ADAK ISLAND ALASKA, 11 May - 1 June 2008

Things are shaping up well for our spring birding tours to Adak Island in the Aleutians, http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/akad108.html. We have people registered for all three weeks: 11-18 May, 18-25 May, and 25 May - 1 June. Anytime during that period that you would like to join us, Jason Horn and I are ready to help you search for Adak specialties and Asian strays. There are two round trip flights per week from Anchorage to Adak, Sunday and Thursday. You can plan your stay on Adak for one week, 10-11 days, two weeks, 17-18 days, or the full three weeks. The accommodations are quite comfortable, the food is good, roads and vehicles are more than adequate, and the birding ranges from good to spectacular. Please read the following trip report for a taste of spring birding on Adak: http://www.birdtreks.com/highlites/akad.html.

And here are some of the favorite species chosen by the participants of our past two spring seasons. What a list of great birds! Shorebirds: Bristle-thighed Curlew, Lesser Sand-Plover, Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Common Snipe, Gray-tailed Tattler, Bar-tailed Godwit, and Pacific Golden-Plover. Alcids: Whiskered Auklet, Long-billed Murrelet, Kittlitz’s Murrelet, Ancient Murrelet, Crested Auklet, Tufted Puffin, and Horned Puffin. Songbirds: Brambling, Eyebrowed Thrush, and Eastern Yellow Wagtail. Waterfowl: Smew, Bean Goose, Tufted Duck, and Eurasian Wigeon. Loons: Yellow-billed Loon and Arctic Loon. Plus Black-headed Gull, Gyrfalcon, Laysan Albatross, Rock Ptarmigan, Red-faced Cormorant, Short-tailed Shearwater, and Aleutian Tern.

Please join us in May for some incredible birding on Adak.

2009 TOUR SCHEDULE

Bird Treks Spring Mailing is currently being printed and will be mailed in early April. It lists all of the tours for the remainder of 2008, and the 50+ tours planned for 2009. There are some new and exciting destinations, and many familiar ones from previous years. To see all of the tours that we have scheduled for next year, go to http://www.birdtreks.com/schedules/sched.html.

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 for you to join us. Simply click on the web site address to view the detailed itinerary. The tour fee and what it includes is given on the final page of each 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. Tour route maps are being added to the web site. Checklists from previous tours are also available.

The following tours are all GUARANTEED TO GO. When you register for one of these, you will definitely be going on the tour, provided the tour has not recently filled. There will be no disappointment because we had to cancel due to lack of participants.

• DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALABAMA & MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST, 6-12 April 2008
  Neotropical Migrants & Flocks of Aquatic Species
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/alms08.html
  
  
• SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA, CAMERON PARISH, 13-20 April 2008
  Neotropical Migrants and lots of Aquatic Species
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/lacp08.html
  
  
• TEXAS HILL COUNTRY, 25-29 April 2008
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/txep08.html
  
  
• ADAK ISLAND, ALASKA, 3 weeks in May 2008
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/akad108.html
  
  
• MAINLAND ALASKA, 7-15 June 2008
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/akkd08.html
  
  
• CHURCHILL & SOUTHERN MANITOBA, 6-16 June 2008
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/mbch08.html
  
  
• RANCHO NATURALISTA, COSTA RICA, 2-10 August 2008
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/crrn08.html
  
  
• CLASSIC KENYA, 1-16 November 2008
  http://www.birdtreks.com/itin/keea08.html
  
  

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.

COMING SOON . . .

We trust that you found the Adak Island information at least a bit tantalizing. Many of the 2008 tours are guaranteed to go, and our 2009 tours await you. Look for highlights of the spring migration in our next NEWS FLASH! Please let us know if we can assist you with any additional information about our upcoming tours. We’re here to help you with your birding needs.