New rules will go into effect January 1, 2012, governing inter-island travel in the Galápagos.

Starting in January 2012, no vessel will be permitted to visit the same site more than once every 14 days. The brilliant week-long itineraries now in effect will no longer be possible; by visiting the best sites, those itineraries make them unavailable for the next week’s cruise. It seems certain that all cruise companies will now divide up the best islands so that each week’s cruise visits some–but of necessity not all.

The upshot for birders? If you want the best of the Galápagos in just a week’s time, plan to go this year or in 2011.  Rich Hoyer’s next cruise is scheduled for November 12-21, 2010, followed by another convenient, but different, itinerary in November 2012.

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?

If you haven’t already seen Rich Hoyer’s video on our Facebook page, you’ve got to watch this recording of a chance encounter last week on the Villamontes-Tarija road in Tarija Department, Bolivia.

Scouting for his 2010 Peak of Diversity tour, Rich took the video of mating condors by holding his Sony Cybershot point-and-shoot up to a Zeiss 65 t* FL Diascope.

Wow. Wow.

Bryan Bland is planning a new mini-tour to England, combining a day at the amazing British Bird Fair with a short week on the bird-rich coast of Norfolk.

Birders at the Bird Fair.

Plans are still being firmed up, but right now we anticipate starting at one of the large British airports August 21, then visiting the Bird Fair August 22. At the end of the day, we’ll move on to some of Europe’s most exciting autumn birding, with several days on the English east coast.

Bryan at the 2009 Bird Fair.

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.

I admire my colleagues for many things, chief among them their imagination–the ability to see connections where many people would not.

A great example: Jon Dunn’s new tour combining birding with an exploration of Civil War history in Georgia and South Carolina.

As we approach the 150th anniversary of that traumatic period in US history, thousands of commemorations will take place across the country; Jon’s new tour adds depth and perspective by connecting the natural history and the human history of some quintessentially American landscapes.

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.

Birders read more, and more widely, than just about anybody I know.

I’m grateful to Doug Carlson, author of the definitive biography of Roger Tory Peterson and Assistant Editor at The Georgia Review, for word of the new spring issue of that estimable publication, entitled “Culture and the Environment.”

The keynote essay by Scott Russell Sanders draws responses from Alison Hawthorn Deming, David Gessner, Reg Saner, and Lauret Savoy. The issue also contains poetry by Margaret Gibson and Maxine Kumin, among others, as well as a review essay by Jeff Gundy.

Piping Plover. Photo: Darlene J. Moore

The points of view are diverse, the subjects treated equally so. What I’ve read so far is provocative, occasionally even provoking–you’ve got to read Deming’s riff on the infamous “Piping Plovers Taste Like Chicken” bumper sticker!

Our annual autumn visits to the wonderful Haydn festival in Eisenstadt always offer an exciting range of birds to complement the magnificent music. In 2009, though, in addition to our regular September extravaganza, we’re offering a springtime week in this exciting venue.

To commemorate the bicentenary of Haydn’s death, a magnificent musical feast has been arranged, including Gottfried von der Goltz and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Paul Goodwin conducting the Acadamy of Ancient Music, and Adam Fischer and the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic with the Vienna Chamber Choir. And plans are underway, too, for Adam Fischer to conduct the Farewell symphony at Prince Esterhazy’s summer palace at Fertod, the Hungarian Versailles, in the very room where Haydn first conducted it.

As for the birds, many species will be on breeding territory: Savi’s, Moustached, River, Marsh, Great Reed, Icterine, Bonelli’s, and Barred Warblers; Red-breasted and Collared Flycatchers; and Hoopoe, Roller, Golden Oriole, Lesser Gray Shrike, Nightingale, and Wryneck. There could also be Little Bittern, Pygmy Cormorant, Night Heron, Montagu’s Harrier, Red Kite, Red-footed Falcon, Lesser Kestrel, Honey Buzzard, Mediterranean Gull, Caspian and White-winged Terns, and Imperial, Spotted, and Lesser Spotted Eagles. The Great Bustards could be displaying. The Bluethroats will have blue throats. On top of the Schneeberg we’ll search for Alpine Accentor, Alpine Chough, and Water Pipit. And at the Hohenau banding station there could be some exciting surprises in the hand.

If you’ve already enjoyed the Haydn festival in September, this is a unique opportunity for the perfect complementary experience. And if you haven’t experienced Haydn at Eisenstadt, this spring week will provide wonderful music magnificently performed, one of the finest selections of birds in Europe, luxury accommodation in the best hotel in Eisenstadt, and the chance to discuss the music with the performers and other experts—all this will leave you with an afterglow that will stay with you all year. Join Bryan Bland and Amanda Holden for this once-in-a-lifetime experience!

With something close to 75 endemics and a bird list longer than that of any other country on earth, Colombia has long been every birder’s dream destination. For years, though, it was essentially off limits to most foreign travelers; that’s changed, and now, with careful planning and good local contacts, Colombia is once again “open” for birding.

Recurve-billed Bushbird, courtesy ProAves

Barry Walker has created a new WINGS tour that specifically targets the rarities and endemic specialties of the Colombian Andes. Scheduled for August 2009, this will be a rugged, even challenging tour to see places and birds that so many of us had, until recently, almost given up on ever experiencing. Barry’s deep-rooted familiarity with Colombia and its birds combine with the skill of our driver and the presence throughout the tour of a local Colombian travel coordinator to ensure that our time in the country is smooth and utterly bird-filled.

We’ll be staying at some of the reserves owned and patrolled by ProAves, a Colombian conservation NGO devoted to the preservation of Colombia’s endemic birds and their habitats. The accommodations at Mirador are very basic, but the other preserves we’ll be staying at feature comfortable lodging with private bathrooms. And all of them are satisfyingly birdy, often with specialties visible without even leaving the balconies!

The main tour is followed by an extension concentrating on two of Colombia’s finest endemics, the critically endangered Yellow-eared Parrot and the recently discovered Chestnut-capped Piha. Together, the tour and its extension run for some 21 days, just time enough to fall completely under the spell of some of the most enchanting birding, and the most enchanted places, in the world.