So how do WINGS leaders spend their time when they’re not leading tours?

In the field, of course, birding and learning–and contributing to conservation by participating in such activities as “birdathons.”

Rich Hoyer’s Voyeurs will be going head to head with Gavin Bieber’s High Rollers in Tucson Audubon’s annual event.

Where will you be birdathoning it this spring?

Southeast Arizona. Photo: Rich Hoyer.

Oaxaca is famed the world ’round for its richly historic culture and for some of the best birding in Mexico. This year’s Oaxaca Birding Marathon, held over the last of October and the first of November, provided eloquent testimony to the area’s birding potential, with 406 species (!) recorded over two and a half days by 23 participants led by our friends Eric Antonio, Roque Antonio, Edgar del Valle, and Manuel Grosselet.

Among the birds tallied were 39 endemic and 28 nearly endemic species.

Lesser Ground-Cuckoo. Photo: Manuel Grosselet.

The weekend’s list was a riotous jumble of great birds: Boucard’s Wren, Dwarf Jay, Dwarf Vireo, Aztec Thrush, Chesnut-sided Shrike -Vireo, Townsend’s Shearwater, Rosita’s Bunting, Red-breasted Chat, Sparkling-tailed Hummingbird, and on and on.

Rosita's Bunting. Photo: Manuel Grosselet.

Manuel and his colleagues are already planning their next marathon. And here at WINGS we’re looking forward ourselves to our next visit to Oaxaca and Chiapas with Steve Howell and Rich Hoyer in March.

Today’s NYT points out that Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance,  remains one of the most culturally vibrant cities in Italy, as we’ll discover in Tuscany next May.

Join us!

The world’s last wild flock of Whooping Cranes is headed south to its Texas wintering grounds.

Whooping Cranes. Photo: Steve Hillebrand/USFWS.

As many as 36 cranes were seen over the weekend in the area of Cheyenne Bottoms and Quivira NWR in Kansas. The next days and weeks will see virtually all of the mid-continent flock arriving on the Texas coast, where they’ll be waiting on Gavin Bieber’s February tour, Whooping Cranes and the Rio Grande Valley.

Steve Howell has updated the photo gallery for his 2011 Western Pacific Odyssey (the last time this itinerary will be available from our cruise company).

Kagus can be surprisingly accommodating! Photo: Steve N.G. Howell.

There are some astounding images in Steve’s collection. I know I should be most enthusiastic about the birds, but the gallery’s other “flying” creatures are absolutely breathtaking. Take a look!

Quick: take a look at your bookshelf. I bet a more than substantial number or the guides bending the boards were written by WINGS leaders.

Killian Mullarney fills us in on the publication schedule for the second edition of Birds of Britain and Europe, widely praised as the best field guide for any region anywhere:

“So far as I am aware, just about everything is ready now. Printing will commence very soon, and publication is currently scheduled for March 2010.

“The number of pages has increased by about 10% in the revised edition. Twenty-four new spreads have been used, both to alleviate some of the more crowded plates in the first edition and to treat around 40 additional species, the majority of which are the result of taxonomic changes. Treatment of wildfowl, shearwaters, grebes, birds of prey, cranes, large gulls, pigeons, doves, owls, pipits, chats, thrushes, warblers, flycatchers, shrikes, and North American passerines have all been extensively revised, with the addition of numerous new and improved images. Distribution maps have been updated where necessary.”

Something else to look forward to in the New Year 2010!

We’ve learned that our friends at Heritage Expeditions will be conducting their final Western Pacific Odyssey in spring 2011, and so that will be your last chance for the pelagic trip of a lifetime on that incredible route with Steve Howell.

A Tahiti Petrel, one of something like 40 tubenose species seen on this cruise. Photo: Steve Howell.

After our 2007 cruise, Steve wrote:

“Starts in New Zealand and ending in Japan, this amazing trip crosses more than 4,000 miles of ocean in the western Pacific. The islands visited en route on our  voyage included Norfolk Island (home of the Norfolk Island Pine, as well as great birds), New Caledonia (with the unique Kagu, plus Crow Honeyeater and Cloven-feathered Dove), the Solomon Islands (lots of great birds, including Solomon Sea-Eagle, Moustached Treeswift, Rennell Shrikebill, Finsch’s Pygmy-Parrot, Eclectus Parrot, Buff-headed Coucal, Blyth’s Hornbill, and Midget Flowerpecker), and Truk, in the Federated States of Micronesia (with Caroline Islands Fruit-Dove, Swiftlet, Reed-Warbler, and White-eye, among others).

“And then there were the seabirds, including nearly 40 species of tubenoses, starting with New Zealand Storm-Petrel, ending with Steller’s (Short-tailed) Albatross, and in between including Parkinson’s, Beck’s, Tahiti, White-necked, Collared, and Bonin Petrels; Heinroth’s and Bannerman’s Shearwaters; and Polynesian, Tristram’s, and Matsudaira’s Storm-Petrels! And there were some great whales and dolphins as well as spectacular flying fish in many colors.”

I’m ready to go–you?

La Mancha in October. Photo: Rick Wright

Our friend Robert Straub, author of the Site Guide to the Birds of Veracruz and indispensable man-on-the-ground for the upcoming ABA Conference, paid a visit to the Veracruz coast this weekend:

We arrived just before sunrise Saturday and were greeted by flocks of Dickcissels and Eastern Kingbirds. We estimate about 20,000 Dickcissels over the 2 days and maybe 5,000 Eastern Kingbirds (which will turn into Scissor-tailed Flycatchers in October). The trees were full of Yellow Warblers, with sometimes 50 per tree–a flock would cross the lagoon, and then the trees would fill again.

I identified a few Hooded Warbers, a few Empidonax flycatchers, and a few hundred thousand swallows! The mouth of the lagoon had many shorebirds, including Least, Western, and Spotted Sandpipers, Willet, and Black-bellied Plover. An Aplomado Falcon flew by both mornings; on Sunday it tracked a flock of Dickcissles at full speed, and entering a steep vertical dive  into the hill across the way: I think the Dickcissel got away.

We had 7 heron species, including a Reddish Egret on both mornings, and 3 kingfisher species. We had some migrating Mississippi Kites flying through, and a few other raptors: the resident Common Black Hawk pair crossed the lagoon each morning, an immature Great Black Hawk flew by later, and Roadside Hawks were seen and heard. A Collared Forest-Falcon was calling on the hillside.

Brown Pelicans flew back and forth all day, Laughing Gulls were common (the only gull), and terns were Royal, Sandwich, and one Gull-billed.

The dragonfly migration was absolutely incredible. I did a small count and by extrapolating I estimated about 10 million per day–give or take a few million!

Drive time: about 1 hour 15 minutes from Xalapa to the mouth of the lagoon.
La Mancha to Cardel about 30-40 minutes.
Site conditions: perfect, no changes.

Robert

This winter’s Kenya tour with David Fisher and Edwin Selempo has an added appeal: an annular solar eclipse.

That event will be visible along a three-hundred-mile-wide band that moves from Africa to China.

So 600-700 bird species, the great African mammal fauna, and a solar eclipse: not bad even by the exalted standards of a WINGS tour!

WINGS is very happy to be sponsoring the new season of Birding Adventures, the first television program to focus on birding in the exotic destinations WINGS visits around the world.

Birding Adventures is broadcast three times a week on two cable networks. Upcoming shows include trips to California and Guyana,  with lots of exciting footage of the places WINGS tours visit–and the birds we see there.

This fall and winter, watch for shows featuring WINGS leaders Jon Dunn, Gavin Bieber, and Rich Hoyer in Texas. You’re sure to be inspired!