LATEST NEWS and TOUR UPDATES
Welcome to our Latest News page where you can get summaries from the latest Zoothera tours, as well as other information. To sign up and receive our new E-newsletter with tour updates and more Click Here. Why not take a look at the Zoothera Blog for more tour news....
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We have also started to upload some videos on YouTube - Zoothera videos
Check out a selection of videos taken on our tours and we will upload more in due course - Tour Videos.
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PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW OFFICE NUMBER IS 01782 475933
OMAN UPDATE - MARCH TOUR 2025
Our latest venture into what is known as The Jewel of Arabia was our 12th visit here and we secured superb views of a pair of Omani Owls in a remote wadi in the northern mountains. Alongside this we discovered a day roosting Pharaoh Eagle-Owl, a species hardly ever seen in Oman. The other major highlight was our finding of Oman's 1st Hudsonian Whimbrel at Filim and what may prove to be the 2nd American Golden Plover for Oman as well. Our track record for finding rarities here is unsurpassed! We also saw all of the usual Arabian specialities, including superb views of Desert Owl and Arabian Grosbeak, whilst both Jouanin's Petrel and Persian Shearwater were seen on our pelagic from Mirbat. Of course, Crab-Plovers are always superb, and on this tour we saw 100+ superb Saunders's Terns in full breeding plumage as well.
We will return in November this year and still have a few spaces left if you want to join us.
SEE FULL TOUR INFO HERE - OMAN TOUR NOVEMBER 2025
OMAN SUMMER SEABIRDS TOUR 2025
In conjunction with our sister site (www.oman-birding.com) we are offering a unique, trail-blazing tour to Oman this summer looking for a wide variety of seabirds. We will be visiting Masirah Island for Lesser Noddy & Saunders's Tern before flying south to Salalah and seawatching from the headland of Ras Janjari near Mirbat. We expect to see 1000's of seabirds passing offshore in the Arabian Sea and hope to find some rarities amongst the numerous Jouanin's Petrels & Persian Shearwaters. Other possibilities in the rare category include Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Swinhoe's, Wilson's, White-faced & Black-bellied Storm-Petrels, and there's even been Tahiti Petrel recorded twice. We will also undertake 3 pelagics in between our land-based seawatching. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind tour with a high potential to find some truly rare seabirds. You can see the full tour info here - OMAN SUMMER SEABIRDS TOUR 2025
OMAN NOVEMBER 2024
Well, our latest tour to this wonderful country was once again a great success. With all the regular Arabian specialities seen well, we also saw several rarities: 2nd Matsudaira's Storm-Petrel, 3rd Fulvous Whistling-Duck, 2nd Knob-billed Duck, Small Pratincole, Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel & Malachite Kingfisher. The views of Hypocolius this year were some of the best ever, the shorebird spectacle at Barr al Hickman was awesome, this year's Desert Owl sighting was spectacular, and the general birding was better than ever.
You can see the tour report here - OMAN TOUR REPORT 2024
NORTHERN MEXICO 2025
Following on from our successful 2021 visit to Chihuahua where we found Eared Quetzals and Thick-billed Parrots amongst a range of exciting species such as Mexican Whip-Poor-Will, Buff-collared Nightjar, Whiskered Screech-Owl, Olive Warbler and more, we are now heading further east along the northern Mexico circuit to find more endemics. So from Chihuahua and the bird-filled Madeira canyon we will fly to Monterrey where our major targets are Tawny-collared Nightjar, Tamaulipas Pygmy Owl, Maroon-fronted Parrot, Bronze-winged Woodpecker, Blue-capped Motmot, Curve-winged Sabrewing, Altamira Yellowthroat, Tamaulipas Crow, Crimson-collared Grosbeak and Worthen's Sparrow. There's a fine supporting cast of great birds and you can view the list below. We will visit Gomez Farias, the mountains of Cumbres de Monterrey, Saltillo, the awesome Sierra Madre Oriental and other areas. And then just to add a little twist and more new birds we will head into Veracruz for some very exciting species such as Bearded Wood-Partridge, Tuxtla Quail-Dove, White-faced Quail-Dove, Wedge-tailed Sabrewing, Bumblebee Hummingbird, Blue Mockingbird, and both Veracruz & Sumichrast's Wrens amongst others. It's going to be an exciting ride and if anyone wants to continue over to Baja, California for Yellow-footed Gull, Elf Owl, Baja Pygmy Owl, Common Poorwill, Gilded Flicker, Belding's Yellowthroat, Grey Thrasher, San Lucas Robin, California Gnatcatcher and Baird's Junco then it's game on! Mexico rocks! You can see full tour info here - NORTHERN MEXICO TOUR 2025
COASTAL KENYA & BEYOND 2025
We are currently preparing a very special tour to Kenya next year. Starting in Arabuko - Sokoke Forest for Sokoke Scops Owl, Sokoke Pipit, Amani Sunbird, and then moving along the coast for Malindi Pipit & Violet-breasted Sunbird. Moving on to the Taita Hills for Taita Thrush, Taita Apalis & Taita White-eye. At Mount Kenya there's the endemic Kikuyu White-eye, Hinde's Babbler, Elgon Francolin, Jackson's Widowbird & Scarlet-tufted Malachite Sunbird. The Aberdare Mountains have the endemic Aberdare Cisticola. We will also try and find Grant’s Wood-hoopoe, endemic Williams’s Lark, and maybe Friedmann’s Lark.
