News from Field Guides (Halloween 2019)

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Psssssssssh! What was that hair-raising hiss? Birders know it was just a Barn Owl going about its nocturnal affairs. (We love things that go shriek in the night.) Welcome to our special Halloween-eve emailing, a brew of spookily alluring travel opportunities, bird news, newly released itineraries and triplists, and several goblins. This emailing also includes our October 2019 Recent Photos Gallery , as well as timely news on our 2019 and early 2020 tours that still have spaces available. And for rainy-day reading, our 2020-2021 catalog, with new departures to new countries, is available! Just contact our office to receive a copy. From everyone at Field Guides, we witch you a Happy Halloween--eat, drink, and be scary! (Thanks to guide Doug Gochfeld for the spine-tingling image of Brazilian Free-tailed Bats from our Texas's Big Bend & Hill Country tour and guide Chris Benesh for the eerie Black-and-white Owl from our Panama's Canopy Tower tour. Boo! )

Is it really almost 2020?

Where has 2019 gone? Yes, the malls have begun their ring-jing-jingalin' tunes, and pumpkin spice has wormed its way into almost anything edible, so we find ourselves once again in that joyful, sometimes exhausting obstacle course called The Holidays. For birders, the season includes the possibility of Christmas Bird Counts and bird club gatherings to add both merriment and birding time, but as the year starts to close, we also reward ourselves with a little jaunt, a getaway to a place with new scenery and new birds, to recharge our sense of wonder and to bond again with what our tribe simply calls "the field." Our families might not always understand our attachment to wild places, but for us at Field Guides, and for our wonderful tour participants, wild places are life-improving , as scientists have found. Why not start a new holiday tradition and toast the holidays in a wild place (one that has the comforts of home)? We have a few spaces left on our Holiday Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista tours with Dan Lane Dec 21-29 and with Megan Edwards Crewe Dec 28-Jan 5, two spaces on Panama's Canopy Camp with John Coons Dec 28-Jan 4, one space each on Trinidad & Tobago with Tom Johnson Dec 27-Jan 5 and on Arizona Winter Specialties with Chris Benesh Dec 28-Jan 3, and three spots left on Panama's Canopy Lodge with Jesse Fagan Dec 28-Jan 4. These guides pack some extra holiday spirit with them--all you need bring is the binoculars! (Thanks to guide Cory Gregory for the photo of the Yellow-throated Toucan pondering her options above....)

Videos: Rio Negro Paradise, Brazil

Have you ever wondered what birding Brazil's rainforest wilderness while based on a boat would be like? Well, wonder no more! Bret Whitney and Marcelo Barreiros brought back lots of great video from two Rio Negro Paradise: Manaus, Brazil tours this year, including some amazing drone footage. These short features take you along for the ride on the Tumbira , from Manaus up one of the famous INPA research towers, through the beautiful Rio Negro and its tributaries, into the Anavilhanas Archipelago, and back to another canopy tower near Manaus. (We know you're curious, and yes the cabins on the Tumbira and Iracema have private baths and a/c!) What might we see? A great panoply of Amazonian birds, from the humblest pygmy-tyrant to the profound Harpy. With over 500 species possible here, it's hard to play favorites--you'll just have to check the videos here ( Caica Parrot and Pavonine Quetzal ) and the remarkable videos in this richly illustrated triplist from last year. And if you've already enjoyed Rio Negro Paradise, we have a last-minute opening on Paradise Revisited: Birding the Remote Upper Rio Negro for December 2019: why not come along? In 2020 and 2021, we have two new adventures : Brazil's Japura & Tefe Rivers and Brazil's Madeira & Tapajos: Between Two Great Rivers both explore little-known Amazonian tributaries not far from Manaus. Our guides and crew, including boatmen, chefs, and bartenders, welcome you aboard!

Binge-watching birds?

