Finally, after a two-year Covid delay, Lori and I were able to take the inaugural Naturalist Journeys: Israel Birds, Nature and Culture with good friends Bill and Denise.
To maximize the opportunity, we added a few days before and after the tour to explore on our own. The combined experience provided an excellent overview of Israel’s natural, geographical, cultural, and historical wonders, which are abundant for a country approximately the size of New Jersey.
Israel desert birding by Woody Wheeler
Israel Rainbow by Woody Wheeler
Sunbird by Woody Wheeler
Few realize that Israel is an outstanding place for birds. Situated along the Mediterranean Sea between Eurasia to the north and Africa to the south, it is a major corridor for bird migration.
According to Colum McCann in his outstanding novel Apeirogon, “Israel is the world’s second busiest migratory superhighway: at least four hundred different species of birds torrent through, riding different levels in the sky.”
Eurasian Hoopoe by Woody Wheeler
Long-eared Owl by Woody Wheeler
Stonechat on the Borders of Israel & Jordan by Woody Wheeler
We found four “life birds” on our first day in Tel Aviv: Eurasian Hoopoe, White-spectacled Bulbul, Egyptian Goose and Graceful Prinia. On other walks in Tel Aviv, we browsed the extensive open market and the Bauhaus Architectural district. Tel Aviv is a vibrant city that blends the old with the new.
Lori and Denise at the Tel Aviv market by Woody Wheeler
Tel Aviv Market by Woody Wheeler
On day two, Lori arranged a private Israel bird tour to Caesarea and Haifa. We explored the Roman ruins and seaside retreat of King Herod, a man with a checkered past, who left behind iconic structures in Caesarea, Masada, and the Temple of the Mount. Our day concluded with a spectacular view of the port city of Haifa with the Bahai gardens in the foreground. Bahai is one of four major world religions that consider Israel a holy place. The other three are Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Photo Credit: Lori Cohen
That evening, we met our amiable group of 12 and received an overview of our upcoming tour: Israel Birds, Nature, and Culture. The tour route followed most of the country’s external borders. We often birded by barbed-wire fences marking the surrounding and sometimes hostile borders of the surrounding countries of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. We also birded in or next to former war zones, including the Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Other birding spots included places restored after previously being drained to control malaria.
Group Photo!
We skipped stones in the Sea of Galilee, watched wild Ibex roam and Griffon Vultures soar near the gravesite of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister. We observed thousands of Common Cranes migrating south into the Hula Valley near Lebanon, and floated in the Dead Sea – so relaxing and invigorating!
Dead Sea by Woody Wheeler
Over the 14-day span of this amazing tour, we saw 180 species of birds, including more than 100 “Life Birds” for Lori and me; 13 species of mammals, 13 species of reptiles and amphibians, 8 species of butterflies and a Giant African Mantis. Some of the bird species were in entirely new families for me, including four species of Sand Grouse, eight species of Wheatears, two Cisticolas, One Bulbul, two Reed Warblers, one Bustard, a Thick-knee, Hoopoe, and a Sunbird.
Nubian Ibex by Woody Wheeler
Sunbird by Woody Wheeler
Desert Wheatear by Woody Wheeler
Greater Hoopoe Lark by Woody Wheeler
Yellow Fan-Fingered Gecko by Woody Wheeler
Israel’s geology was a surprise highlight. Ein Avdat Canyon, Makhtesh Ramon Crater, The Great Rift Valley and red rock formations of the Arava Desert reminded us of landscapes in the American Southwest. Mt. Hermon with its 9,232-summit in Syria, and its western flanks playing host to Israel’s only ski area, is part of the famous Golan Heights. In contrast to towering Mt. Hermon and the Golan Heights, at 1400 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth.
Landscape by Lori Cohen
Jerusalem is a city like no other. Its sense of history, culture, and religious fervor resonates. The many who travel there from all over the world openly express their affection for this holy city.
Walking on the ramparts of the city’s historic wall was an ideal way to review the city’s complex history and enjoy expansive views of the past and present. Mark Twain once noted that Israel has more history and culture packed into a small area than any other place on earth. It also has world-class birding, natural history, geology, and as if all of this were not enough, outstanding food!
Israel book reccomendations: Apeirogon by Colum McCann; Birds of the Middle East by Abdulrahman Al-Sirhan, Jens Eriksen, and Richard Porter; Israel – a Concise History of a Nation Reborn by Daniel Gordis; The Lemon Tree – An Arab, a Jew, and the heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan.
Colombia is widely acclaimed as a birding paradise, home to 1864 bird species, more than any country on Earth. Its species range from South America’s largest, Andean Condor, soaring on wings 11.5 feet from tip to tip, down to tiny Gorgeted Woodstar, a hummingbird whose stubby wings produce a slow, bumblebee-like flight.
Though geographically smaller than fellow South American countries Brazil and Peru, which also make the “top 5 birdiest countries” list, Colombia beats both out for birds because of its ‘location, location, location.’ Bridging southern Central America and South America proper, Colombia is home to species that live in both regions, and to a stunning 83 birds that live no place else, among them 17 endemic hummingbirds!
The Andes are one of several topographical features that add to the species density in this birding paradise.
Buffy Helmetcrest is one of 17 endemic hummingbirds in Colombia. Photo Credit: Xavier Munoz
Colombian topography by Milenioscuro via Creative Commons
Birding Paradise Rankings
Here is how the top 5 ‘birding paradise’ countries rank for total numbers of bird species according to Birdlife International.
Having a high number of species is one way to measure “birdiest,” but another is the number of bird species per square mile. Both Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica score in the top 10 for “birdiest countries” by this measure. Tours to both of these countries are so pleasurable because the birding is easy and relaxing, with the potential to see a large number of species without significant travel between spots.
Parlatuvier Bay is part of the UNESCO biosphere reserve in Tobago. Photo Credit: Hugh Simmons
Trinidad Ecotourism and the Scarlet Ibis are synonymous. Photo Credit: Lester Nanan
Jamaican Tody by Steve Shunk.
One attribute shared by these ‘birding paradise’ countries is their tropical location. For most plant and animal species, biodiversity is dramatically higher at the equator than at the poles, though there are many competing theories about why this “latitudinal diversity gradient” exists.
All of the top 5 are also large countries. The reason we offer three tours to Colombia because it would be impossible to see all of its impressive birds all on just one trip!
Beyond their tropical ecology and sizeable landmass, each of these ‘birding paradise’ countries has unique geographic and climactic features that support its particular suite of birds.
In this four-part series, we will discuss those factors, digging into what makes each a unique and inviting birding destination. In Part 1 we explore Colombia, in Part 2, Peru and Brazil and Part 3, Indonesia and Ecuador. In Part 4 we discuss Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, “high-density hotspots” that offer easy island birding and an exotic suite of species.
Colombia’s Geographic Diversity
Bridging Central and South America, Colombia is a land of geographic extremes, beginning with northern and western borders defined by extensive coastlines along both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The country is divided north to south by the towering Andes Mountains, descending to savannas and Amazon lowlands in the heavily forested interior. For obvious reasons, birding Colombia is an adventure that invites one to visit and revisit, exploring each birdy area in turn!
Our guide of the year, David Mehlman, encouraged us to bring back birding and nature tours to Colombia, and his enthusiasm for and knowledge of the country places you in very good hands when visiting to this birding paradise. Dave helped us devise the following three routes, and we may well add more in the future!
This tour explores the famous “Eje Cafetero,” designated by UNESCO as being a World Heritage Landscape and a haven for both coffee drinkers and birds.
Coffee cherries are beautiful! Naturalist Journeys stock
We have easy access to renowned birding areas such as Otún-Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary near Santa Rosa (with its famous flocks of Red-ruffed Fruitcrow) and the Rio Blanco Nature Reserve just outside Manizales, with a bird list of over 500 species and a legendary feeding station for antipittas.
Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Alejandro Bayer Tamayo via Wikimedia Commons
Brown-banded Antpitta, by Greg Smith.
We also include time at high elevations at the Los Nevados del Ruiz volcano, where we experience permanent snowfields just north of the equator! This unique area of the Central Andes above tree line, covered in a vegetation type called páramo, is the habitat for many rare, unique, and difficult-to-find species. We look here for Buffy Helmetcrest, Andean Siskin, Stout-billed Cinclodes, White-throated Spinetail, and Plumbeous Sierra-Finch.