At remote Marsabit and Dida Galgalu Desert, we will look for Heuglin’s Bustard, Masked Lark, Chestnut-headed Sparrow-Lark, Somali Crombec and Somali Sparrow. Lake Baringo has the near-endemic Jackson’s Hornbill and eventually we will end up at Kakamega Forest. There's many special birds here including Turner’s Eremomela, Blue-headed Bee-eater, Uganda Woodland Warbler, the very special Grey-chested Babbler (used to be called Grey-chested Illadopsis, but is now in its own bird family with Spot-throat & Dapple-throat). And we will also target the endemic Sharpe's Longclaw via some easy birding at Lake Nakuru. You can see full tour info here - KENYA SPECIALITIES TOUR 2025
SOUTHERN ECUADOR DECEMBER 2024
You can see full tour info here - SOUTHERN ECUADOR TOUR 2024
What an amazing journey through the mountains of southern Tanzania! We began in the South Pare Mountains with its endemic white-eye, followed by a very comfortable stay in the West Usambara Mountains. Here we saw Usambara Double-collared Sunbird, Usambara Weaver, Red-capped Forest Warbler, Fulleborn's Boubou, Usambara Akalat, Spot-throat, Usambara Thrush, Olive Woodpecker, Mountain Tiny Greenbul & much more! We then headed to the East Usambaras, pausing to tick Coastal Cisticola along the way. We birded Amani Forest from the comfort of the Park HQ, seeing Purple-banded, Uluguru Violet-backed and Banded Green Sunbirds, Mombasa & Little Spotted Woodpeckers, Sharpe's Akalat, Pale Batis, Red-tailed Ant-thrush, Usambara Hyliota, Little Yellow Flycatcher & Chestnut-fronted Helmetshrike. We nailed Bohm's Bee-eater shortly after leaving here on the journey to our next destination. And next up was the Uluguru Mountains and 3 nights camping and a couple of tough hikes, but it was well worth the effort to see Uluguru Bushshrike, Livingstone's Turaco, Dark Batis, White-winged & Chapin's Apalis and Loveridge's Sunbird. On the other side of the mountain we were rewarded with Uluguru Mountain Greenbul, Loveridge's Sunbird, Mrs Moreau's Warbler & Orange Ground-Thrush. A morning in the miombo forest near Mikumi National Park gave is Peter's Twinspots, Arnot's Chat, Pale-billed Hornbill, Stierling's Wren-Warbler, Miombo Starling, Reichenow's Woodpecker, displaying Racket-tailed Rollers and Hofmann's Sunbird. Two nights at Hondo Hondo Tented Camp at the base of the Udzungwa Mountains was notable for Pel's Fishing Owl, Kretschmer's Longbill & Lesser Seedcracker, and we also visited the Kilombero floodplain for the recently described Kilombero & White-tailed Cisticola and Kilombero Weaver - all of which we saw incredibly well. A long drive towards the Ukaguru Mountains followed, enlivened by a quick visit into Mikumi NP for Southern Ground Hornbill, and we bumped into 3 adult Lionesses with 7 small cubs at a kill. The Ukagurus were kind to us and we found Yellow-throated Greenbul, Moreau's Sunbird, Rubeho Warbler, Rubeho Akalat and an Olive-flanked Ground-Robin. Over on Pemba Island we saw the 4 endemics in the first couple of hours birding, literally as we drove from the airport to the lodge we were staying at: Pemba White-eye, Pemba Sunbird, Pemba Green-Pigeon & Pemba Scops Owl. The following day we enjoyed views of Crab-Plovers & stunning Dickinson's Kestrel and a few other goodies. We can't wait to return next year! The full story is currently being uploaded onto the Zoothera Blog....
