Announcing Panama with the Illinois Ornithological Society!

We are very excited to announce our collaboration with the Illinois Ornithological Society--Panama 2018! This trip will take in the very best of Panamanian birding. The main tour, 26 June-5 July, 2018, will take in Canopy Tower and Canopy Lodge, two of Panama's finest birding lodges. We will have top local guides to take us to the best birding locations in the lowlands around the Panama Canal and in the foothills of El Valle de Anton, where we expect to see a wonderful range of tropical birding, including toucans, motmots, mannakins, antbirds, and many, many more. 

The trip's extension (5-11 July) takes in the remote Darien of eastern Panama, home to Choco endemics and Harpy Eagle. We will have five nights in the stunning Canopy Camp to explore the remote lowland forests of this region, including a full day to search for the world's biggest raptor. 

This tour stays entirely in comfortable lodges, the food is delicious, and the logistics are easy. There are direct flights to Panama City from Chicago. The trip is great both as an introduction to the Neotropics and for veterans of the region. We hope to see you there! 

Illinois Ornthithological Society Shorebird Weekend

We had a great time leading trips at the Illinois Ornithological Society's Shorebirding Weekend! The event was centered around Emiquon and Lake Chautauqua National Widllife Refuges, some of the Midewest's most important shorebird stopover sights.  In total, we found an amazing 23 species of shorebirds (including a vagrant Ruff!), wonderful company, and a great event. A personal highlight for us was leading the Big Sit at the Lake Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge Crossdike--there's nothing quite like picking a good spot with loads of birds and seeing what comes to you. And it was great to promote our IOS-sponsored Panama tour that is coming up next June! We'll see you there again next year!

The Big Sit. We found 49 species in 2.5 hours, including 15 species of shorebirds. Slow birding like this is a great learning experience! (That mass of white on the right side of the photos is hundreds and hundreds of American White Pelicans.) Photo by Amanda Zeigler.