Our hotel here has natural hot springs, which you are welcome to enjoy as a guest if you’re not distracted by the numerous iridescent hummingbirds to be found at the feeders just outside! We naturally sample local coffees, and enjoy a cultural field trip to a coffee farm, and even have one cooking class, learning to make the famous Colombian dish called sancocho.
Colombia’s Amazon may be best described from a naturalist’s perspective, as remote, difficult to access, and relatively unexplored by birders until quite recently. This is a magical trip where two of Colombia’s best destinations for birding in the Amazonian ecosystems collide, including the incredible Orinoco basin forest surrounding Puerto Inírida and the gorgeous, mystical Guianan Shield.
Fiery Topaz by Hectonichus via Creative Commons
Giant River Otter. Photo Credit: Bernard DuPont via Creative Commons
Turquoise Tanager by Glenn Chambliss
Golden-crowned Spadebill by Hector Bottai via Creative Commons
Collared Puffbird by thibaudaronson via Creative Commons
Gould’s Jewelfront by Bill Bouton via Creative Commons
Brown-banded Antpitta, by Greg Smith.
In 2020, our tour operator acquired 200 hectares of land near Puerto Inírida to establish an environmental reserve. This reserve involves the indigenous communities for the conservation of the wildlife that occur there and we are excited to meet these communities who are so involved in a successful ecotourism project.
We may see more than 400 species of birds, some of them considered among the rarest in Colombia. In addition to the bountiful birds we encounter, we are also on the lookout for special mammals like Yellow-handed Titi monkey, Pink River Dolphin, Giant River Otter, and many more!
We explore the terrain of the Central Andes which contains a diverse mix of coffee and other agricultural plantations, natural habitat, small towns, and world-class nature reserves. The birding is excellent with numerous species easily seen as we hike trails and visit bird feeding stations for hummingbirds, tanagers, toucans, motmots, and many more!
This tour includes a break in the middle to explore and experience the legendary “paisa” culture which Medellin and its surrounding department of Antioquia are famous for. We also explore the valley of the Magdalena River, Colombia’s largest, in search of water birds and other species.
We hope to see unique bird species found in few other places such as Yellow-eared Parrot, Andean Cock-of-the-Rock, Red-bellied Grackle, Golden-headed Quetzal, and manakins, tanagers, and flycatchers too numerous to count!
Next Up in Birding Paradise Part 2: Peru and Brazil
Group birding Bosque Yanahuanca Jaen, Peru. Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
Perhaps we should blame the poets for European birds’ unfair reputation for being drab and nondescript. After all, Edgar Allen Poe chose the monochromatic Raven to quote, and Percy Shelley wrote ‘To a Skylark’, a “little brown job” if there ever was one.
Raven, xulescu_g via Creative Commons
Skylark, Daniel Pettersson via Wikimedia Commons
Maybe these men never got out of the sooty city with a pair of binoculars, because their melancholy might have been lifted by considering a Western Capercaillie, peering at an Atlantic Puffin, or getting off their foggy islands altogether to glimpse a turquoise flash of European Roller, or the rainbow buzz of a European Bee-eater. Many European birds have both character and flash!
Atlantic Puffin by Charles Sharp via Wikimedia Commons
We asked our guides to share with us European birds that guests always love to see there, featuring upcoming tours where you may cross the pond for your own look!
This unpack-once jewel of a tour on the Greek island of Lesvos is one of five guided by one of the most highly regarded birding guides in all of Europe, Gerard Gorman, the author of two birding guides to Europe and seven books about woodpeckers, his personal passion! Our most recent Lesvos, Greece guests added handsome Middle-spotted Woodpecker two times to their species list, along with show-stopping European Bee-Eaters, gregarious birds recorded every day of the tour.
European Bee-Eaters are found on many tours, and always a guest favorite! Photo Credit: Gerard Gorman
Middle-Spotted Woodpecker, Frank Vassen via Wikimedia Commons
Woodchat Shrike, Ani Sarkisyan via Wikimedia Commons
Collared Pratincole, Greg Smith
Little Owl by Len Worthington
Other guest favorite birds of this tour included Collared Pratincole, Woodchat Shrike and Little Owl. (Little Owl is believed to be the source of the disinformation that owls are highly intelligent, as Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom, often carried one on her shoulder.)
Spain is strategically situated on one of Europe’s two principal flyways, and this spring migration tour gives great looks at many of the continent’s birds, including Spanish residents, migratory birds that breed in Spain and even northern European species that wintered in Africa and are headed home to pair up and nest.
Asked to share a few guest favorites, Carlos kindly gave us examples from the various legs of the tour:
“European Roller and Great Bustard are always favorites in the steppes (Caceres).”
Great Bustard. Gerard Gorman
European Roller by David Grabovac via Wikimedia Commons
“Eurasian Hoopoe and Eurasian Golden Oriole are also always big hits with groups, and they are fortunately quite widespread across our route.”
Eurasian Hoopoe has an exotic profile and a LOT of character. Alexandr Frolov, via Wikimedia Commons
Eurasian Golden Oriole is a guest favorite. Paco Gómez via Wikimedia Commons
“Other guest favorites include Egyptian Vulture and Spanish (Imperial) Eagle at Monfrague, Iberian Magpie in the dehesas. White-throated Dipper on clear streams in the Gredos.”
Egyptian Vulture, Carlos Delgado via Wikimedia Commons
Iberian Magpie, José Prego via Creative Commons
Imperial Eagle, by Gerard Gorman
White-throated Dipper Ron Knight via Creative Commons
This fantastic cruise around the coastline and islands of Ireland and Scotland visits the very best of the British Isles with opportunities to see internationally important seabird colonies, and a wide range of other British and Irish birds as well as other wonderful wildlife. Seabirds don’t tend to be especially colorful, with the exception of Atlantic Puffin, which we hope to see in large numbers. Many are quite striking though, including Northern Gannet, Common Murre and Red-Billed Chough.
An Atlantic Puffin strikes a pose. Photo Credit: Gerard Gorman
Common Murre by Peg Abbott
Red-billed Chough by Dibyendu Ash via Creative Commons
Northern Gannet by Hobbyfotowiki via Creative Commons
Your guide for this tour, Chris Harbard, is a well-known British ornithologist who spent 24 years working with the world’s largest bird conservation organization, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
No bird, however striking, will be able to compete with the gorgeous landscape of Iceland, including geysers, grand waterfalls, wildflowers, glaciers, mountains and seacoasts. Bird counts aren’t high here, but there are some great ones, including Atlantic Puffin, Red-throated Loon, Rock Ptarmigan, Eurasian Golden Plover and Red-Necked Phalarope.
Red-throated Loon by Don Faulkner via Creative Commons
Rock Ptarmigan males hold onto their white winter feathers longer to use as breeding plumage. Photo Credit: Jan Frode-Haugseth via Creative Commons
European Golden Plover by Ómar Runólfsson via Creative Commons
Female Red-necked Phalarope swimming and feeding by Greg Smith
White Wagtail. Naturalist Journeys’ Stock
An Atlantic Puffin strikes a pose. Photo Credit: Gerard Gorman
Finland and Norway and the next listed tour, share some of the same remarkable birds that migrate along the East Atlantic Flyway. Here are some that will be in both places mid-June, and below find a gallery of those particular to our Austria-Hungary tour. Our guests were delighted with our inaugural tour to Finland-Norway last year, and these birds were among their favorites to land on the species list. The Ruff is only seen on our Finland-Norway tour. The Capercaillie is also seen on our Scottish Highlands and Islands tours, next departure June 9– 21 (and yes, that Scottish Highlands tour features Atlantic Puffin. Who doesn’t love a puffin?)
Fighting Great Crested Grebes by Greg Smith
Bluethroat, by Gerard Gorman
Ruff, Gerard Gorman
Capercaille peeking above the tall grass. Photo Credit Olli Laminsalo via Creative Commons
Our route here takes us from Vienna to Budapest, visiting the many different and wonderful birding habitats in between, and accordingly there is a significant amount of culture on this tour. We also highlight the region’s other wildlife, plants, interesting heritage livestock breeds, and fine historic architecture. We enjoy local foods and even visit an old winery in Hungary! Many of the iconic European species can be seen on this tour. These three guest favorites are only seen on this tour: Red-crested Pochard, Common Cuckoo, and Red-footed Falcon.
