[Previously, I have written blog posts that synthesize retrospectively what we experienced during a preceding time period, organizing the information using the perspective gained over a number of weeks. We are currently traveling in Australia on a 6-month road trip around the continent, and it does not look like there will be time to write […]
Category: Travel: International
Oaxaca Slopes
Oaxaca is an exceptionally diverse state in Mexico, stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the edge of the coastal plain that borders the Gulf of Mexico. It has rugged, primarily mountainous terrain, in the center of which sits the high Oaxaca Valley. We had birded this valley in 2021, and one week ago finished a […]
Belize
We took a short (8-day) birding tour to Belize with Field Guides, Inc. in February. The tour was very well run, with excellent leadership by Field Guides staff (Megan Crewe and Alex Sundvall) and two fine local guides. Although we generally prefer longer tours, and had relatively few new birds to see in Belize, we […]
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (PNG), the eastern half of the island of New Guinea, has been our top priority destination for the last four years. The top draws here are seven bird families endemic to New Guinea (found nowhere else); and the birds-of-paradise, most of which occur only here. It took us three attempts to get […]
Angola
We spent three weeks in Angola on a birding tour in late May and the first half of June, not counting five days of travel. Angola is on the west coast of Africa, a bit over halfway from the Cape of Good Hope to where the continent bulges westward. It is roughly 800 miles north […]
South Africa
We traveled from October 4 – 27 to South Africa with Field Guides, Inc. The trip had two excellent leaders, Terry Stevenson, with whom we visited Kenya in 2006; and Tarry Butcher, who we met on this tour for the first time. We enjoyed generally good weather except on one day of blustery rain in […]
The Caribbean, At Last
Incredibly, neither Eileen nor I have ever been to the Caribbean. We have been saving the region as a place to explore later in life as the travel and birding are easier than many of the destinations we visit. There are three archipelagos (groups of islands), collectively known as the West Indies, within the bioregion: […]
Chile and 2023 Wrap-Up
We traveled with Field Guides, Inc. to Chile from November 9 – 30. The trip was led by Willy Perez and Eduardo (Lalo) Navarro and consisted of four legs sampling the country from south to north. Our latitude spanned a staggering 35 degrees, from 53.6 to 18.3 degrees south, covering about the same range as […]
Guyana
We left on March 24 for a 13-day trip to Guyana (formerly British Guiana) in northern South America, slightly north of the equator. This birding tour, run by Field Guides, Inc., was led by Marcelo Barreiros, and co-led by local expert John Christian; they made a very effective team. Guyana has become a popular birding […]
Northeastern Brazil
We took two back-to-back birding tours from Jan. 18 – Feb. 18 with Field Guides, Inc. (Nowhere but Northeast Brazil and Bahia Birding Bonanza). These tours visited the states of Pernambuco, Ceara, and Bahia in northeastern Brazil, with the bulk of the time spent in the latter. These areas are well southeast of the mouth […]