Sometimes, the inspiration for travel comes from a conversation with a friend who has just returned from travel and extols the virtues (and birds) of a place we've never been or even considered visiting. Sometimes, the spark to travel arises as we watch a televised special, whether on the Mongolian steppe, the Okavango Delta of Botswana, or lemurs of Madagascar. And sometimes, it's a simple photograph of a bird, a mammal, or a place that moves us to plan a new adventure--an owl, a gorilla, a beautiful lodge set in rainforest. Deciding on the next trip can be difficult! If you're in mulling mode, our Library of Recent Photo Galleries might do the trick: from Superb Lyrebirds to Reticulated Giraffes to Black-and-yellow Broadbills (here by guide Dave Stejskal), our galleries go back more than a decade. What better birder-binge-watching could there be? (And you might spot some familiar guides and travel companions that bring back memories.) Enjoy!

Trick-or-treat from the Field Guides office!

Comments from participants

We read carefully each post-tour evaluation we receive from our participants, so that we may continue to offer the best possible birding experiences and service on Field Guides birding tours. Here are a few representative recent comments. From all of us at Field Guides, our thanks for all of your valuable feedback.

"Your company was highly recommended by a friend, and this tour was perfect for my birding needs--species, location, pelagic trip. It was an excellent tour. Travel was uncomplicated and comfortable. Guides Tom Johnson and Micah Riegner got all of the group on the birds. Tom is an easy-going, extremely knowledgeable guide. Micah was also easy to work with, knowledgeable, and has amazing bird-spotting skills. Your office service was wonderful. I was never made to feel like I was being a pest with my millions of questions. I rank Field Guides among the top of my list." C.O., SLICE OF CALIFORNIA: SEABIRDS TO SIERRA 2019

"I've taken three other Field Guides tours, and they all ran very smoothly and were very enjoyable. Your office staff members are more responsive than those with other companies, and your guides are uncommonly nice in addition to being top-notch birders. I enjoyed the tour from start to finish. I'd absolutely travel with guides Marcelo Barreiros and Dave Stejskal again. Field Guides is top notch." J.L., RIO NEGRO PARADISE: MANAUS, BRAZIL 2019

"I loved the tour. Best features were the small group size, a terrific leader (Jay VanderGaast) with amazing ears, eyes, and knowledge--a plus was that he was able to speak French, which helped those of us who did not or barely spoke the language. I enjoyed staying in two small lovely hotels for 4 nights each. The food was delicious and varied, and our field lunches and picnic dinner were fun and maximized our time in the field. Office service was excellent. Best company I've traveled with." L.M., FRANCE: CAMARGUE & PYRENEES 2019

"A great experience. Doug Gochfeld was a wonderful leader--competent, intelligent, well-prepared, organized, great people skills, great sense of humor... Tina Rose in your office was great--she has a nice sense of humor and was fun to communicate with." R.B., ALASKA FALL GOLDMINE 2019

"An excellent trip. Eric Hynes is a very expert and congenial guide. Everyone on the office staff was professional and extremely helpful and efficient." K.T., MAINE IN FALL 2019

SPOTLIGHT: Western North America

The West. Those of you who live there know well the western call of the wild--and some of you even moved west to be able to explore its amazing mountains, deserts, grasslands, and wetlands regularly. Over the years, many of our guides have come from Arizona, California, and Texas, and the West has held a special place in the heart for our eastern guides, too. And of course, our clients from all over the world tell us how much they love traveling through western landscapes with us. The birds are fantastic, yes, but so are the vistas and the mammals. Have you ever watched the sage-grouse and prairie-chickens in their early spring displays on the Colorado Grouse tour? Or watched a California Condor soar over the Grand Canyon ? Or taken in the majesty of Jasper and Banff in the Rockies of Alberta (or the owls of Owlberta )? Or the beautiful Chiricahuas of Southeast Arizona ? Or marveled at Redwoods and Sequoias while birding the California Sierra? And these examples scarcely scratch the surface.