Red-crested Pochard, Sandy Sorkin
Common Cuckoo, Vogelartinfo via Wikimedia Commons
Red-footed Falcon, Martin Mecnarowski via Wikimedia Commons
Eurasian Skylark, Daniel Pettersson via Wikimedia Commons
This wonderful fall migration tour offers chances to see many of the Eastern European species already mentioned, along with these client favorites that may also be seen on our Austria-Hungary tour: Hawfinch, Black Woodpecker, White-tailed Eagle, Northern Lapwing.
Handsome Hawfinch is unmistakable and unforgettable. Photo Credit Gerard Gorman
Black Woodpecker, taken by Gerard Gorman, who finds ALL the woodpeckers on this tour.
Northern Lapwing by Andreas Trepte via Creative Commons
White-tailed Eagle by Jari Peltomki via Wikimedia Commons
Like Spain, Portugal is situated on the East Atlantic flyway, the bird superhighway connecting Scandanavia and West Africa. Many of the birds already mentioned may be seen on this fabulous tour. Dapper Red-legged Partridge and endemic Sardinian Warbler are two of many great reasons to sign onto this culturally rich tour.
Sardinan Warbler by Andreas Trepte via Creative Commons
Red-legged Partridge is a very stylish game bird. Photo Credit René Pop
Kingfishers are among the most charismatic and distinctive of all the bird families, with large heads and long pointed bills that contrast with their shortish legs and stubby tails. Even beginning US birders can confidently identify the brush-crested red-white-and-blue Belted Kingfisher, whose in-flight, rattling, streamside call is as unmistakable as it is thrilling.
The Belted Kingfisher is ubiquitous in North America in streamside habitats. Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
Green Kingfisher is at the top of its range in Texas and Arizona. Photo Credit: Tom Dove
RInged Kingfisher is the largest American kingfisher, twice the size of Belted Kingfisher.. Photo Credit: Ted Beedy
Belted Kingfisher is widespread in North America and may be seen on most of our Mainland US and Alaska tours. Our Southeast Arizona and Texas tours may see two more species, at the top of their North American ranges: Ringed Kingfisher and Green Kingfisher, who, like the Belted Kingfisher, perch and hunt along streams and rivers for their namesake lunch.
Like many kingfisher species, Green Kingfisher digs long tunnel burrows into stream banks, often rising in height before dropping down to their nests. Tunnel kingfisher nests often become quite befouled, perhaps because taking out the refuse would be such a long trip!
US birders traveling abroad are sometimes surprised to learn there are kingfishers who don’t eat fish at all! There are 114 species of kingfishers, and while they have similar forms, they are diverse and widespread.
Rufous-bellied Kookaburra is a Tree Kingfisher. Photo Credit: Greg Miles via Creative Commons.
Tree Kingfishers, sometimes called Wood Kingfishers, live in drier forests where insects and other small prey make up much of their diet. Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea’s charismatic kookaburras are examples of tree kingfishers, which predominate in Asia. The kookaburras are the largest of the kingfishers, ranging from 11 to 17 inches in length.
Our New Zealand guests often see Sacred Kingfisher, which mostly eats invertebrates, crustaceans, and the occasional lizard throughout its wide range in Australasia. Sacred Kingfisher is also seen by our Papua New Guinea guests, but it has a LOT of kingfisher company there. It was just one of eleven kingfishers our guests saw on their last tour there:
Azure, Brown-headed Paradise, Buff-breasted Paradise, Common Paradise, Hook-billed, Little Paradise, Sacred, Shovel-billed and Variable Dwarf Kingfishers, along with Blue-winged and Rufous-winged Kookaburra. You’ll notice some of these have longer tails, more beneficial rudders in the air than they would be in the water.
Kingfishers of Papua New Guinea
Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher by J.J. Harrison via Creative Commons
Spangled Kookaburra by Doug Janson via Creative Commons
Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher by Marksharper1 via Creative Commons
Common Paradise Kingfisher by Francesco Veroni via Creative Commons
Hook-billed Kingfisher by Francesco Veroni via Creative Commons
Blue-winged Kookaburra by Greg Schechter via Creative Commons
Spangled Kookaburra is another species we may see on our Aug. 2 – 15, 2023 birding and nature tour to Papua New Guinea. That trip deserves its ‘Bucket List Birding’ title not just for its impressive suite of kingfishers, but for all the opportunity to see showy bird of paradise and bowerbirds, whose dramatic mating displays are a staple of David Attenborough-esque documentaries about bird behavior.
Laughing Kookaburra looks amused. Photo Credit: Calistemon via Creative Commons
We may also see Blue-winged Kookaburra, which live in groups of up to a dozen individuals in open savannah and tea-tree swamps. Blue-winged Kookaburra is a “cooperative breeder,” meaning a nesting pair may get some help from other birds in its group with feeding and rearing young.
Kingfishers are Colorful Characters
Bright colors and striking patterns are hallmarks of kingfishers, exemplified by uncommonly beautiful Common Kingfisher, widespread in Eurasia and North Africa.
Common Kingfishers can be see on many of our European tours. Photo Credit: Tom Dove
This is always a WOW bird in the binoculars for our guests in Spain, one of whom described it as “an iridescent blue jewel.” Our next Spain trip, the very popular spring migration trip with guide Carlos Sanchez April 24 – May 7, is an excellent opportunity to look for Common Kingfisher, along with all the Africa-wintering European species moving through in great numbers at this time.
Malachite Kingfisher by Peg Abbott
Another incredibly colorful kingfisher is the Malachite Kingfisher, which has been seen on all of our Africa tours, as it is widespread across the continent. One of the most irridescent of kingfishers, the Malachite’s shine, like a hummingbird’s glowing gorget, is the result of intricate feather structures called melanasomes rather than pigmentation in the feather itself, which accounts for their flash.
Tiny African Pygmy Kingfisher is less than 5 inches long. Photo Credit: Tom Dove
Our most recent trip to Botswana also saw a half-dozen kingfisher species, including Half-collared, Brown-hooded and Striped Kingfishers working the Chobe River, one of several water sources we visit on safari to encounter concentrations of wildlife, including lions, elephants, antelope and, of course, kingfishers!
Half-collared Kingfisher. Photo Credit: Grancesco Veronesi via Creative Commons
Striped Kingfishers were seen on both our most recent Tanzania and Botswana tours! Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
Brown-hooded Kingfisher by Derek Keats via Creative Commons.
Kingfishers are Ancient
Dating back 40 million years in the fossil record, kingfishers share the suborder Alcidines with the Central America’s todys, who share their stubby tails, and motmots, who took tailfeathers in an entirely different direction. Having a short tail is especially helpful for kingfishers that dive underwater, helping them turn and maneuver with less resistance.
Tody Motmot in Belize by Peg Abbott.
Trinidad Motmot. Photo Credit: Bob Hill
Catch, Kill, THEN Eat
Rather than risk indigestion, kingfishers won’t immediately eat fish that are still wriggling, especially large ones. They will instead either hold its prey until it suffocates or actively kill a fish by bashing it against a tree trunk or rock, as shown in this “Scoop of the Day” mini documentary about the Stork-Billed Kingfisher:
Kingfishers are Also Abundant in Asia
We have chances to see six or more kingfishers fishing in India, during a single cruise of the Sundarbans region on our March 10 – 23 Grand India Tigers & Glorious Birds tour: Stork-billed, Brown, Little Pied, Black-capped, Common, and Collared Kingfisher. The Peacock is India’s national bird, but its best-selling beer is Kingfisher!
Stork-billed Kingfisher can be seen on our India tours. Photo Credit: Dibyendu Ash via Creative Commons
Black-capped Kingfisher by Lakshmi Sharath via Creative Commons
Just north of India, the richly forested Kingdom of Bhutan is home to nine kingfisher species! We are taking an inaugural trip to Bhutan April 10 to 23: Biodiverse Bhutan: Birds, Mammals and Beyond. With luck we will see some of them darting into the many rivers that descend from Himalayan peaks, carving forested valleys.
