Birding Tours to Europe, Africa, Asia, The Americas & Beyond!

OMAN BIRDING ADVENTURE
4th February - 17th February 2022
November 2022 dates tba
Oman is one of the safest countries we can travel to at the moment. Entry requirements are pretty straightforward, there's a direct flight from London, infrastructure is superb, food is good, great weather and the birding is top drawer. Arabian specialities such as Arabian Partridge, Omani Owl, Arabian Babbler,  Yemen Serin & Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak are high on the agenda. Plus this is THE tour to see Crab Plover and Grey Hypocolius. In addition there's a rather bizarre mix of species from the Western Palearctic, Afrotropical and Oriental regions all wintering and on passage here. Add a pelagic for Jouanin's Petrel and Persian Shearwater and a whole range of desert birds like sandgrouse, coursers, larks and buntings and you can see what a great birding destination Oman truly is. So let's go birding! See tour info here - OMAN BIRDING ADVENTURE INFO

PUERTO RICO & DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
7th March - 20th March 2022

On this new tour we will be visiting two of the richest islands in the Caribbean for endemic birds. We will explore the endemic-rich islands of Puerto Rico (18 endemics) and Dominican Republic (32 endemics) with an optional extension to Jamaica (28 endemics). So in all we will be hoping for over 70 endemics, along with more widespread Caribbean specialities. For bird family collectors, there are five important bird families - Palmchat (Dominican Republic), Tody (2 sp on Dominican Republic, 1 on Puerto Rico and 1 on Jamaica), Spindalis (1 on each island), Puerto Rican Tanager (Puerto Rico) and the Hispaniolan Tanagers (only found on Dominican Republic).

We begin in Puerto Rico, a US territory nestled in the Greater Antilles located between the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands. Here we will explore the tropical rainforest of the Luquillo Mountains and head on towards the Guanica dry forest. We'll be on the lookout for Puerto Rican Amazon, Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo, Puerto Rican Emerald, Puerto Rican Tody, Puerto Rican Vireo, Elfin-woods Warbler Puerto Rican Bullfinch and others. A short flight will take us to the island of Hispaniola and specifically the eastern end of the island known as Dominican Republic. This is the second largest island after Cuba in the Caribbean and is home to an amazing avifauna and we will focus on finding the 32 or so endemics as well as the other Greater Antillean specialities. Our route will take us from Punta Cana in the East up into Parque Nacional Los Haitises in search of the rare Ridgeway's Hawk, now claimed to be the rarest buteo in the world. Moving on to the south-west we will search for species such as White-fronted Quail-Dove, Hispaniolan Parakeet, Narrow-billed Tody, Golden Swallow, La Selle Thrush and Hispaniolan Crossbill amongst many others. At lower elevations there are species such as Ashy-faced Owl, Least Poorwill, Hispaniolan Amazon, Antillean Piculet, Hispaniolan Woodpecker and Hispaniolan Spindalis. The Dominican Republic claims to be the most diverse island in the Caribbean, so let's find out why! During this tour we will be staying in remote cabins deep inside the forested hillsides, as well as resorts with waterfalls and excellently located beachside accommodation too that all give a flavour of what the Caribbean has to offer.    TOUR INFO

