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The French list of the birds of South Africa is in part a recognition that a large proportion of the people of Africa are French speaking. Since the ...
What a privilege it is to be able to spend a second year based at the UK office of Birding Ecotours, right in the middle of one of Britain’s best…
Summary. A two-week journey from Harare, in the centre of Zimbabwe's high plateau, to the coastal city of Beira in Mozambique traverses..
In this article I compare three of the main world bird lists. I then also discuss why these lists give different...
Being a global tour company we have developed deep and lasting friendships and business relationships with many people all over the ...
Birds of Mexico and northern Central America (Steve N.G. Howell and Sophie Webb). Though this book is almost twenty years old, it still stands up ...
Andy Walker outlines some of the best moments from his 2019 Amazonian birding adventure in Ecuador. After spending an awesome time ...
Andy Walker provides some highlights from his 2019 birding trip in southern Ecuador. After my time birding around the fantastic north of ...
Andy Walker provides some highlights from his 2019 northern Ecuador birding trip.I have been lucky to live and bird (and lead birdwatching tours and guide at lodges) in ...
As the UK is an island and located in the northwest of continental Europe, there is plentiful coastline (ranging from towering rocky cliffs to saltmarshes, beaches ..
The following species are commonly found in farmland and woodland within the UK. We spend plenty of time birding in these habitats (as well as many others) ...
Andy Walker and Oli Reville offer some thoughts on the common garden birds of the UK in the first of three special blog posts on the common birds of the…
There’s a vast array of bird tours available out there. To illustrate this point, Birding Ecotours alone offers a plethora of different trips just to Peru (not to mention all…
The purpose of this article is to provide the most up-to-date information on South Africa’s endemic birds (based on the 2020 update of the country’s official bird-list)...
When I lived in Wyoming, fellow birders and wildlife enthusiasts were often amazed that I was from Africa. To my American colleagues, it was a continent they...
Summary. A two-week journey from Harare, in the centre of Zimbabwe's high plateau, to the coastal city of Beira in Mozambique traverses..
Woodpeckers are among the world’s most charismatic birds. And the United States certainly has more than its fair share of spectacular-looking ones, with an amazing 22 species...
Due to their nocturnal habits, we find that even talented birders are often unaware that their own neighbourhood is graced by owls. As one example, while African ...
Yasuní National Park, located in the Amazonian region of northeastern Ecuador spans over 1,022,000 hectares/ 2,527,000 acres of pristine Amazonian rainforest. This mega...
Oliver (Oli) Reville is our newest team member who specializes in leading our fully updated and exciting European and Western Palearctic bird..
If there is one bird in the world that can lure even non-birders out to look for it, it’s the Snowy Owl. This regal, enigmatic bird has enraptured even the…
It’s mid-May, and my fourteenth year teaching organic chemistry just ended. It was quite the unusual semester since the COVID-19 pandemic forced all college ...
We are now starting to run socially distanced birding day trips in places such as Norfolk in England, Ohio (where our American office is based) and across South...
Birding Ecotours was originally founded in South Africa (in 2002) by Chris (with Dylan...
The winter birding has been amazing! The birding here in Norfolk has been so good that I’ve hardly had time to miss the superb birding in Ohio, where we...
Southern Spain is the western focal point for the spring passage bird migration in Europe, and it will come...
Brazil is the world’s fifth-largest country and proudly holds the title as the most biodiverse country on the planet. It has the most known species of plants...
Located only five miles (eight kilometers) from Entebbe International Airport, these beautiful and bird-rich gardens are reachable within a...
Peru has an incredible bird list of 1890 species, only 103 fewer than similarly sized Colombia which is famous for boasting more...
In this article, we recommend the best months to tour Uganda for birding, photography and wildlife viewing. The take home message...
We would like to give you our recommendations about the timing of a birding (or for that matter, mammal viewing) visit to Tanzania...
What is your choice of the top 10 birds in the USA? And what is your top birding experience in the USA? Here are the lists from a few of…
After a few days birding in northern Sulawesi (at the incredible lowland site of Tangkoko National Park...
After a few days birding in northern Sulawesi (at the incredible lowland site of Tangkoko National Park and nearby...
The island of Sulawesi (formerly Celebes) offers some of the best birding in Indonesia, and that’s saying something for a country made up...
New Guinea immediately invokes the stuff of dreams amongst us birders, doesn’t it? It certainly does for legendary BBC wildlife ...
What time of the year is best for visiting Ecuador (both the mainland and the Galapagos Islands) to see and photograph birds and other wildlife?...