Pied Kingfisher by Annishaikh1990 via Creative Commons
Kingfishers of Japan, Indonesia and Thailand
Among its many wetland species, in Japan we have chances to see up to 7 species and in Thailand, a full dozen. But there is no better Naturalist Journeys tour to see kingfishers than our Sept. 11 – 27, 2023 tour to Indonesia. In fact, you may add as many kingfishers to your life list as any other bird family. More than 50 kingfisher species can be found in Indonesia, including 16 endemics. Just wow!
Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher by Ariefrahman via Creative Commons
Great-billed Kingfisher by A.S. Kono via Creative Commons
Javan Kingfisher by Lip Kee Yap via Creative Commons
Owling, aka owl-watching, is one of many family-based birding specialties, on par with hawk-watching, hummingbirding and kingfishering.
OK, we made up the term kingfishering, but the family Alcedinidae, the kingfishers, is another of the most beloved and “collected” in birding, and the subject of our NEXT blog.
But back to the Strigiformes and owling: the often dimly lit, (and let’s face it, frequently futile) search for nocturnal raptors whoo have captured the imagination (and cut into the sleep) of many an avid birder on vacation or birding tour.
True & Barn Owls: Strigidae & Tytonidae
Heart-shaped faces ID the Tytonidae, or Barn Owls, including this Lesser Sooty Owl found on our Australia: Queensland’s Wet Tropics tour. Photo Credit: JJ Harrison
A member of the “true owl” family Strigidae usually has a round head, like this Burrowing Owl, normally too hunkered down for such a clear shot as this one, by Senior Guide Greg Smith.
Our Queensland’s Wet Tropics Tour, Aug. 13 – 23, 2023, offers chances to see both the Lesser Sooty Owl and Rufous Owl.
Owls and Owling are Everywhere!
Ranging from 5 to 28 inches in length, owls are found on every continent save Antarctica and for millennia have been inspiring myths and legends of awe, fear and admiration.
Since most owls are either nocturnal or crepuscular, an owling trip is typically launched near dusk, a shot in the dark in more ways than one. Owl unpredictability is one thing that makes owling so satisfying when we do get see them. An owl sighting always feels as though fortune has smiled.
A cooperative Elf Owl is a marvelous thing on a Big Bend, TX tour. Photo Credit: Dave Mehlman
Here’s how guide Hugh Simmons narrated one Elf Owling foray in Texas’s Davis State Park:
“From recent negative reports, our chances of success didn’t seem high, but we managed to be in the right place at exactly the right time and were rewarded by brief views of two owls as they flew out from their daytime roost in a woodpecker hole in a wooden utility post – a very satisfactory end to the day!”
An Elf Owl photographed in Portal, Arizona, by Bettina Arrigoni, licensed through Wikimedia Commons.
We go searching for owls on every one of the six continents they inhabit, and they are always a guest favorite when we do manage to see them. Owls often have large faces, stocky bodies and soft feathers to help muffle their predatory flights. Let’s examine some of the owl characteristics that make them special, traits that can vary widely from species to species and place to place.
Are Owls Super Smart? Or Is It Just the Big Eyes & Glasses?
While there are MANY things to love about owls, their Western reputation for being super-intelligent is probably not deserved.
Spectacled Owl. Photo Credit: Jerome Foster.
So while the large, tropical Spectacled Owl we frequently see on our Belize, Mexico and Central American tours may look like it just came back from the library, as a group, owls are considered to have below average intelligence. As fierce and mighty hunters, they more closely match up with their reputations among many Native American tribes as harbingers and bringers of death. Maybe the widespread availability of Owl Cams has influenced our opinion, but reducing owls to a caricature of killing machines seems a bit harsh!
The Wise Owl Myth, Explained
Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, reputedly carried a Little Owl on her shoulder, which she said helped her see in the dark and into blind spots, and that association may be how owls came to symbolize wisdom.
Athena and her “Little Owl,” she said helped her to see better. Photo Credit: The MET via Wikimedia Commons.
(Fittingly, we saw Little Owl in Lesvos, Greece on our most recent tour there with guide Gerard Gorman. For your own chance to see Little Owl in its homeland of legend, our Lesvos, Greece: Migration! tour returns in April of 2023.) Photo Credit: Len Worthington via Creative Commons.
Athena’s story checks out in that owls have superior low-light vision and hearing. But if you’re looking for the smartest of birds, those are the social ones, like the corvids and parrots, according to researchers. Frequent interactions may have honed social birds’ wits and enlarged their brains. Corvids also benefit from having “long childhoods,” continuing to live with their parents “in training” for up to four years!
Owls are Loners for Life
Meanwhile, owlets are born helpless and dependent, yet not long after they fledge, just weeks or months later, begin leading solitary lives.
This Spectacled Owlet is unmistakably a juvenile with its plumage! Photo Credit: Rhian Springett via Wikimedia Commons
While many people know that a gathering of owls is called a ‘parliament,’ they are such a lonesome and territorial species that it’s hard to imagine when the term might ever be needed in conversation.
Owls are Hunting Machines
Specialized hunters with massive eyes and highly developed and calibrated ears, owls devote almost two-thirds of their brain’s modest volume to the tasks of seeing and hearing, notes WorldBirds.com, leaving little capacity for learning new things.
Some Owls are Smarter Than Others
Nevertheless, some species do exhibit clever and creative feeding strategies, including the Burrowing Owl, often spotted on our Texas, Arizona and Oregon’s Woodpecker Wonderland tours. They routinely set out bait for their insect prey, including bits of fresh cow pies. When a dung beetle comes by attracted by the smell of lunch, they get eaten, University of Florida researchers say.
Owl Calls: Hoots, Hisses, and Who Cooks for You?
Another ingenious adaptation of the Burrowing Owl is its ability to mimic a rattlesnake’s rattle. The Burrowing Owl exhibits this rattly hiss in states like Arizona and Texas, where it competes for burrows with rattlers, desert tortoises and rodents like kangaroo rats and ground squirrels. Rather than excavating their own homes, Burrowing Owl prefers to steal and defend a burrow, and their snake-y vocal imitations help them do that.
For a more quintessential “hooting” call, the Great Horned Owl is the go-to soundtrack for moviemakers hoping to evoke a night in the woods. Widely distributed in North and South America, we frequently see this lovely owl in Arizona and Brazil, where our next tour to the Pantanal is Oct. 11–21, 2022. There are resident Great Horned Owls at one of our favorite accommodations in the world, the Casa de San Pedro B&B, where we stay on our Southeast Arizona Sky Island Fall Sampler Nov. 3 – 10, 2022.
Great Horned Owl taken on our Brazil’s Pantanal trip by Don Cooper.
One of the most iconic and unmistakable owl calls is “who cooks for you?,” which is what the Barred Owl seems to be saying. A North American owl, we often see Barred Owl on our Oregon and Texas tours. Though they hunt at night, they are more active during the day than many other owl species.
Horned, Long-eared and Short-eared: Not Really Ears!
The feather tufts sported by the Horned, Long-Eared and Short-Eared Owl are often mistaken for ears, though they are not even in the vicinity of their true ears. These articulated tufts on the tops of owls’ heads are believed to be part signaling device, part camouflage. Scientists have observed that Short-eared Owls, which we often see on our Journey to the Galapagos cruise(next departure with space Jan. 15 – 27, 2023), tend to be found in more open areas, like grasslands and near the ocean. Longer-tufted owls, like the Long-eared Owl, which we have chances to see on our Nov. 5 – 11 California Birding and Wine tour, tend to live in forests, where a more exaggerated profile may be needed to distinguish them from denser surrounding foliage.
Short-eared Owl by Howard Topoff.
Long-eared Owl by Greg Smith
Real Owl Ears are Hidden, Sometimes Offset and Always Amazing!
If someone who is observant is said to be hawkeyed, someone with keen hearing should be called owl-eared, because owls have BOTH the best low-light vision and hearing of any bird. The flat, disc-like faces are part of its hearing toolkit, directing sound to its true ears, which can be found behind the eyes and beneath their feathers. Many owls have ears that are offset, which they use to triangulate which direction a sound is coming from.
