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Spring10 Newsletter.Qxd Au tumn 2 010 INSIDE WINGS 2011 New Tours 2011 WINGS is proud to be beginning its 39th year of tours, with a I The Netherlands in comprehensive program visiting more than 50 countries and des - Winter tinations ranging from the tried and true to the excitingly new. I Mexico: The Lacandon Rainforest and Maya All of our tours are the product of careful planning by our lead - Ruins ers and office staff, whose passion for their favorite regions and I Tanzania: Kilimanjaro their birds is reflected in the variety and depth of our offerings. to the Serengeti WINGS leaders often spend months, even years, getting to know I Panama: Spring at the their favorite countries thoroughly, and the itineraries they create Canopy Tower show to advantage not just the area’s special birds but also the I Puerto Rico natural and cultural settings in which they occur. Our local I Ghana: The Gold ground agents and professional office staff work hard to translate Coast to the North the leaders’ field expertise into tours that are unfailingly full of birds, safe, and great fun. I Jordan: Spring Migration and a Little Archaeology In addition to our regularly scheduled tours, WINGS provides private guiding services for individuals and groups. If birding I Michigan: Migration in the Upper Peninsula where and when you want, alone or in the company of friends, is appealing, please contact us. We’ll be happy to arrange a tour I Alaska: The Pribilofs that suits your needs and circumstances. I Maryland and West Virginia: Birding the Full details of all our tours can be found at American Civil War www.wingsbirds.com. If you don’t have ready access to the inter - I Montana: The Big Loop net, or if you have any questions at all, please call or write to us here at the WINGS office in Tucson. We’ll be happy to help— WINGS Tour and look forward to birding with you soon. Calendar 2011 Leader Profiles From Our Leaders A Letter from Peru Private Tours WINGS 1643 N. Alvernon Way Suite 109 Tucson, AZ 85712 Tel: 888-293-6443 (toll free in the U.S.) 520-320-9868 Fax: 520-320-9373 A normally shy Jabiru permits close approach in Brazil. wing [email protected] www.wingsbirds.com Photo: Rich Hoyer. For details on all WINGS tours, please visit our website at www.wingsbirds.com New Tours 2011 The Netherlands in Winter January 26-30, February 2-6, and February 9-13, 2011 As northern Europe and Siberia slumber under blankets of snow, the polders of The Netherlands are awash with wintering waterfowl. Our short and remarkably bird-rich tour begins and ends in Amsterdam, leaving participants the opportunity to combine their birding experience with visits to other European destinations. Geese are a high - light of winter Large flocks of wintering passerines, and the world’s best apple pie and birding in The hot chocolate: it’s easy to see why wintertime birding in The Netherlands Netherlands, with is as unique as it is delightful. Geese are the main attraction, with all the even the rare Red-breasted European wintering species possible; we stand a great chance of seeing Goose a both Red-breasted and Lesser White-fronted Geese among the teeming possibility on our thousands of Eurasian White-fronted, Tundra Bean, and Barnacle Geese. tour. The open polders are also great for wintering raptors, and we should Photo: James Lidster. encounter White-tailed Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, and Hen Harrier, among other species. Add to the list Smew, Eurasian Bittern, and Lesser Spotted and Black Woodpeckers—not to mention the possibility of a sur - prise or two—and everything’s in place for the ideal short winter tour. James Lidster leads. Mexico: The Lacandon Rainforest and Maya Ruins February 12-20, 2011 Not that long ago, a visit to the Lacandon rainforest and the nearby Maya ruins was a major undertaking. Today, new paved roads and comfortable lodges make this bird-filled area surprisingly easy to visit. The Lacandon rainforest lies in the watershed of the Usumacinta River, which served the Maya as a network of water highways for commerce, page 2 … WINGS News Autumn 2010 For details on all WINGS tours, visit www.wingsbirds.com New Tours 2011 war, and cultural exchange; sites such as Yaxchilan lie along the Usumacinta itself, while Bonampak (unknown to westerners until 1946) lies along the Lacanja River, a tributary of the Usumacinta. The forests here represent the northernmost extension of truly Amazonian fauna: puffbirds, toucans, jacamars, antbirds, leaftossers, manakins, cotingas, and The Usumacinta— “River of the woodcreepers all occur here—but all in manageable doses. One local Sacred Monkey”— community is working to protect the endangered Scarlet Macaw, and remains an from their comfortable lodge we’ll take a boat trip up beautiful