ADAK ISLAND, SPRING 2007: Potential Savings on Airfare
At certain times during the year Alaska Airlines offers a significant savings on the flight from Anchorage to Adak. On previous occasions this has been as much as a $700 fare reduction. If you wish to take advantage of this offer you should contact BIRD TREKS as soon as possible. The offer often becomes available for two weeks in late September or early October. We will gladly pass the savings on to you. So if Smew, Lesser Sand-Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Gray-tailed Tattler, Whiskered Auklet, Long-billed Murrelet, Brambling, Orca, Sperm Whale, and Caribou sound intriguing, please let us know All of these and more were seen on our May-June 2006 Adak Tours. We hope that you will consider joining us for the spring migration in 2007. Click on http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/akad107.html for the full details and itinerary. Good times, comfortable accommodations, and good birding are guaranteed. Complete species lists from our spring 2006 tours are available upon request.
ADAK PROGRAM for BIRD CLUBS and AUDUBON CLUBS
The program, "ADAK - GAMBLING ON BIRDS", gives a brief history of the island, its current status, a tour of the local birding areas, and lots of pictures of the resident and transitory birdlife. Frank Haas developed the program after he and his wife Barb visited Adak last spring. They enjoyed it so much that they are returning this week to search for fall vagrants. Frank lives in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at 717-445-9609, or by e-mailing him at fbhaas@ptd.net.
TOURS GUARANTEED TO GO
The following tours have at least the minimum number of participants needed for the tour to go, but still have one or more openings available. Simply click on the web site address to view the detailed itinerary. Additional information concerning all of our tours is available by going to http://www.birdtreks.com/schedules/sched.html. This includes a short description of each tour, plus highlights, photos, and favorite species from previous adventures.
These tours are GUARANTEED TO GO:Day-by-day itineraries and additional information are on our web site at www.birdtreks.com. Please contact the BIRD TREKS office if you need help accessing our web site or if you would rather have information mailed to your postal address. Many of our other scheduled tours are likely to go, but they cannot be guaranteed at this time. Please contact BIRD TREKS for more information or to register for the tour of your choice.
2007 BIRD TREKS CATALOG
Our brand new catalog that describes BIRD TREKS' 12th year of worldwide bird watching tours is currently at the printer. It should be on its way to your mailbox in early October. We hope that you enjoy it and will consider us for your next birding adventure.
Here is a description of the first full day of our very popular mid-summer tour to Costa Rica. To read the entire trip report and read the fantastic Top 10 list, go to http://www.birdtreks.com/highlites/costa.html. Next year's tour is scheduled for 4-12 August 2007.
RANCHO NATURALISTA, COSTA RICA
August 5 - 13, 2006
Trip Report by Tour Leader Kevin Easley
Aug 6: We began the tour in great fashion in the hotel gardens. Soon we were looking at Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Great Kiskadee, Blue-and-white Swallow, Clay-colored Thrush, Blue-gray Tanager, and Rufous-collared Sparrow. We spent some quality time in the herb garden where we were fortunate to find a male Canivet's Emerald, Rufous-capped Warbler, Grayish Saltator, the rare and local Prevost's Ground-Sparrow, the unique White-eared Ground-Sparrow, and many others. On the other side of the garden we enjoyed a distant White-tailed Kite, cooperative Blue-crowned Motmot and Squirrel Cuckoo, and a Rufous-browed Peppershrike. New and odd names of birds were coming fast as this was the first trip to the tropics for the five participants. After a fine breakfast we loaded up the comfortable van chauffeured by Eric Gamboa, for our visit to Irazu Volcano National Park. After driving through San Jose and Cartago we soon found ourselves on the slopes of this dormant but still potentially active volcano looking for the many highland endemics that occur here. Our first stop produced the lovely Long-tailed Silky-Flycatcher, Slaty Flower-piercer, and even Mourning Dove, quite local in Costa Rica. Our next stop in a small village gave us great looks of Band-tailed Pigeon and Sooty Robin. In the forest dominated by giant oaks we hit the gold mine for highland birds. Highlights were many and included the Chiriqui race of Red-tailed Hawk, Fiery-throated Hummingbirds showing their fiery throats, Volcano Hummingbird, Acorn Woodpecker, the precious Black-capped Flycatcher - Tom's favorite bird of the trip -- the spritely Black-billed Nightingale-Thrush, the sleek Black-and-yellow Silky-Flycatcher, Yellow-winged Vireo, the stunning Flame-throated Warbler, and a very close pair of Black-cheeked Warblers. THE highlight at this stop proved to be two male and one female Resplendent Quetzals that eventually posed in the scope for us. We continued higher up to the Irazu Volcano crater. The clouds were rolling in and many people returning from the crater viewing area said that it was not visible. Fortunately the clouds broke several times while we were there giving us superb views of the crater below. At lunch we were joined by Volcano Juncos looking for scraps and, near the bathrooms of all places, we called in the skulking Large-footed Finch that eventually showed to satisfaction. We next birded the stunted forest where we found a pair of the local Timberline Wren plus Mountain Elaenia and Sooty-capped Bush-Tanagers. Returning to the oak forest, we birded the same area as before and added Ruddy Treerunner and Ochraceous Wren. With a great birding day in the highlands in the books we drove to Rancho Naturalista, our home for the next seven nights. After we settled into our rooms we had a delicious dinner prepared by the kitchen staff at Rancho - a common occurrence while at Rancho indeed.
Aug 7: We met on the balcony for coffee at 5:45 AM, joined by Ernesto Carman, the excellent resident bird guide at Rancho who would accompany us for the remainder of the tour. While on the balcony we were thoroughly entertained by the stream of birds coming to the bananas and rice set out for them. Species at the feeders included Gray-headed Chachalaca, Collared Aracari, Black-cheeked and Hoffmann's Woodpeckers, Brown Jay, Blue-gray, Palm, Passerini's, Crimson-collared, and White-lined Tanagers, Buff-throated and Black-headed Saltators, Montezuma and Chestnut-headed Oropendolas, and Melodious Blackbirds . . .
COMING SOON . . .
We hope that you have enjoyed reading about Costa Rica and our upcoming tours. We have enjoyed sharing our news, updates, and information with you. Our next NEWS FLASH will contain more birding tales from Oregon and perhaps Kenya.
Please let us know if we can assist you with any additional information. We'd love to help you with a regularly scheduled tour, or perhaps a custom expedition. We will soon be taking a group of friends to Peru and Amazonia. Imagine the surprise and delight if you invited your friends on a tour to a unique destination. It could be the adventure of a lifetime!
Sincerely,