You may think that Andy has just been sitting by his swimming pool in Bali, Indonesia for the last four months, that is only ...
Early this year I had the privilege to visit Guyana for the first time, and I fell in love with this spectacular country. Flying above the Guyanese jungle watching unbroken…
South Africa is blessed with a stunning array of dazzling birds. It is easy to see well over 500 bird species ...
We run our set departure birding tours to Costa Rica between January and March each year. Some of the reasons for this are as follows...
There are over 10 000 species of bird in the world. Each one is wonderful in its own special way. However, that number is just too big for anyone to…
The usual recommendation is May through September (the dry season), but this applies largely to “Big 5 safaris” and standard wildlife photographic
I’m sure many of you may know this already, but I for one have been largely ignorant about one of the relatively newly split species, Scopoli’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), within the…
Nearly a quarter of the year is already over, and our team has logged almost a quarter of the world’s bird species in that time during our tours! We started…
How about seeing King Penguin, Macaroni Penguin, Southern Rockhopper...
The Maleo is a megapode, but unlike most others that are very similar-looking brownish birds it is blue, black, and white with an elaborate blue-and-yellow face...
There were a few targets I wanted to look for; the first was Maleo, the rather unique-looking, endemic megapode, and the second was the stunning Sula Pitta...
There were a few targets I wanted to look for; the first was Maleo, the rather unique-looking, endemic megapode, and the second was the stunning Sula Pitta...
This short article focuses on what questions you should be asking before booking a tour to South Africa or Namibia, with briefer mention of some other countries...
South Africa’s premier bird conservation organization, BirdLife South Africa, is responsible for keeping the country’s bird list updated annually. A hard ...
I’m a new birder in Ohio, having lived here for less than two and a half years. I came to Columbus from South Africa to open the new American office…
Australia has numerous island territories, and these offer some great birding for the more adventurous, those chasing endemic birds, or those with a passion for seabirds...
he waters around Australia offer practically unrivaled pelagic seabird watching potential. In some areas the time to get from the land to the continental shelf (where the...
Central and South Australia combine well from a birdwatching point of view. Adelaide acts as a great entry way into the region and has some fantastic birding sites near the…
Adjoined to the Australian mainland until the end of the last glacial period about ten thousand years ago, Tasmania is both geographically and genetically isolated from Australia...
Birding in the Northern Territory offers a huge range of possibilities. In the south there is Alice Springs – but that area is discussed in the Central and South Australia…
Western Australia is a huge state, and there are loads of potential birding sites to visit. Perth is set in a beautiful coastal landscape (as are many Australian cities) and…
Eastern Australia offers many varied birding options, with cities such as Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne providing excellent entry points into the country....
This is a frequently asked question. Australia is a large place (about the same size as the United States of America, or Europe), and this continent-country stretches from the tropics…
Go to All Blogs | Birding Blogs | West Papua Birding Tour | All our birding tours This blog was last updated on 12 December 2019 Every birder dreams of seeing…
We have compiled a list of important items we believe are useful and necessary to bring along when you join one of our birding tours to help enjoy your time…
Many birders ask the same question “when is the best time to visit South Africa for birds, African megafauna, plants, etc.”. Here we try to answer this...
Go to All Blogs | Best time to visit Blogs | Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands Blogs | Madagascar Birding Tours | All our birding tours Since we so often get asked the…
Much of Namibia has a typical desert climate. This means hot, dry summers (although often pleasant at night), and very mild winters (nicely warm...
Johannesburg, more readily known as Joburg or Jozi is the largest city in South Africa, and located on the highveld plateau of central South Africa...
Tipping is (of course!) not compulsory on any of our tours, but most tour participants do tip guides and other ground staff members if they feel they’ve worked hard and…
The Bay of Pigs is an area located in the inlet of the Gulf of Cazones, part of the Zapata Peninsula, on the south-western coast of Cuba. This bay is…
Cape Town is without doubt one of the top tourist attractions in the whole of South Africa, and no visit to South Africa is fully complete without visiting the “Mother…
As only India can! Have you been to India? Have you traveled to the Himalayas? Have you been on a jeep safari in Jim Corbett National Park? Well, take a…
This is my story about how I got into birding. I wrote this mainly to try and encourage you to share your story. Please do e-mail us...
Below we find out more about our Birding Ecotours Neotropical guide Galo Real who specialises in our Ecuador tours as well as tours to the Galapagos Islands...
