WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide

12/04/2024

Before the upcoming WINGS Subantarctic Islands Cruise in New Zealand, Tour Leader Steve Howell did what anyone about to spend 18 days at sea would do—go on a pelagic trip! But this was out of the North Island, with warmer waters and different birds, run by The Petrel Station (https://www.thepetrelstation.nz/), a monitoring program built upon pelagic day trips. And what a day it was, with 19 species of tubenoses! Enjoy these photos from Steve here showcasing some beautiful birds!

12/04/2024

Fabrice Schmitt reports from the recently completed Chile tour: The spectacular country of Chile rewarded us this year with another wonderful trip, a long list of incredible birds, and impressive scenery.

Starting in Patagonia, we were blessed by fantastic views on a pair of the unique Magellanic Plover, Tawny-throated Dotterels and Least Seedsnipes with chicks, a group of King Penguins packed on a windy Tierra del Fuego beach, Lesser Rheas running together with Guanacos on the Patagonian steppe, great views on the endangered Ruddy-headed Goose, and more!

Near Puerto Montt, we enjoyed the majestic Nothofagus forest, where we met and heard the fantastic Chucao Tapaculo, and plenty of other stunning birds such as Black-throated Huet-huet, Des Murs’s Wiretail, Slender-billed Parakeet or White-throated Treerunner! We also had a lovely excursion on Chiloé Island, having a boat ride to a small Humboldt and Magellanic colony, and found large flocks of wintering (or austral summering!) Hudsonian Godwit.

In Central Chile, we enjoyed the comical Moustached Turca running on the barren slopes of the impressive Andes while a group of Condors soar high in the sky. We also did a memorable pelagic trip off Valparaiso, having amazing views on no less than four species of albatrosses (Black-browed, Salvin’s, Buller’s and Northern Royal) and plenty more seabirds and even the minuscule and recently described Andean Storm-Petrel.

Finally, the Northern part of the country rewarded us with even more impressive sceneries, such the beautiful Parinacota volcano in the background of Chungara lake, or the majestic altiplano steppe, where we found Giant Coot, Puna Tinamou, Black Siskin, no less than three species of Flamingoes, and quite a few Viscachas (sort of hybrid between a rabbit and a kangaroo).

We ended the trip by a visit to the most arid Atacama Desert and some oasis, where we found the critically endangered Chilean Woodstar. We also stopped by a colony of Markham’s Storm-Petrel, small seabirds breeding in crevasse in the middle of the driest desert of the World. With the help of an endoscopic camera, we even had views on chicks ready to depart soon for their first flight to the Ocean!

An eBird report illustrated by many photos taken by the participants can be consulted here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/291729

12/02/2024

Skye Haas reports on our September tour to the capital city of bird-watching: Set at the southernmost tip of New Jersey, Cape May is renowned for epic migrations, as well as the rich birding community that has grown up here over the years. Conditions were a little challenging in some regards, with a prolonged north-easterly blow which didn’t allow for any major migratory movements, but our species count of 148 was right on our annual average for this tour. The easterlies made for some good looks at a few seabirds such as flocks of Black Scoters and several Parasitic Jaegers! We ended up with a nice selection of songbirds observed, with Alder Flycatcher, Philadelphia Vireos, Blue Grosbeak among the highlights and 18 species of warbler including Prairie, Black-throated Blue and Ovenbird. What was notable about this week was the incredibly high water levels due to the storm surge which made for some great shorebirding as birds ended up having large concentrations in just a few locales providing some excellent studies! We saw 20 species of shorebird, many of which gave us some cracking good looks! Another byproduct of the flooded salt marshes was some in our face looks at the normally skulky Saltmarsh Sparrow - our afternoon with them becoming a favorite memory of the trip for some! The high waters also allowed our salt marsh boat tour to really get into some of the back bays, and I’ve never had as many Clapper Rails on this tour as we did this year, as well as point-blank looks at a Great Cormorant!

11/26/2024

We just finished a marathon trip through southern Ecuador with tour leader Jon Feenstra, topping out over 500 species in over two and a half weeks of birding. We went everywhere starting and ending in Guayaquil and going clockwise in a big loop from lowland deciduous forest to treeline forest and paramo, to Amazonian foothill rainforest, the upper reaches of the Rio Marañon watershed, some desert and thornscrub and western foothill rainforest. Group favorites included such luminaries as Jocotoco Antpitta, Long-wattled Umbrellabird, and Blue-throated Hillstar.
To learn more about our trips to Ecuador, visit our website here: https://wingsbirds.com/tours?keyword=Ecuador

11/22/2024

Rich Hoyer highlights the recent Guyana 2024 tour.

