2017 Travel Schedule Eagle-Eye Tours Travel with Vision ABOUT EaGLE-EYE TOURS TOURS BY REGION Over 20 years! Tranquilo tours T We have been a leading birding tour operator for over Are you looking for tours that offer great birding 20 years. While our offerings have evolved over the past while minimizing how often you change locations? two decades, our commitment to offering high quality Our Tranquilo tours are a perfect choice. We have tours has not changed. We hope you will share our designed each tour to stay at only one or two great excitement about another suite of upcoming tours. locations. That means less packing and travel, more We continue to strive to offer innovative, exciting and birding, and more opportunity to relax on the veranda, rewarding experiences worldwide. You will see several watching feeders if you need a little down time. new and revised tours inside to a variety of destinations. New or Returning Tours for 2017 Committed to Conservation British Columbia Our vision for our tours includes a committment California to supporting environmental conservation. We just Great Bear Rainforest Sailing celebrated being carbon-neutral for 10 years. We are Puerto Rico now a member of 1% For The Planet, donating 1% Ecuador: Amazon & Andes of our revenue to environmental causes. We have a Northeastern Brazil long-standing partnership with Bird Studies Canada Northern Peru where we offer the Grand Prize for their national Baillie Patagonia Wildlife Safari Birdathon. A portion of the revenue from this year’s Canadian Rockies and Alberta Birds & Dinosaurs Join us on Social Media tours will be donated to Bird Studies Canada. Visit www.facebook.com/eagleeyetours for photos from recent tours, discussions, news and our latest promotions. We also donate to support the great work You can also find us on: of several other organizations, including the Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Vimeo! American Bird Conservancy, the Kaua’i Forest Bird Recovery Project and the Wings Over the We look forward to welcoming you on Rockies Bird Festival. Look inside for several an Eagle-Eye Tours adventure in 2017! spots where we highlight these connections. Happy travels, Cam Gillies and the Eagle-Eye Team “Polar Bear.....” Cover image: TOURS BY REGION North America Page Europe Page Alberta Birds & Dinosaurs 3 England Birds & Gardens: Southwest 29 Baffin Island Floe Edge 2 The Netherlands & Belgium 29 British Columbia 7 Asia California 9 Borneo 33 Canadian Rockies 3 Malaysia 33 Churchill & Southern Manitoba 4 Russian Far East Voyage 17 Expedition Cruises 12-19 Thailand 32 Florida 10 Hawaii 8 Africa High Arctic & NWT 2 Namibia, Botswana & Victoria Falls 34 Manitoba Owls 4 South Africa: The Cape 35 Manitoba Owls Photo Tour 20 South Africa: The Subtropics 35 New Brunswick & Grand Manan 7 Australasia & South Pacific Newfoundland 6 Australia 31 Point Pelee & Algonquin Park 5 New Zealand 30 Saskatchewan Whooping Cranes 5 South West Pacific Cruise 17 South Texas 10 Mexico, Central America & the Caribbean Central Mexico 21 Costa Rica Wings 23 Costa Rica 24 Cuba 22 Panama 24 Puerto Rico 22 Western Mexico 21 South America Brazil: Central 27 Brazil: Northeastern 27 Ecuador: Amazon & the Andes 28 Guyana 25 Northern Peru 26 Patagonia Photo Tour 20 Patagonia Wildlife: Penguins & Pumas 28 Trinidad & Tobago 25 Cover: Black Guillemot © Jared Clarke Red-headed Barbet, Costa Rica tour 2016 © Cam Gillies NORTH AMERICA Baffin Island Floe Edge: Narwhals & Polar High Arctic & Northwest Territories Bears Boreal forest to Arctic tundra Exciting adventure with unique wildlife, This unique tour and perennial favourite takes in three culture and landscapes different areas; the exquisite high Arctic tundra above Rugged mountains, stunning glaciers, flocks the Arctic Circle and far north of the tree line, the of northern seabirds, the wonderful Narwhal boreal forest and lakes around Yellowknife, NWT and and Inuit culture – this is what awaits us on a the aspen parkland and potholes of Central Alberta. truly amazing tour to the wilderness of northern We encounter a diverse array of birds and mammals, Baffin Island. We experience this dramatic Arctic from King Eiders to Pacific Loons, Snowy Owls to landscape when the sun never sets and wildlife is Northern Saw-whet and Great Gray Owls, Long-tailed returning to this very rich area of the Arctic. Jaegers to Sabine’s Gulls, and Muskox to Arctic Foxes. There are northern birds in abundance, including At Cambridge Bay on Victoria Island, Yellow-billed Thick-billed Murre, Black-legged Kittiwake, and Loons nest on remote lakes, Red-necked and Red King and Common Eiders. Other highlights include Phalaropes in resplendent summer plumage inhabit Sabine’s Gulls, Red-throated Loon and with luck, ponds, Tundra Swans and Sandhill Cranes enliven the much sought-after Ivory Gull! The mixing of the tundra and a scarce nesting species such as Buff- ocean currents from Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound breasted or Purple Sandpiper may show up. The results in very rich marine life! Sea ice is melting area is steeped in history and culture, from explorers back and marine mammals are traveling north along searching for the Northwest Passage to the Inuit of the ice floe edge where food is concentrated. the western Arctic. The high quality and exciting wildlife viewing make for a long-remembered tour! We will look for several species of seals, the amazing spiral-tusked Narwhal and, with luck, Polar Bear JUNE 29 – JULY 9, 2017 (11 DAYS ) and Bowhead Whale. Wild Arctic landscapes, rich WITH RI C HA R D KNAPTON northern wildlife and fascinating culture – this $5,590 USD, $6,575 CAD + GST promises to be the experience of a lifetime! JUNE 15 – 22, 2017 (8 DAYS ) WITH CAM GILLIES $5,295 USD, $6,250 CAD + GST 2 Watching a Bowhead Whale at the Floe Edge 2016 © Cam Gillies Waterton Lakes National Park Waterton Alberta Birds & Dinosaurs Canadian Rockies Prairie birds and fascinating fossils Impressive wildlife amongst stunning landscapes Amazing landscapes, great birds, and one of the richest Join us as we explore Waterton Lakes National Park, dinosaur fossil sites in the world. The bulk of our truly one of the most beautiful mountain parks in North days will be spent exploring the Red Deer River Valley America. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site badlands and adjacent prairies around Drumheller in 1995, Waterton has a great combination of stunning and Dinosaur Provincial Park. Breeding season will mountain vistas, clear lakes, thundering waterfalls and be in full swing in this amazing region of central rainbow coloured streams. Known as the place where the Alberta, and birding will be the focus each morning. mountains meet the prairies, the unique environments We will explore several unique habitats including present in the park make it one of the most ecologically Prairie sloughs, riparian Cottonwood forests, and the diverse regions in the Rocky Mountains. Breeding desert-like conditions of the badlands. Our afternoons season will be in full swing and birding will be the will be spent learning about the unique geology and focus each morning. The bulk of our days will be spent natural history of the region at Dinosaur Provincial exploring the foothills and mountains of Kananaskis Park and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. and Waterton, along with stops to explore prairie MAY 27 – 31, 2017 (5 DAYS ) sloughs and the culturally significant Head-Smashed- WITH JODY ALLAI R In Buffalo Jump. In addition to birding we will have $1,325 USD, $1,550 CAD + GST the opportunity to see lots of mammals including Elk, Bighorn Sheep and possibly even Grizzly Bears. MAY 30 – JUNE 4, 2017 (6 DAYS ) Conservation WITH JODY ALLAI R A portion of the proceeds from our Alberta Birds $1,525 USD, $1,795 CAD + GST & Dinosaurs and Canadian Rockies tours will support the important conservation work of Bird Studies Canada and a local partner organization. Bird Studies Canada’s mission is to advance the understanding, appreciation, and conservation of wild birds and their habitat in Canada and elsewhere. Call for a detailed itinerary 1-800-373-5678 3 NORTH AMERICA Great Gray Owl Manitoba Owls Churchill & Southern Manitoba Excellent chances of finding northern owls Exceptional birding at a premier birding hotspot! Southeastern Manitoba is one of the premier locations on Willow Ptarmigan and Smith’s Longspurs are on the continent for finding northern boreal forest owls. The open tundra, Pacific Loons and eiders in ponds, list of owls present during most winters is very impressive; Snow and Ross’s Geese along shorelines, Nelson’s Great Gray, Barred, Great Horned, Snowy and Northern Sharp-tailed Sparrows and Yellow Rails in marshes, Hawk-owl, with always a possibility of Eastern Screech-owl Gray-cheeked Thrushes and Harris’s Sparrows and Northern Saw-whet Owls. Although numbers fluctuate in stunted coniferous forests, and Connecticut from year to year, mid–March is a very good time to search Warblers and Great Gray Owls in Boreal Forest. for several of these owls as courtship is beginning and pairs Our tour coincides with the migration of species can be vocal on still nights. Rudolf is a local naturalist who which breed in the High Arctic, such as Red will have a very good handle on where each species can be Phalarope, Long-tailed and Pomarine Jaegers, and found. Other species that could be present include Rough- Sabine’s Gull. Coupled with the bird-rich prairies, legged Hawk, Sharp-tailed and Spruce Grouse, Black- where we look for Baird’s Sparrow, Chestnut-collared backed Woodpecker, Pine Grosbeak and Gray Partridge. Longspur and Sprague’s Pipit, are the amazing MA rc H 8 – 12, 2017 (5 DAYS ) mixed forests of Riding Mountain, which hold WITH RUDOLF KOES several big mammals such as Moose, Elk and Black $1,050 USD, $1,225 CAD + GST Bear.