It’s actually rare for us to review a book here on the Birding Ecotours blog (apart from recommending the best bird field guides for each country on earth - please…
Have you ever spent over 10 minutes on an infamous skulker, just sitting patiently, waiting for it to give you the briefest of glimpses? OK, OK, of course. But, have…
Giancarlo Ventolini is the newest addition to our Neotropical team. Giancarlo has been in love with birds and nature all his life. We spent some time getting to know him and…
With the increase of world population and the need to feed, house, clothe, and fulfill energy needs of nations, our world has progressively become more inhospitable ...
Thank you for joining a small group tour, and we trust you will have a truly wonderful experience. If you are on a group tour with more than ...
This blog will start as an extremely brief one, but will hopefully get increasingly extensive with your input. If you e-mail us and and tell us what the most difficult…
Zululand, the area north of the Tugela River and south of the Mozambican border, is perhaps better known for its rich cultural history and big-five ...
Meet Dr Rollinson, an unassuming yet intelligent, passionate, enthusiastic, and driven guide who, although unable to answer your medical queries, will ...
When I mention the Cape most tourists will envisage Table Mountain, the dramatic cliffs of Cape Point, and the spectacular flower displays of the west ...
In this blog I take a closer look at the area south of 35°S as far as the Great White Continent and between the longitudes of 50°W and 20°E. This…
Birding has truly become a great international hobby that seems to be growing and growing. It is very exciting to see so many young folk (here in South Africa at…
There are many things synonymous with the Birding Ecotours brand, and the name Eduardo Ormaeche is most certainly one of them! Having been around since soon...
This April, after his very successful Neotropical Bird Club Costa Rica fundraising tour (click here for trip report), Andy Walker had a busman’s holiday and went birding ....
This June Andy Walker made a scouting trip to Iceland to have a look at some of the areas we’ll be visiting on the Birding Ecotours 2018 Iceland Tour. Here’s…
GREY PETREL COMING DOWN PORTSIDE FROM THE BOW” were the words blasting through the miniscule speaker on the guides’ radios. This was of course ...
We hereby announce two very exciting pieces of news, both of them related. First, that we’re opening a formal office ...
Twelve miles off the coast of central Maine lies Monhegan Island. Monahigan, as it was originally known, means ‘Island of the Sea’. This spectacular little island is one and a…
In May 2017 Andy Walker conducted a scouting trip to Peru to meet up with Birding Ecotours colleague and resident Peruvian tour leader and expert guide, Eduardo Ormaeche....
This May I again had the wonderful opportunity to represent Birding Ecotours at The Biggest Week in American Birding (BWIAB). The BWIAB is a 10-day long event ...
Whether to tick heard-only birds can be a contentious issue. My personal rule is to strictly exclude heard-only birds from all of my lists (including my world list, my southern African list,…
Israel is a haven for birds and birders alike. Israel during migration season is something else altogether. Down in southern Africa we don’t get to experience the ...
In October 2017 Birding Ecotours tour leader and guide Andy Walker led a custom Pacific Tour around New Caledonia, Fiji, and Samoa. This custom tour followed ...
Larks, larks, larks … and more wonderful larks! The arid Northern Cape of South Africa is very well known for many wonderful species of larks, including seven ...
Birding is amazing, no matter where you go and what kind of birds you prefer. For me, highlights are walking down a ...
Pelagic Birding is a rather specific ‘art’ or aspect of birding, and it basically refers to an ocean-going trip taken on a boat in search of true ocean-going species, such…
May is known as the best month for birding in the eastern part of the United States, and in particular for the spectacular spring migration that occurs during this time…
Andy Walker spent some time in Thailand this winter and provides a brief summary of his time there below: This winter, between late January and early March, I spent time…
Go to All Blogs | Asian Blogs | Asian Birding Tours | All our birding tours In January 2016, Andy Walker led our 15-day Birding Tour India: Birds, Tigers and the Himalayas.…
85 % of the bird species of the southern third of Africa (705 species out of 829 regularly occurring ones), and an amazing 82 mammal species, seen in two months…
Not only was the first ever Yellow-throated Leaflove discovered just inside the southern African listing region this year, but it was actually not just one individual but a pair of…
Hottentot Buttonquail must be the most enigmatic of all of South Africa’s 18 endemics. Its world population is estimated ...
Birds of New Guinea. Hooray, the second edition is now out and is AMAZING! Please buy it, whether or not you’re planning a trip to West Papua or PNG...
Dylan, affectionately known as ‘Vas’ by many of his colleagues, has to be one of the most enjoyable people to go birding with! He is known to get excited at…
Collins (or the Princeton version, Birds of Europe) has been the standard in field guides for some time, and this second edition goes from strength to strength. The ...