What the Color of Owl Eyes Tells Us
Besides being extremely large and cylindrically shaped so as to best capture light, owl eyes come in a variety of striking colors. The color of an owl’s eye is connected to what time of day they are hunting. The darkest of eyes denotes a night-time hunter, orange eyed-owls tend to be crepuscular —hunting at dusk or dawn — and those with yellow eyes are the diurnal, daytime owls.
To give just one example, yellow-eyed Snowy Owls are daylight hunters. Their soft white feathers provide camouflage and sound-o-flage, helping them sneak up on their prey in broad daylight. Even their feet are covered with feathers, soft slippers to help muffle the incoming threat of sharp talons. We hope to see Snowy Owl on our Alaska tours and our Washington Winter Birding tour, next departure Jan. 20 – 28, 2023.
Snowy Owl feathers even cover their feet to help muffle the sound of their approach. Males and older birds may be all white, while females have more brown mottling. Photo Credit: Greg Smith
Largest, Smallest, and Not-That-Quiet
Because they are exceptions, not only in their huge and small size, we’ve saved for last the largest and smallest owls, which share the unusual trait of being uncharacteristically noisy.
The Great Gray Owl is the longest of owl species, averaging up to 28 inches in length. Anyone who has seen this majestic owl, like our Yellowstone National Park guests often do, comes away with a sense of wonder (and some great photos, too! No telephoto needed with a bird this large.)
Great Gray Owl taken on our Yellowstone National Park tour by guest Gary Stone.
But the endangered Blakiston’s Fish-Owl is considered the world’s largest owl, because it us much more massive, with females weighing up to 10 pounds, and because its wingspan, which can surpass 6 feet, is the largest of any owl. We have great opportunities to see this highly range-restricted bird on our Jan 9 – 23, 2023 Japan Birding and Nature tour, along with Red-Crowed Crane and Japanese Snow Monkey. Since Blakiston’s Fish-Owl’s prey is underwater, being silent isn’t as important, which helps explain why their feathers aren’t as soft and downy as owls that hunt mammals.
Blakiston’s Fish Owl. Photo Credit: Takashi Muramatsu via Creative Commons.
At the other end of the spectrum, the smallest and arguably the cutest of all owls is the Elf Owl, which is always a treat for our guests on Texas Big Bend & Hill Country tours as well as our Southeast Arizona tours. Standing about 5 inches tall and roosting in tiny stolen cavities, the Elf Owl is very active and very noisy around dusk, when its persistent peeping offers helpful clues to bird guides trying to find them!
Elf Owls are cavity nesters, offering them protection from the chill of desert nights. Photo Credit: Woody Wheeler
Elf Owls do have soft feathers on the leading edge of their wings, so they can be quiet when they want to. Though they are desert dwellers, they prefer riparian habitats.
Uganda and Tanzania are very Owly
We have not yet mentioned Africa, which would be a terrible oversight, because the continent has some wonderful owl species. Our Uganda and Tanzania tours in particular are great places to see owls, including Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl which can be seen on both! Our next Uganda tour with space available is Grand Uganda: Fabulous Birds and Mammals, July 15 – 31, 2023. Our next Tanzania Wildlife and Birding Safari tour is Jan. 30 – Feb. 11, 2023.
Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl. Photo Credit: Dominic Sherony via Wikimedia Commons.
To say that Robert Gallardo is doing something unprecedented on his little piece of bird-and-butterfly-guide paradise in Emerald Valley, Honduras would be to use the singular when the plural is what’s called for.
Crowning a series of recent triumphs, Robert expects sometime this year to publish with his partner Olivia The Butterflies of Honduras, a volume that represents many firsts in itself. Among those firsts are several new species Robert had a hand in identifying in the past few years, including one he named this year after his mother, Eleanor’s Emesis: a bright orange metalmark with merlot and iron spots.
Emesis Eleanorae, in the journal Tropical Lepidoptera Research.
Named for Robert’s mother, Eleanor Gallardo.
Robert said he suspected immediately that it was an undiscovered species, and is only one of a handful of people in Central America with enough knowledge to be that confident. He’s on the leading edge of a growing but still exclusive group of naturalists who can claim the title of ‘butterfly guide,’ which is just like being a bird guide, only much, MUCH harder!
Robert and Olivia Gallardo. The couple lives in Emerald Valley where they protect 50 acres of rich mid-elevation rainforest and are working to install a nature center with their Pro Nature Honduras Foundation.
Quietly fluttering anywhere from ground-hugging flowers to the sky-scraping canopy, butterflies can be quite tiny and hard to locate, which is the first step to identification.
“Once you get your eyes trained to see hummingbirds, the next step is butterflies,” he said. “When you can spot butterflies half an inch across from 100 feet away, then hummingbirds are easy.”
Our Texas Birds and Butterflies guests will enjoy his tips for finding and identifying both kinds of beautiful flying things! Co-guiding this trip is Bryan Calk, a Texas native and a splendid photographer. This is one of the most exciting and well-matched guide pairings all year long.
Texas Birds and Butterflies with guides Robert Gallardo & Bryan Calk
“Butterflies are a lot harder than birds,” Robert said, noting that in Honduras there are twice as many butterflies as birds — and they don’t vocalize to help you narrow the identification down.
“It’s like trying to ID the Empidonax flycatchers, multiplied by ten, and only a tenth the size,” he said. “That’s why there are very few specialists in the entire region.”
Butterflying Etiquette
It is a good idea to scan butterflies as quickly as possible for identifying marks, partly because they may fly away, but there’s also a chance a bird or another insect will swoop in and turn it into lunch.
“We’ve seen birds, jumping spiders, and robber flies catch butterflies we are watching,” Robert said. “It’s fun, it’s part of the butterflying experience.”
There is more collecting of specimens in butterflying than there is in modern birding, Robert said, especially when they may be needed to help identify a new species.
The fact that Robert, Olivia and four of their own friends have in the past year discovered and named new butterflies has something to do with how fervent and devoted they are to wandering these wild forests, with a light net and a light heart.
But it also speaks to an environment of less investment in conservation and cataloging of species in Honduras than, say, Costa Rica, which is a darling of international funders who perceive its government as more stable and protective of its environment, Robert said. As a result, there haven’t been as many scientists looking here, so there are more discoveries left to find.
Born in California, Robert came to Honduras on a Peace Corps mission in 1993, bringing a freshly printed degree from Humboldt State in Natural Resources Planning. When his three-year Peace Corps tour ended, Robert decided to stay on and make his home there. Teaching himself the local flora and fauna, he has become Honduras’s most celebrated expert on both birds and butterflies.
Robert’s California boyhood.
Continuing his long list of “firsts,” Robert and Olivia’s Butterflies of Honduras is the first butterfly guide to catalog the more-than-1250 species found there, and the first butterfly guide of its kind to use only images taken within the country rather than bringing in pictures from neighboring countries where they are also seen.
It is also an ambitious butterfly guide in that it is more than pictures and names – every species has a text description and notes. Contemporary butterfly guides written about Costa Rica, for example, only include some of the six butterfly families, omitting the tricky ‘hairstreaks’ and ‘skippers’, which live in the harder-to-observe canopy.
“There is nothing out there like this,” Robert said of his and Olivia’s butterfly guide. “It was quite an undertaking,” he added with a laugh.
His Birds of Honduras has been published in English and Spanish!
And the butterfly book isn’t even Robert and Olivia’s most ambitious iron in the fire. They are also in the process of developing a 50-acre property in Emerald Valley as a tourist-friendly research center that will double as a center of education and training for ecotourism operators.
Robert at the Birds of Honduras book launch.
They will offer several butterfly photography tours this year, including one specializing in rare crepuscular (dusk and dawn) butterflies.
Annual Butterfly Festival Expands in 2023
Their Honduran Butterfly Conservation Tour (formerly the Emerald Valley Butterfly Festival) is another “first” as the only one of its kind in Latin America. The upcoming Jan. 5 – 11, 2023 festival will be the fourth annual, and it will be supercharged this year, with teams of international experts flying in to lead festival-goers in exploring Honduras’ Lake Yojoa region, home to some 1,000 butterfly species!
“Quite the big achievement taking into consideration that Costa Rica has not ever been able to pull one off,” Robert said.
One by one as funds are available, they are building upscale cabins that will comfortably house tourists, researchers and students. They’ve already brought enough power to the site to develop a small village.