And you can view the Tour Diary here - Eastern Arc Mountains Tour Diary
Well Japan has been a blast! After just over 3 weeks checking out hotels, restaurants, birding sites and everything inbetween, we think we have just about worked out something very special for next year's Spring tour. One of the main areas we have been focussing on is the cuisine, and if like us, you don't eat fish & seafood then we have that covered! But, rest assured, the birding is fantastic!
You can always take a look at the Zoothera Blog for our slightly more informal report from our current visit. And we have prepared some additional information for anyone considering booking this tour - just email our office on: [email protected]
See the full and brand new itinerary here - EPIC JAPAN TOUR INFO
SE TURKEY 2024
What a tour this was! An action-packed 9 days targetting some of the best birds the Western Palearctic has to offer. Our 2024 Turkey tour began in Adana, from where we headed south to various locations close to the coast. A network of rolling fields led to marshes, pools, drainage ditches and lagoons full of birds such as Collared Pratincole, Little Bitterns, Spur-winged Lapwings and many others. From here we drove north towards Demirkazik, stopping along the way to find Kruper's Nuthatch. The splendid mountainous scenery of Demirkazik was a wonderful setting to find Caspian Snowcock, Radde's Accentor, Wallcreeper, Asian Crimson-winged Finch etc. Spectacled Warbler was a surprise find by Vince too! We then had a long travelling day, visiting Sultan Sazligi marshes for Turkestan Short-toed Lark, Bearded Reeling and others. And we eventually ended the day by reaching a very nice hotel in Gaziantep at 9.30pm. But no rest for us birders as we were off early doors the next morning to make our first (and unsuccessful) search for Kurdish Wheatear. We did get Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, White-throated Robin and Upcher's Warbler. After getting Pale Rock Sparrow and some more very obliging robins and Upcher's warblers we drove just about an hour to Birecik. We were very keen to search the roadbeds of the Euphrates River for Iraq Babbler and it didn't take us too long to find a small group. In fact they were rather common in this area, as were the reintroduced Northern Bald Ibis! We drove inland to find See-See Partridge before ending the day with a spotlit Pallid Scops Owl visiting a nesting hole.
The next day we found Dead Sea Sparrow and other birds before twitching a reported Kurdish Wheatear several hours east. Along the way we found Mediterranean Short-toed Lark and Bimaculated Lark in a fantastic area of rolling hills. The site we eventually reached provided us without the Kurdish Wheatear we all craved, but numerous Finch's Wheatears and more See-See Partridges were nice. So it was back to Birecik for our last night there and a new plan to visit Nemrut Dagi the next day, changing our planned long drive to the Goksu Delta. This proved to be a good move as we found a couple pairs of Kurdish Wheatear, enjoyed close singing Cinereous Buntings, as well as more White-throated Robins and Upcher's Warblers. And the scenery was amazing too! A detour on our way to the new hotel in Gaziantep, took us to a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater colony. And this proved to be one of the major highlights of the trip. Simply outstanding watching over 100 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, with a few European Bee-eaters mixed i as well. Oh, and a couple Black-shouldered Kites were seen nearby as well. So a very worthwhile day.
Our last morning was spent at a wetland south of Gaziantep, which was surprisingly bird with Broad-billed Sandpiper amongst a good selection of shorebirds, Least Bittern, many herons and egrets and a Calandra Lark too. One final check of a reedy area gave us Dead Sea Sparrow, a surprise group of Iraq Babblers, Sardinian Warbler and Black-shouldered Kite again. Our last birding stop was en-route to the airport where we added White-throated Kingfisher to our list. And what a successful tour this was!