Endless expanses of undisturbed rainforest, vast tropical savannas, and some incredible bird and other wildlife sightings were memories we’ll take home from this year’s Guyana tour.

We were super fortunate that a Harpy Eagle nest with a chick was within travel distance from our lodging at Surama, and we were even luckier that the adult arrived with a freshly caught sloth just as we did after over two hours of adventuresome travel under and over trees across the B***o B***o River. We treasured every minute of the two hours we spent viewing the nest from a safe distance, and so it was no surprise this received the most votes for favorite sighting of the tour.

An obliging Guianan Cock-of-the-rock was a fine addition to the marvelous Kaieteur Falls viewing, earning a second-place vote, and just as brilliantly colored Sun Parakeets were amazingly cooperative on our early morning drive to Karasabai area.

Additional bird highlights were Hoatzins eating leaves on the banks of the Mahaica River, Jabirus by the road in the middle of the Iwokrama Forest, Green Aracaris in the trees around Atta Lodge, the habituated Black Curassows in the grounds of the same lodge, cooperative Red Siskins coming to a seep, and stunning Pompadour Cotingas at the Iwokrama canopy walkway.

Early in the trip we were treated to the friendly (and hungry) West Indian Manatees right in Georgetown, and our moth light and sheet attracted the stunning silkmoth Rothschildia erycina, which lingered into the morning for all to see.

A stop for the small (i.e., not more than six feet) Green Anaconda sunning on the main dirt road through the country was absolutely necessary.

Finally, our first morning’s drive through the Rupununi savannas yielded the highly sought-after Giant Anteater right trundling next to the road. We all endured the hot days and warm nights, but it was worth it!
(All Photos by Rich Hoyer)

Interested in the 2025 tour? Click Here! https://wingsbirds.com/tours/guyana

10/17/2024

Looking for a last minute trip for the coming New Year? These tours are Confirmed to go in January 2025 with space! Check them out on our website here: www.wingsbirds.com

Argentina: The South - Jan 5 - 19
Newfoundland: Winter Birds - Jan 6 - 12
Colombia: The Santa Marta Mountains - Jan 13 - 21
Minnesota in Winter - Jan 16 - 21
Senegal - Jan 30 - Feb 15 (Confirming Soon!)

10/03/2024

WINGS HAS A NEW WEBSITE!
To celebrate over 50 years in the birding tour business, WINGS is proud to unveil our new website. We’ve been hard at work over the past year to create a fresh online experience while preserving familiar aspects of the original WINGS website. Our goal was to keep our clean style, clear tour information, and ease of navigation, formatted for both full screen and mobile devices, and to highlight our true purpose - offering quality birding tours worldwide. We think the results speak for themselves!
We will be continuing improvements in the coming months, with media updates and several exciting (for us at least!) upgrades that will streamline the website experience. We invite you to check it out!

Worldwide birding tour company based in Tucson, Arizona. WINGS Birding Tours has more than 50 years of birdwatching experience and offers travel packages, tour itineraries, and newsletters.

09/29/2024

WINGS Tour Leader, Jake Mohlmann, gives us the Arizona & Utah tour roundup!"
Learn more about this tour by visiting our website here:
https://wingsbirds.com/tours/arizona-utah/

"We just finished another WINGS tour through some of the most scenic parts of the western United States. Northern Arizona, the canyonlands, and Southwestern Utah provided endless vistas. One memorable location was at Bryce Canyon National Park, where the clouds slowly floated over the endless hoodoos of the main amphitheater. With so many amazing places visited, it’s hard to choose a favorite spot. Multiple people voted Antelope Canyon as that location this year. We had a blast exploring the canyonlands and found plenty of birds along the way!"

