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!

Bryan Bland has long been a favorite among WINGS birders, and with good reason.

Now This Birding Life, a series of interviews, readings, and musings on this our shared hobby-sport-passion, features Bryan in a new “podcast,” shot on a recent visit to Guatemala–where Bryan will be leading a new WINGS tour in February.

If you haven’t already had the pleasure of birding with Bryan, this interview will surely inspire you to join him soon.

Each year, WINGS and Sunbird arrange a number of private tours with our Senior Leaders for groups and individuals. The past couple of months have seen us in the field in Arizona, California, Mexico, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, with more private excursions coming up to such notable birding destinations as Panama.

A private tour to Ecuador with Gary Rosenberg might take in spectacular Papallacta Pass. Photo: Gary Rosenberg

In addition to flexible scheduling and even more personal attention, birders on private tours benefit from the leader’s ability to tailor the route and itinerary to the participants’ needs, whether that involves concentrating on a “target list” or taking the time for a complete natural history experience.

You can set up your own private tour at any time, for yourself, your friends, your bird club, by making contact with us here at WINGS or at Sunbird.

For shorter visits to Arizona, you can also reserve a private guide on line at AZ-Birding.com.

Gary Rosenberg‘s dramatic Fall Migration in the Canyonlands tour is featured in today’s edition of wral.com in Raleigh, Durham, and Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Gary’s popular tour is an appealing combination of ooh-aah landscapes and first-rate birding, from the desert floor to the boreal coolness of the White Mountains. You can read about last year’s trip on line, and sign up for this year’s, too.

Photo by Paul Holt

Paul Holt has completely revised our 2010 Sichuan itinerary, and the revamped tour promises to be an exciting return to the heart of the Middle Kingdom.

The Chinese government has spent some $150 billion dollars in the time since the Wenchuan earthquake of 2008, and the tourism infrastructure is well developed and travel through this breathtaking region once again routine.

Our new itinerary visits sites from the subtropical forests of the Red Basin to the snow-capped peaks of the sacred mountains, concentrating on the many specialties and endemics of Sichuan.

The electric-blue Grandala. Photo by Paul Holt.

Oh, and pandas, too.

Belize preserves the largest tract of unbroken forest north of the Amazon. This morning’s NYT has a brief article about birding the country–and a great slideshow with a soundtrack to make you homesick if you’ve been there, and eager to go if you haven’t.

Collared Aracari. Photo: Michael O'Brien.

Want to experience Belize for real? Visit Chan Chich, perhaps the finest birding lodge in all of Central America, with Rich Hoyer in January. I’m scheming seriously to go myself….