“Our mission is to promote sustainable tourism and nature tourism, show the people how to sustainably use this finite resource we have been given,” Robert said. “We want to be an example.”
Creature Feature: 6 Butterfly Family Portraits
Learn below about the six butterfly families: The Swallowtails (Family Papilionidae); Brush-Footed Butterflies (Family Nymphalidae); Whites and Sulphurs (Family Pieridae); Gossamer-Winged Butterflies (Family Lycaenidae); and Skippers (Family Hesperiidae). Photos by Robert Gallardo; info gleaned from ThoughtCo.com, and quotes also attributed to ThoughtCo.com
Anastrus meliboea. Photo Credit: Robert Gallardo
Skippers
Named for their quick, skipping flight, Skippers are different than most butterfly species in that they have robust thoraxes, which make them resemble moths. Their antennae are also hooked at the end, rather than clubbed. Skippers tend toward drab browns or grays, with white or orange markings.
Anteros micon. Photo Credit Robert Gallardo
Metalmarks
A tropical butterfly, they are rare in the US, and are named for the metallic markings on their wings.
Arcas cypria. Photo Credit: Robert Gallardo
Gossamer-winged Butterflies
Small, quick and tricky, this group includes the hairstreaks, blues, and coppers. Hairstreaks live mainly in the tropics, while blues and coppers can be found most often throughout the temperate zones. Small with sheer wings often colorfully streaked.
Catastica nimbice. Photo Credit: Robert Gallardo
Whites and Sulphurs
Small to medium white and yellow butterflies, often with orange or black markings. They have three pairs of walking legs, unlike the brush-foots, which have shortened front legs. “Most whites and sulphurs have limited ranges, living only where legumes or cruciferous plants grow.”
Callicore texa. Photo Credit: Robert Gallardo
Brush-Footed Butterflies
“The brush-footed butterflies comprise the largest family of butterflies, with some 6,000 species described worldwide and just over 200 species in North America. Many members of this family appear to have just two pairs of legs. Take a closer look, however, and you will see the first pair is there, but reduced in size. Brush-foots use these small legs to taste their food. Many of our most common butterflies belong to this group: monarchs and other milkweed butterflies, crescents, checkerspots, peacocks, commas, longwings, admirals, emperors, satyrs, morphos, and others.”
Neographium thyastes. Photo Credit: Robert Gallardo
Swallowtails
Medium to large butterflies with a large tail-like appendage make up this showy group. “Not all members of the family Papilionidae have this feature. Swallowtails also boast wing colors and patterns that make species identification fairly easy. Though about 600 Papilionidae species live worldwide, less than 40 inhabit North America.”
We are pleased to recognize the outstanding talents and above-and-beyond contributions to our company over the last year. David Mehlman has inspired clients on many wonderful outings! He reminds us of just why we work hard in the office — it’s FUN to empower great guides to do what they do best.
Through this most challenging pandemic year+ we are thrilled to help people connect with nature and discover the wonders of our world firsthand. In keeping with our focus on birding and wildlife, the award year runs from spring to spring.
For this inaugural, annual award, Dave is the clear winner! He has received the first pick of tours for the next season, and a $2000 grant for continued learning and enrichment. Congratulations Dave.
Dave (second from right) with guests on the Laguna Meadows Trail in Big Bend. Photo Credit: Naturalist Journeys Stock.
Meet Dave Mehlman
Dave is a naturalist with interests in birds, migration, ecosystems and natural disturbances, plants, and gardening. He holds a PhD from the University of New Mexico. Dave worked for The Nature Conservancy for 25+ years as Director of its Migratory Bird Program. He has published several dozen papers in scientific and popular journals.
How Do We Pick a Guide of the Year?
Fifteen criteria were used to select the Naturalist Journeys Guide of the Year. David was repeatedly strong in each area, from knowledge to demonstrated leadership skills under pressure (In addition to Covid affecting meals and various logistics, he coped with fires closing Big Bend National Park for two days and another fire closing half of the hiking trail at Isle Royale National Park, after rough lake winds delayed their ferry!)
Dave with an award from Partners in Flight, a conservation organization that advances full life-cycle conservation of landbirds in the Americas.
He topped the charts for preparedness, going over each detail with our office meticulously. He mentored new guides and is always timely on sending the office Trip Reports and Species Lists after each tour. He assisted our office with preparation of tour materials when staff numbers were low.
Dave Brought Back Columbia
David brought Colombia back into our calendar with three new routes in the coming year, helping us chart a partnership with a new operator.
He brought real joy to some of our favorite lodges in Belize with a private trip we did for the New Mexico Ornithological Society, and he revived a tour from our past, New Mexico Nature and Culture, adding his special southwestern expertise, as he is based in Albuquerque. Always willing to learn and explore, Dave pioneered time on the Apostle Islands on our Great Lakes series of tours. He posted great live-time social media from his tours.
And he has many repeat clients! Two trips are coming right up and there is still space for YOU.
Hawks a-plenty riding the thermals on their way to parts south hug the coastline of Mexico, and Veracruz has a LOT of coastline. Photo Credit: Dave Mehlman
Veracruz is the site of the largest hawk migration on the planet, with up to 1,000,000 hawks and other passerines riding the thermals in a “River of Raptors” on their way to parts south. We see a spectacular range of other birds here as well, thanks to the dramatic topography that rises from Gulf Coast beaches to rainforest and then cloud forest. We bird them all!
Our guests will enjoy several cultural experiences along with spectacular birding, exploring archeological and cultural areas like the Totonac sites of Cempoala and Quiahuiztlan and the ruins of Hernan Cortez’ first house in the new world, a tour of the renowned Museum of Anthropology in Xalapa, with its extensive collection of pre-colonial Mexican artifacts; and a visit to a shade-grown coffee plantation.
Bosque del Apache with migrants. Photo Credit: Bryan Calk
New Mexico is an amazing place: for birds, for sunsets, for iconic Southwest landscapes, plants and animals, for vibrant Pueblo culture and the chance to find unique artistic gifts! That combination makes this New Mexico: Nature and Culture tour the perfect place to spend the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The winter solstice has great significance to Pueblo cultures, and our home bases in Albuquerque and Taos have special events to celebrate this festive time of year. This is also perhaps the best time of the year to avoid crowds eager to bird the varied habitats of Bandelier National Monument and Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We stay at top-rate accommodations full of charm, visit outstanding geological and archeological sites, national monuments, historic trading posts, and modern galleries. Our feedback was fantastic from our inaugural trip last year, which Dave helped to design! You’ll love it.
Dave Mehlman’s “Top Choice” 2023 Trips
January
Colombia: Birding & Nature in the Central Andes, Los Colores & Balandu Jan. 23 – Feb. 3
Marvel at Japanese Snow Monkeys and Red-crowned Cranes on this Japan Birding and Nature Tour
Cranes have long been considered a symbol of good fortune in Japan, and not just the famous dancing Red-crowned Cranes that, along with this island nation’s charismatic hot-spring-loving Snow Monkeys, helped to inspire our Winter 2023 Japan Birding and Nature Tour Jan. 9 – 22.
Red-crowned Cranes and Japanese Snow Monkeys are the centerpieces of this Japan Birding and Nature tour. Photo Credit: Alastair-Rae, via Creative Commons
Japanese Snow Monkeys are the Northernmost non-human primates in the world. Photo Credit: Snow Monkey, 猿蔵, via Creative Commons
As every Japanese school child knows, the meticulous labor of folding 1000 origami paper cranes is said to grant the folder one heartfelt wish. So how did cranes become a symbol for good luck and so deeply ingrained in the Japanese imagination?
Origami Cranes. Photo Credit: The Original CTBTO Photostream via Creative Commons.
It all starts with the Japanese climate, which is in a word, wet, with average annual precipitation nearly double the world average. Monsoons, typhoons and heavy winter snowfalls contribute moisture to marshy alluvial plains, ecologically rich wetlands reinforced by the widespread planting of rice fields. All combined, it is tremendously beneficial habitat for cranes and other waterfowl.
