Contest About Peru
We have a fun, short contest for you to try. Five photos with five questions about our 2010 Peru tours. You can win a $250 credit on a 2010 Peru tour plus a copy of Birds of Peru autographed by Dan Lane! Check out the contest page for more and good luck!

New on the Field Guides Website
We've added new posts to our website since our last emailing...have you missed some? (You can subscribe to our RSS feed here to keep up.) The latest Birding Wrap-Ups online:
Ireland in Fall by Terry McEneaney & John Rowlett -- as Terry and John note, "On our tour we were visiting Ireland to explore its special mix of birds, traditional music, pubs, history, and culture. The Irish have no word for success, but we all agreed that our lives were enriched."
Holiday at San Isidro, Ecuador, by Mitch Lysinger -- Mitch leads off: "This moment of quiet at home (with a Giant Hummingbird perched outside my window) gives me a chance to reflect on what an enjoyable trip we had, from great birds and gut-wrenching laughter to marvelous scenery, and of course, Carmen’s delectable food. Not only did we see a lot of fabulous birds, but the group camaraderie was particularly delightful."