Guyana is a tropical wonderland, as Gavin Bieber‘s 2010 tour to that South American country will confirm.

Photo: Wilderness Explorers.

But it’s not all fancy tanagers and cocks-of-the-rock.

On February 17, Ron and Lincoln Allicock discovered this Black-legged Kittiwake near Bartica. A first for the country, the bird later died and has been preserved as a skin in the collections of the University of Guyana.

We probably can’t promise an Arctic vagrant of this magnitude, but we can promise lots of birds and a good time on Gavin’s new tour. Join us!

Everybody’s interested in birds, even if they wouldn’t call themselves a birder.

Today started out with a question from a dear friend and former colleague at Princeton University’s Index of Christian Art: just what, she wanted to know, is “bird liming” exactly? (If you don’t know, you probably don’t want to know.)

And on returning from lunch I found an e-mail from the Antiques Roadshow asking for the identification of a bird painted by a famous American bird artist. You’ll have to watch the show to find out yourself, but I was able to pass on the bird’s identity–and, with a little e-sniffing around, the year the painting was likely produced.

Do I love this job?

Can you go to Gambia and not be amazed? Well, no, not if you join James Lidster in December!

Yellow-crowned Gonolek. Photo: James Lidster

We’ve altered this year’s dates to December 11-18, a full week filled with birds and warmth in one of Africa’s most comfortable destinations. 

James Lidster‘s tour to Ghana has proved so popular that we’ve added a second departure. In addition to the October-November dates already published, a second tour will take place November 21 to December 5.

As James mused after last year’s inaugural tour, “For most people, birding West Africa has been only a dream, with so many countries poorly developed or locked in civil war. But Ghana bucks the trend.

“Ghana’s people are incredibly friendly, its infrastructure good, and the birds mouth-watering. Our first tour to this bird-rich country, with time in the Upper Guinea forest and a few days in the savanna woodland of Mole, provided an impressive demonstration of how much it has to offer the visiting birder.

“For most people, of course, there is one key bird to see in Ghana: the Yellow-headed Picathartes, or Rockfowl. And see it we did—not one but as many as twelve birds at their secret cave on top of a forested hill. To see this enigmatic species was a real treat, and for the modern birder, Ghana is the only safe place to find it anywhere in the world.”

It’s been half a century since the adventures that George Miksch Sutton memorialized with such charm in the words and paintings of his Iceland Summer.

Atlantic Puffin, photo: James Lidster.

For your own adventure, join WINGS and Yann Kolbeinsson in Iceland this spring. The island’s dramatic volcanic landscape is dotted with glaciers, geysers, hot springs, and waterfalls, providing the perfect backdrop for birds from Whooper Swan and Gyrfalcon to Goldcrest and Eurasian Siskin.

Our tour begins this year on June 28, when the northern summer is at its peak, and landscapes and seascapes go from eerie to lavish. The long hours of daylight and our comfortable pace mean that we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the birds, mammals, and scenery of Iceland.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s new Neotropical Birds website promises to be an authoritative source of life history information for the birds of the New World tropics–all the birds of that birdiest of regions.

Horned Guan, Guatemala. Photo: Rick Wright

Senior WINGS Leader Chris Wood is deeply involved in this project, and he and his CLO colleagues invite other birders and researchers to contribute to this grand undertaking. Photographers, recordists, translators, and others interested in helping out should make contact with the Content Editor (neotropicalbirds@ cornell.edu).

Which Neotropical migrant is the first to return to the US each spring?

When most of us think of “neotrops,” colorful images of warblers and tanagers spring to mind. In fact, though, a number of non-passerines also breed in North America and “winter” south of the Tropic of Cancer.

One of those non-passerines, Baird’s Sandpiper, is among the earliest of northbound migrants, reaching the central Great Plains by early March.

Baird's Sandpiper--here a southbound bird in July--moves north from its tropical wintering grounds in early spring. Photo: Rick Wright

With thanks to Ted Floyd.

Senior Leader James Lidster ponders:

One thing that birders never seem to do is relax: always tense, always wanting to get out birding, always checking something in a magazine or on the internet.

So I decided it would be a good thing for me to start reading books. The closest thing to a novel I’ve read in recent years was probably The Sound Approach to Birding! So now I’m reading my fifth Harry Potter book, and am totally engrossed, which is a good thing.

But I’m still a birder. I’m still picturing what Hedwig looks like, why its call is described as a “hoot”… so I guess I’m not relaxing totally, but it does help a bit.

The next way I’ve found to relax is a visit to the sauna. I’ve been suffering from shoulder pain since November, apparently repetitive strain from carrying a tripod all the time (I have never liked using a tripod strap, as that means that my tripod isn’t set up and ready to use immediately).

So I’m installed in the “theme” sauna, surrounded by people of all ages and both sexes; we’re on a deserted tropical island–and my brain starts wondering if there is any good migrant scrub on this island, would it be worth birding…ok, relax! And the heat is turned up, and the smell of eucalyptus and citrus starts to take over; and then they play the calls of “seagulls.”

But this is a tropical island, and my brain starts wondering whether there are many places in the world where large white-headed gulls occur on tropical islands. Is this a commercial recording from America, is it smithsonianus, or maybe it’s from some Mediterranean country, michahellis…. I guess the fact we are in a sauna might mean that it’s a genuine Finnish recording of nominate argentatus.

And that’s the beauty of birding. I was relaxed, really, but there are just so many questions, so many possibilities, and it’s so hard to switch off….

—James

Our friend Kathy Patterson will be making a presentation tonight to the Salem Audubon Society about her 2008 WINGS tour to Gambell, Alaska.

She’ll be talking not just about the avian rarities (like this Jacksnipe) that are a staple of the trip, but also about life on remote St. Lawrence Island.

The lecture is free–and I can almost guarantee that you’ll be tempted to join us in 2009 after listening to Kathy’s tales!

Orchard Oriole, courtesy John K. Cassady

WINGS congratulates the Georgia Ornithological Society on its scholarship program for young birders! Once again this year, teenagers can apply for significant support to attend a national conference, this time in San Diego, California.

Programs like this work. I’ve been privileged to meet some earlier recipients of this scholarship–an experience that more than any other has given me hope for the future of North American birding.

Let your young friends know about this great opportunity. Applications are due March 16.