EPIC MID-WEST USA CLEAN-UP TOUR
24th May - 9th June 2022
10th - 26th June 2022
This is the USA as you've never seen it before. A full-blown targeted mega-twitch stretching across the mid-west, plugging gaps in your life list that you might well have thought you'd never get the chance to see! We will travel from the boreal forests of Minnesota, nip into Wisconsin, travel across the vast prairies of North Dakota and into the rugged Rocky Mountains of Glacier National Park in Montana. Then we will drop south into Idaho before finishing up an incredible journey in the surprisingly bird rich state of Utah. There's so much to see starting with Great Grey Owl, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Cerulean Warbler, LeConte's & Henslow's Sparrows, Connecticut Warbler, Canada Jay and Black-billed Cuckoo in Minnesota. heading into the North Dakota prairies we search for Greater Prairie Chicken, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Nelson's Sparrow, Chestnut-collared Longspur, Bobolink, Dickcissel, Sprague's Pipit and Baird's Sparrow. The delights of Glasgow, Montana are a good base to look for Common Poorwill, Mountain Plover, Greater Sage Grouse and Thick-billed Longspur. Superb scenery and great birds await at Glacier National Park and amongst a splendid variety of possiilities we could see Harlequin Duck, White-tailed Ptarmigan, Flammulated, Northern Pygmy and Northern Saw-Whet Owls, Black-backed Woodpecker, Boreal Chickadee, White-winged Crossbill, Varied Thrush and much more. Dropping into Idaho we will visit the Albion Mountains for the recently split Cassia Crossbill, as well as Mountain Bluebird and Williamson's Sapsucker before reaching Utah. here the sagebrush flats hold Grey Vireo, Grey Flycatcher and Juniper Titmouse, whilst the surrounding mountains hold Black Rosy-Finch and more! This is definitely a trip of a lifetime. Epic you might say!:   TOUR INFO

INDIA - CLASSIC HIMALAYAS
23rd November - 8th December 2022
Nobody does India the way we do! The Himalayas are an ornithological treasure house of amazing, beautiful and absolutely superb birds! For anyone who has never been within sight of these massive peaks, there are numerous new families of birds, as well as the impressive spectacle of large mixed-species flocks. Add to this a whole suite of skulking, unobtrusive and hard to see species – and we really love those ones! This tour concentrates on the ‘classic’ Himalayan destinations of Corbett National Park and the higher elevations around Nainital, Pangot and Sat Tal and the focus of the tour will be to see all wildlife well, rather than racing around trying to build up a big list but we will also concentrate on the specialities as well. Starting at the world famous Corbett National Park where we will split our time between a good lodge outside the park and Dhikala Lodge nestled within the heart of the park. As well as a chance of seeing Tiger and wild Asian Elephants, there are a whole host of attractive species to search for, from Ibisbill, Pallas’s Fish-Eagle, Great Pied Hornbill and Slaty-back Forktail to Wallcreeper, Kalij Pheasant, Collared Falconet and some true grassland skulkers like Himalayan Rubythroat and Grey-sided Bush-warbler. Moving to the tranquil setting of our secluded lodge at Pangot, this stunning and remote area will provide a veritable feast of typical Himalayan species such as barbets, bulbuls, babblers, laughingthrushes, yuhinas, warblers and rosefinches. There are numerous specialities to search for as well which will ensure you really won’t want to leave. Rather unique by Asian standards, the lodge has a feeding station giving the opportunity to get up close and personal with some cracking birds and provide a veritable feast of photographic opportunities! High on our wish-lists here will be species such as Cheer and Koklass Pheasants, Scaly-bellied and Himalayan Woodpeckers, Scaly-breasted Wren-Babbler, Chestnut-headed Tesia, Upland Pipit, Spot-winged Grosbeak and so much more. We will continue our Himalayan adventure at Sat Tal where amidst thick forest there is the chance of tough species such as Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush and Chestnut-headed Tesia amongst a great selection of other birds, whilst nearby areas could produce Speckled Piculet, Black-throated Accentor, Himalayan Bluetail and Small-billed Scaly Thrush amongst others. 

The icing on the cake of an already bird-filled adventure, will be an exciting visit to Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary where we will go in search of the incredible Himalayan Monal - possibly the most iconic Himalayan bird there is! This is undoubtedly THE best place in the world to see this beautiful bird and will undoubtedly be a major highlight of the tour. But that's not all, as we will be in with very good chances of seeing many new species such as Snow Partridge, Snow Pigeon, Variegated Laughingthrush, Alpine and Long-tailed Thrushes, White-browed Fulvetta, Red-headed Bullfinch, Black-and-yellow Grosbeak, Yellow-billed Blue Magpie and the mesmerising Scarlet Finch. Our route back to Delhi, necessitates a stop amidst the scenically spectacular Dehradun in the Doon Valley, which is fortunate as this is a great place to catch up with the tricky Nepal Cupwing! This is Himalayan birding at its finest!

TOUR INFO