WINGS E-mail Newsletter

Chile: Tierra del Fuego to the Atacama Desert

Ornate Inca Terns have even been known to land on our boat in Chile. Photo: Steve Howell.

October 25 - November 11, 2009: Safe and friendly, with an excellent infrastructure, Chile would be a superb experience even without its fascinating birds and spectacular scenery. This narrow strip of territory, 150 miles wide by 2,500 miles long, is a land of immense variety and beauty, from the grand solitude of Andean lakes and the rolling plains of Tierra del Fuego to the utterly barren Atacama, the most perfect of deserts. The birds range from penguins, rheas, flamingos, and a superb selection of southern waterfowl and shorebirds to 30 species of ovenbirds (furnariids), eight tapaculos (three of them endemic), nine sierra-finches, and five siskins. Steve Howell leads.

Our tour of Chile is the geographic equivalent of birding from southeast Alaska to southwest Mexico, with a bird list that combines high quality and high visibility. Join us for the austral spring, when this fascinating country's birds are at the height of their activity.

Argentina

A Red-legged Seriema trots across the Argentinian altiplano. Photo: Judy Davis.

Argentina merges exquisite birds with an amazing variety of landscapes. The High Andes (November 14-21, 2009) harbor such south-after birds as Red-legged Seriema and Andean Condor. In Calilegua National Park, we’ll seek the endangered Alder Parrot and the largest of the antbirds, Giant Antshrike. Clear Andean rivers should yield Torrent Duck and Rufous-throated Dipper, while the surrounding hillsides shelter Red-tailed Comets. We’ll then drive through painted desert, where enormous cactus provide food for Giant Hummingbirds, and on to the altiplano with Puna Rheas and Vicuñas. Lago de los Pozuelos is home to three species of flamingo, Giant Coots, and many other spectacular birds. Our tour of The Pampas, Patagonia, and Tierra del Fuego (November 21 - December 6, 2009) explores the Valdez peninsula and its stony plains dotted with tinamous and rheas, while remote shingle beaches teem with elephant seals and sea lions, and whales and seabirds can be seen just offshore. We’ll search forests and steppes for birds from seed-snipe to sierra-finches, then visit Tierra del Fuego to look for Magellanic Woodpeckers and sail down the Beagle Channel among albatrosses, penguins, and sea-lions. The great falls at Iguazú (December 6-13, 2009) , more than a mile wide and nearly 250 feet high, are a UNESCO World Heritage site. A week here will allow us to become intimately acquainted with the surrounding subtropical forest--the perfect setting to get to know toucans, motmots, and woodpeckers right on the hotel grounds, while flycatchers, antbirds, and manakins frequent the surrounding forest areas. Judy Davis leads.

As if that weren't enough to whet your appetite, you can read narrative accounts of our latest tours to Argentina on line here , here, and here.

Minnesota in Winter

Bohemian Waxwings can be present in large numbers on this tour. Photo: Chris Wood.

Traveling to Minnesota in the depth of winter, on purpose, may seem to defy reason. For the birdwatcher, though, the season and the place combine to produce a mouth-watering array of species. As Chris Wood reports, our 2009 tour, as usual, found the landscape beautiful and the birds well worth the effort: 

This year brought us a bit of everything, from the mildest weekend of the entire winter, to spectacular glimmering hoarfrost, to light snow, to a blustery day where the wind chill dropped to near minus 20! But it was the birds that made the tour such a delight. A few highlights included a splendid Boreal Owl that we watched sleepily preening, five (!) Northern Hawk Owls, a Snowy Owl on the harbor ice, and a stunning drake Barrow’s Goldeneye. Perhaps the biggest highlight of the entire tour was the spectacular studies of Black-backed and American Three-toed Woodpeckers foraging no more than 10 feet away. Add to that the best finch year in recent memory, with literally hundreds of White-winged Crossbills, redpolls, and Pine Grosbeaks, and a smattering of Red Crossbills and Evening Grosbeaks and three Hoary Redpolls. All that in little more than an extended winter weekend....

