HIGH LONESOME BIRDTOURS

NEWSLETTER

 

Greetings!  

 

We have lots of good trips coming up folks.

 

Following are vacancies for upcoming trips:

 

ARIZONA:  NEW YEAR’S

 

NEW YEARS at RAMSEY CANYON INN, December 28 – January 2 has two spaces left at this writing.  We have 10 participants, and if you’re lucky, the spaces may still be available when you receive this.

 

For those of you who can’t get out over New Year’s, we have an additional trip that might work for you:  Winter Weekend at Ramsey Canyon Inn.  This is four nights, February 13 – 17, 2004.  It covers the same territory as the New Year’s trip, and we eat in the same excellent restaurants.  Cost is $950 per person, double occupancy and  $1150 single.   This is a lovely time in Arizona and a great time to get away from work!

 

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SONORA, HACIENDA DE LOS SANTOS

 

If you haven’t been to Mexico, our HACIENDA DE LOS SANTOS tour to Alamos (January 10 –18) is a great way to start!   We still have few openings. The Hacienda is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and a Five-Star Mexican hotel.  (See their website at www.haciendadelossantos.com)  In most places in the world, you would be paying $800 a day for this inn.  Because of my personal relationship with the owners, I have been able to negotiate a major discount for their beautiful mini-suites.  The Hacienda is truly luxurious, and Alamos offers a fine example of colonial Mexican architecture as well as the most intact tropical deciduous forest north of Costa Rica.  We’ll be taking our float trip down the Rio Mayo again with David MacKay.  And, we’ll be eating fabulous food in Alamos at the Hacienda, Cherrise’s, Sam’s Gourmet Restaurant, and the MacKay’s. This is an excellent trip for non-birding spouses!  

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MEXICO 2004

 

We still have some spaces available for OAXACA, March 15 – 28, 2004.  This southern state in Mexico has 700 species of birds and some incredible habitat, including cloud forests.   

 

Our BIRDS OF SONORA trip has a couple of spaces as well.  Within a day’s drive of Arizona, we can find more than 40 species of birds never recorded in the United States and as many as 50 others that are rare or vagrants in the U.S. 

 

We drive up into the Sierra Madres to Yecora where we find many birds at their northern limits, e.g., MOUNTAIN TROGON, WHITE-STRIPED WOODCREEPER, LESS ROADRUNNER, RUSSET NIGHTENGALE-THRUSH, and if we’re really lucky, MILITARY MACAW.

 

Following two days of birding, we drive to colonial Alamos, surrounded by the northernmost stand of Tropical Deciduous Forest that extends all the way into Costa Rica.  Among the numerous birds of note there, we can find BARE-THROATED TIGER-HERON, GREAT BLACK-HAWK, CRANE HAWK, RUFOUS-BELLIED CHACHALACA, ELEGANT QUAIL, BLACK-THROATED MAGPIE-JAY, PURPLISH-BACKED JAY, and RUSSET-CROWNED MOTMOT. 

 

Sheri Williamson, Tom Wood, Gary Crandall, and I just completed a trip to Yecora last week to pull together some location mileages for an article we will be publishing in Winging It soon.   We had 175 species in 3 days.  It was a great trip!  We drove over to Chihuahua as well to scout the Thick-billed Parrot Preserve at Madera.  We didn’t have many birds for that portion because we working on logistics.  We do plan to combine a Yecora tip with Madera in the late summer/early fall to see nesting Thick-billed Parrots and Eared Quetzals. 

 

David MacKay will be leading a trips to COLIMA/ JALISCO & SAN BLAS/DURANGO HIGHWAY for us as well.  Please contact me if you would like to join him in January and February.  David really has these trips finely tuned.   We stay in great places in all of these locations, eat well, and see wonderful birds!

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BELIZE

 

We’ve really been missing Belize.  We haven’t been for a year, and we’re ready to go back.   Southeastern Bird Observatory is joining with us to offer a Belize in October 31 – November 12, 2004.  Sheri Williamson will lead this trip for us.  Those of you who have been to Belize with Sheri know how incredibly knowledgeable she is about the tropics and the Mayan culture.  We will stay at the incomparable Lamanai Outpost; the British Museum’s Las Cuevas Research Station; Pook’s Hill Jungle Lodge; and Tikal Jungle Lodge in Guatemala.   We will also offer a three-day extension to Ambergris Caye, November 12 – 15, 2004, where folks can get in some world-class snorkeling as well as some birding.