Guides Doug Gochfeld and Micah Riegner have shared compilation videos of birds and mammals from Alaska, Part One and Slice of California linked here and through the images at right, the female Red Phalarope by guide Cory Gregory, the male White-headed Woodpecker by Micah.

And if you click on the male Greater x Lesser Prairie-Chicken (by guide & hybrid whisperer Tom Johnson), you'll see a quick video of Greaters in action by Eric Hynes.

At the top of the feature, the view of Denali by Herb Fechter clicks through to the itinerary of that grand Alaska tour. Come on along--these are all trips of a lifetime!

Triplists from recent Field Guides tours

Click on any image or link below to see our annotated and illustrated online triplist . (And be sure also to see our October Recent Photos Gallery for other great images.)

CLOUDFORESTS OF ECUADOR

with Willy Perez

BHUTAN

with Megan Edwards Crewe

PERU'S MAGNETIC NORTH

with Dan Lane & Dave Stejskal

ETHIOPIA

with Terry Stevenson & Ned Brinkley

FRANCE: CAMARGUE & PYRENEES I

with Megan Crewe & Marcelo Padua

MAINE IN FALL: SEABIRDS, MIGRANTS

with Eric Hynes

SLICE OF CALIFORNIA

with Tom Johnson & Micah Riegner

NORTHEAST INDIA

with Phil Gregory

Meet The Tour Manager: Sharon Mackie!

Sharon Mackie probably needs no introduction to Field Guides regulars!

She came on board in 2003 as the Administrative Assistant and within a year had begun work as Tour Manager, a job she continues to do today--and it's work she loves. Sharon also oversees our airline ticketing and works with Karen Turner in managing the Field Guides office. These days, most of Sharon's tours are in mainland Africa and Madagascar, a great fit for her, because Africa is her favorite continent for travel. Over the years, she's visited Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania (including Zanzibar) and is looking forward to more African adventures in years to come. " Visiting different places where I can learn new cultures and meet interesting people is what fulfills me most," Sharon says, and we must add--she brings a whole lot of good will and good times wherever she travels, as her many FG fans attest. Sharon's Africa expertise, and her strong bond with our Africa guides, make her a real logistics genie for the continent, smoothing the travel experience for tour participants and guides alike. Field Guides is so fortunate to have her experienced and steady hand! So what's the next trip? She's going along as a passenger on the exciting Arctic Norway cruise, with her good friends and co-workers John Coons and Terry Stevenson! At home, Sharon says she loves time with her family, getting household projects completed, playing with her four dogs (and pot-bellied pig), and "eating dinners I don’t cook." We say: amen to that!

Tour openings: November through March

Our tours from November 2019 through March 2020 listed below have spaces open. We still have a few Thanksgiving-through-New Year holiday spots available, and for later in the season, lots of options, from adventures in Cambodia, Myanmar, Japan, and India to top-flight jaunts to Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Guyana, and Trinidad & Tobago. Contact our office to request space on any of these tours.