Every year seems to harbor a surprise or two on this tour, as if such regulars as Northern Shrike, Gray Jay, Boreal Chickadee, and Bohemian Waxwing weren’t enough. You can read Chris's full report from our most recent tour on line, and don't miss the stunning photo gallery. The 2010 tour is scheduled for February 5-10.

Mexico: Colima and Jalisco

The elusive Red-breasted Chat is just one of the colorful inhabitants of the lowland thorn forest. Photo: Ian Lewington.

Nowhere is Mexico's fantastic variety better represented than in the tiny state of Colima and surrounding areas of Jalisco. Passing from pristine Pacific beaches to deliciously cool montane forests on the Volcanes del Colima, our tours to this delightful region can encounter more than 40 Mexican endemics, as Steve Howell reports:

From eye-burning Orange-breasted Buntings to a cryptic Balsas Screech-Owl, from bow-riding Spotted Dolphins in an ocean full of Brown Boobies to elusive Russet-crowned Motmots, from dawn in a hummingbird-filled mountain clearing to Lucy’s and Colima Warblers and a male Red-breasted Chat: diverse memories that typify the contrasts of this great tour....

Read more about Steve's latest tour to this bird-filled region. You can join him in Colima and Jalisco February 11-22, 2010.

India: Ranthambhore, Bharatpur, Nainital, and Corbett

Ranthambore can provide transfixing views of Tigers. Photo: Paul Hammerton.

Mystical and exotic, India exemplifies foreign travel for many people. Images of this extraordinarily varied land linger long, as Paul Holt 's report on his latest tour to the country's north explains:

We were elephant-back in the jungles of Corbett National Park and had just been charged by a healthy male Tiger, apparently one of a courting pair. Our encounter was an experience none of us might care to repeat, but we were all grateful to have experienced it. Our mahouts skilfully maneuvered their well-trained charges and we were safe—though the adrenalin was certainly surging. This male was accompanied by a Tigress, the third and fourth Tigers that we’d seen on the tour....

You can read Paul's full report of our latest adventure-filled tour, then join him in India February 8-15 on one of the most comprehensive, and most exciting, northern India itineraries available. 

Colombia: Andean Endemics

Yellow-eared Parrot is one of some 70 endemic bird species in Colombia. Photo: ProAves.

May 1-17, 2010, with Yellow-eared Parrot and Chestnut-capped Piha Extension to May 21: Some 1,870 species have been recorded in Colombia’s 440,000 square miles, among them no fewer than 73 endemics. This tour concentrates on visiting reserves that protect the last remaining habitats of some of the most range-restricted—and in some cases, the most endangered—birds in the world. All the areas visited on this tour are safe, and have been thoroughly scouted in collaboration with scientists from the Colombian NGO ProAves. The openness and friendliness of the Colombians we’ll meet, combined with the many endemic birds we’ll see, make this a can’t-miss tour for any world birder with a sense of adventure and the eagerness to truly experience areas that very few have ever visited. Barry Walker and David Fisher lead. 

Some 1,870 species have been recorded in Colombia. Our adventure provides ample opportunity to observe a large number of common coastal and Amazonian species, as well as a number of the rarest and most range-restricted birds in the world.

Ukraine: Birding the Crimea

The Karadag Mountains Reserve preserves some of the most spectacular scenery in Europe. Photo: Paul Goriup.

May 8-16, 2010:  Our Ukraine tour visits freshwater marshes, riverine forests, coastal lagoons, rolling steppes, the rugged mountains of southern Ukraine, and above all the Crimean peninsula. Bounded by the Black and Azov Seas, Crimea—about twice the size of Connecticut—is a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot. We can expect to see more than half of the 300 species of birds recorded from Crimea, among them such hard-to-see eastern European specialties as Demoiselle Crane, Great Black-headed (Pallas’s) Gull, Paddyfield Warbler, and Rose-colored Starling. Moreover, the sheer number of birds is hard to match anywhere else in Europe: colony after colony of Red-footed Falcons, flocks of Great White Pelicans, swarms of Calandra Larks, and ranks of European Rollers, Lesser Gray Shrikes, and Corn Buntings assure us of a truly memorable trip. Dan Brown leads.

