VENT Birding Tours: Photo Galleries
Southern Portugal: Birds & History 2013
Jun 20, 2013
As we expand our diversity of European tours, we are very excited about our inaugural tour to Portugal, Southern Portugal: Birds & History. This trip will debut May 3-14, 2014, and will be led by VENT leader David Wolf and João Jara, a bilingual Portuguese native who is one of the country's most knowledgeable birders. As with much of Europe, Portugal is a beautiful country brimming with culture and a complex history spanning thousands of years. In our opinion, a tour here should en...
Spring Grand Arizona 2013
Jun 03, 2013
As we gazed up into the oaks, we suddenly saw the active little warbler creeping about near the trunks with its tail fanned. The rich salmon-red breast shone brightly in the afternoon sun and was a perfect complement to the slaty-black body. The bird kept coming closer until it was practically right overhead, giving everyone in the group superb views. An accidental visitor from Mexico, this Slate-throated Redstart in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona was an ABA lifer for everyone, including...
Big Bend National Park and the Texas Hill Country 2013
May 16, 2013
Is it cooler to see a Golden-cheeked Warbler from fifteen feet away, or a Colima Warbler? Which of the regularly occurring U.S. buntings is the prettiest? Does a Black-capped Vireo ever sing from a lone bush in an otherwise open grassy field? What is it like to see ten million vertebrates in 45 minutes? These questions and more were answered on our recent Big Bend National Park and the Texas Hill Country tour. Colima Warbler, Boot Springs, April 2013 — Photo: Ba...
Eastern Venezuela: Tepui Endemics and the Orinoco River Delta 2013
Apr 08, 2013
Our 2012 Eastern Venezuela tour presented some wonderful birds and unforgettable challenges. From the powerful Harpy Eagle to the diminutive Tufted and Peacock coquettes, we saw many of the rarest birds of several Neotropical families. Some of you arrived a day early and joined us for a birding day at El Avila National Park. There we enjoyed astonishing views of White-tipped Quetzal, as well as the two Coastal Cordillera endemic species: Black-throated Spinetail and Caracas Tapaculo. Two Ches...
Colombia: Central and Western Andes 2011-2012
Feb 19, 2013
Photos from our Colombia: Central and Western Andes tours, July 2011 and February 2012. All photos are from sites that will be visited on our forthcoming 2013 and 2014 tours.
Winter New Mexico 2013
Feb 18, 2013
Our 2013 Winter New Mexico tour combined spectacular bird concentrations, many highly sought southwestern specialty birds, and a nice sprinkling of rarities, all packed into five-and-a-half-days of action-packed birding. Despite unusually cold and snowy conditions at the beginning of the trip, we were able to locate virtually all of the target birds.Starting in El Paso, we enjoyed a nice show at local feeders including a Costa's Hummingbird (a tour first and an accidental species in the s...
Winter Southern California 2013
Feb 13, 2013
Incredible weather, a record setting list of birds that included virtually all of our targets, and several rarities to boot—this year's Winter California tour had it all! We began in San Diego with two full days to bird that species-rich region. Our first stop was a patch of chaparral that produced excellent views of the highly sought California Gnatcatcher, in addition to a displaying male Allen's Hummingbird, a male Nuttall's Woodpecker, Cassin's Kingbird, several close Wrentits, scop...
Amazon River Cruise 2013
Feb 13, 2013
In a large and diverse avifauna such as that of the Iquitos area, much of one's enjoyment comes from the sum of visiting the many different habitats in which birds live and in observing their behaviors—their unusual, often novel songs, duets, and breeding activities. We made a point of visiting as wide a variety of habitats as possible, including river islands with their early successional growth stages, várzea (or floodplain) forests, riverbank and creekside habitats, moriche pa...
Winter Southern Arizona 2013
Feb 13, 2013
A pair of Rufous-capped Warblers from less than ten feet away! What else do you need to know to understand the success of this trip? After a rather difficult hike up Florida Canyon, we had lucked into the warblers right next to the trail, and for about five minutes we watched as these visitors from Mexico foraged practically at our feet. This was the culmination of a great day of birding that began in nearby Green Valley with great scope views of Harris's Hawks; Gilded Flicker; roosting Great...
New Zealand Highlights 2012
Jan 19, 2013
Our tour began with a drive through Auckland and out to Tawharanui Regional Park where we found many boisterous Tuis feeding on the spectacularly flowering Pohutukawa, or New Zealand Christmas Trees. A few Bellbirds tried to sneak past them. The elusive Brown Teal and Buff-banded Rail were easily seen. After a relaxed picnic lunch, we headed across to Pakiri Beach. There we found a pair of the New Zealand Fairy Tern, now the rarest bird in the country with only about 35 of these tiny terns al...
