HIGH LONESOME BIRDTOURS
NEWSLETTER
SPECIAL ALASKA
EDITION
Greetings!
As
I did last year, IÕm publishing this special issue with emphasis on Alaska 2004
trips. Some trips, e.g., ADAK
& BREEDING BIRDS OF ALASKA, have been added for 2004. We have also had some date
changes. First:
UPCOMING VACANCIES!!
Dec
29 Ð Jan 2: New YearÕs at Ramsey
Canyon Inn, Southeastern Arizona.
Feb
13 Ð 17: Winter Weekend at Ramsey
Canyon Inn, Southeastern Arizona.
Jan
10 Ð 18: Birding in Luxury at
Hacienda de los Santos, Alamos, Mexico
________________________
ARIZONA: NEW YEARS
DonÕt
forget our NEW YEARÕS AT RAMSEY CANYON, in Southeastern Arizona, December 28 Ð
January 2. Several
people didnÕt sign up early enough last year, and they missed out on the
trip. We only have six rooms
in the Inn, and weÕve filled three with three couples already! The Inn is truly
delightful, and Ramsey Canyon Preserve is just outside the front door. We eat at great restaurants in the
area, and we really have a super time!
For
those of you who canÕt get out over New Years, we have an additional trip that might work for
you: WINTER WEEKEND AT RAMSEY
CANYON INN. This is four nights, February
13 Ð 17, 2004. It covers the same
territory as the New Years 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!
________________________
SONORA, HACIENDA DE LOS
SANTOS
If you
havenÕt been to Mexico, HACIENDA DE LOS SANTOS tour to
Alamos (January 10 Ð18) is a great way to start! 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)
We had 12 guests last year, and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves! This is a sublime tour. 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. WeÕll be taking our float trip down the
Rio Mayo again with David MacKay.
And, weÕll be eating fabulous food in Alamos at the Hacienda, and a
couple of our other favorite places. Not to discourage singles, but this really is a
wonderful, and (dare I mention) very romantic, destination for couples. Non-birding spouses love it! We can comfortably accommodate 12
guests so donÕt get left out!
ALASKA 2004
Why choose High Lonesome BirdTours for your birding trips in Alaska?
á 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.
á We visit all of the popular birding hot spots in Alaska,
á 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.
á 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.
á We provide expert guides experienced in Alaska birds and Asian vagrants.
á Our trips are all-inclusive from Anchorage.
á We provide premium meals and lodging where available.
á We provide multiple trip discounts: Participants taking more than one trip will get the overnights between trips free, plus a $100 per trip per person discount. ÒFrequent flyerÓ discounts apply as well.
á ÒEarly BirdÓ discount of $100 per person for signing up prior to January 1, 2004.
WeÕre
really excited about Alaska this year. WeÕve been working hard to put together our trip
to ADAK
in the Aleutian Islands. For
those of you who donÕt know anything about this fascinating destination, Adak
Island offers the farthest western access to potential Asiatic species since
Attu closed down in 2000. The old
1987 checklist from Adak lists 34 Asiatic species, but birding coverage in Adak
has always been very sparse.
The military controlled access until they recently abandoned the island. Most sightings are by US Fish &
Wildlife biologists, whose focus is on seabird and mammal populations. I think itÕs safe to assume that
there are many more Asiatic species that visit Adak then have been recorded.
Alaska
Airlines now has jet service to Adak twice weekly. We have made a couple of date changes already due to
uncertainty about the flight schedule.
We now believe that we have our dates firmed up: May 12 Ð 20, 2004. The first night will be in
Anchorage, then the next seven nights in Adak.
The
island, until recently, home to a large Naval Base, has excellent tourism
infrastructure. The hotel
has nice rooms with private baths.
Comfortable rental vehicles are available for travel around the
island. Meal
service is available as well.
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.
We
have heard from quite a number of people who are interested in the Adak
trip. We are now accepting
deposits. Please let us know ASAP
if youÕre interested. We
offer a $100 discount for early signup, prior to January 1, 2004.