 

You will not be disappointed if you take this trip.  You might notice that some of our destinations are mostly not on the “hot list”, but we have been to all several times, and we believe they are the most productive locations in Belize.  Las Cuevas, for one, takes us into the most remote parts of Belize, and it’s has the highest concentration of Jaguars in Central America and, perhaps in the world.  It’s the only location in Belize where you can reliably see Scarlet Macaws as well.    As a bonus, we are about an hour’s drive from the newly-excavated Caracol Mayan ruins, believed to rival Tikal at its height.  We’ve had the most incredible raptor viewing from the Acropolis that any of us have ever experienced!

 

ALASKA 2004

 

We have had an unprecedented response to our Alaska trips for 2004, especially to Adak, Pribilofs, and Gambell.   Sign up soon for these trips, or they will be filled for 2004.  For those of you who haven’t been to Alaska, we offer some super values!  Why choose High Lonesome BirdTours for your birding trips in Alaska? 

 

·      We offer a small group experience wherever economically feasible, and we provide a guide for every six participants, no matter the size of the group.

·      We visit all of the popular birding hot spots in Alaska,

·      We offer the most comprehensive schedule of any birding company in Alaska, allowing you to combine trips in a convenient, cost-effective manner.  Please contact us for trip combination prices.

·         We devote more time to each area, allowing us to explore in a leisurely fashion and to experience the areas' unique habitats, people and culture.

·       We provide expert guides experienced in Alaska birds and Asian vagrants.

·       Our trips are all-inclusive from Anchorage.

·       We provide premium meals and lodging where available.

·       We offer multiple trip discounts that make your Alaska adventure more affordable

·       We offer a $100 per person “early bird” discount for signing up before January 1^st.

 

We’ve had a great response to our ADAK trip in the  Aleutian Islands from May 12 – 20, 2004.  Adak Island offers the farthest western access to potential Asiatic species since Attu closed down in 2000.    Alaska Airlines now has jet service to Adak twice weekly. The first night will be in Anchorage, then the next seven nights in Adak.  We expect to offer at least one pelagic trip during our trip.    Many seabirds are present offshore, including WHISKERED AUKLET and three species of ALBATROSS.  Much of our time will be spent searching for Asian vagrants.  We expect to find some more regular vagrants that are often seen on the Bering Sea Islands during spring migration.  In addition, accidental species are a distinct possibility. 

 

In response to requests for shorter and less expensive options to Denali and Kenai, we are offering a new trip:  BREEDING BIRDS OF ALASKA, June 6 - 17, 2004.   The trips will include five nights in Nome, three in Denali, and two in Kenai (including our Kenai Fjords boat trip).   Cost is a very competitive  $3800 double occupancy.  As always, all meals are included in High Lonesome Excursions.  The trip will allow you to take extensions to Barrow, June 19 – 22 and Dutch Harbor. June 25 – 29.  You can also take pre-trips to Adak, Pribilofs, and Gambell, giving you the option to cover all of the major Alaska birding destinations in one year!    Either David MacKay or I will lead the trip (both, if there are more than 6 signups).

 

On St Paul, PRIBILOF ISLANDS, we saw   TUFTED DUCK, COMMON GREENSHANK, WOOD SANDPIPER, EYE-BROWED THRUSH, OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT, HAWFINCH, DUSKY THRUSH including 2^nd North American record of Naumanni’s race which may be split, MONGLOLIAN PLOVER, WHITE WAGTAIL, and RED-THROATED PIPIT.  Early in June, after our departure, BEAN GOOSE, GRAY-SPOTTED FLYCATCHER and SIBERIAN FLYCATCHER were seen as well.  Clearly, St Paul Island in the Pribilofs has become a very hot spot.  But then, we’ve known that at High Lonesome for 8 years!

 

A listing of the birds seen by our groups at Gambell should be sufficient to underline the super year we had there:  ARCTIC LOON, YELLOW-BILLED LOON, EMPEROR GOOSE, SPECTACLED EIDER, STELLER’S EIDER, MONGOLIAN PLOVER, COMMON RINGED PLOVER, COMMON GREENSHANK, WOOD SANDPIPER, GRAY-TAILED TATTLER, COMMON SANDPIPER, WHIMBREL (VARIEGATUS RACE), GREAT KNOT, RED-NECKED STINT, BLACK-HEADED GULL, SLATY-BACKED GULL, DOVEKIE, ARCTIC WARBLER, SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT, BLUETHROAT, NORTHERN WHEATEAR, (SIBERIAN) STONECHAT (6^th & 7^th North American records), EYEBROWED THRUSH, WHITE WAGTAL, OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT, RED-THROATED PIPIT, MCKAY’S BUNTING, BRAMBLING, HAWFINCH!  