Take a look at the Zoothera Blog for our tour diary - ZOOTHERA BLOG
For a number of videos from this tour, go to our YouTube Channel - ZOOTHERA TOUR VIDEOS
You can join us in this Western Palearctic hotspot next year: SE TURKEY 2025 TOUR INFO
SAUDI ARABIA 2024
We have just finished our 3rd tour to Saudi Arabia, having cleaned up on all of the possible Arabian endemics. Species such as Philby's & Arabian Partridges, Arabian Eagle Owl, Arabian Scops Owl, Arabian Grosbeak, Arabian Green Bee-eater, Arabian Woodpecker, Buff-breasted & Arabian Wheatears, Asir Magpie, Rufous-capped Lark, Yemen Thrush, Yemen Warbler, Arabian Babbler, Arabian Sunbird, Arabian & Yemen Serin, Yemen Linnet, Arabian Waxbill, and the nomadic Arabian Golden Sparrow. Add to this Crab-Plover, Nubian Nightjar, Gambaga Flycatcher, Clamarous Reed Warbler and a superb selection of Afro-Tropicals such as Abdim's Stork, Lesser Flamingo, Olive Pigeon, Dusky Turtle Dove, Grey-headed Kingfisher, White-throated Bee-eater, African Grey Hornbill, Little Rock Thrush, 4 Wire-tailed Swallows (found March 24 and a 1st for Saudi Arabia), Black-crowned Tchagra etc. And migration was in full swing and we found Eurasian Wryneck, flocks of European & Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, many Marsh & Barred Warblers, 3 Thrush Nightingales, several Masked Shrikes, 8 Red-backed Shrikes, a couple of Woodchat Shrikes, many Red-throated Pipits and more. One of the highlights was a ferry to the Farasan Islands & private boat trip around the numeorus islets to see Sooty Falcons, as well as 1000's of seabirds such as Bridled and White-cheeked Terns, Brown Boobies, Common Noddy and others. We will return to Saudi Arabia in April 2025 and will include this boat trip again, as well as adding a couple of days to ensure this is the most complete tour to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as possible! Plus, how about an pre-tour extension to Kuwait for Afghan Babbler, Hypocolius, Basra Reed Warbler, Socotra Cormorant, and some great additions to your Western Palearctic list. SEE FULL TOUR ITINERARY HERE - SAUDI ARABIA TOUR INFO 2025
Our Epic Cape Horn Cruise has finished for another year. Here's a short video of the King Penguin colony we visited on the Falkland Islands. It's such a fantastic experience to see them 'up close & personal' and one thing that was so unexpected was the noise they make........
NEW BLOG POST:
We've composed a new blog post about the different habitats to be explored during our Saudi Arabia tour. It's not just sand and desert in The Kingdom! Just take a look at our blog to see....
You can view the Zoothera Blog here - ZOOTHERA BIRDING BLOG
NEW TOUR: TANZANIA'S EASTERN ARC MOUNTAINS JULY/AUGUST 2024
And now for something a little different! The Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania are home to a whole host of endemic, rare and extremely localised species. Our journed takes us from the South Pare Mountains. to the East & West Usambaras, Uluguru Mountains and ends at the Ukaguru Mountains. During our 15 nights on the main tour we will camp for 6 (with our own ground crew) in some of the remotest places in Africa. We know camping is not everyone's cup of tea but it is utterly essential and unavoidable in this region, in order to reach the birding sites and try to find the endemics & specialities. Either side of the camping we have tried our utmost to have reasonable accommodation and be as comfortable as possible. But it really will be worth it as we search for such special birds as Livingstone's Turaco, Böhms Bee-eater, Uluguru Bushshrike, Sharpe's Akalat, Winifred's & Rubeho Warbler, Long-billed Forest Warbler, Spot-throat, Olive-flanked Ground-Robin, Usambara Weaver and so much more. We've also an extension to Pemba Island for 4 more endemics:Pemba Scops-Owl, Pemba Green Pigeon, Pemba White-eye and Pemba Sunbird, plus Dickinson's Kestrel and Crab-Plover.
We are doing a special 2024 price of £4750.00 on the main tour for a group of just 5 birders.
