WINGS E-mail Newsletter

Northeast Peru: ExplorNapo Lodge, the Canopy Walkway, and Mishana White Sands Forest

The charming Pygmy Antwren is just one of more than 40 species of the family possible at Explornapo Lodge. Photo: Gary Rosenberg

July 15-24, 2009: The Iquitos region of northeastern Peru has a wonderfully rich Amazonian avifauna, and more than 550 species have been recorded on our tour’s route. We’ll begin with two days in the white sands forest of the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, from where no fewer than five new species of birds have recently been described. We’ll then travel down the incredible Amazon River to ExplorNapo Lodge and the ACTS Field Station, where we’ll have the better part of six days to explore the excellent trails, oxbow lakes, Amazonian river islands, and, best of all, the famous Canopy Walkway. Even if you've birded elsewhere in Amazonia, say at Manu or in Ecuador, the Iquitos region offers a rich variety of different species and great access to the forest canopy, all in surprising comfort. Gary Rosenberg leads.

You can read about Gary's latest tour and review the impressive bird list on line. This trip can be taken in conjunction with our tour Peru: Machu Picchu and Abra Malaga. 

Brazil: The Southeast Atlantic Rainforest

The striking Sharpbill is one of the oddest of many odd cotingas. Photo: David Fisher.

July 9-18, 2009:  With a list of 1,600 species, Brazil is home to nearly a fifth of all the world's birds, including 175 Brazilian endemics. New species are being described each year, and as more birders and ornithologists explore this bird-rich country, species previously thought extinct are being rediscovered. Our tour offers superb birding experiences in the Atlantic rainforest, one of the most threatened habitats in South America. Our time will be spent enjoying the immeasurable array of birdlife while searching for some of the more threatened species and endemics. In Serra dos Orgãos and Itatiaia National Parks and remnant forest areas, we’ll find a vast diversity of families including hummingbirds, cotingas, woodpeckers, woodcreepers, antbirds, tapaculos, and tanagers. Different habitats, from cocoa plantations to subtropical and montane forest, will provide new bird species daily, as well as frequent encounters with more common species, allowing ample opportunity to become well acquainted with the area’s splendid avifauna. As a first or repeat birding experience in Brazil, this tour, with its diversity and its emphasis on endemics and threatened species, holds a special attraction for birders interested in the Neotropics. Judy Davis leads.

As this tour's bird list demonstrates, Brazil is one of the birdiest destinations in the world. Read Judy's exciting narrative from last year's tour, and enjoy the mouthwatering images in the tour gallery. Our trip to the Southeast Atlantic Rainforest can be taken in conjunction with Judy's tour Brazil: The Pantanal and Mato Grosso Rainforest.

China: Lhasa and the Tibetan Plateau

Centuries of protection at a monastery outside of Lhasa has made even such skittish species as the magnificent Tibetan Eared Pheasant remarkably confiding. Photo: Paul Holt.

August 8-23, 2009: A good number of China's nearly 1,400 bird species are endemic or nearly so, and many are poorly known. This tour explores parts of the fantastic Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, the “Roof of the World,” in search of the many ornithological delights of one of the world’s most isolated regions. The Plateau is a high-altitude desert, home to an impressive range of such charismatic birds as Black-necked Crane, Tibetan and Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Kessler’s Thrush, White-winged Redstart, six species of snowfinch, numerous larks, White-browed Tit, and Henderson’s Ground Jay. We’ll also visit Huzhu Beishan, an impressive remnant of ancient forest thronged with Phylloscopus warblers, redstarts, and buntings, as well as many other regional specialties. The thrilling climax to our tour will be Lhasa, the Tibetan region’s historic capital, long isolated from the outside world.We’ll take time to soak up the atmosphere of this magical place and its Buddhist culture. This tour will show you birds and places still known to very few. Paul Holt and Wang Qingyu lead. 

This tour perfectly combines outstanding birding with an exotic travel adventure. Join us in August for this trip to magical places only recently opened to tourism. 

Australia: South Australia and Northern Territory

Uluru, more widely known as Ayers Rock, is an unmistakable icon of central Australia's wilds. Photo: David Fisher.

The outback of South Australia and the Northern Territory is a vast tract of desert wilderness, with settlements of any size restricted to the extreme north and the extreme south. As David Fisher reports, the spectacular scenery proved a fitting backdrop to our 2008 tour's rich haul of birds and other wildlife:   

Our first afternoon's wetland visits produced Freckled Duck and Baillon’s and Australian Spotted Crakes along with a wealth of other waterbirds. The next day we visited the famous St. Kilda saltfields, where we found a nice group of Banded Stilts including adults in breeding plumage. The Fairy Terns put on a good performance, and we had good views of a Slender-billed Thornbill right next to the minibus. The day ended with a Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat....

