Field Guides Birding Tours

Recent Images
(click image for gallery)

Ecuador
Borneo
Costa Rica
Ghana
Costa Rica
Belize
Guyana
Guyana
Costa Rica
Guyana
Ecuador
Guyana
Bahamas
Hawaii
Borneo
Guyana
Colorado
Bahamas



May 2015 e-mailing
Hello, birding friends! We've been receiving reports from numerous recent migration tours as well as a steady stream of great photos from these and other trips by clients and guides, one fine set of which is included in Rose Ann Rowlett's Borneo I triplist with more than 50 images...check it out! Of course we also have fresh images from other tours in our May Recent Photos gallery (samples at left, IDs at bottom). Also below: cool migration bird news, recent triplists, fresh itineraries, a listing of late May-Oct tours still open, and we catch up on the whereabouts of two of our favorite folks, guides Pepe Rojas and Willy Perez. Enjoy, and good birding!
Cool bird news: lights out, Blackpolls
In honor of spring migration, which is peaking in the northern states as we write this, two bits of cool bird news: new confirmation of Blackpoll Warbler migration feats (1700+ miles in one flight!) in a report covered in this Boston Globe article, and an announcement by NY Governor Andrew Cuomo that may help more Blackpolls reach the breeding grounds: in hopes of having others follow suit, state buildings from Buffalo to NYC will participate in the Audubon NY Lights Out Program.
15 new Amazonian species: links to PDFs
In related news (since many Blackpolls winter in Amazonia), guide Bret Whitney (with permission from publisher Lynx Edicions) has PDFs of descriptions of 15 new species of Amazonian birds from the Special Volume of the Handbook of Birds of the World (2013). We see several of these on our Brazil Rio Roosevelt and Great Rivers of the Amazon tours (Exploring the Rio Aripuana and Birding the Madeira-Tapajos Interfluvium); we've created a page with the links, of which the first includes Bret's and colleague Mario Cohn-Haft's fascinating perspectives on new species discoveries across the Amazon basin.
Where's that guide? Pepe & Willy edition!
Pepe RojasGuide Pepe Rojas and his wife, Abby, have been very busy of late, with moving from California to Peru last year and the arrival of daughter Nina in March--very exciting news! Pepe's been home for a good stretch and now has a couple of northerly jaunts coming right up to Maine and Alaska (Part I is still open). Then he's looking forward to being a little closer to home for 5 of his next 7 tours, with several spaces still open on Mountains of Manu (Sep) and his holiday Iquitos departure, and one space on Rainforests of the Tambopata (Oct). In between he'll be heading to Brazil for Jaguar Spotting with Marcelo (Aug, 3 spaces) and Great Rivers of the Amazon II with Bret (Oct, 2 spaces).

Willy PerezIn the meantime guide Willy Perez, currently based in England with his wife, Fiona, and their two daughters, is looking forward to returning to his Ecuadorian haunts for 4 of his next 6 tours, with detours to France co-leading with Megan (1 space) and Chile working with Pete. If you want to have some great fun on tour with Willy in his "house" (and a very bird-rich house it is!), there's still 1 space open his June Galapagos tour and 2 on his late-September Shiripuno Lodge: Heartland of the Waorani itinerary.
Recent triplists from India to Ghana to Texas
White-necked Rockfowl by Phil Gregory Below are some fresh, illustrated post-tour triplists with wonderful photos and some video clips from both guides and participants. At right is a White-necked Rockfowl (or Picathartes) from Ghana by guide Phil Gregory.

Northern India with Terry Stevenson, Brazil Nutshell with Marcelo Padua, Birds & Wine of Chile and Argentina with Marcelo Padua & John Coons, Jewels of Ecuador I with Willy Perez, Costa Rica with Jay VanderGaast, Dominican Republic with Jesse Fagan & Tom Johnson, Borneo I with Rose Ann Rowlett (also linked above), Guyana I with Megan Edwards Crewe, Guyana II with Dave Stejskal (check out the Kaieteur Falls video!), Ghana with Phil Gregory, Hawaii with Dan Lane & Megan Edwards Crewe, Texas Coast Migration Spectacle I with John Coons, Texas Coast Migration Spectacle II with John Coons, Ecuador: Rainforest & Andes I with Willy Perez..

We appreciate hearing your post-tour comments on our evaluation form...they help us ensure that we continue to offer the best possible tour experience and service, in the field and in our Austin office. Here's one from our recent Hawaii tour with Dan and Megan:

"We had a marvellous tour throughout. Our guides were both excellent, very skilled and also very nice and helpful. Amongst the best leaders we ever travelled with. The office service was excellent as well"! --M. & P.R.