Field guides covering North America, in this context, include Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48 of the United States. It does not include Hawaii, Greenland, Bermuda ...
Birding Ecotours guide Andy Walker lives, dreams and breathes birds. This passionate pitta-lover took some time out to share his story with our guest blogger Rachel in this...
Chris Lotz is the passionate founder and owner of Birding Ecotours. Our guest blogger, Rachel, decided to ask him a few questions to get to know him better… Rachel: Please tell…
Every naturalist using binoculars has an opinion on magnification, and there is never a shortage of advice as to what constitutes the best magnification for safari goers ...
The Rail-babbler, a chocolate-brown rail-like passerine, with a distinctive white head band and patches of red-orange plumage is an...
As a keen photographer and specialist guide I am often asked advice on photography, cameras, and lenses, and get to see what visitors, from novice to...
Go to All Blogs | Bird Book Reviews | All our birding tours By John Kinghorn It is not often that one would associate a well-known local hardware store…
My first birding trip to South America was, strangely, a great disappointment. I opted to make Peru my first South American ...
The Southern Ground Hornbill is a large bird, most frequently encountered on the ground, and conspicuously plumaged...
“The Champions of the Flyway” in Israel is not just a fun race for avid birders having a good time; it carries with it a strong message that appeals to…
Megan and I just returned from a 2-day birding trip to Harare, to make the most of the brief January to March window of opportunity (….but only in years of…
Jason Boyce, Justin Nicolau, Gary Nicolau, Peter Schoeman and Chris Lotz joined a few of the extremely helpful Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve staff to survey for owls...
Birding Ecotours is a Gold sponsor of the African Bird Club because of this club’s solid track record of helping to conserve the continent’s birds. African bird conservation is something…
If there were an award for the best father in the bird world, it would undoubtedly go to the African Jacana or “lily-trotter” as...
Diademed Plover This is definitely my favorite bird in South America. What can I say? Strangely, I cannot explain why I feel so attracted to this bird, as many other…
The weather in Guatemala can change from hot and humid on the Pacific coast to cool and damp in the cloud forest. The best time to visit is from December…
In November 2014, we did our first Malagasy “Owls of the World” ® tour, and it greatly exceeded expectations! We were seeking five of the world’s most localized ...
A birding tour is made largely by the guide. A good birding tour leader is the single element that can make a bird tour completely and utterly brilliant, rather than…
Perhaps it’s appropriate then that the Lilians Lovebird, a bird with one of the most beautiful plumages in Africa...
The Italian renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci is well known for his flying machines. Not only did he wish to fly, but he also wanted to walk on…
Guatemala may not be high on every traveler’s radar when planning a birdwatching trip, but the country holds fantastic birding highlights and is shrouded in a ...
This note was written for the bulletin of the African Bird Club (https://www.africanbirdclub.org/) (ABC) and is published here on our blog with permission from ...
All continents except Europe and Antarctica have bird species that rely almost exclusively on nectar as a food source. These birds, which include African sunbirds and American hummingbirds, obtain ...
When people travel to the Kruger National Park they mostly go for the bigger animals, the “big five”, or even birds, but they always tend to overlook our gorgeous little…
A Complete Guide to Antarctic Wildlife (Shirihai). This is the second edition, and, as the name implies, it is very complete. All the bird species from ...
Birds of the Middle East (Porter and Aspinall). This book covers Turkey, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, and the Saudi Peninsula. It has very good plates ...
Collins Bird Guide/Birds of Europe (Svensson, Mullarney and Zetterström). This guide is the best for North Africa. It covers Morocco east to Egypt...
I always find it extremely surprising that Zambia and Malawi are not bombarded by birders. I guess these countries are just not ...
A great many African birders have never seen a flufftail, even though a couple of species are rather common. This is because they are Africa’s most elusive birds ...
At one time Central America was mostly underwater, and only the peaks of volcanoes rose above the water, creating islands ...
This day was very special: We were just about to give up searching for the baffling (and one of the very last Southern African) lark species – the Dusky Lark…
Birding Ecotours, was one of five teams that were invited to participate in the World Birding Rally, to be held in southern Peru over December 2013. It ...
Birdwatching tourism (or avitourism as it is sometimes called) has become a large industry and is the biggest niche within eco-tourism. The amount...
Out in the field, and under the low light intensities that owls are seen in, Cape and Spotted Eagle-Owls can easily be, and often are, confused with each other. We…