Louisiana: Yellow Rails & Crawfish Tails, Nov 7-11 with Cory Gregory & Chris Benesh (4 spaces)
Colombia: The Llanos & More, Nov 10-20, with Dan Lane (1 space)
Mexico: Yucatan & Cozumel, Nov 23-2 Dec, with Chris Benesh (1 space)
Brazil Paradise Revisited: Birding t he Remote Upper Rio Negro, Dec 17-27, with Bret Whitney (1 space)
Holiday Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista I, Dec 21-29, with Dan Lane & local guide (spaces open)
Panama's Canopy Camp: Lowland Darien, Dec 27-Jan 4, with John Coons & local guide (2 spaces)
Trinidad & Tobago, Dec 27-Jan 5, with Tom Johnson (1 space)
Arizona Winter Specialties, Dec 28-Jan 3, with Chris Benesh (1 space)
Panama's Canopy Lodge: El Valle de Anton, Dec 28-Jan 4, with Jesse Fagan (3 spaces)
Holiday Costa Rica: Rancho Naturalista II, Dec 28-Jan 5, with Megan Edwards Crewe & local guide (1 space)
Northern India: Birds, Tiger & the Taj Mahal, Jan 11-31, with Terry Stevenson & Tom Johnson (1 space)
Winter Japan: Dancing Cranes & Spectacular Sea-Eagles, Jan 17-Feb 1, with Phil Gregory (1 space)
New Mexico: Birding the Land of Enchantment, Jan 18-25, with Doug Gochfeld (1 space)
Nowhere but Northeast Brazil! Jan 21-Feb 7, with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Barreiros (4 spaces)
The Heart of Chile, Jan 25-Feb 8, with Marcelo Padua & local guide (spaces open)
Panama's Canopy Tower, Feb 2-8, with John Coons (4 spaces)
Central Mexico & Baja, Feb 7-19, with Jesse Fagan & Micah Riegner (1 space)
Cambodia: Angkor Temples & Vanishing Birds, Feb 12-27, with Doug Gochfeld & local guide (4 spaces)
Owlberta: Alberta's Owls & More, Feb 15-21, with Jay VanderGaast (4 spaces)
Southeast Ecuador: Orange-throated Tanager & Foothill Specialties, Feb 22-Mar 2, with Mitch Lysinger (4 spaces)
Colombia: Santa Marta Escape, Feb 22-Mar 1, with Cory Gregory (1 space)
Jamaica, Feb 23-29, with Eric Hynes (1 space)
Myanmar: Birding Burma, Feb 27-Mar 13, with Doug Gochfeld & local guide (1 space)
Southwestern Ecuador Specialties: Jocotoco Foundation Reserves, Mar 1-15, with Willy Perez (spaces open)
Mexico: Oaxaca I, Mar 7-14, with Dan Lane & Micah Riegner (1 space)
Spring in South Texas, Mar 7-15, with Chris Benesh (4 spaces)
Brazil Nutshell: Intervales, Iguazu Falls, & the Pantanal, Mar 7-21, with Marcelo Padua (2 spaces)
Classic Costa Rica, Mar 10-25, with Jay VanderGaast & local guide (spaces open)
Puerto Rico, Mar 15-21, with Tom Johnson & Cory Gregory (spaces open)
Mexico: Oaxaca II, Mar 26-Apr 2, with Doug Gochfeld & local guide (1 space)
Belize: Tropical Birding, Short and Sweet, Mar 28-Apr 4, with Jesse Fagan & local guide (1 space)
Guyana: Wilderness Paradise II, Mar 28-Apr 8, with Marcelo Barreiros & local guide (spaces open)

Birding at Night: A Halloween Prowl

Our Halloween edition would not be complete without a look into the world of night creatures--birds and other animals that we seldom see in daylight, some of which are so seldom seen that they take on near "grail" status among birders and naturalists. And indeed, some of these have only been discovered in recent times. Is night birding spooky? Click here and find out ....

Bird News: a flowerpecker by any other name...

Good news comes from Borneo that the mysterious Spectacled Flowerpecker , discovered by our own Richard Webster and Rose Ann Rowlett at Sepilok ten years ago, now has a scientific name! Scientists from Borneo, England, and the United States managed to track down one in the remote Maliau Basin and test its DNA, which does place the bird in genus Dicaeum with other flowerpeckers but does not indicate a close relationship with any living species. The team gave the bird the scientific name of Dicaeum dayakorum , to honor the Dayak people of Borneo who live among this and so many other remarkable species. Congrats to Richard & Rose Ann for finding a species new to science (and on a day off!)! And many thanks to John Anderton for use of his spiffy watercolor of this at-last-official species.

Recently posted 2020 itineraries

Click on any image or link below to see the detailed itinerary for the following 2020 tours. All of these itineraries are packed with information (and have a few nice photos as well!).