limestone important water highway in the tributaries into the Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve. Steve Howell and Lacandon region. Rich Hoyer lead. Photo: Rich Hoyer. Tanzania: Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti A Kori Bustard, one of the March 5-17, 2011 heaviest flighted birds in the The newest addition to our Africa program is an ideal introduction to the world, strides across the grass - birds and mammals of that fascinating continent’s eastern region. We’ve inten - lands of Tanzania. tionally planned for a relaxed pace, leaving time to truly savor all that this Photo: Steve Rooke. wonderful country has to offer. Tanzania long ago recognized the importance of its natural resources, and has done much over the years to protect them. Some 25% of the country is given over to national parks and reserves. Starting on the densely wooded slopes of Mount Meru, in the shadow of Kilimanjaro, we’ll wander among the giant Baobab trees of Tarangire National Park and travel to the very edge of the Rift Valley at Lake Manyara before visiting two of the world’s most famous wildlife locations—Ngorongoro and the vast Serengeti. Steve Rooke and James Wolstencroft lead. For details on all WINGS tours, visit www.wingsbirds.com page 3 … WINGS News Autumn 2010 New Tours 2011 Panama: Spring at the Canopy Tower March 12-19, 2011 (with Foothills Extension to March 23) The richness of the Panamanian birding experience only increases moving east toward the Colombian border, where such truly tropical groups as antbirds, woodcreepers, and tanagers begin to dominate. Our new Panama tour takes place in the season when resident birds are joined by migrants and winterers from the north, making for a very diverse assemblage. The acclaimed Canopy Tower serves as our delightful home base for an exploration of several remarkable birding areas including Pipeline Road, which offers arguably the best birding in Central America, with over 400 species recorded from this single locale. Following our weeklong stay at the tower, we offer an extension to Panama’s eastern foothills, where our rustic but comfortable lodge, nestled in a cooler foothill valley, gives us access to a wealth of new birds more typical of the Darien Panama’s famed and Colombia. This region, only recently opened to extensive ornitholog - Canopy Tower ical research, has already proved to be perhaps the best place in the world combines comfort with unmatched to find the extremely local Sapayoa and Speckled Antshrike. Gavin access to jungle Bieber leads. birds. Photo: Canopy Tower. Puerto Rico March 27 – April 2, 2011 We’ve redesigned this former tour extension to be an independent tour, with two days added to allow for a fuller exploration of this beautiful tropical island and additional opportunities to locate some of the harder-to-find endemics. The old Spanish colony of Puerto Rico, now a self-governing US territory and a justly popular holiday destination, is a perfect weeklong getaway for birders. With an excellent road system providing convenient access to its many forest reserves, Puerto Rico offers some of the easiest and most enjoyable birding in the tropics. Our tour seeks out the island’s 17 endemics and more than two dozen Caribbean specialties, visiting every page 4 … WINGS News Autumn 2010 For details on all WINGS tours, visit www.wingsbirds.com New Tours 2011 habitat from the windswept elfin woods of Maricao to the bird-rich thorn scrub of the Guanica Dry Forest. Gavin Bieber leads. Ghana: The Gold Coast to the North March 27 – April 12, 2011 As rich in historical tradition as it is in birds, Ghana preserves the habitats of some 750 bird species, from blinding white beaches to rainforest. Lying on the Gulf of Guinea along Africa’s tropical western coast, Ghana Representative of a very special is a country rich both in ancient tradition and in the history of Europe’s Caribbean family, early colonial presence in West Africa. Today, Ghana is a vibrant and col - the Puerto Rico orful country stretching from the Atlantic through dense rainforest to the Tody is a colorful island endemic. open savanna of the Sahel, and its vast range of habitats play host to over Photo: Gavin Bieber. 750 bird species. Our tour begins amid the lagoons of the Gold Coast, where migrant shorebirds from Europe swell the numbers of resident waterbirds. We then move inland to the primary tropical rainforests of Kakum National Park, home to a world-famous canopy walkway that places us at eye level with an array of rainforest species including numer - A spectacular male Northern Red ous hornbills, parrots, and barbets. Our tour also includes an exciting stay Bishop lights up a at Ankasa, an area seldom visited by birders. We’ll make a trip to the far reedbed.
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