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 $3600 double occupancy.
The trip will allow you to take extensions to Barrow, June 19 Ð 22 and Dutch Harbor.
June 25 Ð 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).
Just
a reminder of the truly awesome year we had for Asian vagrants in the Bering
Sea this past spring. St. Paul had
one of its most phenomenal Siberian fallouts ever. TUFTED DUCK, COMMON GREENSHANK, WOOD SANDPIPER, EYE-BROWED
THRUSH, OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT, HAWFINCH, DUSKY THRUSH including 2nd
North American record of NaumanniÕs race which may be split, MONGLOLIAN PLOVER,
WHITE WAGTAIL, and RED-THROATED PIPIT were among the 18 Asiatic species seen
while we were on the Island. 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, weÕve 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,
STELLERÕS 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 (6th & 7th North American records),
EYEBROWED THRUSH, WHITE WAGTAL, OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT, RED-THROATED PIPIT, MCKAYÕS
BUNTING, BRAMBLING, HAWFINCH!
At
Nome, we had a SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT that perched up for over an hour. ARCTIC LOON,
YELLOW-BILLED LOON, SABINEÕS, SLATY-BACKED,
BLACK-HEADED GULLS were also seen well on some trips. BRISTLE-THIGHED CURLEW and BLUETHROAT were found on all Nome
trips. Louise Zemaitis of Wings spotted
a falcon that was subsequently IDÕd by a British expert as a EURASIAN
HOBBY. It was apparently
seen by a couple of others later in the day, but not after.
We
easily found WHISKERED AUKLETS by the hundreds in Dutch Harbor. TUFTED DUCK and GYRFALCON were a treat
as well. Our boat could only
accommodate six passengers at a time, so we had two groups for the trips. Our first group out to the Bering
Sea shelf ran into very rough seas, and we were forced to return to shore
before we could really spot any albatrosses. This group did, however, spot a rare RED-LEGGED
KITTIWAKE that flew around the boat giving everyone an excellent look. The second group, in much calmer seas,
spotted many SHORT-TAILED & SOOTY SHEARWATERS, 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. Ah well,
just another sp.,,
GAMBELL FALL
MIGRATION
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!
________________________
MEXICO 2004
Please
note on the schedule that we have a number of Mexico trips scheduled with David
MacKay of Solipaso including COLIMA & JALISCO, SAN BLAS, OAXACA AND
SONORA. David really has these
trips finely tuned. We stay
in great places in all of these locations, eat well, and see wonderful birds!
________________________
PRIVATE TRIPS
I
would like to encourage our travelers to consider taking a private trip to any
of a number of destinations, including Alaska, Arizona, Mexico, Belize, and
Ecuador. I can customize these
trips in any manner you would like.
Although the cost will be somewhat greater than if you were taking a
larger group trip, the advantages of doing what you want, when you want, and
where you want with people you know and like can certainly offset the cost
issue.
_______________________
Until
the next issue (or trip)É Adios!
Forrest Davis, President
2003 SCHEDULE (revised)
Dec 28 - Jan 2, 2004:
New Years at Ramsey Canyon Inn, Southeast Arizona
2004 SCHEDULE (revised)
Jan 10 - 18: Luxury
Birding at Hacienda de la Santos, Sonora, Mexico
Jan 24 - Feb 1: Jalisco
and Colima, Mexico
Feb 13 - 17: Winter
Weekend at Ramsey Canyon Inn, Southeastern Arizona
Feb 4 Ð 12: San Blas and
Durango Highway
Mar 13 - 21: Birds of Sonora: Yecora, Sea of Cortez, Colonial Alamos
Mar 15 - 28: Birds of
Oaxaca, Mexico
April 24 Ð May 1:
Neotropical Specialties of Southeastern Arizona 1
July 23 - 27: Five-Striped Sparrow Plus
July 31 Ð Aug 7: Neotropical Specialties of Southeastern
Arizona 2
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 Ð 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 Ð Sept 2: Fall Migration in
Gambell
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