And it's a GUARANTEED DEPARTURE. FULL ITINERARY HERE
CENTRAL BRAZIL: SEPTEMBER 2024
GUARANTEED DEPARTURE. Brazil really is the gift that keeps on giving. Our exciting Central Brazil birding adventure aims to fill in the gaps between your other visits to this amazing country targetting some of the rarest species on the planet. We will be visiting the seldom-visited states of Tocantins and Minas Gerais in our exploration of the more unknown regions of this fabulous birding destination. There's a feast of lifers awaiting and some iconic and rare species such as White-browed Guan, Brasilian Merganser, Ocellated and Russet-crowned Crakes, Blue-eyed Ground-Dove (only rediscovered in 2015), Hyacinth Visorbearer, Outcrop Sabrewing, Diamantina Sabrewing, Cipo Canastero, Cipo Cinclodes, Serra Antwren, Cock-tailed Tyrant, and even Maned Wolf and Giant Anteater. Tour info here - CENTRAL BRAZIL 2024
NEW TOUR: Central Peru September 2025
We've sneeked another new tour into our programme for next year, this time to the endemic-rich region of Central Peru. You might have already visited the north for spatuletail etc, and been to the amazing Manu, but the bit in between has more endemics. It's not an easy tour but the rewards (as they say) are extremely rewarding as we visit Lake Junin, Bosque Unchog, Huascaran National Park, the famous Satipo Road, Marcapomacocha and Santa Eulalia Valley for a mouthwatering list of really crazy, rare, endemic and extremely localised birds. And even a few as yet undescribed species too! How about seeing this awesome Golden-backed Mountain-Tanager (right)? And there's also Junin Grebe, Junin (Black) Rail, Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, Cloud-forest Screech-Owl, Bay and Chestnut Antpittas, White-cheeked and Bay-vented Cotingas, Pardusco, Rufous-browed Warbling-Finch, Black-spectacled Brushfinch, Rufous-backed Inca-Finch and so much more. See the full itinerary here - Central Peru 2025
OMAN NOVEMBER 2023 TOUR
Well we finally did it. We've seen Omani Owl in northern Oman. For some reason they were vocal and inquisitive for the first time in several years, and showing pretty well. And this was probably our most successful tour ever to this amazing country. Amongst many tour highlights we enjoyed Arabian Partridge, Desert Owl, Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Jouanin's Petrel, Persian Shearwater, Crested Honey Buzzard, stunning Pallid Harriers, Great Knot, Pectoral Sandpiper, White-tailed Lapwing, a flock of 17 Sociable Lapwings, 50+ Cream-coloured Coursers in one day, Crowned Sandgrouse, Red-billed Tropicbird, Lanner, Arabian Eagle Owl, Arabian Scops Owl, Pallid Scops Owl, Egyptian Nightjar, Oriental Turtle Dove, Asian Koel, Bluethroat, Forbes-Watson's Swift, Forest Wagtail, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Menetries's Warbler, Upcher's Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Red-throated Pipit, Yemen Serin, Arabian Golden-winged Grosbeak, Rose-coloured Starling, Ortolan Bunting and so much more... Can't wait to return next year....
SOUTHERN ECUADOR
It has been a pretty busy summer for us with tours to Uganda, Colombia and most recently Southern Ecuador. Ecuador was a truly great tour and we'll post updates soon. Of course, it was all about seeing Jocotoco Antpitta, a species only discovered in 1997. And what a bird! But more of that later. As you can see we also had crippling views of the mega Blue-throated Hillstar, a species discovered 20 years after the antpitta! We've been updating the Zoothera Blog with a daily diary, as well as social media updates on Twitter and Facebook that you can check out. And we will be repeating this tour in December 2024 if you want to get in on the action.