 
June through October Field Guides
open tours
Above: Red-and-yellow Barbets on a zebra background from our East Africa tours, photographed by participants David and Judy Smith. Upcoming departures to the region include Kenya Highlights in July and Kenya Safari Spectacular in late August, both with guide Terry Stevenson. Below are remaining spaces on tours through October:

Alaska (first tour): Part I - May 29-Jun 6; Part II - Jun 5-15 with Chris Benesh & Tom Johnson (Part II)
Borneo II: Jun 4-21 with Dave Stejskal (3 spaces)
Alaska (second tour): Part I - Jun 5-13 with Megan Edwards Crewe & Pepe Rojas
Galapagos I: Jun 13-23 with Willy Perez (1 space)
Alta Floresta & the Northern Pantanal: Jun 13-29 with Marcelo Padua (1 space)
Kenya Highlights: Jul 1-19 with Terry Stevenson (1 space)
Machu Picchu & Abra Malaga, Peru: Jul 2-11 with Jesse Fagan (1 space)
Montane Ecuador: Jul 20-29 with Mitch Lysinger (2 spaces)
Jaguar Spotting II (Brazil): Aug 25-Sep 5 with Marcelo Padua & Pepe Rojas (3 spaces)
Kenya Safari Spectacular: Aug 28-Sep 24 with Terry Stevenson (3 spaces)
France: Camargue & Pyrenees I: Aug 29-Sep 8 with Megan Edwards Crewe & Willy Perez (1 space)
New Caledonia, Fiji & Vanuatu: Aug 31-Sep 18 with Phil Gregory (3 spaces)
France: Camargue & Pyrenees II: Sep 2-12 with Jay VanderGaast & second guide (2 spaces)
Mountains of Manu: Sep 19-Oct 4 with Pepe Rojas
Ecuador's Shiripuno Lodge: Sep 25-Oct 4 with Willy Perez (2 spaces)
Barrow, Alaska: Search for Ross's Gull: Oct 2-6 with Dave Stejskal & Dan Lane
Peruvian Rainforests of the Tambopata: Oct 3-16 with Pepe Rojas (1 space)
Cape May Megan's Way II: Oct 4-10 with Megan Edwards Crewe (3 spaces)
South Africa: Oct 8-31 with Terry Stevenson & Joe Grosel
Australia (Part Two): Oct 20-Nov 4 with John Coons & Tom Johnson (1 space)
Brazil: Great Rivers of the Amazon II: Oct 23-Nov 7 with Bret Whitney & Pepe Rojas (2 spaces)
Louisiana: Yellow Rails & Crawfish Tails: Oct 29-Nov 2 with Dan Lane
New Guinea & Australia: Oct 29-Nov 16 with Jay VanderGaast (1 space)
Colombia: Llanos & More: Oct 31-Nov 10 with Jesse Fagan (2 spaces)
 

1-800-728-4953
Click to contact us by e-mail
View tours by: Date -- Guide -- Region

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

Visit us on Facebook Visit us on Facebook

Recently posted itineraries for upcoming tours
Recently posted itineraries include Costa Rica: Birding the Edges (in two parts: Part I Jan 9-18, 2016; Part II Jan 17-26; with Jay VanderGaast & Tom Johnson), Colombia: Bogota, the Magdalena Valley & Santa Marta (Jan 9-25, 2016 with Jesse Fagan), Amazonian Ecuador: Sacha Lodge (three-departures: Jan 8-17, 2016 with Willy Perez, Feb 12-21, 2016 with Dan Lane, or Jul 1-10, 2016 with Mitch Lysinger), Jewels of Ecuador (Jan 16-Feb 2, 2016 with Willy Perez), East Africa Highlights: Kenya & Tanzania (two departures: Jan 16-Feb 5, 2016 and Jul 2-22, 2016 with Terry Stevenson), Thailand (Jan 16-Feb 6 with Dave Stejskal), Guyana: Wilderness Paradise (Jan 30-Feb 10, 2016 with Megan Edwards Crewe), Trinidad & Tobago (two departures: Feb 12-21, 2016 with Eric Hynes and Dec 30, 2016-Jan 8, 2017 with Tom Johnson), Best of the Pacific Northwest (Feb 13-18, 2016 with Terry McEneaney & Karen McEneaney), Mexico: Oaxaca (Feb 13-20, 2016 with Pepe Rojas), Ecuador: Rainforest & Andes (Feb 28-Mar 13, 2016 with Willy Perez), Colombia: Santa Marta Escape (Mar 5-14, 2016 with Richard Webster).

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

  • Black-throated Brilliant, Ecuador, by Willy Perez
  • Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher, Borneo, by Bob Rodrigues
  • Turquoise-browed Motmot, Costa Rica, by Henry Schaefer
  • White-necked Rockfowl, Ghana, by Phil Gregory
  • Stripe-tailed Hummingbird, Costa Rica, by Henry Schaefer
  • Boat-billed Heron, Belize, by Peter Burke
  • Kaieteur Falls, Guyana, by Megan Edwards Crewe
  • On the Mahaica River, Guyana, by Dave Stejskal
  • Resplendent Quetzal, Costa Rica, by Henry Schaefer
  • Pied Lapwing, Guyana, by Dave Stejskal
  • Giant Antpitta, Ecuador, by Willy Perez
  • White-bellied Piculet, Guyana, by Dave Stejskal
  • Kirtland's Warbler, Bahamas, by Jesse Fagan
  • Na Pali coast, Hawaii, by Nikol Peterman
  • Mt Kinabalu, Borneo, by Rose Ann Rowlett
  • Black-crested Antshrike female, Guyana, by Max Rodel
  • Greater Sage-Grouse, Colorado, by Nolan Lameka
  • Bahama Woodstar, Bahamas, by Doug Hanna