Every birder dreams of Australia, and hairy-nosed wombats are just the icing on a bird-rich cake. Read David's full narrative of our 2008 tour, then plan on joining him on this or another of our perennially fascinating tours of the Island Continent.

Panama: Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge

The new Canopy Lodge is perfectly placed next to the lush forests of Panama's Cerro Gaital National Monument. Photo: Gavin Bieber.

Panama is that fortunate land where two great avifaunas meet and mix. Gavin Bieber reports on his latest tour to the isthmus that brings South America and North--and their birds--together:

Among the many highlights of our very successful 2008 tour were a Tiny Hawk on a nest, close views of a stunning male Blue Cotinga, a White-tipped Sicklebill feeding in eye-level Heliconia flowers, six species of trogon, gaudy Rufous-winged, Bay-headed, Emerald, Silver-throated, Golden-hooded, Crimson-backed, and Flame-rumped Tanagers, extended views of the endemic Veranguan Mango (along with 18 other species of hummingbirds), ant swarms with attendant Bicolored, Spotted, and the incredible Ocellated Antbirds, and a teed-up and singing Striped Cuckoo. And I haven’t even mentioned the superb fresh food, varied and beautiful landscapes, and great camaraderie....

Read more, and take a look at Gavin's appealing photo gallery and the tour's impressive bird list. Our 2009 tour begins on November 21. 

India: The South and the Andaman Islands

With waters as blue as the sky, India's Andaman Islands attract birds and birders alike. Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

India has exerted a powerful pull on many generations of natural historians and travelers. Paul Holt explains why in his report on our latest tour to relaxed, genteel southern India:

Our first morning’s birding, in the shola forests around the hill station at Ooty, produced memorable encounters with a host of South Indian specialties: our first party of strutting Gray Junglefowl, our first demure Nilgiri and secretive Black-and-orange Flycatchers, our first furtive Indian Blue Robin, our only Nilgiri Blue Robins, and our first troupes of Nilgiri Langurs. Our first Painted Bush-quail encounter was also our best, and our first White-cheeked Barbet performed admirably....

Read Paul's complete narrative of a very enjoyable tour filled with birds, sea, and sky. 

WINGS Big City Weekends

 

You never know what can turn up at a city park, as this fine little Ross's Goose in urban Phoenix demonstrates. Photo: Rick Wright.

Beginning later this year, WINGS will be conducting a series of Big City Weekends, short, casual birding experiences intended for those whose schedules don't permit them to take part in some of our more extensive tours. The cost will be modest; the participants, most of whom we expect to be from the immediate metropolitan area, will arrange their own lodging as needed. We're currently planning events in San Diego (with Paul Lehman), Los Angeles (with Jon Feenstra), Phoenix, Denver, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Chicago, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. Let us know if you'd like us to try to set something up in your town. 

North America's big cities can be startlingly birdy at the right season, and there's no better way to experience them than with a WINGS leader. For a hint of some of the possibilities, check out Paul Lehman's excellent Birder's Guide to Metropolitan Areas.

Watch The Wingbeat for details about these mini-tours on a new model.

Belize: The Birds of Chan Chich

As outstanding as birding is along the trails at Chan Chich, it can be equally astonishing right from the main plaza. Photo: Michael O'Brien.

January 9-16, 2010: The vast jungle of northwestern Belize stretches into Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west. Within this unbroken wilderness lies Chan Chich Lodge, situated on the main plaza of an ancient Mayan ceremonial site within a private reserve. A typical assemblage of birds seen as we enjoy breakfast or lunch might include Ocellated Turkey, Mealy, Red-lored, and Brown-hooded Parrots, Stripe-throated and Long-billed Hermits, Scaly-breasted and Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds, Collared Aracari, Keel-billed Toucan, Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Yellow-olive and Ochre-bellied Flycatchers, Red-capped and White-collared Manakins, Blue-gray and Yellow-winged Tanagers, Yellow-throated and Olive-backed Euphonias, White-collared Seedeater, and Montezuma Oropendola. The area also supports the largest population in all of Belize of five cat species. Black Howler Monkeys roar from the treetops, and troupes of Spider Monkeys are seen regularly. A relaxed naturalist can have a wonderful experience here without ever leaving the main clearing. Rich Hoyer leads.

For more on this tour to one of the most relaxing and most bird-rich areas in Central America, see our tour narrative and photo gallery.  

South Africa: The Drakensberg to Kruger

The beautifully colored Pink-throated Twinspot is among the many specialties of Mkuzi National Park. Photo: Steve Rooke.