Rice fields add to available wetland for crane habitat. Photo Credit: At-by-At by Creative Commons
While wintering cranes tend to forage variously, in family groups, pairs, and singly, they roost in larger groups with unrelated cranes. Cranes, swans and deer near Otowa-bashi bridge, Setsuri-gawa River, Hokkaidō, Japan. Photo Credit: Julie Edgley via Creative Commons
We expect to see many species of crane on this tour, including the Siberian population of Sandhill Crane, a species well-loved by US birdwatchers. We will see many White-naped and Hooded Cranes, which make up the majority of the 15,000 cranes that overwinter in Japan.
Demoiselle Crane. Photo Credit: Ken Billington.
Siberian Cranes by Bernard Dupont via Wikimedia Commons
Hooded Cranes. Photo Credit: Francesco Veronesi, via Creative Commons
White-Naped Crane. Photo Credit: Alastair Rae via Creative Commons
But we also hope to see Common, Siberian and Demoiselle Cranes at the Crane Observation Centre in Izumi, along with many other attractive water birds peeking out from the waving reeds, including Reed, Rustic, Chestnut-eared and Ochre-rumped Buntings. If we are both lucky and good, we may spot a flock of Chinese Penduline-tit, handsome masked songbirds found cavorting with groups of Reed Bunting.
Reed Bunting. Photo Credit: Ken Billington via Creative Commons
Chinese Penduline-Tit. Photo Credit: Jerry Gunner via Creative Commons
But the show-stoppers and the trip-inspirers are without question the Red-crowned Cranes, which we travel to see in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of the Japanese archipelago. Once endangered but now common, we promise great looks at these impressive and dramatic birds.
Red-crowned Cranes with Juvenile. Photo Credit: Yamaguchi Yoshiaki via Creative Commons
Red-crowned Crane display. Photo Credit: Matthias Kabel via Creative Commons.
Red-crowned Cranes overwinter in Japan. Photo Credit: Isiwal via Creative Commons
Red-Crowned Cranes may stand more than 5 feet tall, with 8-plus feet wide wingspans, which helps explain why they loom so large in the cultural imagination, a dominant recurring symbol in Japanese, Chinese and Korean painting, sculpture and ceramics. In addition to good luck, Red-crowned Cranes symbolize longevity and fidelity. It is said that they live 1,000 years and mate for life, though only half of this conventional wisdom is verifiable.
Red-crowned Cranes are on Japanese money.
Red-crowned Cranes are on Japanese money. Photo in public domain from Emperor Huizong of Song
Baekja Ceramic. Photo Credit: Taman Renyah via Wikimedia Commons
The Beijing Palace Museum is home to this work of Bamboo and Cranes. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
By visiting in the winter rather than the nesting season, we get the best of both worlds. They would be territorial and thus spread out during breeding, but congregate more gregariously during the time of our visit. Fortunately for us, the Red-crowned Crane’s ostentatious dance display is not confined to the breeding season and happens year-round to reinforce pair bonding. So, we may have the opportunity to witness Red-crowned Cranes’ mirrored dancing, which is normally preceded by a series of mutual calls, heads tipped back with bills towards the sky.
There are other treasures to be had in Hokkaido; other species who brave the wintry cold, including the largest species of owl, Blakiston’s Fish Owl, with larger females topping out at around 10 pounds! If we are very fortunate indeed, we may see Blakiston’s feeding in a neighboring pond or river as we enjoy a nighttime outdoor soak in the thermal waters at our onsen, a traditional hot springs resort.
Blakiston’s Fish Owl. Photo Credit: Takashi Muramatsu via Creative Commons.
Arctic Loon. Carley, Curtis via Wikimedia Commons
Copper Pheasant would be quite a feather in our caps…this bird is reclusive! Photo Credit: KKPCW via Wikimedia Commons
Japanese Serow. Photo Credit: Alpsdrake via Wikimedia Commons
Blakiston’s Fish Owl. Photo Credit: Koichi via Wikimedia Commons
Moungain Hawk-Eagle. Photo Credit: Mike Prince via Wikimedia Commons
Moving from the marshy lowlands to the Japanese Alps, we find the other centerpiece of this Japanese Birding and Nature tour: Japanese Snow Monkeys, the northernmost non-human primate population in the world.
If you are asking yourself ‘What are monkeys doing living in the snow?’ sometimes it seems this troupe of macaques are asking themselves the same thing as they huddle together for warmth in snowy treetops, and park themselves over naturally occurring thermal vents on the forest floor. Their third method of staying warm has led to the most iconic photos of the Snow Monkey troupe: soaking in the hot springs that villagers of Jigokudani constructed especially for them.
Macaque onsen. Photo Credit: Asteiner via Creative Commons
Japanese Macaque. Public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons.
On our one-mile hike to take in the Japanese Snow Monkey’s antics, we may see Coal, Varied, Willow, and Japanese Tits, Goldcrest, and Eurasian Siskin. We also take in Zenkoji Temple, one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in Japan, on this leg of the tour. Japanese architecture and cuisine are delightful sidelights to the productive birding and nature we will find in Japan, with the Red-crowned Crane and Japanese Snow Monkey viewing taking center stage.
Varied tit at Tennōji Park in Osaka, January 2016.
Japanese Tit by Alpsdake via Creative Commons
Goldcrest by Alpsdake via Creative Commons.
Your guide for this tour is Bryan Shirley, who lived for three years in Japan in his early 20s and fell in love with its nature and culture. He has been returning to bird and to guide ever since. To learn more about this 15-day, 14-night Japan Birding and Nature tour Jan. 9 – 22, 2023, email us at travel@naturalistjourneys.com or call us at 866-900-1146.
World Migratory Bird Day is a global campaign dedicated to introducing the public to migratory birds and ways to conserve them. This year’s goal is to reduce the impact of light pollution on migratory birds. To commemorate this day, here is a list of 5 Naturalist Journeys guided nature tours where you’ll surely find migrating birds.
Maine’s Monhegan Island
September 9 – 16, 2022 & September 17 – 24, 2022
Experience the joy of fall migration from Maine’s beloved Monhegan Island, a natural migration hotspot! Migrating birds flying south can get off track and find themselves at dawn out at sea. Once they correct, the almost two-mile-long island is a magnet, a patch of green where they can land for food and shelter.
This privately-owned island welcomes birders to enjoy its 350 acres of trails protected by a local conservation organization.
Notable Species: American Redstart, Northern Parula, Swainson’s Thrush, and over 25 species of warbler!
American Redstart
Northern Parula
Swainson’s Thrush
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
South Texas: Fall Migration!
October 9 – 16, 2022
As one of the greatest birding destinations in the United States, South Texas boasts over two dozen tropical bird species that spill across the border. During our October tour, we arrive at the height of the fall migration of raptors and other neotropical species.
Fall migration in Portugal runs from August into early November and our timing on this birding tour is perfect for arriving waders, waterbirds, and raptors. Enjoy refreshing temperatures, stunning cultural sites, delicious meals, and a wide array of coastal species.
Algarve, Portugal is a notable stop on this trip and is a region rich in protected wetland areas and migrating birds. and is situated on a major fly-way for migrants from Africa. Birding stops here will include the complex network of canals, saline flats and salt pans of the Castro Marim Nature Reserve and the Tavira area of Ria Formosa Natural Park.
Notable Species: Black Stork, Griffin Vulture, Spotted Flycatcher, Great-spotted Cuckoo
Black Stork
Griffin Vulture
Spotted Flycatcher
Great-spotted Cuckoo
Veracruz, Mexico: River of Raptors & More
October 15 – 26, 2022
Our exciting Mexico birding tour to Veracruz, known as the migration crossroads of the Americas, explores the intersection of diverse biological realms, and sites of historical encounters between peoples of the old and new worlds. Not only will you get the chance to explore the world-renowned Veracruz River of Raptors, the largest hawk migration site on the planet, but you’ll find yourself at a major migration pathway for passerines, butterflies, and dragonflies.
Each fall, Veracruz hosts 4-6 million migrating raptors on their way to their winter dwellings. This includes 200,000 Mississippi Kites, which is nearly the entire world population!
Notable Species: Broad-winged Hawk, Mississippi Kite, Cooper’s Hawk, Black Vulture
Black Vulture
Broad-winged Hawk
Mississippi Kite
Platte River Cranes
March 12 – 18, 2023 & March 19 – 25, 2023
Each year, half a million Sandhill Cranes descend upon Nebraska’s Platte River. By March, nearly 80% of the world’s population crowds a 150-mile stretch of the river, creating a migration spectacle that is simply mind-boggling to witness. This is the largest gathering of cranes anywhere in the world!