Tour info here - Southern Ecuador
View Tour Photos here - Southern Ecuador Photo Album
Tour Report here - Southern Ecuador Tour Report 2023
EPIC CAPE HORN & STRAITS OF MAGELLAN CRUISE - FEBRUARY 2023 & 2024
Well our tour has concluded with a few days birding at Ceibas seeing species such as Spotted Nothura, Giant Wood-Rail, Ringed Teal, Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper, Short-billed Canastero, Little Thornbird, Brown Cachalote, Brown-and-Yellow Marshbird, Yellowish Pipit, Lark-like Brushrunner, Curve-billed & Sulphur-bearded Reedhaunters, Warbling Doradito, White-tipped Plantcutter, Marsh, Rufous-rumped & Dark-throated Seedeaters and Glaucous-blue Grosbeak amongst many others. It's been truly epic in many ways and we've all agreed it's undoubtedly the best way to see so many seabirds, albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters & storm-petrels. You should try it for yourself!
We have prepared a short summary of what you can expect from this rather unique tour that is an amazing pelagic experience with up to 11 species of albatross and 30 species of tubenose possible. Just follow the link here for a little taster: Epic Cape Horn Tour in Pictures
Please email our office to register your interest. You can view our photo gallery here - Epic Cape Horn Cruise Photo Gallery 2023
And the 2023 trip report is here: Epic Cape Horn Cruise Tour Report 2023
Tour info here - Cape Horn Cruise
EPIC CAPE HORN & STRAITRS OF MAGELLAN CRUISE - FEBRUARY 2023
Our current Cape Horn Cruise aboard a fully working cruise ship is exceeding all of our expectations. So far we have found the first documented White-headed Petrel for Chile, as well as what we think maybe the first Gould's Petrel for Chile. Add to this Pincoya, White-faced and Grey-Backed Storm-Petrels, Soft-plumaged & Grey Petrels, Masatierra Petrel sitting on the deck of our ship, There's been 9 species of albatross so far including Chatham & Sooty Albatross and more! Just to give you an idea of the outstanding potential of seabirds on offer, here is our log from 07:15 - 12;30 of Day 4:
1000+ Sooty Shearwater
18 Pink-footed Shearwater
1 Manx Shearwater
8 Westland Petrel
34 White-chinned Petrel
64 Westland/White-chinned Petrels
260 Fuegian Storm-Petrel
1 Grey-backed Storm-Petrel…..!!!!!
4 White-faced Storm-Petrel
30 Southern Giant Petrel
6 Northern Giant Petrel
70 Giant Petrel sp.
27 Stejneger’s Petrel
1 Juan Fernandez Petrel
1 Gould’s Petrel
8 Chilean Skua
2 Common Diving-Petrel
22 Snowy Wandering Albatross
2 Antipodean Wandering Albatross
17 Salvin’s Albatross
147 Black-browed Albatross
2 Grey-headed Albatross
6 Southern Royal Albatross
2 Northern Royal Albatross
6 Imperial Shag
Currently outside cabins with a window are starting from £1400.00 per person sharing a cabin.
Please email our office to register your interest. Tour info here - Cape Horn Cruise
BRAZIL: MANAUS & AMAZONIA NATIONAL PARK TOUR REPORT 2022
The tour report from this incredibly successful tour is now available to read. There's just too many highlights but nothing really beats the Golden Parakeets (right) we saw at Amazonia National Park. So take a look at the trip report here - Manaus Tour Report 2022
OMAN - FEBRUARY TOUR 2022:
More HOT NEWS from our incredibly successful Oman tour that has just finished. We discovered the 1st Grey-tailed Tattler for this amazing country. It's a common bird across much of Asia, with the closest regular wintering birds being found in Thailand. But it mainly winters from Taiwan, Malay Peninsula and Philippines through Indonesia, New Guinea and Solomon Islands to Australia, with a few reaching New Zealand. So this bird has decided to take the opposite route...! The photo dondoesn't t really do it justice because of the distance at which it was feeding and odd light caused by the setting sun but there's no doubt what it is. Result!
This is the third tour we have run to Oman in 3 months and we found the 1st Banded Martin, 1st Grey-tailed Tattler, 7th Blyth's Reed Warbler and 4th Dalmatian Pelican. Not too shabby! And we just can't wait to return in November this year. Who knows what we will find?