 

At Nome, we had a SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT that perched up for over an hour.  ARCTIC LOON,

YELLOW-BILLED LOON, SABINE’S, SLATY-BACKED, BLACK-HEADED GULLS were also seen well on some trips.  BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW and BLUETHROAT were found on all Nome trips

 

We easily found WHISKERED AUKLETS by the hundreds in Dutch Harbor.  TUFTED DUCK and GYRFALCON were a treat as well.   On the boat we saw many SHORT-TAILED & SOOTY SHEAR-WATERS, a single LAYSAN ALBATROSS, and a very suspicious-looking, very large, sub-adult albatross that was not seen well enough or long enough for me or anyone else to conclude that it was a sub-adult SHORT=TAILED ALBATROSS (our fervent wish), or the more common BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS.

 

Our fall migration at Gambell trip found the following very exciting Asian strays:   EURASIAN WRYNECK (1^ST live North American record!!),   MIDDENDORFF’S GRASSHOPPER-WARBLER, SIBERIAN ACCENTOR. PECHORA PIPIT. LITTLE BUNTING, REED BUNTING, COMMON ROSEFINCH.  Other interesting species:  ARCTIC LOON, EMPEROR GOOSE, STELLER’S EIDER; SLATY-BACKED GULL, GRAY-TAILED TATTLER, WHITE WAGTAIL, ARCTIC WARBLER, BLUETHROAT, & RED-THROATED PIPIT. 

 

For 2004, FALL MIGRATION IN GAMBELL, is scheduled for August 23 – Sept 2, 2004.  You have the option of spending a few as four days or as many as nine days on the island, at a prorated cost. We also offer a pre-trip to the St. PAUL ISLAND, THE PRIBILOFS, from August 20 – 23, 2004.

 

As usual, we are offering some excellent deals for Alaska, and a $100 early signup discount for registering prior to January 1, 2004.  We have had numerous inquires already for 2004, and we think it will be a banner year for Alaska bird tours.  Start planning now folks! 

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Until the next issue (or trip)…  Adios!

 

Forrest Davis, President

 

2004 SCHEDULE

 

Dec 28 - Jan 2, 2004:  New Year’s at Ramsey Canyon Inn, Southeast Arizona

Jan 10 - 18:  Luxury Birding at Hacienda de la Santos, Sonora, Mexico

Jan 24 - Feb 1:  Jalisco and Colima, Mexico

Feb 4 – 12:  San Blas and Durango Highway
Feb 13 - 17:  Winter Weekend at Ramsey Canyon Inn, Southeastern Arizona

Mar 13 - 21:  Birds of Sonora:  Yecora, Sea of Cortez, Colonial Alamos

Mar 15 - 28:  Birds of Oaxaca, Mexico

April 24 – May 1:  Neotropical Specialties of Southeastern Arizona 1

July 23 - 27:  Five-Striped Sparrow Plus                                                                                               

July 31 – Aug 7:  Neotropical Specialties of Southeastern Arizona 2

Aug 28 – Sept 4:  Hummingbirds of Arizona with

Sheri Williamson

 

ALASKA 2004

May 12 - 20:  Adak Island, The Aleutians
May 23 - 28:  Pribilofs
May 23 - 29:  Gambell 1
May 30 - June 5:  Gambell 2
May 31 - June 5:  Nome 1
June 6 - 11:  Nome 2
June 12 – 17:  Nome 3

June 6 - 17:  Breeding Birds of Alaska.  Nome, Denali & Kenai

June 19 - 22:  Barrow
June 25 - 29:  Dutch Harbor

July 7 - 14:  Denali Park & Highway
July 16 - 23:  Kenai Peninsula & Kenai Fjords

Aug 20 - 23:  Pribilofs Islands, Pre-trip

Aug 23 – Sept 2:  Fall Migration in Gambell

 

Oct 22 – 31:  The Birds of Sonora:  Yecora, Sea of Cortez, Colonial Alamos

Oct 31 – Nov 12:  The Birds of Belize

      Nov 12 – 15:  Ambergris Caye extension

November 2004:  Birds of Ecuador (dates to be announced soon)

 

For trip descriptions and reservations, please contact:

 

High Lonesome BirdTours

570 S. Little Bear Trail

Sierra Vista, AZ 85635

(800) 743-2668

(520) 458-9446

hilone@hilonesome.com

www.hilonesome.com