_2013 tours: China in May, Honduras combo

CHINA: We've got an extra departure now in our 2013 schedule! We've just opened up our formerly unadvertised China tour in May, with 3 spaces still open to visit Manchuria and the Tibetan plateau with Dave Stejskal and Jesper Hornskov...read more about it in Dave's news post or see our tour page.

HONDURAS: Much closer to home, did you know Jesse Fagan's working on a Northern Central America field guide? We've created a combo of tours if you'd like to benefit from Jesse's vast knowledge of the region directly -- our Honduras: Land of the Emeralds tour (participant Dominic Sherony's pic of the endemic emerald at right), March 2-10, is backed right up to Guatemala: Shade-grown Birding trip, Feb 20-Mar 2 (and there's even an optional Tikal pre-trip!), for two-and-a-half weeks of great birding with "the Motmot," as we like to call Jesse. 

_Galapagos II slideshow -- Oaxaca 2013

We included a few of guide Megan Crewe's photos in our September recent photos gallery, but if you'd like to get the full picture, check out Megan's fresh annotated slideshow from her recent summer Galapagos tour. We have three Galapagos departures scheduled for summer 2013 with Willy Perez, Eric Hynes, and Megan, and these popular tours often fill well in advance, so plan ahead with us if you're looking for an "Enchanted Islands" experience.
-- Looking for a great winter trip with Megan full of endemics plus some fantastic archaeology? Check out Megan's recent post on her upcoming Oaxaca tour with fellow Field Guide Pepe Rojas. "How would you like to see one of the world's smallest jays and one of the world's largest wrens side by side in the same flock? Or a warbler that's a brilliant scarlet..." Read more...

_Cool links: biodiversity, wind map

We ran into these two birding-related links recently and thought they were pretty cool. First, a biodiversity map showing the world's hotspots for conservation priority -- and a perfect illustration of why a third of our 100+ itineraries are to South America. Second, a very cool wind map of the US lower 48 (yes, we asked the same question, why not Canada, too?) that gives you a great overview of what's going on in your corner as well as the big picture...fun to check on a regular basis!

_Field Guides new leader search: Part II

In the past two years we've added some fantastic new guides to the FG staff (Willy Perez, Pepe Rojas, and Eric Hynes), each already with busy upcoming schedules and receiving terrific evaluations from participants. With room for expansion in our schedule, we are looking for at least one more guide who would fit perfectly into the Field Guides community. Our guide search page has more information about the attributes we seek in a prospective leader. Check it out, and if you know (or are!) someone who might fit the bill, get in touch with us by using the new guides contact link toward the bottom of that search page. There's no one better to suggest a new leader than folks who know our tours--so thanks!

_2012 Holidays: Last spaces

Our holiday tours are filling, but there are still a few possibilities:
Brazil's Rio Roosevelt: Dec 14-27 with Bret Whitney (1 space)
Holiday at San Isidro, Ecuador: Dec 27- Jan 5 with Mitch Lysinger (1 space)
Arizona Winter Specialties: Dec 28- Jan 2 with Dave Stejskal
Ecuador's Wildsumaco Lodge: Dec 28- Jan 7 with Willy Perez (3 spaces)
The Lodge at Pico Bonito, Honduras: Dec 30- Jan 4 with John Coons (3 spaces)

_Our triplists are going digital...

Our triplists, each of which reports on what our group observed on a recently completed tour, are going digital as web pages, meaning we will have online versions that will allow us more flexibility to insert various media (photos, videos, audio clips) as we wish, and they will load much more quickly. We will also still output a PDF version of each triplist (linked from the web page), though the PDFs will have photos only on the first page. We think our new digital lists are going to be great fun! You can see three of our first examples here: Galapagos II, Arizona's Second Spring II, and France. Note the social sharing buttons on the left edge of each triplist page...just click to share on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, or choose the  symbol to share by email or in other social media.
Here's a list of our Oct-Feb tours not mentioned above with one or more spaces still open. Contact our friendly office to help you get planning!

Sri Lanka: Oct 26-Nov 12 with Megan Crewe (1 space)
New Zealand: Oct 27-Nov 14 with Chris Benesh & local guide (3 spaces)
Birding Plus Ireland -- Birds, Traditional Music & Pubs: Nov 1-11 with Terry & Karen McEneaney
Spectacular Southeast Brazil: Nov 2-18 (Part I; 3 spaces) or Nov 16-Dec 3 (Part II; 4 spaces) with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Padua
Oman & the UAE: Jan 10-26 with Phil Gregory
Amazonian Ecuador: Sacha Lodge: Jan 11-20 with Willy Perez (2 spaces)
Yellowstone in Winter: Jan 12-20 with Terry & Karen McEneaney
Colombia: The Cauca Valley and the Western & Central Andes: Jan 19-Feb 4 with Richard Webster (4 spaces)
Jewels of Ecuador: Jan 19-Feb 5 (I) with Rose Ann Rowlett & Willy Perez or Feb 1-18 (II) with Mitch Lysinger & Pepe Rojas
Northeast Brazil (Part II): Jan 23-Feb 9 with Bret Whitney & Marcelo Padua (4 spaces)
Winter Japan: Cranes & Sea-Eagles: Feb 1-16 with Phil Gregory (4 spaces)
Best of the Pacific Northwest: Feb 2-7 with Terry McEneaney
Belize: Feb 17-23 with Peter Burke & John Coons
Panama's Canopy Tower II: Feb 23-Mar 1 with Chris Benesh (1 space)

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