January 16-31, 2010: Our newest Africa tour begins on the warm coast of the Indian Ocean, then heads inland to the lofty peaks of the Drakensberg Mountains. Cloaked in springtime green and awash in flowers, the Drakensberg will welcome us with bizarre Rockjumpers and stately Wattled Cranes. We'll travel down from the massif to the lush tropical lowlands of Zululand, where we’ll experience the coastal forests around St. Lucia and the superb birding of Mkuzi National Park. The high grasslands of the southern Transvaal will offer a chance at some rare and elusive endemics before we travel to vast Kruger National Park with its rich and varied birdlife and spectacular mammals. Finally, we visit Nylsvley, a gem of a wetland alive with waterbirds and rails. This tour perfectly complements our other South Africa tour , down the western Cape. On our new tour, we visit the eastern half of this captivating country at the height of the avian breeding season, when the landscapes are truly stunning in all their late spring splendor. South Africa's excellent road system, comfortable lodges and hotels, and great food and wine all combine to make this tour one to remember. Steve Rooke leads.

Join Steve next January in this exciting exploration of eastern South Africa's natural wonders. 

Thailand: Peninsular Thailand and Gurney's Pitta

The spectacular Gurney's Pitta is one of the major species we'll focus on in this tour. Photo: Richard Campey.

January 29 - February 6, 2010:  Our new tour to peninsular Thailand offers the opportunity to see a number of the more than 750 species of peninsular Thailand and the Greater Sundas. We’ll be spending most of our time in lowland forest, secondary growth, and cultivated lands at Khao Nor Chuchi, where our primary aim will be to see the critically endangered Gurney’s Pitta. Thanks to the expertise and careful arrangements of our local guides, we stand a decent chance of seeing this stunningly beautiful species. We’ll also spend parts of two days at Khung Chin Waterfall in Khao Luang National Park, and we’ll take three boat trips: one to Similan Island, home to the strikingly distinctive and terrestrial Nicobar Pigeon, and another to Pida Island in the Pi Pi Island group, where three species of frigatebird, including Christmas Island, come to roost late in the day. Our final boat trip takes us to other birding location at Krabi Bay on the west coast of the peninsula, where we’ll explore mangrove forest, open mud, and sandflats amid delightful limestone karst scenery. Jon Dunn leads.

This tour can be taken in conjunction with our tour Thailand:The Coast to the Highlands.

Italy: Birds and Art in Tuscany

The French painter Corot was among the innumerable artists to fall under the spell of Tuscany.

May 17-27, 2010: Tuscany, the heart of the ancient kingdom of Etruria, is as rich in culture as it is in birds. Famous artistic centers such as Florence and Siena perch in a landscape dotted with medieval villages, while a fine network of archaeological parks provides excellent birding amid ancient ruins. We'll explore habitats from the Mediterranean island of Giglio to the Apuan Alps, from the unspoiled shores of Maremma to the wild heights of the Appenines.

With only a single hotel change, our springtime tour of this sun-soaked region combines visits to some of the greatest artistic treasures of Europe with relaxed excursions in search of a surprising array of breeding birds and migrants. We’ll also have the opportunity to visit some of Italy’s finest vineyards for a wine tasting or two. With the exception of Day Eight, when we meander through the Tuscan countryside from Albinia to our hotel in Castelnuovo, all of our scheduled group activities leave individual participants the possibility of taking a morning or a day off to enjoy the bright skies, warm air, and easy-going lifestyle of Tuscany. Rick Wright and a local guide lead.

This visit to the captivating landscapes of Tuscany can be combined with our popular tour France: Birds and Art in Provence. 

WINGS Aloft

Paul Lehman is the new Chair of the California Bird Records Committee--congratulations! The new Winging It publishes Paul's enticing article "Island Birding for Vagrants," describing his more than 475 days (!) spent birding Gambell.

Read more about the activities of all your favorite WINGS leaders at The Wingbeat, the WINGS Birding Blog.

Jon Feenstra has assumed the position of Website Committee Chair for Western Field Ornithologists. 

PHOTOGRAPHERS! WINGS has created a new Flickr group for our tour participants. This is the perfect way to share your images of birds, groups, food, landscapes--anything you found memorable on your tour. The group also has a discussion site where you can trade information and advice. Please "tag" your images with the tour name or destination so your fellow participants can find the photos easily. If you have any trouble joining the group, sensibly titled WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, please get in touch with us here at the office.

Congratulations to Derek Lovitch on the opening of his new Freeport Wild Bird Supply.

Steve Howell is the co-author of three articles in the latest issue of North American Birds, treating recent records of European and Swinhoe's Storm-Petrels off North Carolina and the first North American record of Tristram's Storm-Petrel.

Rick Wright will be the keynote speaker at the May 1-3 meeting of the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. 

Just for Fun (?)

And I'd thought this was safely in the past....