OMAN NOVEMBER 2022 TOUR INFO HERE
SCOTLAND HOUSE PARTY TOUR 2021:
What a week we had in Scotland! There was White-winged Scoter, drake King Eider, flocks of Velvet Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks, Black Grouse lekking, Parrot, Common and Scottish Crossbills, flocks of Barnacle Geese, delightful Crested Tits, Red Squirrels and so much more. Add to this fantastic scenery and a great place to stay. Oh yes, the long winter evenings were enlivened by slideshows, quizzes and copious amounts of food and drink. Probably doing a quiz during cocktail evening was a mistake I grant you but it was so much fun! We had a truly fabulous time and we all left a little heavier from the great meals provided by Lynzi & Carol. Thank you to everyone who took part and has supported myself and Zoothera all these years. Hopefully the world will return to normal in 2022 and we can all travel safely once more.
We will repeat the success of this trip again in the future. Maybe in Norfolk (winter) or Cornwall (October) or Yorkshire (in September) so more people can sample the famous Zoothera hospitality.... and great birding too! Stay tuned........
Our Oman group have just had amazing views of a calling Desert Owl.....
HOT NEWS FROM OMAN:
On a scouting trip prior to our Oman tour at the end of November, we discovered a Banded Martin feeding amongst a congregation of over 5,000 Barn Swallows at Sawhnaut Farm, Salalah. This constitutes the 1st record for Oman. On top of that we also found the 7th Blyth's Reed Warbler for Oman as well.
We will be posting new dates for November 2022 soon. Please email our office to register your interest.
You can have a look at Nick's trip[ repor here - Oman Nov 2021 Tour Report
Tour info here - Oman Birding Adventure Info
NEW TRIP REPORTS...!!!
If you fancy a little light reading then why not check out two new trip reports from Nick's month-long journey across Mexico and the USA in June/July this year. Just click on the links below.
Mexico Coast to Coast Trip Report
Epic Mid-West USA Clean-Up trip Report
Our Yunnan tour is rocking! Zixi Shan was a great place to start with Yunnan & Giant Nuthatches and Spectacled Fulvetta all showing well. The hides at Baihualing were phenomenal this year with such iconic birds as Mrs Hume's Pheasant, Hill Partridge, Mountain Bamboo-Partridge, Moustached Laughingthrush (right), Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler, Grey-bellied Wren-Babbler, Himalayan Thrush (right), White's Thrush, numerous Long-tailed Thrushes, Chestnut-headed Tesia, Scarlet Finch, and so much more! When you consider there can be 40 species being seen from each hide then the experience is quite breathtaking. The tour moved on to Laifengshan where Slender-billed Oriole and flocks of Tibetan Serins were see. Nabang was also quite good with Jerdon's Baza, Pale-headed Woodpecker seen well, Grey-headed, Rufous-headed and Pale-billed Parrotbills, and even a pair of Ibisbill. The new hotspot of Hongbenghe exceeded all expectations and from the hides we saw Blue-naped and Rusty-naped Pittas, 2 Grey Peacock-Pheasants, Spot-breasted and Grey-sided Laughingthrushes, numerous Red-billed and Coral-billed Scimitar-Babblers, Silver-breasted Broadbill, and so much more. Yunnan continues to delight and enthrall in equal measure, providing unparallelled opportunities to observe some of Asia's rarest and shyest species at close quarters. See our next Yunnan tour itinerary here - Yunnan 2021.