As the state of Nebraska proudly claims, “Some people regard Nebraska as a place you cross on the way to a more interesting place. About a million sandhill cranes disagree.”
There are so many interesting facts about hummingbirds that, compounded into their tiny flying forms, hummingbirds inspire poetic descriptions like this one from John James Audubon himself, who called them “the greatest ornaments of the gardens and forests. Such in most cases is the brilliancy of their plumage, that I am unable to find apt objects of comparison unless I resort to the most brilliant gems and the richest metals.”
Facts about Hummingbirds: Size is Relative
Their diminutive size is probably the most obvious trait shared among the 330+ species of the family Trochilidae, whose most close relative is the swifts. Tiny Bee Hummingbird is the smallest, less than two ounces and found only in Cuba. The largest, the Giant Hummingbird, can weigh up to 12 times as much, and is found in the Andes, along with the Sword-billed Hummingbird, whose own size claim to fame is being the only bird with a bill longer than its body. Both can be found on our Northern Peru and Peru: Cusco to Mánu National Park tours:
Hummingbirds are a favorite of most birders, but they are particularly enthralling to our guests from Europe and Asia, who must travel to the Western Hemisphere to see them. Africa’s sunbirds, nectar-loving birds adapted to local flora, are often described as the hummingbirds of the Eastern Hemisphere.
Other location-based facts about hummingbirds:
US birders enjoy 17 nesting species of hummingbird
Half of all hummingbird species are concentrated in a belt near the equator
Some hummingbirds are wide-ranging, like the White-necked Jacobin, though you do have to leave the US to see it. We often see this species on our Belize tours, two upcoming. The October trip is one day longer, but you can see the value in traveling in the “green season” by comparison.
Other hummingbirds are endemics, their ranges almost as diminutive as the birds themselves. The gorgeous Violet-capped Hummingbird is not widespread even inside Panama and a tiny sliver of Colombia contiguous with the Darién, a wilderness that flourishes between the two countries and benefits from a car-free break here in the Pan-American Highway.
We have chances to see Violet-capped on our upcoming tour to the Darién:
Violet-capped Hummingbirds can only been seen in Panama and Colombia. Photo Credit: Gail Hampshire of Wikimedia Commons
Picking up on Audubon’s description of hummingbirds, the Gilded Hummingbird and Glitter-throated Emerald call to mind “the most brilliant gems and the richest metals.” Both can be seen on our Brazil’s Pantanal tours:
Gilded Hummingbird. Photo Credit: Cláudio Dias Timm via Wikimedia Commons
Brazil Extensions Hummingbirds
To get a richer selection of hummingbirds, it’s advisable to choose the pre- and post-tour extensions, where our 2019 guests also saw Black Jacobin, Scale-throated Hermit, Black-eared Fairy, Frilled Coquette, Brazilian Ruby, Violet-capped Woodnymph, White-throated, and Versicoloured Emerald!
Black-eared Fairy. Photo Credit: Joao-Quental via Wikimedia Commons
Frilled Coquette. Photo Credit: Hector Bottai via Wikimedia Commons
Scale-throated. Photo Credit: Bruno Girin via WIkimedia Commons
Hummingbirds in the US: Arizona and Texas
As we noted above, 17 hummingbirds regularly nest in the US, as far north as Alaska, where birders delight in the Rufous Hummingbird, possibly because there are no other hummingbirds to chase off the feeders! (Elsewhere, birders and other hummingbirds might find them more aggressive than adorable.) Our US tours to Texas and Arizona turn up the highest variety of hummingbirds, and we make sure to see as many as we can!
We have three Monsoon Madness tours upcoming in Arizona, host to the highest diversity of hummingbirds of any US state. On our August 2021 tour, we saw a full dozen hummingbirds, including two our guests selected as the co-birds of the trip, the Violet-crowned and the Lucifer.
Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Photo Credit: Don Faulkner of Wikimedia Commons
The Lucifer Hummingbird is also found on our Texas tours, including the upcoming and popular South Texas: Fall Migration October 9 – 16, $2,390 from McAllen, TX.
A Rainbow of Hummingbirds
Rainbows are a great analogy for talking about the colors of hummingbirds, because tricky light refraction across their feathers is the reason that hummingbirds can look dull one moment and catch fire the next. Consider these two photos of the aforementioned adorable/aggressive Rufous Hummingbird:
Rufous Hummingbird. Photo Credits: Carrie Miller (Slide middle arrow to see change.)
Their irridescence comes not from pigmentation but from light-shifting structures called melanosomes. Though other birds have them, including some ducks, the shape of hummingbirds’ melanosomes is unique, as Audubon describes in greater detail in “Hummingbirds Owe Their Shimmer to Microscopic Pancake-Like Structures.”
Though many hummingbirds flash at the gorget, the show-stopping Crimson Topaz takes an all-over approach to its irridescence.
Crimson Topaz. Photo Credit: Aisse Gaertner via Wikimedia Commons
Crimson Topaz is a Guianan Shield regional endemic that we have chances to see on our upcoming Guyana: Unspoiled Wilderness October 13 – 25. We also have chances in Guyana to see Tufted Coquette, which is one of the features of our trips to Trinidad and Tobago, a popular independent birding venture destination, where it must compete with Scarlet Ibis for bird of the trip!
Tufted Coquette. Photo Credit: Richard Wagner
Flouncing Feathers
Perhaps the flirtiest of all the coquettes, however, is the Rufous-crested Coquette, an unforgettable species, which we have chances to see on two of our Panama trips:
Snowcap Hummingbird also has a beautiful noggin, though far less adorned than the Rufous-crested. We often see this beauty on our Costa Rica: Carribean Side tour, which is Oct. 13-23 this year.
Snowcap. Photo Credit: Michael Woodruff via Creative Commons
Sounds Beyond Humming!
Our short ‘facts about hummingbirds’ blog wouldn’t be complete without touching on these birds’ namesake characteristic.
As anyone who has spent anytime sitting near an over-subscribed feeder will notice, the humming of hummingbirds is much more varied than the same word used to describe the monotone of a plugged-in refrigerator. Some of their humming comes from rapid wingbeats, ranging from a dozen wingbeats per second for Giant Hummingbird to 80 per second by the record-holding Amethyst Woodstar, which we have chances to see in Peru and Brazil.
Amethyst Woodstar, frequently seen in Peru, vocalizes in addition to its namesake humming. Photo Credit: Bob Hill
But hummingbirds also make other noises, including signature sounds made with their tail feathers, and territorial ‘chip’ calls. A few of them even sing!
The Broad-tailed Hummingbird, which we are almost certain to see on our three Arizona Monsoon Madness tours, makes a distinctive metallic sound in flight, which you can hear on this All About Birds page by clicking the audio file labeled ‘display.’
Where there are more species in competition, birds are more likely to have more complex vocalizations. The Mexican Violetear (formerly known as the Green Violetear, split into Mexican and Lesser Violetear in 2016) is one of those hummingbirds on the chatty side. We have great chances to see (and often first hear) Mexican Violetear on our two upcoming Oaxaca: Birds, Culture and Crafts tours. One of the things guests love about this trip is it includes beach time/time on the coast.
Oaxaca: Birds, Culture and Crafts August 1 – 9 (9-day, 8-night) $3790, from Oaxaca City
Oaxaca: Birds Culture and Crafts October 17 – 28, (12-day, 11-night) $4490, from Oaxaca City
Mexican Violetear. Photo Credit: Cephas via Wikimedia Commons
Adding to your Hummingbird Life List
If you are looking for specific hummingbirds, or want to know which hummingbirds may be seen on our tours, please check out the wealth of information available on our trip reports page! Though many of our tours feature a rich variety of hummingbirds, through our Independent Birding Ventures we design tours based on what you want to see. Do you want a trip that maximizes hummingbirds? Sign up for Northern Peru Endemics, or let us design a hummingbird-rich trip for your group!
Our Adventures in Nature, Birding, and Ecotourism www.naturalistjourneys.com
