Golden Gate Audubon Society

Ideas Sought for Travel with GGAS

If you have been on a birding trip that was especially wonderful, experienced a terrific guide, or have a suggestion of an area to visit, please email Chris Bard with your comments. chrisbard@earthlink.net

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Travel with GGAS on These Fabulous Trips

Are you thinking of traveling outside the Bay Area? Do you want to expand your life list while experiencing a different environment or a different culture? If so, consider these new offerings, both designed especially for GGAS. For more information—and a detailed itinerary—contact Chris Bard, trip coordinator, at chrisbard@earthlink.net or 510.522.5699.

 

NEW TRIP: Nome, Alaska, June 2012!!

Nome is a frontier town accessible only by boat and airplane. Bordered on the west and south by the Bering Sea, and the north and east by miles of trackless wilderness, Nome is a fascinating birding destination.  During June and July the Midnight Sun is at its brightest, the tundra is in full bloom, and the birds and mammals are breeding.

Our tour will cover the prime birding areas along the seacoast and the beautifully blooming alpine tundra surrounding Nome. Most of the birds are in their resplendent breeding plumages–rarely if ever seen in the “lower 48”. We’ll make an extra effort to locate some of the accidental Asian species that regularly occur at Nome.

The four trips dates are: June 8-12,   June 12-16,  June 16-20, June 21-25

Cost per person is $2400.00 which includes a $150.00 donation to GGAS.

This includes lodging, ground transportation, airport transfers, and guide services. Not included are airfare and meals. The tours are limited to four participants.

Our guide will be Rich Cimino of Yellowbilled Tours. Rich has lead birding trips in many areas including Nome and is a Bay Area resident.

For a detailed itinerary and availability contact Rich Cimino at 925-353-0266 yellowbilledtours@gmail.com or Chris Bard, GGAS  Travel Coordinator at 510-522-5699 chrisbard@earthlink.net.

Belize ~ Jewel of the Caribbean

With naturalist Mark Pretti,  February 3 – 13, 2012     (A second trip will be added Feb. 13-23, 2012 if the first trip fills.)

With its largely undisturbed tropical forests, abundance of rivers, tremendous diversity of flora and fauna, outstanding birding, and rich human history, Belize is one of the world’s finest natural destinations.   Within the borders of this sparsely populated Central American country lie a great variety of habitats, including mangroves and beaches, rivers and lagoons, coastal savanna, pine forest, and broadleaf tropical forest.

From the spoiled comfort of some of Belize’s best nature lodges – Bird’s Eye View, Pook’s Hill, Five Sister’s, and Lamanai Outpost Lodge – we’ll explore most of these habitats and their rich wildlife.  We’ll also visit Mayan ruins at Lamanai and Caracol, enjoy a night safari boat ride, and marvel at the wildlife just outside our doors.

While seeing and learning about some of Belize’s 570+ species of birds – including toucans, woodcreepers, tanagers, antbirds, hummingbirds, trogons, manakins, raptors, waders, and more – we’ll likely encounter howler monkeys, iguanas, crocodiles, dazzling butterflies, and other tropical treats.

Led by naturalist and bird guide Mark Pretti, cost is $3200 per person, double occupancy, from Belize City, and includes all lodging, meals, guides, ground transportation, and a $150 tax-deductible donation to the GGAS.  Limited to 10.  For a detailed itinerary contact Chris Bard, GGAS Travel Coordinator, at chrisbard@earthlink.net or 510-522-5699.

Klamath Basin Winter Birds

This area of southern Oregon is rich in raptors in winter. Dozens of Rough-legged Hawks and Bald Eagles join Prairie Falcons, Peregrine Falcons, Ferruginous Hawks, Golden Eagles, and numerous Northern Harriers. Additional birds we should find include Barrow’s Goldeneyes, hundreds of Tundra Swans, and other wintering waterfowl; Horned Larks; Northern Shrikes; and Black-billed Magpies. We will check the nearby forest for White-headed Woodpeckers and Mountain Quail. The weather will be cold, but the birding will be hot.

The trip, led by Harry Fuller, is scheduled for February 23–25, 2012, and will be based in Klamath Falls. Cost for ground transportation and guide is $250 to $325 per person, including a $50 tax-deductible donation to GGAS. The trip is limited to 10. NOTE: – This trip is full and a wait list is being collected.

Florida’s Everglades and Sanibel Island

The only subtropical wilderness in the continental United States, Florida is a naturalist’s paradise. Join guides Ed and Sil Pembleton with Naturalist Journeys for a trip, April 16–23, 2012, to this rich area that supports both tropical and temperate species.

In the Everglades, we will travel by boat through mangroves to search for alligators, crocodiles, and an array of wading birds. Walking through tropical hardwood hammocks, we will look for Pine Warblers, Barred Owls, and colorful endemic tree snails. The shoreline tidal habitats of Florida Bay and nearby Eco Pond host Roseate Spoonbills, Purple Gallinules, and Least and American Bitterns. The itinerary also includes Audubon of Florida’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and sites where the endemic Florida Scrub-Jay can be found.

An optional extension, April 23–27, goes to the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas National Park. At a bird rehabilitation center in the keys, we’ll photograph wild White Ibises, herons, and egrets attracted by the sounds of birds on the mend. At Bahia Honda, we’ll walk a white-sand beach and find rare butterflies. A full-day boat tour to the Dry Tortugas typically yields Brown and Masked Boobies, Magnificent Frigatebirds, Bridled and Sooty Terns, and Brown Noddies. Throughout our time in the keys, we’ll enjoy local cuisine from simple crab shacks to elaborate seaside dining.

Cost is $2,290 per person, double occupancy, from Ft. Lauderdale and includes lodging, most meals, guides, and ground transportation, as well as a $150 tax-deductible donation to GGAS. Cost of the extension is $985. The trip is limited to 10.