09/25/2024

Steve Rooke reports from our recently completed Western South Africa tour: It’s hard to pick out the highlights from this year’s tour to Western South Africa. It could be the hordes of Namaqua and Burchell’s Sandgrouse dropping into drink at a Kalahari waterhole, their bubbling calls filling the air. Or the group of 11 Ludwig’s Bustards flapping lazily across a flower-strewn Karoo. And on the subject of flowers, the stunning wildflower displays in Namaqualand and the West Coast National Park must rank as a highlight, especially when we had a fine male Black Harrier drifting over them.

Then there were the normally elusive Protea Canaries that sat still and close for ages, or the mass of Cape Gannets at the Lambert’s Bay colony. Which leads us to the spectacular pelagic out of Cape Town with 7 albatross species and numerous petrels and shearwaters. Getting up close and personal with Cape Rockjumper and Ground Woodpecker was a treat, as was ending the tour wandering around the world-famous Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens – where better than to watch Cape Sugarbirds feeding on flowering proteas.

09/24/2024

From Susan Myers in Borneo - As we've come to expect from Borneo, our journey exceeded all expectations and was nothing short of exceptional.

09/24/2024

Rich Hoyer reports from Peru’s Machu Picchu and the Manu-Kosñipata Road.

09/23/2024

Oli has just returned from our inaugural Spain in Autumn tour! In total we recorded 200 species on our tour, a great number for this time of year.

Highlights included 18 species of birds of prey, plenty of visible migration including thousands of seabirds and even a group of Greater Flamingo migrating over the sea. We also scored a great number of iconic Iberian species including Marbled Duck, White-headed Duck, Great Bustard, Little Bustard, Little Swift, Northern Bald Ibis, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Iberian Grey Shrike, Iberian Magpie, Mediterranean Short-toed Lark, Western Orphean Warbler, and Black Wheatear.

It was also a great tour for rarities with Elegant Tern and Ruppell's Vulture both seen and we also enjoyed multiple Cetacean species on our trip out into the Strait of Gibraltar. Of course we also sampled the finest cuisine in the area all under glorious sunny skies and warm evenings.

Check out the eBird trip report here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/274039

09/10/2024

Now is the time to plan for January! WINGS has a few tours that still have space such as:
Colombia, Argentina, China, Newfoundland, New Mexico, Minnesota, Senegal

See our January Tours calendar here:
https://wingsbirds.com/tours/calendar/
And take your pick as spaces are filling quickly!

08/19/2024

'Tis the Season for juveniles! A miraculously sunny morning broke a string of dripping fog days last week for Steve Howell, who took his camera out into the neighborhood...

08/16/2024

Skye Haas reports from our recent Arizona: Second Spring tour.
We just wrapped up our ever-popular annual southeast Arizona "Second Spring" tour, and by all accounts it was a fantastic success! Set during the monsoon rains of late summer, this period is often thought of as a repeat of spring as the plentiful rains will make the arid browns turn green again, with many plants blooming and several species delaying their breeding cycles to these life-enriching conditions. We tallied in a great haul of birds with 183 species recorded with rarities like Short-tailed Hawk, Rose-throated Becard, Five-striped Sparrow and Thick-billed Kingbird among many other expected SEAZ specialties like Red-faced Warbler, Elegant Trogon, Gray Hawk, Botteri's Sparrow, Varied Bunting, Sulfur-bellied Flycatcher and Painted Redstart. Among the twelve species of hummingbird we saw, White-eared, Beryline and Lucifer were definite standouts! Fall migration was kicking into full swing while we were there as well, with flocks of Hermit Warblers and Western Wood-Pewees moving through the canyons, and 17 species of shorebirds observed along with migrant waterbirds like Cinnamon Teal, White-faced Ibis and Forster's & Black Terns. A visit to this naturalist's paradise brings a wide array of plants and animals to enjoy from the blooming salvias and cactus; gorgeous insects like the Arizona Sister butterfly and the emerald-colored Glorious Scarab Beetle; to critters like White-nosed Coati and Merriman's Kangaroo Rat and the amazing diversity of herps such as Black-tailed Rattlesnake, Desert Kingsnake and the endangered Chiricahua Leopard Frog. A full accounting of the birds recorded on this year's tour can be found here- https://ebird.org/tripreport/264770

To learn more about this tour or to sign up for 2025, visit our website here: https://wingsbirds.com/tours/arizona-second-spring/

08/09/2024

Hi WINGS fans! If you’re in Tucson, please stop by our booth at the Southeast Arizona Birding Festival and say hello!