Fall Hawaii 2012
Jan 04, 2013
The morning was clear, nearly cloudless as we drove out of Waimea in northwest Hawaii (the Big Island). The summit of massive Mauna Kea was in clear view, its astronomical observatories reflecting the early rays of the sun. In the distance the slopes of other volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Hualalai, were crisply outlined. We headed east on the road that crosses the saddle between lofty Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, both over 13,000 feet, past the grassy slopes of extinct Mauna Kea and along the black la...
Kazakhstan
Dec 27, 2012
Our 2013 Kazakhstan tour is sold out, but space is still available on our May 18-June 2, 2014 departure!
Panama: Fall at El Valle's Canopy Lodge 2012
Nov 30, 2012
Picking a favorite bird on a Canopy Lodge tour is a difficult task indeed. Our recent Fall at Panama's Canopy Lodge trip was so full of highlights that it was hard to whittle it down to a few dozen most memorable moments. The dizzying array of colors at the lodge feeders is an excellent starting point: Blood-red Crimson-backed Tanagers; velvety-black Flame-rumped Tanagers with glowing yellow rumps; stunning Rufous Motmots clad in green, blue, and rusty-orange with ridiculous racketed tail...
Panama: Fall at El Valle's Canopy Lodge Extension 2012
Nov 21, 2012
It is virtually impossible to visit any other location in Central America that matches the mosaic of wonderful birds we saw at the Canopy Lodge. A sample includes Tody Motmot, Black-crowned Antpitta, Snowcap, Brown-billed Scythebill, White-tipped Sicklebill, Elegant Euphonia, Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Dull-mantled Antbird, Veraguan Mango, and three species of owls: Mottled, Tropical Screech-, and Spectacled.On this short but bird-rich extension to our Canopy Tower tour, we encountered som...
Panama: Fall at Panama's Canopy Tower 2012
Nov 17, 2012
Panama is one of my favorite birding destinations. Imagine this small country as if it were a jigsaw puzzle; it would have a blue corner, some green pieces, some gold pieces, and other sections that would be remarkably rufous and brown.The Canopy Tower— Photo: David AscanioIn the same way, our tour participants brought with them different expectations—different pieces of that jigsaw puzzle. Those who wanted to see colorful birds were rewarded with views of trogons, cotingas, touca...
Autumn Grand Manan 2012
Sep 18, 2012
Awesome! That one word can sum up the all-day pelagic trip on our recent Autumn Grand Manan tour. From start to finish, it was a frenzy of nonstop bird and mammal action with a really weird fish thrown in for good measure.Departing from Seal Cove shortly before 9 AM, we immediately began to see a sprinkling of Black Guillemots on the water, along with the occasional Common Loon. Northern Gannets, eventually in every plumage imaginable, appeared as singles flying overhead, and a stream of Grea...
Avian Jewels of Arizona 2012
Aug 13, 2012
The list of amazing highlights from our recent Avian Jewels of Arizona tour is a long one. Topping the list perhaps was the Plain-capped Starthroat—a super-rarity in this country—in Montosa Canyon that gave us nice scope views from close range. This was only the third time I have seen this species in the United States, and the first in nearly 15 years. The starthroat was one of 11 species of hummingbirds we would record for the trip, including such gems as Violet-crowned, Broad-bi...
Alaska Mainland 2012
Jul 27, 2012
Once again our Alaska Mainland tour was filled with wonderful birds, interesting mammals, great food, and spectacular scenery. We began our trip in Nome, my personal favorite destination in North America, and met with immediate success along the Teller Road. A herd of musk oxen, including babies, were right along the roadside just outside of the town limits. In quick succession we tallied stunning Pacific Loons, Long-tailed Jaegers everywhere, Willow Ptarmigan, Harlequin Ducks, Eastern Yellow...
The Dominican Republic 2012
Jul 26, 2012
This was our fifth consecutive Dominican Republic tour, and what a way to celebrate—with astonishing views of a pair of Hispaniolan Crossbills and a Bay-breasted Cuckoo scoped while perched on an open branch!The Hispaniola comprises two countries and two paleo-islands. Each of these paleo-islands (separated in the past by a sea channel) hosted unique endemic avifauna. Once joined together, genetic exchange took place. One would expect competition among species with similar niches, but i...
Spring Grand Arizona 2012
Jul 21, 2012
The success of our recent Spring Grand Arizona tour can easily be summed up in a recap of our first 24 hours in the Chiricahua Mountains:After arriving at the lodge and having an early dinner, we headed out in search of the always difficult to locate Flammulated Owl. The extensive fires of last year would likely make this pursuit all the more difficult. Walking through a patch of firs and pines, we were met at first by silence, but after ten minutes or so a Flammulated began giving his soft, ...