We are busy uploading a series of videos from our recent Yunnan tour. You can see more on our Tour Video page or on our YouTube site. As a taster, here's a short video of a cracking Grey Peacock-Pheasant we took during the tour from one of the amazing feeding stations at Hongbenghe. You can also view our next Yunnan tour here - Yunnan 2021
Our Colombia - Andes & Santa Marta tour has just finished with over 550 species seen including 12 antpittas and 70 hummingbirds amongst a mouth-watering selection of other iconic South American birds. Our tour followed a special route across the majestic Andes beginning with a number of sites around Bogota seeing Bogota Rail, Sword-billed Hummingbird, Blue-throated and Golden-bellied Starfrontlet, Coppery-bellied Puffleg, Rufous-browed Conebill, Silvery-throated Spinetail, White-chinned Thistletail, Spillmann's Tapaculo, Plushcap, and more! Moving on to Otun-Quimbaya we were treated to Colombian Screech-Owl, Hooded & Moustached Antpittas, and Multicoloured Tanager for some. Montezuma and the fabled forests of Tatama National Park held numerous flocks with such iconic birds as Orange-breasted Fruiteater, Gold-ringed, Purplish-Mantled, Rufous-throated & Black-and-gold Tanagers, Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer, Munchique Wood Wren, Olive Finch, Crested Ant-Tanager etc. The hummer feeders at the lodge were mind-boggling with Rufous-gaped Hillstar, Green Thorntail and Empress Brilliant being stand-out birds. Rio Blanco was next up and lived up to all of our expectations with Bicoloured, Brown-banded, Chestnut-crowned, Slate-crowned, and a major surprise in an awesome Undulated Antpitta all being seen at incredibly close range. The endemic Buffy Helmetcrest at Nevado del Ruiz followed, and then we visited yet more antpitta feeding stations where Rufous and the super-scarce Crescent-faced Antpitta showed incredibly well. We also birded Jardin for Yellow-eared Parrot, explored Barranquilla and the Guijara Peninsula for a suite of very localised birds before reaching the fabled Santa Marta Mountains. It just doesn't get much better than cracking views of Rusty-breasted Antpitta and Santa Marta Antpitta here although there's so much more to see here and Santa Marta Woodstar & Santa Marta Blossomcrown were also seen well. What a tour and if you fancy joining us in 2020 then please let our office know - see Colombia: Andes & Santa Marta 2020 itinerary
View our full Colombia tour report
You can get the full story of this iconic tour on the Zoothera Blog at: https://zootherabirding.blogspot.com and see our Colombia photo gallery here - Colombia 2019 Photo Gallery
Our Monsoon India tour was a resounding success and seeing Lesser Florican displaying has to be one of the most amazing sights in nature. The group watched this individual for an hour as it sprang into the air, stretched its wings, tossed its head back, fluffed up its feathers and then dropped to the ground like a stone. It did this numeous times as the group watched - an amazing sight. There was also Rock Bush Quail and Rain Quail in the same area too. The previous day a Leopard was seen, along with Sind Sparrow, several Indian Pittas, 5 day roosting Jungle Nightjars, nesting Black-breasted Weavers and Striated Babbler. Moving on to Kashmir there was Kashmir Flycatcher, Kashmir Nutcracker, Kashmir and White-cheeked Nuthatches, Black-and-yellow Grosbeak, Variegated Laughingthrush, Scaly-bellied and Himalayan Woodpeckers and many other great birds. Our Ladakh extension was amazing with up to 100 Tibetan Sandgrouse surrounding our car at one point. We even found a pair with 2 recently fledged chicks. Other great birds included Tibetan Snowcock, Black-necked Crane, Ground-Tit, Great Rosefinch, Brown Accentor and both Blanford's & Black-winged Snowfinches. You can see photos from this tour here: Monsoon India Gallery
Nick has returned from NE Brazil where an amazing time was had by a great, fun group led by Ciro Albano. With 409 species seen, including 89 endemics it was definitely a quality tour. The Zoothera Blog is up and running and we are already taking bookings for our NE Brazil 2021 tour now. Our tour is devoted to seeing many of the regions spectacular endemics and highly sought-after species such as the incredible Araripe Manakin, Lear’s Macaw, Great Xenops, Scarlet-throated Tanager, Slender Antbird, Hooded Visorbearer, Banded Cotinga and Pink-legged Graveteiro. The region is characterised by humid Atlantic rainforests on the coast, and endless rolling hills with dramatic canyons called the Caatinga. The Caatinga is home to a dry thorny forest with areas of more open grassland. It has its own special suite of endemic species that we will enjoy looking for on our many days of spectacular birding. With only 200 birds in the wild it is here that we will find the endangered Lear’s Macaw quietly feeding on palm trees, while Atlantic forest and woodlands at Boa Nova with thick vine tangles and terrestrial bromeliads hold some of South America’s most endangered species. We will also visit the Serra da Diamantina National Park at Lencois to explore some higher elevation habitats before heading back to the coast. A final visit to some mangroves and an area of cerrado will complete our tour of this complex yet fascinating region. Our local guide Ciro Albano has an unsurpassed knowledge of this region and an enviable reputation for success and finding the target species and we are sure this very special tour will meet the highest of expectations. We are also planning a Manaus & Amazonia tour to Brazil in July next year, so keep an eye out for the itinerary that is coming soon!