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February 2015 e-mailing
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| Greetings, birding friends! Since our last e-mailing in early January, we've wrapped up 15 Field Guides tours, so it's been busy--and there's plenty more to come over the next few months. In this e-mailing, check out 50-plus fresh images from tours in our February Recent Photos gallery (samples at left). We've also operated 5 Costa Rica departures in the past 2 months, and we put some lovely photos from our three Holiday Rancho Naturalista tours by participants Tony Quezon, Ivan Sjögren, and Larry Purcey (thanks, all!) in a separate Costa Rica gallery. As usual, of course, we also have some cool bird news, recently posted triplists, fresh itineraries, plus a listing of late Feb-Jul tours still open. Read on below!
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We have a great variety of US departures (27, to be exact) March through August this year, and they are clearly popular! But we do still have one or a few spaces remaining on these seven:
Do The Charleston! Spring in South Carolina: Apr 26-May 2 with Jesse Fagan (1 space)
Virginias' Warblers: May 27-31 with John Rowlett & second guide (1 space)
Alaska (first tour): Part I - May 29-Jun 6; Part II - Jun 5-15 with Chris Benesh & Tom Johnson
Alaska (second tour): Part I - Jun 5-13; Part II - Jun 12-22 with Megan Edwards Crewe & Pepe Rojas
Arizona's Second Spring I: Jul 25-Aug 3 with Megan Edwards Crewe (4 spaces)
Email or call us at 800-728-4953 for these spring and summer spaces!
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 It's been happening again this winter...lots of Snowy Owls showing up across the northern US (and southern Canada), giving birders yet more opportunities to study these magnificent birds. If you're a Snowy fan, as we are, you might enjoy checking out the Project SNOWstorm blog to read about some of the individual birds being tracked.
In other bird news, here's an interesting piece on flock cooperation during migration -- and it involves a very cool bird, no less, the Waldrapp, a.k.a. Northern Bald Ibis (click on the PHOTOS link in the article).
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| We're heading to the high Andes of Peru's Huascaran National Park this June--and we won't be returning till 2018! So why not join us this year? To see photos and more about this tour for numerous endemics in what Peruvians consider the most spectacular part of their country, see guide Dan Lane's fresh post.
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Our 2017 tours are now on our website -- there will no doubt be a few tweaks here and there as well as some new tours added as our Scheduling Committee revisits the topic this fall, but this should give you a good idea of where we'll be heading and when for a long list of our popular and perennial tours.
Did you know, too, that we have a couple of new itineraries for our 2016 schedule? Believe it or not, that's right around the corner!
 Guide Jesse Fagan will be guiding a new Panama itinerary titled Western Panama: Chiriqui & Bocas del Toro exploring the western highlands in Chiriqui Province and adding a new destination for us, abutting Bocas del Toro. It runs Mar 20-29, 2016 and should be a trip full of numerous specialties and regional endemics, among them fantastic quetzals and bellbirds. You can be "pencilled in" for the tour at no obligation till the itinerary is published -- just contact our office to hold a space.
 Also new on the slate for 2016 is Iceland, returning to the Field Guides schedule after a multi-year hiatus. Guide Eric Hynes will lead our Jul 18-27, 2016 return to this beautiful island nation with spectacular landscapes, culture, history, and high-latitude birding.
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 From "snow" birds (in honor of the winter walloping New England's been taking recently) to reports from our recent tours to Costa Rica, Oaxaca, Guyana, Trinidad, and more, check out what's up on our Facebook page (no login required). We especially like guide Tom Johnson's Yellow-breasted Crake from Costa Rica -- an often tough-to-see species that, amazingly, was right out in the open for our group!
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Below are some fresh, illustrated post-tour triplists from our great guides, who make it all happen out in the field! There are wonderful photos and some video clips included (below right is a handsome Rufous-capped Warbler from Costa Rica by participant Tony Quezon):
Southern Argentina with Dave Stejskal,
Madagascar, Mauritius & Reunion with Phil Gregory,
New Zealand with Dan Lane,
Holiday Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista I with Megan Edwards Crewe,
Peruvian Rainforests of the Tambopata: Macaw Lick Extraordinaire with Pepe Rojas,
Panama's Canopy Lodge with John Rowlett,
Louisiana: Yellow Rails to Crawfish Tails II with Dan Lane & Tom Johnson,
Cape May Megan's Way I with Megan Edwards Crewe & Tom Johnson,
Arizona Winter Specialties with Dave Stejskal & Tom Johnson.