Peaceful and politically stable, Ukraine's is one of the key biogeographic regions in the western Palearctic. Thanks to its advantageous position between the Black Sea and the Russian taiga, the Carpathians and the Caucasus, Ukraine hosts a spectacular range of species, many of them difficult to find elsewhere in Europe.

Arizona: Owls and Warblers

A pair of Spotted Owls dozes at the roost in a southeast Arizona canyon. Photo: Anthony Collerton.

May 8-16, 2010: Southeastern Arizona is one of the great North American birdwatching destinations, particularly during mid-May when birdsong is at its peak. On this condensed tour we’ll visit virtually all the major birding locations, where we could encounter as many as 10 species of owls and 12 species of hummingbirds as well as most of the specialties restricted to this part of the Southwest. Although owls and nightjars will be a major emphasis of this tour, very late nights will not be necessary, as all of our comfortable hotels are close to our nightbirding destinations. Gavin Bieber leads.

You haven't really birded North America until you've been to the mountains, canyons, and deserts of southeast Arizona. The bird list for this tour is full of species that can be seen nowhere else north of Mexico.

Maine: Monhegan Island in Spring

Summer Tanager is among the southern overshoots that make springtime birding on Monhegan an adventure. Photo: Derek Lovitch.

May 23-29, 2010: Late May is a fantastic time to visit Maine’s Monhegan Island. Warblers in their summer finery are pouring through the Northeast, and many will drift over the Gulf of Maine on their nocturnal flights. Come dawn, the birds seek refuge on land, and Monhegan Island is perfectly positioned to catch arrivals. Rapidly changing weather conditions can result in massive “fallouts” of tired migrants, many of which will forage in the rocks on the shoreline. The possibility of overshoots from the south and vagrants from almost any direction adds icing to the cake of the fantastic birding afforded by this quaint little island. We’ll be arriving before the throngs of summer tourists, and will probably have the island largely to ourselves, sharing only with other birders, local lobster fishermen, and artists. The rustic Trailing Yew will be our home for the week, featuring delicious breakfasts and home-cooked dinners. Our comfortable European-style accommodations only enhance the “turn-back-the-clock” mystique of the Mohegan Island experience. Derek Lovitch leads.

WINGS Aloft

WINGS and Sunbird have a new Facebook page. Bookmark the link to check in on the latest from the field--and if you're on Facebook, too, become a fan and post your own comments, photos, and questions.

Rich Hoyer will deliver a lecture to the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, September 17. Rich's talk, "Putting It All Together," illustrates the broad range of natural history interests he brings to all his tours.

Birding southeast Arizona? Recent rarities have included Plain-capped Starthroat, Sinaloa Wren, Aztec Thrush, and Brown-backed Solitaire, along with the regular specialties of the region. You can keep up to date with what's being seen and reserve private guiding services on line at our new AZ-Birding website.

Attend this year's Midwest Birding Symposium to hear Chris Wood speak on the tremendous contributions eBird has made to American birding. In addition to being a Senior Leader here at WINGS, Chris is the eBird program manager at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Jon Dunn, Gavin Bieber, and Rich Hoyer will be traveling to Texas to film three new episodes of Birding Adventures, the first television show to focus on destination birding. WINGS is the exclusive tour company sponsor of this exciting series. You can bird Texas yourself with Jon, Gavin , Paul Lehman, and Chris Wood during November's Rio Grande Birding Festival.

Thanks to those of you who have added photos to the WINGS flickr group! The most recent images include shots from this year's British Bird  Fair.

Just for Fun

Strange to think of puffins entering middle age!

Photo: Michael O'Brien.