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Above: one of the joys of birding on our Alaska tours is seeing familiar birds in often unfamiliar plumages, such as this lovely Red-necked Phalarope in full breeding colors by guide Eric Hynes. Quite different from those pale birds you've seen on most pelagics, right?
Amazonian Ecuador: Sacha Lodge II: Feb 13-22 with Dan Lane ( 1 space)
Best of the Pacific Northwest: Feb 14-19 with Terry McEneaney ( 2 spaces)
Birds & Wines of Chile and Argentina: Feb 14-28 with Marcelo Padua & John Coons ( 2 spaces)
Panama's Canopy Tower III: Feb 21-27 with Chris Benesh
Belize: Mar 28-Apr 5 with Peter Burke ( 2 spaces)
Do The Charleston! Spring in South Carolina: Apr 26-May 2 with Jesse Fagan ( 1 space)
Uganda: May 23-Jun 12 with Jesse Fagan
Virginias' Warblers: May 27-31 with John Rowlett & second guide ( 1 space)
Alaska (first tour): Part I - May 29-Jun 6; Part II - Jun 5-15 with Chris Benesh & Tom Johnson
Alaska (second tour): Part I - Jun 5-13; Part II - Jun 12-22 with Megan Edwards Crewe & Pepe Rojas
Galapagos I: Jun 13-23 with Willy Perez ( 2 spaces)
Alta Floresta & the Northern Pantanal: Jun 13-29 with Marcelo Padua ( 1 space)
Amazonian Ecuador: Sacha Lodge III: Jun 26-Jul 5 with Willy Perez ( 3 spaces)
Galapagos II: Jul 11-21 with Jesse Fagan
Montane Ecuador: Jul 20-29 with Mitch Lysinger ( 4 spaces)
Arizona's Second Spring I: Jul 25-Aug 3 with Megan Edwards Crewe ( 4 spaces)
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Recently posted itineraries for upcoming tours
Recently posted itineraries include
Papua New Guinea (Jun 28-Jul 16 with Jay VanderGaast),
Arizona's Second Spring (two departures: Jul 25-Aug 3 with Megan Edwards Crewe and Aug 1-10 with John Coons),
Great Rivers of the Amazon I: Exploring the Rio Aripuana (Jul 31- Aug 15 with Bret Whitney & Jay VanderGaast),
Mountains of Manu, Peru (Sep 19-Oct 4 with Pepe Rojas),
Barrow, Alaska: Search for Ross's Gull (Oct 2-6 with Dave Stejskal & Dan Lane),
Australia (Part I: Oct 2-22 with Chris Benesh & second guide -- Part II: Oct 20- Nov 4 with John Coons & Tom Johnson -- Tasmania Extension: Nov 4-9),
Great Rivers of the Amazon II: Birding the Madeira-Tapajos Interfluvium (Oct 23-Nov 7 with Bret Whitney & Pepe Rojas),
Louisiana: Yellow Rails & Crawfish Tails (Oct 29-Nov 2 with Dan Lane),
New Guinea & Australia (Oct 29-Nov 16 with Jay VanderGaast),
New Zealand (Nov 8-26 with Dan Lane; Hauraki Gulf Pelagic extension to Nov 28).
Cheat sheet
All photos at left
are from our December recent photos. Enjoy!
- Yellow-billed Cotinga, Costa Rica, by Tom Johnson
- Fiery-billed Aracari, Costa Rica, by Bob Polkinghorn
- Blakiston's Fish-Eagle, Winter Japan, by Phil Gregory
- Merlin, Arizona, by Tom Johnson
- Golden-browed Warbler, Oaxaca, by Dan Lane
- Black-crowned Antpitta, Panama, by John Rowlett
- Hot springs, Yellowstone, by Ann Camp
- Spectacled Owl, Panama, by John Rowlett
- Crested Caracaras, Costa Rica, by Bob Polkinghorn
- Mottled Owl, Costa Rica, by Tom Johnson
- Fiery-throated Hummingbird, Costa Rica, by Tom Johnson
- Flame-throated Warbler, Costa Rica, by Tom Johnson
- Hooded Merganser, Arizona, by Dave Stejskal
- Bay-headed Tanager, Panama, by Max Rodel
- Hooded Cranes, Japan, by Phil Gregory
- Gilded Flicker, Arizona, by Tom Johnson
- Eurasian Woodcock, Japan, by Phil Gregory
- Lark Bunting, Arizona, by Tom Johnson
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